The difference between UX and UI designer. Creating UI design: rules. UX design comes in different sizes

| 18.08.2015

Many designers (including newbies) use the phrase “UI/UX design” in their resumes. This combination of the terms UI and UX is not entirely correct. Why this is so, read below.

What is UI

Translated from English, UI (user interface) is a user interface. Using such an interface, the user can interact, i.e., conduct a dialogue with devices, machines, and programs. A good example user interface is a mobile phone with a display and keys for various functions, car dashboard with control buttons, etc.

UI is what the user sees and interacts with on the screen. When designing a high-quality UI, attention is paid not only to the appearance of the interface, but also to its logical structure, so that the user can extra effort, quickly and easily interact with it and achieve required result. In the computer field, a UI developer is faced with the task of creating an interface that provides simple, understandable and convenient user interaction with a product (program, website, etc.).

But in order to clearly understand how to create high-quality user interface for a specific product, it is necessary to study the behavior, emotions and reactions of users when interacting with this product, conduct testing, and collect data. A person, interacting with any system, experiences sensations and reacts in a certain way during its use. This is called user experience, or UX.

What is UX

The sensations and reactions that a user experiences when interacting with a product (in our case this is computer programs, sites, applications, etc.) are called interaction experience (UX, user experience). UX is what the user feels and remembers as a result of using a program, application or website. UX is taken into account when developing UI, creating information architecture, usability testing. Having determined the target audience and the characteristics of the main user, you can create a list of requirements for the project.

The first step is to find out what expectations and desires potential users and the customer of the product (program, website, etc.) have. In the second step, we determine functionality, available to users. Next step- website (or other product) design, structure and navigation development, intuitive understandable to users, as well as a thoughtful layout of all user interface elements. Last step- appearance, product design that will be convenient and pleasant to use.

conclusions

As you can see, UI is part of UX. The goal of both is to improve, simplify, make it more convenient. But, although these terms are closely related, they are by no means synonymous. You can have a great UI but terrible UX, and vice versa. Designers mainly deal with UI. The UX industry is studied by other specialists - designers, analysts, marketers. To achieve maximum results, you need professional work specialists from both fields.

Introducing new article series. In this part of the series, we will consider the position of a UX/UI designer - a specialist responsible for compliance appearance and product logic.

UX/UI designer- a specialist who designs user interfaces.

Typical work day includes:

• work on priority tasks (design, drawing);
• communication with the customer;
• making edits.

Advantages and disadvantages

The profession attracts designers with the opportunity to make the world a better place, as well as with its promise and demand in the market:

“I like to think that you are able to solve a problem for a large audience, or at least make the process of perceiving content more enjoyable and interesting. It’s interesting to poke around people and try to understand what they really need, and then figure out how to implement it.”

“The area is very interesting because right decisions designers can significantly simplify and improve the quality of life of the group of people for whom a certain product or project is being developed. You can also learn a lot about various types business in the world, which can be useful for starting your own business and having a more global view of the world.”

“Personally, I'm annoyed by stupid apps, awkward button placements in elevators, ill-designed car interiors - I like to do something that can improve this. This world is so imperfect (not nature - everything is perfect and balanced there) that there is always work for a smart designer.”

“I studied to be a system administrator programmer, but it was always interesting to do something in Photoshop. Previously, there weren’t as many tutorials, video lessons and articles as there are now, so I learned most of the functions and features at random. Later I decided to try Illustrator, it was much better more difficult than Photoshop, but great for creating a vector. I like to create something new, something useful and beautiful, I like to improve and see the result achieved. The field of design allows you to do all this. It’s also interesting how trends change, new programs and features appear, you always need to follow all this and constantly develop.”

“I like UX/UI design because it is a very promising direction. Technologies are developing very quickly, some interfaces are being replaced by new ones, and all of them need to be designed. Here you can not only think about whether the interface looks beautiful, but also about how convenient it is and how much it can solve a person’s problem (either quickly find the right cafe, or book a ticket to a concert, or help prepare your favorite dish) . Interfaces are everywhere: from medical equipment to cars. When cars fly, it will be necessary for someone to think through the interaction of their interface with a person. And it will be us - UX/UI designers."

