Whether you’re interested in becoming a web designer or are looking to have a new website built, you’ll no doubt hear a lot about UI (user interface) and UX (user experience) design. Together, UI and UX design account for a website’s overall look, feel, and functionality. Separately, UI considers the visual design of a site, whereas UX focuses on how intuitively it’s laid out for the user. Caring about both these concepts helps UI/UX designers ensure they’ve created a product clients love that performs as well as possible in the marketplace. 

From a designer’s perspective, UI and UX are different aspects of a project and require different design principles. Because of this, some companies separate these elements into different roles. At Spigot, our design team works in close collaboration with the strategy team, with each bringing their expertise to the UX and UI aspects of projects. We’ve found that this partnership between designers focusing on UI and strategists handling UX leads to better project management and superior site builds. We typically assign one main designer to work closely with the strategy team throughout the project lifecycle. This approach allows us to steer the project from the initial client meeting through site launch while maintaining a targeted focus on customer and audience goals. The designer brings their UI expertise, while the strategy team contributes their UX insights, ensuring a well-rounded and effective final product.

UI vs UX

UI stands for user interface, and it refers to the visual elements and touchpoints (e.g., buttons, icons, images, animations) that visitors engage with on a digital product like a website. UX is user experience, and it considers the process of interacting with a product or service and how users feel about that process. 

While user experience is often discussed regarding digital products like websites or apps, it can also describe physical products like cars, coffee makers, and even stores. User interface, however, refers exclusively to digital products. 

For websites, both UI and UX affect a site’s overall design and user flow. To create an engaging user interface, a designer must consider page layout (everything from header position to the amount of white space on a page), color palette, font selection, and interactive elements (buttons, dropdown menus, etc.). To build a positive user experience, designers must work with intuitive navigation, user flow, and goal attainment in mind. 

Ultimately, UI and UX aim to produce a website that’s enjoyable to use. And since UI and UX have both differing and overlapping aspects, prioritizing each leads to the best possible product. Even the most beautifully designed site in the world won’t perform well if users wait too long for a page to load or are forced to dig through a confusing layout to find what they’re looking for. 

UX & UI Design

UI and UX designers’ work is integral to a website’s performance and therefore impacts a website’s ROI for a business. To ensure they build the best product possible, designers must collaborate with clients and developers to meet business needs and bring the concept to life as intended. 

Depending on the company, the roles of UX and UI designers may or may not be separate. Broadly speaking, UI design prioritizes visual aesthetics and how the site looks, whereas UX design focuses on how the site functions and how useful it is. 

UX Designer:	UI Designer:
Focuses on how users interact from start to finish	Focuses on visual elements and touchpoints
Considers user flow through site and pages	Considers color, font, and image selection
Cares about structural design and information architecture	Cares about aesthetics
Has expertise in research and wireframes	Has expertise in layout and graphics

User Experience Design

The first use of the term “UX design” is credited to Don Norman, a cognitive scientist at Apple and a co-founder of a design consultancy. He defines the concept this way: “User experience encompasses all aspects of the end-user’s interaction with the company, its services, and its products.” 

Unlike UI, UX isn’t always digital. It applies to anything you might use or experience, such as cars, desks, remote controls, grocery stores, etc. Today, however, it’s mentioned most commonly when talking about products in the digital world. 

Regarding websites, UX website designers care most about creating functional, memorable, fun-to-use sites with easily accessible information. Their main goal is to create a website that delivers an overall pleasant user experience based on their research regarding user needs. The foundation of their work is identifying a user’s goal and creating the most intuitive path for them to achieve it. 

It’s also common for UX designers to undertake tasks related to project management. Think of UX designers as advocates for the users of a website. Everything they do focuses on making the most useful and functional product possible for the person visiting it. 

Specific tasks UX designers are typically responsible for include:

• Competitor analysis
• UX research to determine goals, behaviors, and pain points
• Developing user personas based on target audience
• Mapping user journey to ensure intuitive interaction with a site
• Creating low- or mid-fidelity wireframes focused on layout and navigation 
• Implementing user testing to identify potential issues and ensure optimal UX 
• Developing and mapping content 
• Collaborating with UI designers, developers, and clients
• UX testing, analysis, and iteration  

User Interface Design

With visual design as their foremost concern, UI website designers focus on site aesthetics to engage users. They prioritize how the finished product design feels in terms of presentation and interactivity, ultimately aiming to create satisfying and pleasant products. Unlike UX, UI is a term strictly used to describe digital products. 

The term “user interface” refers to the place where a user and digital product interact. For a website, this includes touchpoints like buttons, dropdown menus, and sliders. UI design includes visual aspects like typography, image selection, white space, and responsive design.  Also, UI must evaluate whether a site is accessible and inclusive. This could include creating color contrast to enhance readability and ensuring palette selection caters to color blindness. 

Primary aspects UI designers are in charge of include:

• Creating high-fidelity wireframes to show stakeholders the final design concept 
• Selecting colors, fonts, images, and videos 
• Laying out visual page features like header placement and whitespace allocation 
• Designing interactive elements like buttons, dropdown menus, scroll bars, animations, and image carousels
• Implementing a visual guide for users to intuitively understand how to move through a page or site
• Maintaining consistency regarding branding to ensure a seamless multichannel user experience 
• Adapting design elements across all device screen sizes, including laptops, desktops, tablets, and phones through responsive design
• Implementing design with developers 

UX and UI in Custom Website Development

To get from client request to finished site, the design process typically begins with user experience aspects and ends with user interface components. The UX designer creates the high-level shape, structure, and functionality, and then the UI designer colors in the details. 

Custom website design and development typically follows these general steps:

1. UX designer conducts user research
2. UX designer determines the site’s information architecture and develops a low- or mid-fidelity wireframe to present to the client
3. Client reviews wireframe to ensure the gap between the user’s needs and the business’s needs is bridged
4. UI designer determines visual and interactive design elements for the site, ensuring continuity in branding 
5. UI designer turns concept over to developer for coding and design implementation

UI and UX Design 

UX and UI are interdependent aspects of building or redesigning a website. Both use design thinking and an understanding of user needs to create a site that’s enjoyable and effective. When done well, designs that prioritize UI UX achieve the goals of both the client and the client’s target audience. 

If you’re looking to build a website and want a team that knows all the ins and outs of UI UX design, send us a note, and let’s talk today!