Introduction

Almost every business is making a move on to the world wide web. And with the growth of digital products and services, user experience has become more important than ever.

These products, which can range from an application to a website, need to have a good User Interface - User Experience (UI – UX) design in order to provide an unforgettable experience for the users.

In fact, user experience (UX) and user interface (UI) design have become crucial to product success and the importance of a good UI / UX design is being reiterated in top businesses across India.

If you want to create a successful product, it all starts with designing a great UX and UI for your target audience. The interface between human and machine requires a new dimension of design that not only looks great but is also seamless and intuitive.

So, what is UI–UX Design? This article discusses the importance of a good UI / UX design and why it needs to be given more weightage in today's competitive marketplace.

What is UI / UX design?

UX stands for user experience, while UI is short for User Interface. Both these aspects are intertwined to produce the desired results.

UI/UX Design is the process of designing the interface, optimizing navigation, and showing relevant features of a product or service. It combines aspects of design with user experience to create interfaces that are easy to use, provide what the users need quickly, look great, are intuitive, and produce an overall positive experience for the user.

It also caters to user preferences, perceptivity and the emotional quotient. A good UX design increases usability, accessibility, functionality and enables a pleasurable user interaction with your website or app.

A UX design degree is considered to be one of the most lucrative streams in the digital marketing scenario.

What is the difference between UI and UX?

Though both UX and UI are often used in the same context, it definitely means two different things. However, one cannot thrive without the other. So what is the difference between the two?

UX is the experience a user has with a product or service or during the journey of landing in a website to the end action taken by the user. It is a more holistic term, which includes how a person feels about a product and the actions that are triggered due to the experience. It is all about the emotions that are provoked when interacting with a digital product.

UI is more design oriented and inclines towards the look and feel of the product. The aim is to create an intuitive platform with interactive elements like icons, buttons, typography, color scheme, imagery, etc…

Importance of a good UI / UX design

A good UI / UX design helps you get better results in the long run. It can help you generate more leads and improve conversion rates. This translates to better revenues for your company.

With a great UI / UX design, you can easily fulfill the needs of your clients, increase the customer’s willingness to pay by almost 15% and increase brand loyalty by 16%.

According to Forrester, a leading global market research company, a great User Interface of a website can increase the conversion rate by 200%, while a seamless UX can increase it by 300% - 400%. These numbers are staggering and can revolutionize the life cycle of your customer’s journey.

Scope of a UI / UX Designer in India

With the emergence of design centric organizations and businesses, and an increased need for UI / UX support for websites, eCommerce sites and landing pages for products and services, a UI / UX career will have an escalated growth and innumerable opportunities in the coming decade.

There will be high demand for innovation and creativity in this field and a UI / UX designer will be sought out by top hiring companies across the globe.

A designer’s job skills also extends to creating stunning banners, email campaigns, video games and many client-based mobile applications.

The list where you can apply UI / UX design skills and theories is endless!

There are companies like Airbnb and Netflix that have some of the best User Experiences that help engage more audiences which in turn generate revenue in billions.

Interesting facts

• LinkedIn ranked UX Design as one of the top 5 in demand skills in their latest survey.
• UI/UX is listed among the best 50 jobs to have in 2021/22 by Glassdoor
• The demand for UI/UX professionals is likely to grow by 18% between 2021-2025
• There are far fewer UI/UX designers than those who can meet the demands of the market all over the world.

Conclusion

UX design is proving to be as important as product and price as a key brand differentiator in the present as well as the future. In order for this shift to continue, designers need to think forward and understand the investment involved in UX design and its potential.

For businesses, this is the time to shift focus from long-term business goals to user goals, so that they can stay ahead of the curve in the coming decade and beyond. It's important to consider UX designing as a critical component of their marketing plan.

And as budding UI / UX designers or for those who wish to pursue a UI / UX design degree, it is imperative for us to face the fear and step up for a truly rewarding experience in the arena of UI / UX Design.

Also read the second part from this series, “A guide to career tracks for a UI / UX Designer” to gain more insights on career prospects for this subject of study.