Developers of systems, software and websites are increasingly interested in attracting consumers of their products and winning them over with their quality of service. With this, it is understood that there is a need to provide an entirely positive impression. Therefore, you need to know what UI and UX are.
These are concepts that are on the rise these days, largely because of the need to satisfy the customer not only with the product, but with the entire service. More specifically, these concepts aim to bring the customer the best buying experience through a design that is both intelligent and didactic.
After all, we often turn to websites to shop for products, find content about a topic that interests us, or even to have fun. Regardless of the customer’s intention, we must also consider that the site’s creator is interested in converting the accesses to their platform into some income.
It is, therefore, a very peculiar form of business, since the site must contain elements that are capable of providing a good time to customers. For this, the graphic design craftsmanship is used, which in turn is diverse. Furthermore, it is necessary that the platform can facilitate the user’s understanding and not complicate it.
From these basic premises, we can think of solutions that ensure that the site is a way to enhance the purchase or access of a user and not the opposite!
UI and UX: understand what they are and what they mean
Despite being two different terms, these two concepts must necessarily work together in order for a website to be successful in its purposes. In fact, both UI and UX incorporate elements of each other, which can sometimes make it a little more difficult to compare the two terms.
UI
The term “UI” is an abbreviation for “User Interface”, and therefore has more to do with the visual part of a website. In other words, it is the graphic work to give a good impression of the platform’s aesthetics, but not only that, because there are also studies to make it accessible.
For example, when you enter a website, probably what you most want is to be able to find what you are looking for without too much difficulty. But this is not what happens in some platforms, when the navigation through the options is so difficult that sometimes it is even unbearable to keep accessing.
This would not happen if there were a UI professional on the team, because it is necessary that besides beauty, the site must also have a function. Therefore, the information needs to be arranged in an easy way, in strategic places, in order to guide the user during access.
Like when you access a site in search of information about a subject whose understanding depends on the understanding of another concept. When this happens, sites made by intelligent designers have a button with a link to another article about the subject
This saves you the time you would have to do another search on another site, doesn’t it? However, we must pay attention to the fact that it is not enough to simply have the information available, because it is also essential that it is done in the right way.
In this case, it is necessary to study which is the most appropriate place for each type of option on the site, with the main focus being that the user does not waste too much time searching for this information. In this sense, the UI designer can elaborate a “path” that guides the user.
How UI can optimize the user’s time
Have you noticed that nowadays all content on the internet is made in such a way that reading is fluid without major interruptions? Well, at least it should be that way, and this is because the format of news, articles, and texts should follow the profile of the person who is looking for them.
In the case of Internet content, the profile of those who seek it is of someone who is in a hurry to have their questions answered, largely due to lack of time. Thus, if the text is too difficult or has an organization that does not facilitate reading, it is very likely that the user will give up reading the content on this site and look for another.
However, we should be aware that not only the writing of the text can influence an internet user not to consult that site. This is because the design itself can make it difficult to read the content, such as through poor layout, wrong choice of colors, images that hinder more than help, not to mention the effect of ads.
In contrast, a UI designer can develop a structure that is easy to digest. In this sense, it is common to think of a “path” for the user, that is: the user accesses the site, finds the content they want, but also related content and the services that the platform offers.
In a short period of time, it is guaranteed not only that the user is satisfied with their initial goal, but also that they are presented with what else the site can do for them. This way, there is in fact an optimization of the time of those who access the content, which is the main goal of most people on the Internet.
UX: What it is
The other term is UX, which in turn is an abbreviation of “User Experience”. Basically, it consists of a set of tools that make the moment that you access the site something very pleasant and capable of generating emotions in Internet users.
In great part, this will be done through design, as we already mentioned in the previous topic with the UI. This is because an easy design is a way to be aware of what the internet user is looking for, which will allow for satisfaction in having their goals met and for finding even more on the platform.
However, we cannot limit that people’s experience is only about looks and functionality. This is because there are several features that are capable of generating a pleasant response. So the UX designer will work precisely on structuring these features to make the user feel good.
For example, you can offer so-called “extra” services on your site, that is, services that are not exactly what the platform proposes, but that are related contents. By offering these services, the user will realize that the platform seeks to be as categorical as possible and is indeed interested in providing the most complete content.
Generally, these are the differentials that make your audience loyal to your work and recommend it to others. Remember that the most important way to do marketing is by providing quality content. This will be the main factor that will lead to the recommendation of the platform.
In this case, the work of a UX designer will be mainly in the elaboration of ideas capable of making the user identify and get closer to your project. When coupled with the work of a UI user, it is possible to achieve great results.
