What is UI?

UI stands for User Interface (UI) – that is, user interface. Simply put, a user interface (UI) is anything a user can interact with to use a digital product or service. This includes everything from screens and touchscreens, keyboards, sounds, and even lights.

As with any evolving technology, the role of the UI designer has evolved as systems, preferences, expectations, and accessibility are increasingly demanded from devices. Now, user interface designers work not only on desktop interfaces, but also mobile phones, augmented reality, and even invisible, screenless (aka. zero user interface) like voice, gesture and light.

Today, UI designers have almost limitless opportunities to work on websites, mobile apps, wearable technology, and smart home devices, just to name a few. As long as computers continue to be a part of everyday life, there will be a need to create interfaces that can be effectively used by users of all ages, backgrounds and technical experiences.

What is UX?

User experience, or UX, evolves as a result of improvements to the UI. Once there was something for users to interact with, their experience, whether positive, negative, or neutral, changed the way users felt about those interactions. User experience, which includes all aspects of end-user interaction with a company, its services and products. It's a broad definition that can include every possible interaction a person can have with a product or service, not just a digital experience. Some UX professionals have chosen to call the field customer experience, and others have gone a step further to simply refer to the field as experience design.

The Difference of UX and UI?

If you picture a product like the human body, the bone represents the code that creates its structure. The agency that represents UX design: measuring and optimizing input to support live functions. And the user interface design represents the body's cosmetics; its presentation, its senses and its reactions.

As Foster.fm co-creator Rahul Varshney said:
“User experience (UX) and User Interface (UI) are some of the most confused and abused terms in our industry. A UI without UX is like an artist painting a picture without thinking; while UX without UI is like the frame of a sculpture with no mache on it. Great product experiences start with UX, then UI. Both are essential to the success of the product.”

It is important to understand that UX and UI go hand in hand; you can't have one without the other. However, you don't need to have user interface design skills to be a UX designer, and vice versa — UX and UI make up separate roles with separate processes and tasks! The key difference to note is: UX design is all about the overall feel of the experience, while user interface design is all about how the product looks and works.