Skip to content

What is UI?

"Just because something looks good doesn’t mean it’s useful. And just because something is useful does not make it beautiful."

— Joshua Brewer

User Interface Design

User Interface (UI) Design is the process of creating visual elements. Elements can include screen layouts, buttons, icons, pages, and typography. It encompasses everything that the user sees and interacts with. The goal is to make the user's interaction as simple and efficient as possible through aesthetic means.

UI Design is closely related to UX Design but is a completely different discipline. Often UI designers take the research, wireframes, and prototypes from the UX Designer to create the visual elements. We'll be focusing on these topics more in the next unit.

UX vs. UI

Responsibility of a UI Designer

You have just 10 seconds to engage users and convince them to take closer look. Jakob Nielsen

  • Designing each screen in which the user will interact, including the layout: what should go where? How much space should be left between each element? What visual patterns and hierarchies make for intuitive user experiences?
  • Considering how the app will display on various screen sizes - think responsive design.
  • Designing UI elements such as buttons, icons, sliders, and scrollbars.
  • Choosing the right colors and typeface.
  • Designing the interactivity of each UI element - what does a button do when the user clicks on it, for example.
  • Creating animations.
  • Establishing a style guide to be used throughout the application, ensuring consistency and familiarity for the user.

Differences between UX and UI Designers

Often the terms UX and UI are used interchangeably. They do rely on each other, but there is little overlap.

Yes, the terms are related.

Yes, the terms can overlap.

No, they are not interchangeable.

  • UX is a science, UI is a form of art.
  • UX designers focus on the overall usability of a digital product, UI designers focus on the overall look and feel.
  • UX designers pay attention to the logical progression through a website/application while UI designers work on creating visual cues that put users at ease as they navigate online.
  • Both UX and UI resources design for emotion: they try to make users feel at ease, comfortable, and relaxed as they use a digital platform.
  • The same resource can do both UX and UI work, but it’s very unlikely that that person can be really good at both.

UX and UI Designers Note: Salary information subject to change based on experience and location.

UX vs UI