Definitely is not the typical status Single, In-a-Relationship neither you can find it on Tinder. Its relationship is very interdependent just like the UK hottest couple David and Victoria Beckham — inseparable, destined to look good and have earthly desire to inspire other people.
Well, that’s probably the exact analogy to apply for your web design. UI simply stands for User Interface while UX stands for User Experience. Both must be accountable for a complete good website that fosters user engagements, increases customer satisfaction and makes your brand sticky with your customers.
However, the process is not as straightforward as it seems. Most people tend to get mixed up and decide to bundle them together during the design phase. As a result, sometimes your website may look good but lacks usability, while on the other hand, the style may look crappy but the user gets all the information they want (i.e Wikipedia).
Finding the right balance is the focus.
So what is UI Design anyway?
UI design composites your colour schemes, font types, photos, graphics, illustrations or anything that is related to your brand tone and manner. It requires a UI Designer to build this brand palette with an objective to make your website look appealing and visually persuasive.
Finding the right balance for any graphical usage is vital so that your brand will not look cheap or unpleasurable to look at. You can find out more about how stock graphics can make your brand bleed.
To have a fulfilling UI Design, these 3 principles must be applied first;
# Clarity — The design should have a clear visual communication message to your customers. For instance, if it’s a button, it should be highlighted or wrapped in a candy box style.
# Flexibility — It also determines how long your website can last. Your primary brand colour palettes should have the flexibility to apply across the whole website and it’s reusable.
# Structural — Your logo, company name, brand messaging all should have proper structural flow. (ie. A logo is always on the top-left or top-center). Placing it on the top right may confuse the standards of UI design. Hence, it does look unprofessional.
And how about UX Design?
This is your brand Story part and it determines how well it can portray. To put it simply, UX Design is a predetermined pathway for your users to perceive your contents. You may have a good brand story to tell, but positioning it incorrectly will put your story on the dust shelf instead.
Having said, prior to building your website, a user journey flow must first be crafted out properly. Remember that not all websites are created evenly and each website has a different story for their audiences.
However, these three principles of UX design must be carefully applied for any website regardless;
# Consistency — This part mainly focuses on the navigation structure and the overall layout. The entire website should have similar user journey flow to keep all interactive expectations levelled.
# User Control — Your website should be done in such a way that users are able to control what information they want to see. Being mobile responsive is also a way to allow your user to perceive the website information conveniently.
# Usability — Although you have an incredible story to tell, the part where the journey to tell the story should be better than any printed books. Meaning being interactive should also be factored into one of the purposes of having a website in the first place.
Editor’s Note
A website that is built with good UI/UX principles will certainly have more edge, and thus increase your brand value with your customers. On the contrary, if it was done in an amateur manner, that says a lot about your business. Remember, the consumers today are very tech-savvy and it is all about building relationships!
So do you have both UI/UX design applied into your website? Let us know.