Another plus is the ability to work remotely (20% of all designers), big choice freelance projects.

Among the minuses Designers call their profession communication with customers who don’t know what they want, as well as being underestimated by IT colleagues:

“In 80-90% of cases, you have to work without technical specifications with requirements like: “Make it mega-beautiful and mega-configurable.”

“I consider the attitude towards design and designers in Ukraine to be a disadvantage of the profession. For some reason, everyone thinks that if they once opened Photoshop, then they can automatically be designers and independently decide how much time will be spent on the design. Inexperienced managers and programmers are especially guilty of this (one newbie manager claimed that he could complete the task in 30 minutes in Paint, but he doesn’t have time for creativity).”

“The disadvantages are the lack of any serious training and lack of understanding of competent processes and methodologies in the market. In outsourcing, it is impossible to track the results and increase your own best practices. The product is somewhat monotonous for mature people and complete chaos for startups.”

“The downsides - as in all IT - are sedentary work, painful eyes and sometimes a customer who needs to make the white #ffffff even whiter :)”

How to become and where to move next

The first and main skill in UI is to master graphics editor. The most popular toolkit - Adobe Photoshop, Sketch, Principle, Adobe Illustrator,After Effects. To begin with, you can try redrawing screenshots of any mobile application or website. But don’t just copy (although you need to be able to do that too), but notice some inconvenience and offer a solution on how to do it better.

It is also important to understand color theory, typography, composition, website ergonomics (principles of interface usability), as well as the basics of marketing, business analysis, and psychology. For more effective communication with developers, layout skills (HTML/CSS) and basic knowledge of JavaScript and frameworks will be useful.

You can start studying UX by becoming familiar with the methodology by reading books by Nielsen Norman, Alan Cooper, Jeff Raskin, Steve Krug, Alistair Coburn. More applied literature - “The User Experience Team of One: A Research and Design Survival Guide" Leah Buley.

"IN modern world There are many possibilities for implementation. I have purchased and continue to purchase online courses on platforms such as Coursera, Udemy, Edx. I watch online conferences from Adobe, Google, read technical literature, analyze work on Dribbble, Behance, Awwwards.”

“A UX/UI designer needs to study the classics of the user interface: “Don’t Make Me Think” by Steve Krug, “The Design of Common Things” by Norman, read Luke Wroblewski. You need to constantly practice, put yourself in the user’s shoes. Find a mentor who will point out mistakes, give advice and encourage growth.”

You can start your career by freelancing on various English-language platforms; it will also be useful to test your skills at championships, for example, Dev Challenge. This will help you build your portfolio.

UX and UI skills and competencies ()

Personal qualities that are important are:

• perseverance;
• perseverance;
• creative thinking;
• perfectionism;
• desire to learn and develop;
• ability to hear criticism.

“The person who designs interfaces is an engineer, he must have strong analytical thinking, highly developed empathy skills and the ability to penetrate into the essence of things. Of course, there are also practical skills - this is possession various technologies and tools, but this, as a rule, comes in second place; a person must be an engineer by nature. And it’s not difficult to become one if you work hard at it, read books and articles on design (composition, color science, typography) and psychology (you need to understand how a person makes choices and how his brain works), go to lectures and workshops and a lot to practice".

Possible career paths UX/UI designer:

• improve as a designer, increase your rate (if you are a freelancer);
• master related areas, developing as a product designer, VR designer, VFX designer, Game designer;
• grow to the position of Art Director (Head of Design);
• develop as if you want to switch from design to product management in general;
• become if you are interested in coordinating people;
• do if you are more interested in the technical aspect;
• master programming and become a UI developer;
• try yourself in marketing or .

“Technology is developing very quickly and something new appears all the time, everything requires its own specific design, has its own requirements and features. And we, designers, will help it all become better, more beautiful and more convenient :)"

I thank Yulia Bondarenko, Maxim Palivoda, Marina Popovichenko and 25 other Ukrainian designers who told DOU about their position for their help in writing the article. The quotes given in the article are taken from their stories.

