Hey, what’s actually the difference between a UI and a UX Designer?

Sarah: Exciting question. 🙂 The User Interface Designer focuses on designing the user interface, such as colors, fonts, and more. The User Experience Designer puts the users at the center and designs the interaction with the application based on insights about the users.

Here’s a good example: The UI Designer has planned a visually appealing park with pathways and green areas. However, it turns out that the park visitors take a shorter route across the grass to reach their destination.

That’s what User Experience is about, and it’s the task of the UX Designer: getting to know the users and their goals in order to create optimized solutions for their needs – and planning the pathways so that the user uses them and enjoys doing so. The UI Designer designs these pathways in a visually appealing way – so the work goes hand in hand.

Which programming languages and software have you learned?

Sarah: In my studies, it started right away in the first semester with Adobe Illustrator, InDesign, and Photoshop. There weren’t any courses, you had to teach yourself and watch or read tutorials and exchange ideas with classmates – typically, we all had the same problems to deal with. Later on, Axure and Figma were added.

Regarding programming languages, I have specialized particularly in web development with Angular and Ionic. I learned these languages through an online course, with the patient help of my colleagues at onexip, and endless searches on Stack Overflow. 🙂

What attribute helps you the most in your everyday work and why?

Sarah: I have a keen eye for details and colors, which is beneficial for me as a UX/UI designer. However, more importantly, being able to approach other people openly, to engage in conversation with them, and to find out what the goals are, what difficulties are currently being faced, and what has already been well implemented.

What are your current tasks at onexip?

Sarah: I am responsible for incorporating the users’ perspective into the development process. This means that I interview them about their tasks and goals and ideally, can ‘look over their shoulder.’ Subsequently, I create the initial designs and clickable prototypes for the software based on this information and reflect them back to the users. This checks whether the designs and interactions are understandable or need to be revised.

What does your workday look like? Is every day the same?

Sarah: I think it often sounds like I’m just pushing pixels from left to right day in and day out. But before that can happen, problems need to be identified and solutions found. That’s what makes the work varied and exciting, as well as the conversations with users and other stakeholders who are interested in the software.

With whom do you work on the project?

Sarah: I collaborate with many different individuals on the project: the Project Owner, the developers, and especially the users of the software being developed, as well as the marketing team and other UI/UX designers.

What do you like about this job and what do you enjoy the most?

Sarah: I particularly enjoy being creative and engaging directly with users. In this regard, I stood out among my classmates, as I actually went out onto the streets to survey 45 people for my thesis. No one could understand how I could do that voluntarily.

What do you perceive as the biggest challenges in this profession?

Sarah: I still find it difficult to conduct workshops in front of larger groups, which can happen quite often for a UI/UX Designer. On the other hand, individual interviews are very easy for me and a lot of fun.

What motivates you in your work?

Sarah: Positive feedback on the designs from the users, developers, and team colleagues. Because that shows that I’m doing my job right and creating a product that supports users in their work and ideally is really enjoyable. Occasionally, music also helps to get the right momentum while working on the mockups 😉

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