What is UI design?
The design of the web user interface(UI) is used by process designers to create software or computerized system interfaces, concentrating on looks or style. Designers seek to build interfaces that are easy to use and pleasurable for users. Graphical user interfaces and other types, such as voice-controlled interfaces, are referred to in web UI design. UI designers create the look and feel of an application’s user interface.
What is UX Design?
“UX” means “user experience.” The experience of a user of the app is determined by how they connect with it. Is it smooth and intuitive or clunky and frustrating to experience? Does it feel reasonable to navigate the app or does it feel arbitrary? Does engaging with the app offer users the feeling that they are performing the tasks they set out to accomplish successfully or does it feel like a fight?
User experience is determined by how easy or difficult it is to interact with the user interface elements that the UI designers have created.
The UX/UI Design of the application improves the user experience and customer satisfaction that ultimately helps increase the number of users of the specific application. So, while the UI designer determines how the user interface looks, the UX designer decides how the user interface functions. This is a very collaborative operation, and they appear to work closely together with the two design teams. The UI team works out how all these interface components can appear on the screen as the UX team works out the flow of the app, how all the buttons guide you through your tasks, and how the interface effectively meets the needs of the data user.
UI/UX Web Design: Basic Types of Web Pages
1. Home Page
One of the most strategic sites
on any website is the home page.
It is called home because it is normally a starting point where the user gets a key introduction to the website and chooses the path around it for his further journey.
Typically, home pages provide links to the most important zones of interaction. In other words, the original page or the index page may also be named. If they are guided to the website by search engines, the home page is the beginning of user journeys, because in most cases it is the page viewed by the greatest number of website users.
2. Feed Page
The Feed (or News Feed) page can be found on websites that post content regularly. In other words, users can scroll through a content stream to check what’s been updated on the website.
The content is displayed on the feed page in blocks or elements which are identical and repetitive. The list of news or posts will, for example, offer an editorial feed, while the feed will also show updates from the following users or pages on the social networking site. The presentation of the feed can also vary from text-only and super minimalist to one that uses large, complex content blocks, including text and media such as images, diagrams, or even video previews.
3. Menu Page
Usually, this page is about navigation targets.
The menu page provides a sort of list, as well as a standard menu control, providing access to various content types and interaction zones. It is not often necessary: websites with a basic structure often use only menu controls that are built into the web layout and do not require transitions to a separate tab.
The separate menu page, however, helps programmers to center the attention of the user on the options without distractors surrounding them. What’s more, the minimalist approach to most pages embraces a separate menu page in certain ways.
4. Search Page
This page presents a feed of internal search results after the user typed in the request in the search field. The look of the page may be very different, from simple text list to big blocks with images; the choice of solution for the content presentation on this page depends on what is most important for the target audience. The core requirement for the search page — except the well-adjusted results, of course — is high scannability of the layout and instantly readable headings or titles, as that is the page where users usually quickly skim what they see to find the needed option. Also, the essential thing to remember is to leave the search query visible on the page of results so that users wouldn’t need to keep it in mind and check if it was typed correctly in case the results aren’t very good.
5. About Page
This is a web page that allows visitors to get quickly informed about the company, product, or person behind the website. It is an important part of strong branding and the shortcut to telling the audience about the benefits of what they can find on this website or do with its help, so when visitors want to get a concise introduction of the brand they look for this page. The link to About page can often be found in the website header or footer, or both.
Best UX Design Tools for UX/UI Designers
1. Figma
Figma is relatively a new-comer with multiplayer co-editing features. This means you can collaborate with other designers in real-time. Figma is a browser-based tool since it is built upon electronjs. Hence, it can run on any platform including Linux. Also, all your files are saved on the cloud.
- Browser-based so can be used with any Windows PC, Linux, ChromeOS, and Mac
- Robust Pen tool
- Has a design mirroring app for mobile devices: Figma Mirror
- Built-in support for prototyping and developer handoff
- Can Import sketch files flawlessly
- Freemium model is really good to get started whereas design system only available for paid models
- Plugin support
2. Adobe XD
Adobe XD’s interface is straight forward and easy to use. The repeat grids feature in Adobe XD is a much better implementation for creating lists and grids quickly. If you have used Craft plugin for Sketch to repeat grids and recurring elements, this feature very similar to that.
https://www.adobe.com/products/xd.html
- Available for both mac and windows.
- Intuitive lists and grids creation with repeat grid feature.
- Support for live prototype view across devices.
- Components can only get text overrides. Components are not as robust as other tools in this list. They are limited by factors such as not being able to resize them and only basic text overrides feature.
3. Sketch
Sketch is one of the most popular tool used by designers. In combination with InVision and plethora of plugins available, Sketch provides a complete solution from wireframe to prototype to developer handoff.
- Mac only
- Extensive Plugin support (Anima, Craft, Material, etc.)
- Good selection of free resources such as UI Kits, libraries, templates, etc.
- Integration with tools like Principle and Invision
- Collaboration with other designers is a bit complicated since it natively doesn’t support multiplayer co-editing.
- Mirroring sketch artboards to multiple devices is a bit clunky at the moment.
4. InVision Studio
InVision Studio is a great alternative if you are heavily invested in InVision’s cloud features. If making complex animations and responsive design is your priority, this is the tool for you.
- Supports timeline animations which makes this a great tool for prototyping UIs.
- Has a built-in adaptive layout engine to make responsive designs much easier.
- Works well with Invision’s cloud features (prototype, communicate, handoffs, DSM)
- InVision Studio is free but the InVision cloud has a pricing model that limits the cloud-based free model to 1 prototype.
- Currently, the software is a bit slow to use.