Creating the best chocolate brownies will require both UX and UI. I'm serious. To get started, you will need a recipe, ingredients, kitchen utensils and an oven. Then: mix, bake, cut, put on plates, serve and eat.

But which of this is UX and which is UI? The process of making is UX, and the process of plating and serving is UI.

What about eating? This is UX; except when it's not UX. Would the consumer have a different experience if the cakes were served straight from the pan or presented beautifully on a plate? I would say yes, the latter would be preferable.

In this article, I will share with you five differences between UX and UI design. Let's hope that by the end of it, you will know about them best performance. Let me say right away that although you will notice differences, some of them will be very similar to each other.

With that disclaimer, let's take a look at some of the differences between the two.

UX is not UI

UX design, or design user experience, is the process by which necessity is determined. A rough prototype is then drawn, which is later validated (or not) through testing. When both the business model and value proposition are confirmed, the product is ready.

UI, or user interface design, can be thought of like this:

User Interface Design = Visual Design + Interaction Design.

Visual design is how a site looks, its personality, if you will; brand. Interaction design is how people interact with your website. When someone presses a button, does it change in a way that makes it clear that it has been pressed?

While both UX and UI designers create interactions, UX designers can be considered macro-interaction architects, and UI designers can be considered micro-interaction creators who deal with the details.

According to designer Nick Babich:

“The best products do two things well: function and detail. Features are what attract people to your product. The details are what hold them together.”

A UX designer would rather design user flows, the steps a user would take to, for example, sign up for a newsletter. What steps will they follow and how will they know they succeeded?

The project then goes to the UI designer. The UI designer will enhance these interactions by adding color and highlighting. original design, giving them tips, and showing them directions to the newsletter.

UI makes interfaces beautiful

A useful product satisfies a need that the market has not yet encountered. A UX designer's research process involves competitive analysis, developing personas, and then creating a minimum viable product; product that will be valuable to your target audience. This is confirmed by testing throughout life cycle product.

Once the user flows and wireframes are prototyped and tested, the process moves on to the UI designer - his job will be to make it all look good. This includes choosing a color scheme and design that is both beautiful and easy to use. However, color choices, design, and interactions are not based on the designer's personal preferences, but rather on clearly articulated persona-specific reasons developed by UX designers. With their help, UI designers implement a visual hierarchy that will serve as a guide for users, explaining to them what and when to do to achieve their goal.

A well-designed hierarchy will highlight one main goal on the page letting users know where they are on the site and what they can do at any this moment time. The hierarchy handles this by using conventions and patterns that are already familiar to users. These patterns will give users direction.

UX helps users achieve their goals

UI creates emotional connections

People come to your site to do something. Perhaps someone is looking for a dog for a small apartment.

The UX side of things can look at people as dog lovers and try to understand what is important to them. What do they value or need when seeking help in choosing their furry friend? To understand this, they begin work. They ask questions, observe people, interview them, maybe do prototypes and some guerilla testing to see if they can help them.

Once you've got your basic usability in place, according to Aaron Walter, author of Design for Emotion, the loyalty of your users will depend on the personality of your interface. Bright design can attract people to your site, they may even linger if there is something to do there. And when is it formed personal connection– they are on the hook. Does your interface make them laugh? Does he grab them? How cocky is he? Aaron says, “People will forgive your shortcomings, follow you, and sing your praises if you reward them with positive emotions.” This is where the UI designer comes in.

First the UX design is created

Then (sometimes) the UI design is created

How do UX and UI designers work together throughout the design process?

Typically, UX design and research are the first steps when deciding to create a product or application. UX designers conduct much of the research that confirms or disproves a product's initial ideas and guides its development.

Once the prototype has been tested several times and is almost ready, the UI designer comes in and starts working on visual design and micro-interactions.

However, this path is not always linear and depends on many factors. For example:

• Who does UX and UI?
• The same person, or someone different, and a different team?

