Design is a Much Broader Field Than It First Appears
Most of us think of a designer as a graphic artist, the person who handles visuals. However, this “visual” aspect is quite diverse, spanning numerous areas. There are product designers, automobile designers, gadget designers, fashion designers, print designers, website designers, app designers, and many, many more. In today’s online-dominated world, design plays an essential role. Without the magic of those working in design, websites, applications, and our entire online experience would be completely bland.
In online design, two roles particularly stand out under the designer umbrella: UX designer and UI designer. What does each involve and what are the differences? We’ll find out right away.
In 2017, skills in Sketch, Photoshop, Illustrator, and other graphic processing and prototyping programs are more valued than ever. Job postings for UX designers and UI designers are everywhere. We must acknowledge that this is one of the jobs with the greatest potential. In large companies, small firms, and advertising agencies alike, there’s a need for designers everywhere. One of the biggest advantages of this job is that it can be performed remotely, making it an option that offers many opportunities and flexibility.
UX Designer
A UX designer is a user experience designer. In other words, this designer ensures that a product, regardless of its nature, best meets the user’s requirements. The designer must find the simplest and most user-friendly path for the user to reach their destination. A UX designer must be, above all, very practical, but also empathetic and logical. Their activity includes a good deal of research, where they devise scenarios and test different models.
In day-to-day activities, they work together with a visual designer, or UI designer, to plan the visual identity and functionality of a product. A UX designer delivers diagrams, charts, sitemaps, and scenarios to the client. These user experience models are created using Photoshop, Sketch, Illustrator, Fireworks, or InVision.
UI Designer
A UI designer focuses on the user interface and ensures that a product’s interface (e.g., website, application, etc.) visually communicates the lines conceived by the UX designer. A UI designer can use sliders, patterns, grids, and different styles to create an intuitive visual language. The UI designer handles the visual structure of pages and decides the flow and how information is displayed. To carry out their activities, a user interface designer uses Photoshop, Sketch, Illustrator, or Fireworks.
Although the two positions have different purposes and descriptions, in many situations, the UX designer also handles the UI part and vice versa.
We can thus hear of art directors, motion designers, interactive designers, logo designers, or animation designers. The field is therefore very vast and continuously growing. Being an important part of the online world and new technologies, design will bring more and more surprises and will never stop evolving.
