What is UI/UX design?
The two halves are usually said in one breath because they are rarely done apart. UX, user experience, covers the shape of the thing: who it is for, what they need to do, how the content is organized, what steps a task takes and where people get stuck. UI, user interface, covers the surface: the layout, the type, the color, the buttons, the icons, the motion and every state each element can be in. UX decides that the checkout has three steps; UI decides what each step looks like and how it feels to move through it.
In large companies they are often separate roles, with researchers, UX designers and UI or visual designers working in sequence. In smaller teams and agencies one designer usually does both, which is where the combined title comes from. Either way the disciplines depend on each other: a beautiful interface on a confusing structure fails, and so does a perfect structure that looks untrustworthy.
Why it matters
Why UI/UX design matters
It is the difference between a product people choose and one they tolerate. Good UX means visitors find what they came for, finish what they started and come back. Good UI means they trust the product on sight, understand it without instructions and enjoy using it. Together they drive the numbers businesses care about, conversion, retention and support costs, and they carry the brand into the places advertising cannot reach: the moment someone books, buys, signs up or gives up.
In practice
How UI/UX design works in practice
- 01
The UX work comes first. Research with real users and a look at the data define the problems; the content and tasks are mapped into a structure; flows are sketched as wireframes and turned into prototypes that are tested with people before any visual design is final. The aim at this stage is a product that works in gray boxes, because if it does not work there, color will not save it.
- 02
Then the UI is designed on top of that structure, from the brand's identity rather than a template: a type system, a color palette with meaning, a grid, components with all their states and motion that explains change. It is built into a component library so the product stays consistent, tested again on real devices and with assistive technology, and refined after launch as real use shows what to fix.
At RIOT
UI/UX design at RIOT
We practice it on our own products as well as for clients. Krova, our production software, is a web app; AltSounds, a music video channel, and Muvvoo, a music video database, are web products; and their interfaces are designed and built in-house. A product you have to live with yourself is the fastest teacher of UI/UX there is, because every confusing label and slow screen comes straight back to you.
Watch out
What people get wrong about UI/UX design
Using the term to mean making screens look nice. That is part of UI, and the UX that decides whether the screens make sense is the larger part of the job. Second, skipping research because the team feels it already knows the users, and building for itself. Third, treating UI/UX as a phase that ends at launch. A design is only proven by use, and the best products are improved continuously in small steps rather than overhauled every few years.
