UI or UX — Is it really important?

The story about User interface and user experience is indeed a long one. Looking back at how things have evolved over the years makes you see how important both of them are and how we can work efficiently and achieve more by combining both principles, keeping in mind that the end goal is to satisfy the user.

Here are a few things that could help begjnners/newbies in their UI/UX journey.

The experience of the user is just as important as the interface(this is my candid opinion — a lot of people disagree).

While user experience refers to the overall feel of the user while engaging with the product, the user interface which refers to the specific elements the user interacts with is also quite important. Even though a bad UX can sometimes be covered with a superb UI, you might not achieve your goals eventually.

A lot of emphasis has to be on the user and working through the design process where you empathize, define, ideate, prototype and test whatever you are building has been seen to play a huge role in ensuring the goals of a designer is achieved and that the user gets optimum satisfaction from the product

I can never get tired of talking about the users, everything has to be about them and a major lesson to note is that the moment your mind and actions while building is off the users then you products start to become useless.

The work of a UIUX designer is quite broad. Ranging from research to creating personas, wireframes and userflows and then theres the time to create prototypes, test and reiterate and create designs, test and reiterate and so many other things with a regular rinse/repeat of the entire process. All this is to ensure your users get the best.

Theres really so much that is required to be done by a designer and documenting your process as you move along helps you articulate your thoughts, quickly move back when you notice errors you need to correct and also to help you keep track of what you’re doing.

Finally, use the appropriate tools as a designer.

There are quite a lot of tools out there you can play with but ensure whichever you decide to use is one you love and you’re quite familiar with.

As a beginner, getting the right tool to use is tricky but the best advice is to try a few and whichever you find comfortable, you can stick to it. A few of then include Invision studio, Figma, Adobe XD and Sketch.

There is no hard and fast rule, remember the tool is not the most important thing, the users are. So if your tool isnt going to help you satisfy the needs of your users and give them the best, change it