Once and For All: What’s the Difference? How to Determine Which Designer You Need?
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In the digital design landscape, understanding the distinctions between UI/UX designers and web designers is crucial for anyone involved in creating user-friendly and visually appealing digital products. While these roles often overlap, each has its unique focus and expertise. This article will delve into the key differences, responsibilities, and specializations of UI/UX designers versus web designers, helping you understand which role you need for your project.
My Experience and Approach
In design since 2007. I’ve been focusing on user interfaces and interaction design since 2014. At our agency, ZAYATS, we focus on UX consulting for small and medium-sized businesses and the digital transformation of offline companies. We use a scientific approach to design, helping our clients create a seamless customer experience (CX) at every stage of interaction with potential customers.
Over the years, we’ve gained enough experience to understand the differences between various design roles and the nuances of each profession.
The Difference Between Web, UX, and UI Design
The primary difference between web, UX, and UI designers lies in their core responsibilities and areas of specialization:
- UX Designers: Focus on user experience and usability. They are concerned with the user’s journey through the product, ensuring that interactions are smooth, intuitive, and efficient.
- UI Designers: Concentrate on the visual and interactive elements of the product. They craft the look and feel, ensuring that the interface is both aesthetically pleasing and functional.
- Web Designers: Combine both UX and UI principles, creating comprehensive web applications. They need to understand usability and visual design while also possessing basic coding skills.
In essence, web designers are versatile specialists who bridge the gap between UX and UI, while UX and UI designers have more focused roles.
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Personal Experience (PE)
Ten years ago, I often encountered confusion during the hiring process. At that time, I was working in Europe as a senior UI UX designer, but I was frequently invited to roles meant for front-end developers or web designers. Today, the UX field alone has about eight specializations, such as Interaction Designer or UX Researcher. This proliferation of roles has made it challenging for businesses to understand the landscape and know who to hire to improve their digital products.
Responsibilities and Specializations
Web Designers
Web designers need to have a broad skill set that includes both UX and UI principles. Their responsibilities often include:
- Designing the user journey and overall structure of the website.
- Creating visual solutions for various tasks.
- Developing prototypes and layouts.
- Designing animations, logos, and brand identities.
- Adapting designs for different devices and screen sizes.
- Understanding and applying basic coding to bring designs to life.
- Conducting usability testing and optimizing website performance.
UX Designers
UX designers are primarily focused on the functionality and usability of the product. Their key responsibilities include:
- Conducting user research and product testing.
- Identifying the needs and pain points of the target audience.
- Creating wireframes and mockups.
- Developing user flow and journey maps.
- Identifying barriers and drivers in user interactions.
- Evaluating metrics and providing recommendations for improving the user journey.
- Creating prototypes to test and iterate on design concepts.
UI Designers
UI designers are responsible for the visual aspects of the product, ensuring that it is both attractive and easy to use. Their tasks typically involve:
- Determining the visual style and layout of the site.
- Designing each interface element, from buttons to icons.
- Compiling a UI kit that includes all graphical elements, typography, and color schemes.
- Ensuring stylistic consistency across the product.
- Making the design adaptable to different devices and screen resolutions.
Blurring Boundaries
As the digital design field evolves, the boundaries between web, UX, and UI designers are becoming increasingly blurred. Modern digital projects often require designers to have a comprehensive understanding of all three areas. This has led to the emergence of titles such as “Web Designer UX/UI” or “Product Designer.”
For example, designing a high-quality website for a tourism operator requires understanding the concerns of tourists, which involves both UX research and UI design. In smaller projects, one specialist might handle both UX and UI tasks, known as a UX/UI designer.
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Principles of Design
Good design is a balance of aesthetics and usability. It should solve the problems of both the business and its clients. Here are six key usability principles to keep in mind:
- Adapt design to users: Ensure that the design works for the user, not the other way around.
- Delegate complex information to the system: Use the system to handle large amounts of data and complex calculations.
- Save user data and effort: Design interfaces that retain user data to avoid redundant input.
- Make each screen self-explanatory: Ensure that each page can be understood on its own without relying on other pages.
- Provide continuous feedback: Keep the user informed about what is happening and at what stage.
- Avoid unnecessary elements: Simplify the design by minimizing the number of elements to reduce complexity.
What Does a Web Designer Do?
A web designer is a versatile specialist who creates designs for web applications and other visual representations of a brand or product. Their tasks often combine both UX and UI elements, and they need to be adept at:
- Planning user journeys and developing visual solutions.
- Creating prototypes and layouts.
- Designing animations, logos, and brand identities.
- Adapting designs for various mobile devices and screen sizes.
- Conducting usability testing and making improvements based on feedback.
Web designers must have a deep understanding of both user experience and visual design, often requiring some knowledge of coding to implement their designs effectively.
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What Does a UI Designer Do?
The main task of a UI designer is to create a user-friendly and visually appealing interface for a website or application. They are responsible for:
- Determining the visual style and layout of the interface.
- Designing each element of the interface, from registration forms to buttons and icons.
- Compiling a UI kit that includes all graphical elements, typography, and color schemes.
- Ensuring stylistic consistency across the product.
- Making the design adaptable to different devices and screen resolutions.
UI designers focus on the visual interaction between the user and the interface, ensuring that it is intuitive and engaging.
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What Does a UX Designer Do?
The primary responsibility of a UX designer is to design a successful user experience. They need to ensure that the interface helps the user achieve their goals efficiently. Their tasks include:
Here’s what a web designer does:
- Conducting user research and testing.
- Identifying target audience needs and pain points.
- Creating wireframes and mockups.
- Developing user flow and journey maps.
- Identifying barriers and drivers in product interaction.
- Evaluating metrics and providing recommendations for improvement.
- Creating prototypes to test and iterate on design concepts.
UX designers focus on the functionality and usability of the product, ensuring that it meets the needs of the users.
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The demand for UX designers is so high that this category of specialists has now split into several professions: UX Researchers, who conduct research; UX Designers, who create prototypes; Interaction Designers, who integrate research with prototypes; Information Architects, who structure information; Usability Analysts, who test usability; Content Strategists, who plan content; Visual Designers, who focus on aesthetics; and UX Writers, who craft user-friendly text.
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Experience suggests that web designers with broad skill sets may not always have deep expertise in every area. As a result, companies aiming for growth often prefer to hire specialized UX and UI designers separately. However, in the ecommerce field, web designers are still commonly employed as primary product design specialists.
Choosing the Right Designer
Selecting the appropriate designer for your project depends on your specific needs and goals:
- If you aim to improve financial performance or strategic positioning: Opt for a UX/UI designer with a strong focus on UX to conduct targeted research and enhance user engagement.
- If you need to establish an online presence quickly: Choose a web designer who can deliver a functional and visually appealing website efficiently.
Remember, the right designer can make a significant difference in the success of your digital project. If you have any questions or need further guidance, feel free to reach out.