Understanding UI,UX.
In a world where everything requires an upgrade daily,you will agree with me that tech is the best thing that’s happened to mankind ,from enhancing farming to medicine to creating top careers globally.It’s safe to say technology makes the world go round.
Design,a tiny yet huge branch of technology, isn’t about just making a commodity appealing,it is about taking a product from being utilizable to fascinating, satisfying and eye-opening.
If you’re reading this,you’re most likely on the same journey as me to make findings on what UI/UX entails,the differences & similarities,what designers do and what you need to proceed this path.So for the newbies,I’ll try to explain what i know using real life choices.
When getting an item,for instance a bag,there are 2 types of consumers;Ms. A who is particular about looks,feels,colors ,embellishments and brand name and Ms. B who is more interested in Size,Functionality(Is this bag for workplace/casual hangouts or is it multifunctional?),Quality(the materials,the seams and the zippers) and Price.
In this case,for someone who has chosen to go for an attractive bag with low quality explains-A great User Interface(UI) design and poor User eXperience(UX) design- And for the other person who has gotten the bag with better quality and deficient appearance explains the poor User Interface(UI) design and great User eXperience(UX) design.
Simply put,UI design is more concerned with the visual properties and overall feel it conveys but without great UX,even the most beautifully designed UI will cause bad user experience.
You get?
Take a deep breath and remember: UI & UX being interdependent does not cancel their differences and i have put some together in the image below.
The roles of each designer in the construction of a product can not be overemphasized.While the UX designer simply understands,analyzes consumer’s/user’s needs and ensure the needs are met,they also create the bare bones of the user’s journey and ensure it flows easily from one step to another and the UI designer helps fill the skeleton with visual/interactive elements and focuses on consistency of a product and it’s artful appearance.
Moving to the FUNDAMENTALS OF UI/UX,These are the core base or elementary of designing .According to research,there are many important principles within UX design but to simplify things abit, they’ve been broken down into five main concepts: Empathy,Strategy,Usability,Inclusivity and Validation.
Empathy:A good designer should be able to understand the feelings of users.Their pain,needs and expectations.
Usability:A good designer must consider users of all age,abilities and disabilities,affordability and accessibility to make a simple yet operational design.
Inclusivity:Designers are required to make efforts to take into account the needs of people of all races,ages,genders,backgrounds,socioeconomic statuses and more.
Strategy:For every design project,a designer must have a well defined plan,set of goals,preferred design system and research method amongst other requirements before it begins.
Validation:One of the most crucial aspects of Ux design is to test proposed solutionswith real life users because feedbacks guide the design process.
The icons above represent some tools/computer programs required for UI/UX designs,some of which are web-based.These tools allow users create and collaborate as they influence the process of production,expression and perception of design ideas.
FIGMA
Figma is a free plan,cloud-based digital design and prototyping tool.It is used to create websites,apps or user-interface components.It allows people work collaboratively which means 2 or more designers can work on the same project at the same time.The design interactions and mobile optimized prototypes is amazing and this tool runs perfectly on Mac and windows PC.
Figma is 100% recommended for all budding designers as it is cheap and all it features is easily accessible.
This will be the end of this article,i hope i have been able to impact a little knowledge.I look forward to comments so kindly drop one or two if you have questions or reviews.
Till next time.
