Nowadays, it has become increasingly evident that UI and UX are essential for the development of various types of products, from physical to diverse systems and applications. Creating services that meet real user needs is essential to avoid rework, unnecessary expenses, and even having to restart projects from scratch.
Although UI and UX are widely used terms in the market, there are doubts about the meaning and the way of applying each of them in a product development project.
To talk about this topic, we spoke with Antônio Salgado, UI/UX Manager at Venturus. He explained in detail the main differences between these two specialties, the benefits of their use and why it is worth the investment in this area.
What is UI and UX?
These are two areas of design, which, together, aim to generate products capable of providing the best possible experience for the end user.
UI It is the User Interface, it is what promotes user interaction with the product, be it a website, a keyboard, or the display screen of a cell phone.
UX, on the other hand, is the User Experience, which goes beyond the physical part, focusing on the user's sensory experience. From his perceptions about the brand, product, or service, to the moment he uses it.
What are the main differences between UI and UX?
In theory, UI is part of UX: the interface is part of the user experience. In the professional market, however, there is a greater separation of skills and interests between these two specialties.
To explain the main differences between UI and UX, let's think about the Double Diamond methodology, which divides the creation of creative projects into 4 specific steps: Discovery, Definition, Development, and Delivery.
The parts of Discovery and Definition are part of the first diamond. The second diamond, in turn, represents the phases of Development and Delivery.
A designer who works only with the first diamond will focus on research and strategy definition. This professional is a UX specialist. Within this field, there are still several sub-areas that can be reflected in specialized positions, such as UX Researcher, UX Strategist or UX Writer.
Designers focused only on UI are those who carry out activities related to the second diamond. When working with digital products and interfaces, these professionals carry out flowchart design, interaction design, prototyping and screen design, in addition to taking care of the delivery and validation with users and usability tests.
Designers focused on the second diamond can also work with other types of physical products. In these cases, they help with the creation of the product itself, accessories and even its packaging.
Although a team may have different professionals working in these roles, it's important to understand that they don't work without contact. As Double Diamond itself implies, the research work must serve as the basis for the user interface, which, in turn, must be valid through research.
A professional who works with the entire Double Diamond is called a generalist designer. It performs both UX and UI activities. This professional can work on stages related to research, definition, strategy, prototyping, and then delivery. In the market, you can call yourself a UX/UI designer or just a UX designer.
What are the benefits of UI/UX and why invest in them now?
The main objective of UI and UX is to deliver value to the user through the best possible experience. This is done directly or indirectly, through different business gains:
Improving the user experience
When a product is designed to meet the user's needs, it actually delivers value to the user. This is only possible when there is a good level of understanding about what the user needs and what is the best way to offer it to them.
For this purpose, research, business modeling and tests are carried out. In this way, it is possible to think of a market strategy that makes sense for the target audience.
A good example of how to provide a good user experience is Netflix. Before, the concept of home entertainment was heavily dependent on pay cable TV. Neflix modified this standard format to something that no one knew it needed, making streaming systems the new benchmark for home leisure. Today, this new model is already part of our daily lives.
User loyalty
The good usability of the product helps with user loyalty. This is because well-developed products add value to those who use them.
The user experience is defined by several elements. Peter Morville proposes a model for representing the user experience ecosystem called User Experience Honeycomb.
The model has 7 elements. According to them, a product must be:
- Helpful: when you realize the uselessness of what was acquired, you will only experience frustration.
- Usable: the product must follow minimum usability rules for the user to achieve their objective in a satisfactory manner.
- Findable/Localizable: the product needs to be easy to find. If demand is higher, what is the experience of the consumers who are waiting to buy? Are you still waiting or have you already migrated?
- credibly: how much trust does your brand bring to the product? Some people associate trust with the brand. Thus, they avoid or buy products according to their brand.
- Desirable: your product must generate an emotional reaction of desire in its potential user. Whether for aesthetic reasons, affective memory or other elements.
- Accessible: create an inclusive experience that considers the most diverse user needs.
- Improving the image in the market: Who has never purchased a product because they saw an advertisement about it and then were disappointed after a short time of use? Poor user experience creates frustration and damages the product's image in the market.
More assertive development process
Carrying out good research on the viability of a product has many benefits, since, with it, it is possible to have a better idea of what users need. That way, we can develop a more efficient solution. Even if it is necessary to make some improvement, it will be smaller than a product developed without these references.
This also reduces the cost to develop the product, as it results in increasingly assertive product iterations. That way, the process requires fewer development cycles. The result is the reduction of expenses for correcting the project.
The discovery process with design
O Product Discovery is a methodology used by Venturus to assist companies in the development of their products. He puts Double Diamond into practice, using both UI and UX specialties and realizing all its benefits, helping teams to design and complete validation of the proposed product.
Many startups don't work out, give up, or cease to exist for exactly this reason: when the product is launched, it can be seen that There is no market interest on what's being offered.
Product Discovery provides the advantage of actually validate the product that will be delivered. In this way, it is possible to verify whether value will be delivered to users with that product.
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