Menu
Tired of hearing about how important UI design and UX design are, not knowing what they actually mean? We’ve got you covered. UI and UX design are the two most important steps of web design. They come before the actual web development and programming. In this article, we will be covering what they mean, what their differences are, and what we can achieve through their processes.
UX or user experience design is the process of determining how users experience a website or an app. This is the first part of web design. Before getting started on designing the visual elements, we need to make sure how we want users to perceive the website or app. UX design has several steps. First, we have to specify what the exact goals of the business or website are. The features and services that the website has to offer should be determined at this stage.
It is important for every business to know what kind of audience they are dealing with. The next step in UX design is designing the user persona. A user persona denotes an imaginary persona that you create based on your expectations of your average customers or audience. It does not have to be accurate or strict. We just need to write down all about an average customer. For example, how old they might be, what their interests are, and what they will be looking for on our website.
Next, we have to design a map based on what we expect the user to go through from the moment that they enter the website until they reach the goals that we specified in the first stage. For example, if we want the user to make a purchase at the end, the entire process should be clear. From how the user searches for the product they want, how they should add a product to their cart, and how they can make a purchase. This is what we call a user journey map. Every single step should be considered in this journey map.
One of the most important steps after planning is creating a layout for the website or app. This layout is a wireframe. You can sketch out a wireframe on paper or in a UX design tool. The first thing we have to do is just lay out a structure for the website, mainly using lines. There is no need for pictures or icons or final product determination. All we should do is provide a first draft of what we think the website should look like based on the previous notes. This wireframe will change based on the comments and feedback received from other team members. When everything is ready at this point, we can safely move on to the next stage.
UI or user interface design is the process of designing the visual elements of a website or an app. Everything from color design to textures, effects, and animations will be designed in this stage. One of the important things to keep in mind about UI design is being consistent with the branding and the logo of the business if they are already available.
There are several principles to keep in mind when trying to design the user interface of a website or an app. These principles are true in most of the branches of graphic design, as well. White space, color and contrast, visual hierarchy, complexity vs. simplicity, and consistency are a few of the most important principles to keep in mind about UI design. In web design, most of the focus should be on keeping the website’s visuals as consistent with the branding as possible. For example, using too many animations for a serious brand can ruin the face of the business.
There are lots of tools on the internet for designing the user interface of a website or an app. These tools include Adobe XD, Figma, and Sketch. They are fully explained in this article.
UI Design does not have to do anything with programming. What we mainly hope to achieve in UI design is creating the visuals on a file that will, later on, come to use in front-end development. You might ask why we cannot move on to coding right after UX design, instead of designing the whole website on an artboard.
The reason for this is that this design is not the final product. It will undergo lots of changes and it will mature by the end of the web design stage. If we start coding right after UX design, in case of any problems, there will be so much time loss and financial loss for fixing them. However, making a final design and then moving forward with web development will not cost you any more money or time. Remember, a bad design is more expensive than a good design.
Now that you know what UI and UX design mean, you can start your own website. If you are unsure where to start or how to create the best website, you can talk to our professionals at PengYi Labs. There are no limits to how great your website or app can be. Your ideal design is one click away from you.
If you need help or advice, our professional team of designers and developers is ready and available for new web design and development projects.