UI and UX Design: Disciplines that Influence Strategy

UI (user interface) and UX (user experience) are industry tools that are utilized to develop design and product to work closely together to stimulate interaction between a user and a product or service. User-centered design is just a starting point when strategizing one touch point to another. UI and UX equip designers with insights from content to analytics which create a smooth process that is driven by both strategy and user testing that influence overall brand interaction. 

User Interface 

User Interface, simply stated, is when a user interacts with a digital product or service. Stemming from user pathways, the UI design features strategically mapped journeys and micro-interactions through information architecture and data visualization. UI designers work to create an impactful interaction with digital products, meet visual expectations, and test well when presented to users. 

User Experience 

User Experience is an interactive approach to information architecture and data visualization that create ideal pathways and user journeys. UX requires a level of design detail as to which design will impact user behaviors. The UX approach optimally will result in a positive audience experience, engagement and conversion.

UI and UX Impact Design 

An authentic and frictionless experience is created with content delivery, conversion, and the brand story in mind. Websites that implement a UI/UX design process result in an improved user experience including increased customer loyalty, higher conversion rates, lowered abandonment rates and decreased customer service requests. The interface design process must balance the intent of visual elements and the user experience (UX) and be executable from a technical engineering perspective.

“Good UX and user interface design are no longer just ‘nice to have’ — they can determine whether a product is cool or not, valued or not, purchased or not. Even a product that is cool in concept can become uncool if its use is not Direct into Action.” Karen Holtzblatt, Contextual Design, Design for Life. 

UI and UX are evolving all the time with different ways to approach and utilize these tools. Working together in a team creates a design that is impactful and meaningful for the user. Gathering and collecting information on user personas and implementing user testing creates the chemistry of impactful and data-driven design, increasing retention and conversion rates across the brand landscape.