UI vs. UX design
User interface (UI) and user experience (UX) are both essential roles in digital product design. While many aspiring designers pursue one of these critical fields, choosing between them can be challenging.
Explore the UI vs. UX design comparison below, including an in-depth look at the skills, responsibilities, and career potential for each field, along with helpful tips for selecting the right pathway for you.
What is UI and UX design?
There's significant overlap between UI and UX design, but there are key differences that make them distinct from each other.
In general, UI design focuses on specific aesthetic elements of digital products, such as the layout, buttons, and icons. By contrast, UX design focuses on the entire user experience, ensuring the product is accessible, easy to use, and responsive.
Despite the differences, UI and UX design are vital to each other. Effective UI design contributes to the UX by making the digital product visually appealing and functional. Meanwhile, UX influences much of UI by laying out the strategy and structure of the overall product design.
In addition to the design approaches, UI and UX also differ in the field requirements and professional outlook.
Skills required
UI and UX designers share several essential skills, including prototyping, wireframing, and proficiency in Adobe Creative Suite, but each field also requires specialized technical abilities.
Core skills required by UI designers include:
- Color theory
- Typography
- Layout and composition
- Iconography
- Visual hierarchy
- Interactive and responsive design
Meanwhile, core skills required by UX designers include:
- Accessibility standards
- Usability testing
- User research
- Information architecture
- Visual communication
Education requirements
UX and UI designers often come from similar educational backgrounds, such as graphic design and computer science. Within these programs, however, UI and UX designers may focus in different areas.
For example, UI designers typically specialize in visual design, graphical user interfaces, and interactive media, while UX designers focus on human psychology, user research, and data analysis.
According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS), UI and UX designers often need a bachelor's degree at minimum, but employers may hire candidates based on their experience and portfolio. They may also seek out professionals with specialized training from boot camps and standalone technical courses.
Salary and career outlook
UI and UX designers both enjoy a strong professional outlook. The BLS projects 8% employment growth for web and digital designers between 2023 and 2033. That works out to an additional 18,600 jobs during that time, plus 16,500 annual openings.
The BLS reports highly competitive salaries for web and digital designers as well, including a median annual salary of $98,540 as of May 2023. Slight salary differences between UX and UI designers exist, but location, industry, and level of expertise tend to be the biggest differentiating factors.
UI vs. UX design: which course is right for me?
You need to consider your interests and professional goals when choosing between UI vs. UX design courses. UI design courses may be best if your interest lies in visual design, whereas UX design may suit you best if you enjoy solving problems and curating user experiences.
To figure out where you stand, ask yourself the following questions:
- Are you more process-driven or detail-oriented?
- Do you think more about the big picture or the visual elements of a website?
- Do you prefer high-level strategizing or creating interactive elements?
- Which components of a website catch your eye more: usability or aesthetics?
Hands-on experiences can also help you make a decision. Consider familiarizing yourself with both fields by making use of free online resources, signing up for courses and boot camps, and/or starting some hobby projects.