UX is used in all products, interfaces and services

UI refers only to interfaces

User experience design is a vast field and is becoming more popular every day. Nowadays, not only companies using the web, but many others developing products or providing services are beginning to grasp the value of understanding their users and validating hypotheses before the creation process begins.

User Interface Design is about user interfaces. This does not mean that it is limited to the graphical user interface of computers, tablets, and mobile devices. These days, interfaces can be found in many other products, such as watches, washing machines, dashboards in cars, vending machines, and much more.

I recently read about an iPhone app that will unlock your car door. It turns out that this set of interactions involves many more steps than simply using a key to open a door. Whether we're designing for the interface, or the experience, we must ensure that our users remain at the heart of the process.

conclusions

It is almost impossible to separate UX from UI or UI from UX.

But if you try, you can conclude that:

• UX design helps users complete tasks in the environment various platforms and services.
• UI design creates attractive and aesthetic interfaces that connect with people.

Translation of an article by Don Sklecht

The head of R&D at Ak Bars answers the main questions about the profession of UX designer Digital Technologies"and curator of the UX/UI Design program at the British higher school design Yaroslav Shuvaev, as well as the head of the department for analytical research of user interaction at Sberbank-Technology Alina Ermakova, head of cloud services at MegaLabs (Megafon) Dmitry Ershov and certified UX/UI designers.

1. How can I explain to my grandmother what I do if I am a UX/UI designer?

It all depends on the level of pumping of the grandmother. If your grandmother is a UX/UI designer, then most likely you won’t need any simplifying metaphors. For a less inquisitive grandmother, this may be an excuse: “I work on mobile and online applications.” If we try to create a definition from words understandable to the average grandmother, which most succinctly and closely reflects the meaning, then it will be: “I am engaged in improving the quality digital services(UX), including the design of points and channels for receiving these services (UI).”

Tatiana Pchelintseva, in graduate of the UX/UI Design course at BHSHD

“To my grandmother... It turned out that even my dad, until recently, did not understand what I was doing. There was a funny incident. Dad asked who I was studying to be. I replied that we make digital products and improve user experience. (Pause) “Are you selling cheese online?” I still don’t understand why exactly cheese, but I was very impressed. I had to tell you that each of us is a UX designer.

My parents recently renovated their apartment and arranged it according to their needs: wall shelves at the height at which it would be convenient for mom to place books, the sofa is at such a distance from the TV that its impact on the eyes is minimal, the coffee maker is always in a visible place . A UX designer also designs, but not so much his own experience as someone else’s: he identifies the goals of the user/business, identifies their pain points and offers solutions.”

Denis Ushakov, in BHSHD graduate

“The hardest thing about what I do was explaining to my grandmother, who perceives the phrase “product design” as something related to a grocery store - and constantly asks what kind of products I work with. :)

But in general, an explanation using the example of a car steering wheel is quite suitable for both grandmothers and parents: UX design explains the location of the steering wheel in the car, and UI explains its appearance.”

As an example, we can cite one of our students’ graduation projects this year - a digital showcase for Tele2. This is a self-service kiosk in Tele2 stores, which allows you to get necessary services yourself and save time. The students of the course were faced with the task of reworking the UX and UI of the digital storefront so as to make this service convenient, increase conversion and “digitize” communications between subscribers and the mobile operator.

Project of students of the course “UX/UI Design” of BVSD for Tele2: digital showcase for Tele2

The designers thought through both the list of showcase functions and their sequence, the location of navigation on the screen, and the steps to obtain this service. To do this effectively, it is not enough to just render the screen, everything is developed based on research, testing and other product design tools that a UX/UI designer must master.

2. What competencies does an ideal UX/UI designer have?

At the time the term “user experience design” (UXD) appeared, the term “interface design” (UID) already existed and had a clear, stable list of artifacts - those results of the work of a digital product interface designer that made it possible to create an interface: icons, buttons, creating mockups, UI kit, working with fonts, grids, creating illustrations, and so on.

The introduction of UXD competencies into the development of digital solutions gave rise to a class of UX designers who added new artifacts to this process related to a more scientific and metric approach to service design: usability studies, user research, information architecture development, analysis of user routes. It's as if a furniture designer worked together with an ergonomist to create chairs that are not just beautiful and strong, but also more comfortable.

