User Experience vs. User Interface
Every day, you interact with your environment in various ways. Each of these events generates a series of sensations that build your user experience, known in English as UX or user experience, in every activity you do. If you consider using an ATM or a mobile application to carry out banking transactions in your daily schedule, you will do so through a user interface (UI – User Interface).
This is a simple example to approach these two concepts, which today tend to be used interchangeably, but, although closely related, they are not the same.
Relationship between User Experience vs. User Interface
The User is the Center of Everything
The creation of any product or service aims to attract as many customers as possible, and the only way to achieve this is to keep in mind that the user is at the center of everything.
Donald Norman pointed this out when he used the term emotional design to explain that products that give users a pleasant and functional feeling are better accepted and tend to remain popular among consumers.
This gave birth to the User Experience (UX) concept, referring to a set of aspects that marked an individual’s interaction with a product or service, not only when using it but also how they establish a relationship with the brand over time.
User Interface (UI) is Part of User Experience (UX)
User experience encompasses a series of details that will determine the user’s relationship with the product or service they are consuming. The user will determine if the product fulfills its function, meets their needs, is easy to use and acquire, among other things.
Within this, the user interface is the means by which the user can interact with the product, tool, or service, therefore, it will affect the final vision that the consumer will have.
The user interface is often the first contact between a person and a brand and its products or services.
Having a Good Interface Doesn’t Necessarily Mean Providing a Good User Experience
A product, service, website, or application can have a friendly interface, with an attractive design and colors, and yet, if in other aspects the user experience is unsatisfactory, the result will not be as expected.
Although users initially give importance to the appearance of a product or service, ultimately what determines whether they will choose to continue using it or not will be the fact that it meets all expectations comprehensively.
An Efficient Interface Must Facilitate the User Experience
The market offers a vast number of options when it comes to almost any task, so if the interface of a product or service requires a considerable amount of time or effort to use, it is likely that the customer will choose another option.
So in addition to having an attractive design, it is important that an interface is intuitive, easy to use, and therefore, no complicated learning process is necessary.
UX and UI Go Hand in Hand
The professional in charge of user experience reviews the behavior of potential users, evaluates their needs, preferences, and offers prototypes to meet them.
They also take care of all the inherent details involved in the interaction process between the individual, their environment, and the product or service being provided.
The person in charge of the user interface will design the best way to present what has been created in terms of aesthetics, ensuring that the initial objectives set are met.
A complete and quality user experience can never be discussed if it does not include a user interface that attracts and maintains interest and meets the ultimate purpose for which it was conceived.
Image credits:
Photo by John Schnobrich on Unsplash
Photo by charlesdeluvio on Unsplash
Photo by UX Indonesia on Unsplash
