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UX versus UI

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Digital Marketing - Study Notes:

What is user experience?

User experience is defined as a person's perceptions and responses resulting from the use and/or anticipated use of a product, system, and advice. That's the official definition.

It is how somebody uses their website from their perspective. Anything from clicking on a site to filling out a form, that's all part of the user experience.

What is a user interface?

Conversely, the user interface is the platform that the users are using to complete the actions or go through their experience. So it is the code, the links, the forms they fill out. Anything that's interactive, that's going to be part of the user interface.

So the main difference is, UI's the medium, and UX is the experience.

The difference between UX and UI

UX deals with interaction design, so anything that they're going to watch, or read, or click on.

UI is going to be the medium through which it goes. This includes the player of the video that they're going to watch, the infographics that are displayed, and how those are displayed. UX is more based on data motion and user research.

A lot of testing goes into UX, figuring out what the users like. And then UI takes that feedback and also mixes it with the current designs and brand guidelines for the site. So, it's a mixture between what the users are looking for in terms of their experience with the site, and then the actual practical elements, like the design and the code that goes into it.

In terms of building a better UX, you want to make sure that you have:

  • A wireframe
  • Sitemaps
  • Personas

Those go all into customizing the user experience.

And then, conversely, UI is all about:

  • The layout of a site
  • What it looks like in terms of colors, elements, and topography
  • How content's laid out
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Please note that the module slides are designed to work in collaboration with the module transcript document. It is recommended that you use both resources simultaneously.

Digital Marketing Resources:

Kelsey Jones

Digital Marketing Consultant and Writer

  • 9 years’ experience in SEO and writing for the web
  • 17 years’ experience in HTML
  • Experience writing content for small and large brands
  • US Search Awards Judge 2014, 2015, 2016
  • The Drum US Search Awards Judge 2017
  • Former Executive Editor, Search Engine Journal, 2014-2017

The following pieces of content from the Digital Marketing Institute's Membership Library have been chosen to offer additional material that you might find interesting or insightful. While relevant to this module, you will not be assessed on this content.

You can find more information and content like this on the Digital Marketing Institute's Membership Library

ABOUT THIS DIGITAL MARKETING MODULE

Website Optimization
Kelsey Jones
Skills Expert

This module introduces key concepts underpinning effective website design and the purpose of website optimization. It will enable you to build and publish a simple, well-designed, and optimized website using WordPress that is aligned to specified business goals. The module also covers how to use metrics to capture, track, and measure website activity to develop deeper insights.