With the advent of a flexible approach in software(Agile, Scrum), the number of highly specialized experts in teams begins to decrease due to an increase in the number of competencies of each participant. In agile product teams, it immediately becomes clear that the separation of UX and UI responsibilities increases development time due to the fact that the requirements for “acceptance” of work between designers are constantly changing and growing. In the end, one of the designers may get sick, then all work stops. Therefore, product teams prefer to recruit UX/UI designers who combine, albeit sometimes superficially, both UXD and UID competencies, rather than two deep experts.

Combination of UX/UI designer competencies

How much do such designers earn? The most accurate answer to this question is hh.ru. According to the service, today companies are ready to offer UX/UI designers from 70 to 200 thousand per month or more.

You can build your trajectory from different starting points, but, of course, if you start from a graphic designer, software developer, digital business analyst, social or psychological researcher, then this trajectory will be shorter and the path will be faster. In design teams there is an element of complementarity and mutual learning. To ensure the effectiveness of this process, so-called “star maps” are drawn up, which indicate the degree of proficiency in various competencies. And, for example, if a designer does not know animation, then he is moved to a team where this skill is developed. This is what we do with our students, only rotation occurs at the end of each module.

Daria Salnikova, UX/UI designer at Tele2

“Before studying at Britanka, I worked as a graphic designer, there were projects on web services, but at some point I didn’t like the fact that I connected to the product only at the last stage, when I could no longer influence its usability. That is, you draw buttons, icons, arrange them according to the specifications, even if you internally understand that this will be inconvenient or will not solve the problem.

Therefore, I decided to delve deeper into UX/UI design, to understand how a product is developed from scratch, research is conducted, the user, his tasks and behavior are studied? and how all this is reflected in the interface. First, I took an introductory online course from AIC, then I went to Britannia for practice. After several training projects for Zolotaya Korona and Mail.Ru, I got a job as a UX/UI designer at Tele2. In addition to the portfolio, it was important how I can work in a team, what roles I occupied in these projects, what tasks, in addition to interfaces, I can solve other soft skills.

Now I'm working on a loyalty system for Tele2 customers. And this is completely different: we work with analysts, and when it comes to the UI, I can already argue for the location, shape, color of each interface element. We had guys on the course who didn’t come from the design field (marketers, managers, developers). During the course, they mastered prototyping tools and learned how to make some interface elements. It is clear that they do not have such a background in design as graphic designers. But it’s so great when even managers or developers understand design, can make a prototype, fix a banner, an icon, and generally begin to understand that design is a lot of work.”

Dmitry Ershov, Head of Cloud Services, MegaLabs JSC

“MegaLabs has several teams, between which MegaFon products are distributed. For example, we are now looking for designers for the MegaFon.Bank and MegaFon.TV teams. When I have already looked at the portfolio and communicate with a UX/UI specialist, I first check the knowledge of theory: composition, typography, color. I ask several questions on each topic, and if the designer answers “that’s how I see it” - immediately minus 1 point. But if, for example, he suggests choosing a color using a triadic scheme, it becomes clear that he is familiar with the basics of color.

When the theory is tested, I find out which of the five levels of UX according to Jess Garrett’s model is the most “pumped up” for the candidate, and depending on the level, I give several tasks. MegaFon product designers are people who create interfaces based on the goals and needs of the company's clients. Preference is given to those who understand the problems and offer several solutions on the spot.

Questions about development are also always asked during interviews. Usually I show several sites and ask how many columns are in the grid, or how JS differs from CSS. The designer must be able to explain all this in order to “package” his ideas in a language understandable to developers.”

3. Is it difficult to find a job?

On the one hand, the industry is experiencing a shortage of such specialists and is willing to pay a lot, on the other hand, now many designers are looking for work and cannot find a decent place for a long time. What is the problem with both?