How the UX Designer does user and persona research
To be able to communicate directly with users, the UX designer first needs to find out more about who the users are. Therefore, one of the main roles of this professional is to do all the user research that involves discovering their preferences.
For this, there are several methodologies, ranging from interviews to data analysis. In general, this will provide the creation of metrics that allow us to understand a little more about how people who access the content being made behave.
With this, it will be possible to develop more specific marketing strategies to make the organization of the site truly effective in engaging the audience. On the other hand, it will also be necessary to know what is unpleasant, what does not work, and the user’s level of satisfaction when accessing the material.
This is, therefore, a satisfaction analysis, which is usually done after a digital service has been offered. In this case, the gathering of this data and, more importantly, the analysis made from it, should be the guide for the UX designer. Here it is worth noting that the main task of this professional will be the interpretation of the information.
More and more companies are requesting the participation of UX professionals to be able to develop commercial strategies. For example, the development of a call center or of customer relationship channels.
Furthermore, the development of advertising campaigns should also involve UX designers. As a result, the customer experience is expected to be impacted through these digital resources.
The UX professional and the creation of the persona
As already mentioned, a large part of the UX designer’s work consists of studying the profile of the users who access the site or the digital content. In this sense, one of the main strategies is precisely the creation of a persona to better facilitate the development of the material that will be put online.
In this case, “persona” is defined as the profile of a common user of a certain type of information, that is, something similar to a target audience. However, the persona seeks to be even more specific, with the identification of personality traits that the public shares and the common characteristics that form a group.
For example, it should consider the average age of the users who access the content, as well as where they live, profession, and other more general information. But it should also address other data that are more specific, such as consumption preferences, the language they most identify with, hobbies, and everything else.
From the inference of this main information a “persona” is created, which is nothing more than a character that incorporates generalizations of the target audience. So, let’s say that a site is more often accessed by young people between 20 and 25 years old who belong to the male gender and who are undergraduate students at universities.
In this sense, you could create the persona “Julio” to represent this entire audience. Therefore, you could define Julio as a 22 year old young man studying Computer Science in an undergraduate course. With this definition, the focus will be to craft content that is able to reach “Julio”, i.e. that can best speak to the audience.
The UX designer and the creation of metrics
As you can imagine, creating a persona cannot be done without a deep study of the target audience. Therefore, the gathering of metrics and statistics will be indispensable for the work of a UX designer. For this, they can resort to the platforms’ own surveys, as websites usually have.
However, more and more people are turning to the development of their own specific surveys that are able to meet the need for information about the audience. Here, it is worth remembering that even to create a survey it is important to know in advance what you want to find.
Therefore, a good UX designer needs to know what are the specific points of the users’ personality that can serve to study and, consequently, be converted into important business information? With this it is possible to understand the need for this professional to resort to communication theories.
This will give them more confidence when creating advertising campaigns, and also in guiding the construction of a website. Furthermore, the study of data science, such as through programming resources, will also be an important differential for the UX designer.
User Journey
To finish our analysis about the UX designer’s roles, we need to better delimit the User Journey tool. Basically, it is the idea we have already presented, which is the creation of a user interaction path within a website, until the user reaches the final stage, which is usually the consumption of the product.
However, while the UI designer will think about this strategy from a more visual perspective, with the organization of the site in its various options, the UX professional will appeal mainly to the social and psychological factors present during the moment an internet user accesses the site.
Once again, to find out more about these factors it will be essential to study people’s behavior. In this sense, satisfaction surveys will be very effective, since they can synthesize what users thought and how the experience went during the time they accessed the content.
In the case of sales sites, for example, where there is actually a product being explicitly marketed, this survey can come after the purchase, which is quite common. Surely you must have come across some kind of the following question after the purchase: “from 0 to 5: how satisfied were you with our service?”.
As boring as these questions may seem to be to answer at first, they are of fundamental relevance to those who are dedicated to creating content for the Internet. So be sure to think about this tool the next time you decide to update your business’ website.
Conclusion: How Monitora can help you
Perhaps at the first moment of contact with this topic, you may feel a bit lost, right? But that’s part of it, and certainly with time and experience in digital transformation you will get a better grasp of these issues.
Anyway, remember that you can count on Monitora when it comes to building your software or a business plan that fully meets your business objectives. After all, Monitora has specialists in planning for absolutely all stages of creation and maintenance of a digital project. From the scope design of the project, through all the stages of development and with the finalization of UI and UX Design.
As you may already know, being featured in the virtual world is today a great differentiator for any business, as more and more of our world is moving towards virtuality. So don’t choose to be outdated or, even worse, leave your business without the right tools to succeed.
Therefore, we invite you to learn more about our work in digital transformation, and to contact us. Certainly your project will reach another level of quality with our help!
