WHAT IS UI (USER INTERFACE) DESIGN?

User Interface Design is difficult to answer because its wide ranging variety of interpretations. While User Experience is a combination of tasks focused on optimization of a product for effective and pleasant use, User Interface Design is the look, feel and interactivity of a product. But like UX, it is easily and often confused by the industries that employ UI Designers.

For example if you look at job posts for User Interface Design, you will find interpretations of the profession that are akin to graphic design. Sometimes including branding design and front-end development.

Similar to User Experience Design, User Interface Design is a multi-faceted and complex role. It is responsible for the transference of a product’s development, research, content and layout into an attractive, guiding and responsive experience for users. However unlike UX, UI is a strictly digital profession.

Hollywood Studios' online example of our UI Designer's responsibilities include:

Look and Feel

Customer Analysis
Design Research
Branding and Graphic Development
User Guides and Storyline

Responsiveness and Interactivity

UI Prototyping
Interactivity and Animation
Adaptation to All Devices and Screen Sizes
Implementation with Web Developer(s)

As a visual and interactive designer, the UI role is crucial to any digital interface and for customers a key element to trusting a brand. While the brand itself is never solely the responsibility of the UI designer, its translation to the product is. Furthermore while UX has no need for coding, UI is a role that as time progresses, will rely on it as part of building interactive interfaces.

User Experience is a good place to be if you want to build great products from the user's perspective but if you understand those principles and are more visually inclined, you might prefer User Interface Design. Or in other terms, UI design produces a procedural presentation, reactivity and interactivity in response to a user's input or different display environments.

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