First of all, you need to change your thinking. From “how to make beautiful portfolio screens” to “how to make people happier after interacting with a product.” It may turn out that you won't have to draw screens at all, and people will be grateful for that. To create these artifacts, current design tools and methodologies are used: Design thinking, User story mapping, User Flow Mapping, Customer Journey Mapping, Split testing, Usability testing, quantitative research and many others. Although sometimes you can come to correct results the wrong way. The market situation for new professions is unstable; now this is a fairly popular and profitable occupation, but demand creates supply.

Evgeniy Zasimenko, graduate of the Higher School of Art and Design, product designer at Avito

“I started looking for a job as a product designer a few months before the end of the course. I can’t say that it’s very active, but I liked Avito when we were there on an excursion from the British woman. The hiring process was fairly standard for the design field: viewing a portfolio, test, two interviews, and I received an offer.

Product development is first and foremost teamwork, in which the designer must be involved from the very beginning and be engaged in rendering interfaces based on metrics and research, be able to create prototypes for testing, work in conjunction with developers and, most importantly, must help achieve a common goal.”

The processes of companies that require a product designer raise the bar for entry: in addition to understanding design tools, they also require practical experience in using them, as well as the ability to work in a team. Therefore, in addition to current tools and methodologies, we give our students real cases from major brands and unite them into cross-functional teams.

During this year we managed to complete about 20 projects for the most different types companies: from the expected fintech - Alfa Bank, MTS, MegaFon - to startups from the field of agrotech. Many students were able to find work based on the results of defending their projects in the companies for which they did the project, because customers see their competencies and practical experience in the process.

Denis Ushakov, BHSHD graduate

“Our project was to develop the AgroClick mobile application for Exact Farming. An application for an agronomist-scouter helps him to contain all data about plants in one place, structure it and quickly share it. The essence of the solution is to accelerate communication between the agronomist-scouter, who is in the field all day and collects information about crops, and the specialist agronomist, who receives information in the office key decisions, for example, for the purchase of pesticides.

Now I continue to work on the project as a product designer already on the staff of this company. The customer himself offered me the position of a product designer, since they had already seen what I was capable of, we had experience collaboration. It seems to me that almost all of my classmates, by the end of their studies, got jobs related to UX/UI in companies such as Raiffeisenbank, Sberbank Technologies, Tele2, Mail.ru, IBM Russia and others.”

4. Will the demand for such specialists continue to grow in the next 5 years?

Due to the fact that businesses different companies- from banks to restaurants - are being digitized, we can expect an increase in in-house development and a transition to custom-made product development. Hence, the demand for UX/UI designers will be high. I can’t promise mountains of gold, as the market for new professions is adapting to demand faster and faster, as was the case with big data specialists, machine learning, blockchain and other areas, but an educated product designer with good portfolio and track record is now expensive and in demand all over the world.

“I think it’s not so much about the name “UX/UI design”, but about functionality and responsibility. Demand will not fall, of course, but for whom? There are waves: at first everyone was looking for a generalist - a designer, layout designer, copywriter. This was due to the fact that companies either did not have money for this, or they did not understand why they should spend it on designers. Then the UX hype began, in-house research and design departments appeared, and the concept of not so much a button as a user experience became popular. We started playing testing, design thinking, and eye trackers. We started thinking in processes, not in screens.

I think the next wave will be about awareness and implementation of core UX concepts and principles across all product-building professions. That is, specialists who at the DNA level understand the principles of research, basic methods of analyzing users and processes, and designing experiences will be in demand. And this does not exclude high design skills. I believe in the growth of design competence, because a designer is good, but the feeling of beauty in in a broad sense no one canceled the words.”

5. How does the work of a UX/UI designer affect your daily life?

If we accept that almost everything we use was invented by designers, then almost all mass-produced digital services- mobile sites, web services and others - are now being invented by Digital Product Designers. Banking applications, telecom operator services, e-commerce, dating services, geolocation and information services... You can continue for a long time - it’s easier to open the desktop mobile phone or laptop desktop and scroll through installed applications. All of these are digital products, the logical and visual components of which are worked on by UX/UI designers.

Project of students of the course “UX/UI Design” of BHSD for MTS: mobile guide for adaptation and development of MTS employees

The work may consist of either creating a completely new product or transferring it into digital view existing services. For example, our students made a case for MTS - a mobile guide for onboarding new employees and their development with a gamification system and other functions. There has always been an adaptation system: from the standard HR department to HR services and a mentoring system, but it was digital solution- This is something new. It is more flexible, efficient and allows you to solve different tasks companies through single service: networking, training, organization of employee work.

The lifespan of profitable business models is rapidly shrinking. To stay afloat, you need to constantly create new and develop existing digital products. Brands that cannot adapt to speed will fall off track. That's why modern companies switch to rapid adaptive cycles of constant change. This is just about the notorious Agile and Scrum. Design-Develop-Learn and again in a circle. Therefore, design expertise as part of this circle becomes fundamental.

Alina Ermakova, head of the department for analytical research of user interaction at Sberbank Technologies

“A couple of weeks ago I returned from the Enterprise UX conference in San Francisco. Large companies talked about how they design government services, or large fintech systems, or, for example, how Uber maintains consistency while being located in 77 countries. UX/UI is already in their DNA. This is not a stage, not a method, this is a normal production process. There are no design thinking ceremonies, for example.

The entire process of creating products is design thinking. The team uses necessary methods where they feel what is needed. It's part of the job. And it wasn’t young hipster designers hired to draw interfaces who took the stage. Aunts and uncles over 45, business owners, and managing directors of corporations came out. Because this is already at the level of common sense.”

6. What methodologies are the most popular now?

In Russia culture product design now it is just emerging. The Design Thinking framework has already become an integral part of the internal corporate training program in our large companies and corporations: Rosatom, Sberbank, Alfa Bank and others.

Design Thinking derivatives are traditionally popular in digital companies - Google Ventures Design Sprints, IBM Design Thinking, as well as various instrumental parts of Design Thinking - persona modeling, ethnographic research, stakeholder maps, Customer Journey Mapping and others. Relatively new, but worthy of attention is the Jobs To Be Done framework, where the product is developed not so much based on the characteristics of the user, but on the basis of the situation in which he finds himself. The demand for the methodology depends both on the company’s field of activity and on internal processes. Implement the same Scrum in large company longer and more difficult than in a startup, but everything is real, the main thing is the desire to make a cool product for people.

Dmitry Ershov, head of cloud services at MegaLabs JSC

“For products that will not change, we use the classic waterfall development model, and for constantly developing ones, we choose SCRUM. We describe new products or functionality using use case diagrams, but we try on the Jobs To Be Done concept, in which such diagrams are not needed.

When planning new releases, we evaluate functionality based on its importance for users, business, and labor costs. The most difficult thing is to assess the importance for users. To achieve greater objectivity, we use the HEART framework. It helps you look at new functionality through the lens of user goals.

Sometimes disputes arise, for example, the product owner disagrees with the designer. In such cases, we develop and launch different variants simultaneously to evaluate the effectiveness of each. Most effective solution determined by user behavior statistics.”

7. Which industries will integrate UX/UI design techniques in the future?

If we take global practice, the slowest developing areas are those with low competition, for example, government services - there is room for improvement there. Our country traditionally has low financial and legal literacy; therefore, products aimed at wealth management and all kinds of legal services are not appearing as quickly as we would like.

During the course we deal a lot with fintech, one of the recent cases is mobile service, which helps a person manage their finances and invest. To remove the communication barrier between the bank and the user, the students came to the decision to create a tool in the format of a chatbot that can work in any messenger convenient for the user.

Project of students of the course “UX/UI Design” of BVSD for Ak Bars Bank: personal financial assistant, an investment tool in any convenient messenger.

IDEO has been a generally recognized driving force in the application of design thinking for many years. From their latest cases, you can see that this methodology is actively beginning to be used in the field of education, the development of wearable electronics, and solving global problems.

It is obvious that increased competition in various types of business has forced companies to move to digital measurement. Therefore, if today we see that agrotech, medicine, the restaurant business and other offline areas have begun to provide services online, then tomorrow they will need our methodologies to offer the market new functions and products, come up with and update their digital solutions faster, and be more flexible and make your clients happier.

“Most companies still view UX/UI research, design thinking and other creative techniques as a service. separate service, which can be ordered or hired. “Thinking like a designer” cannot be bought, you have to start. Everyone =),” says Alina Ermakova, head of the department for analytical research of user interaction at Sberbank Technologies.

If you want to develop in the field of design, then of course you need to constantly improve your skills, keep abreast of trends and know modern design requirements, as well as special terms. One such term is UX/UI design.

Actually, when two years ago I needed to find out what kind of “weeks” and “ui” they were, I had to do a lot of digging before I could understand what it was and how one differed from the other. Much has been written about this and at the same time it is not always clear. Therefore, I propose to understand these concepts together.

Let's start with UX. UX is an abbreviation for User Experience, which literally translates to “user experience.” The extent to which the UX design of, for example, a website is thought out is more convenient for the user search necessary information or interaction with him. In other words, the task of UX design is to solve issues of functionality and convenience of a tool or resource.

The concept, by the way, applies not only to the IT sector, but also to virtually any other. We can say that the UX design of a ballpoint pen is how well it writes, how much writing paste is enough, whether it helps to form correct handwriting, whether it is convenient for transportation, with a protective cap or automatic... In general, how well the product solves the problem for which it is intended and what is important is how clear it is to the user.

The user should feel comfortable and everything should be clear

As for UI design, in this case this is short for User Interface, again literally - “user interface”. This type of design determines the color, shape, size and arrangement of elements, names and font size. That is, UI is a visual component whose task, if you like, is to place accents and highlight certain elements site or product. That is, to make a product or resource pleasant to perceive and intuitively easy to use. For example, the perception of text depends on how it is divided into paragraphs, the size and type of font, the presence of headings and illustrations, and the space surrounding the text.

Differences between UX and UI design

Despite the apparent similarity of these two concepts, they fulfill different functions, being an integral part of almost any project. To better understand the differences between these types of designs, let’s consider an example - Yandex search results.

Internal structure, hierarchy, great amount additional services(, , and so on) is UX. But, for example, the fact that links that you have already followed are highlighted in a different color - this is UI. The same applies to the UI that the site is clean White background, space between results search results, sufficient for comfortable perception, a favicon, as well as the ability to access your mail at any time in the right top corner site.

UX designer thinks through how the user will interact with the system so that it meets his expectations. UI designer thinks about how it should look: icons, pictures, font, color composition, ease of perception in general. And quite often the same person is involved in this task, so UI and UX are often written in designer vacancies using /.

The concepts are different, but their similarity is that they are aimed at ensuring user comfort.

Areas of application

As mentioned above, the terms UI and UX are applicable not only to the IT field. In fact, they appeared as soon as the first product was created. That is a very long time ago. For example, one of the first breakthroughs in UX design can be considered wheel.

The recent appearance of terms, similarity in spelling and scope of application are often misleading. As part of my blog, I will pay more attention to topics related to development web interfaces and commercial design.

To understand UX/UI design issues, it is not enough to read a textbook or a couple of articles once, understand the basics and complete a couple of projects. The field of web design is changing and evolving almost every day, so the requirements and what “ yesterday"was in trend," Today"is no longer comme il faut.

How to know if your design is right

If we are talking about the task of selling, then the “correctness” of the UX design is checked by A/B testing or focus groups. This allows you to see how clear and convenient the interface is for the user. For example, all members of the focus group are given the task of finding a certain section on the site or registering. How quickly they handle this speaks volumes about the quality of UX design.

UI design concept, in this case, is more subjective, since it often depends on the pretension and taste of the user. And what seems beautiful to one, hurts the eyes of another. However, there is general recommendations(clear arrangement of blocks, text contrasting with the background, highlighting or highlighting clickable elements, and so on), which should be followed by everyone who designs digital products.

Write in the comments Below is your opinion, whether I managed to reveal it and if not, then what should be supplemented with it.