UX and UI design are two sides of the same coin. While one — UX, or user experience, design — comes up with the structure and format of a website or app, the other — UI, or user interface, design — comes up with the aesthetics and touchpoints a person uses when interacting with a digital product. One can’t exist without the other — or at least they wouldn’t want to.
Colman Walsh, CEO of The UX Design Institute, uses the analogy of building a hotel to explain the difference between UX and UI:
In the following we’ll break down the difference between UX and UI further by taking a closer look at each discipline, including the main differences between the two in 2025. We’ll also look at what UX and UI designers do and explore which one you should choose.
UX vs UI in a nutshell
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The easiest way to distinguish between UX vs UI design is to think about what they each stand for.
UX stands for ‘user experience’. The user experience relates to how a user feels whenever they interact with a product or service. It’s not a physical, tangible thing—it’s the ease and user-friendliness of the interaction as a whole.
UI stands for ‘user interface’. The user interface relates specifically to the screens, buttons and other visual and interactive features a person uses to interact with a digital product, such as a website or app.
UX design is the careful planning and creation of the user experience and everything it entails. It focuses first and foremost on creating a product or service that solves a particular user problem, making sure the proposed solution is easy and enjoyable to use.
UI design is the process of designing how digital interfaces look and behave. It covers all the visual and interactive properties of websites, software and apps—from colours and typography to buttons, scroll functions, animations and more.
That’s a high-level distinction between the two. Now let’s consider both UX and UI design in more detail.
UX vs UI design: A closer look at each discipline
UX design is all about solving user problems and creating relevant, easy, enjoyable and accessible experiences. UI design covers one specific aspect of the overall user experience: the look, feel and behaviour of digital user interfaces. Let’s look at each of these closer.
What is UX design?
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UX design is a vast discipline that encompasses every aspect of a product or service that the user comes into contact with—and considers how all of these aspects fit together to make a user-friendly whole.
Good UX vs bad UX: An example
Let’s take the example of going to a local quick-service restaurant to order a meal. You head to the establishment and get online to order your meal. The menu has clearly laid out appetizer, entree, and dessert options and you can quickly decide what you want to order. You order your meal from a kiosk and pay for your order. You then take a seat and, after a brief time, a server comes and delivers your order to you.
Now let’s imagine an alternative scenario. You arrive at the restaurant but the line is held up because there’s no option to digitally order and there’s only one server, who’s with another customer. In addition, it takes you a long time to figure out what to order because the menu is not organized. You finally make it to the front of the line and the server who is standing there is distracted. You finally get her to acknowledge your order and pay but then when the server delivers your order to you, it’s incorrect. You have to send it back and order again.
The first restaurant has been designed and built to ensure a positive user experience, while the second has not. The impact on the user is huge and it heavily influences how they feel about the service as a whole. The first restaurant can expect happy customers who return time and time again (as long as they like the food), while the second can expect an ever-dwindling number of visitors. That’s the importance and value of UX.
UX design always considers the end users’ needs, with the goal of creating products and services that are easy and enjoyable to encounter. The UX design process includes understanding the target user through user research and defining the problem that needs to be solved.
UX designers also come up with ideas for potential solutions and map out the layout of the product or service, considering all the possible actions and steps the user might take. Finally, UX designers run tests to ensure the experience is accessible and intuitive and continually iterate on the finished product.
What is UI design?
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UI design covers one specific aspect of the overall user experience: the look, feel and behaviour of digital user interfaces.
While UX design applies to literally anything that a person can encounter or experience, UI design relates exclusively to digital screens and interfaces. That’s what a user interface is: the point of interaction between humans and computers.
The UI design process is also highly user-focused and the goal is always to create interfaces that are easy to use and that allow the user to move seamlessly from point A to B. However, unlike UX, which is broad and all-encompassing, UI concentrates on the design and layout of digital screens, as well as the individual elements they contain. This includes things like buttons, swipe and scroll motions, menus, typography, imagery, colours, animations and the transition from one screen to the next.
We expand on this definition in our complete introductory guide to UI design.
UX vs UI design: The main differences between the two
In the process of building a new hotel, the architect would consider the overall purpose and structure of the hotel, asking those all-important user-focused questions such as: What are we building? Why are we building it? Who are we building it for?
They would then map out the hotel structure and layout accordingly, paying special attention to the journey the guests will take to move through the various rooms.
With the architectural foundations in place, an interior designer would then step in to decorate and furnish it. They’d focus not only on making sure the hotel looks good and evokes a certain vibe; they’d also make sure the guests have all the functional elements they need to move around and use the hotel just as the architect intended—considering everything from doors and door handles, to towel rails and taps in the bathroom.
This is very similar to how UX and UI designers work differently but in harmony. The UX designer is the architect, considering the overall experience of a product, and the UI designer is the interiors expert responsible for the final look, feel and functionality of the product’s interface.
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With that in mind, we can summarise the main differences between UX and UI as follows:
| UX | UI |
| Concerned with overall experience | Concerned with the design of the interface |
| Steeped in research, analysis, and understanding user needs | Steeped in visual and interactive design |
| About problem-solving | About stunning visuals |
| A broad term that covers a range of human experiences and interactions (including using an app to book a flight and going to the library) | A narrow term that relates to the design of digital products and experiences |
UX vs UI design: What do UX and UI designers do?
Another great way to differentiate between UX vs UI design is to consider how the job descriptions for UX and UI designers vary.
A UX and UI designer’s tasks and responsibilities on a daily basis are often quite different. While they’re both concerned with the user, a UX designer is concerned with researching and problem-solving and a UI designer is focused on the visual and interactive design experience. However, they can come together to evaluate user requirements so everyone is one the same page.
| UX designer tasks and responsibilities: | UI designer tasks and responsibilities: |
| Dive deep into customer needs and user behaviours; conduct and analyse user research and usability tests to ensure all designs meet business and user requirements | Play an integral part in giving creative expression to the brand across multiple products and platforms |
| Create and evaluate user journeys based on data and insights | Gather and evaluate user requirements in collaboration with UX designers, product managers and engineers |
| Produce design deliverables to illustrate user experiences, including storyboards, user flows, wireframes and prototypes | Design graphic user interface components and elements, including original graphic designs (i.e. images and sketches), page navigation buttons, storyboards, and develop UI mock-ups and prototypes |
| Collaborate with partner teams to get feedback, iterate and implement design solutions together | Implement layout adjustments based on feedback |
| Keep up to date with competitor products and industry trends | Help to develop and maintain a UI style guide |
Check out one of the best UI/UX website builders to make your portfolio
Furthermore, UX and UI designers’ skills tend to vary when it comes to what they need to get the job.
| UX designer skills and requirements: | UI designer skills and requirements: |
| Excellent problem-solving skills and an understanding of user experience and interaction design | Knowledge of visual design principles such as typography and colour theory |
| A Bachelor’s degree or equivalent professional experience | A relevant qualification in graphic design, UI design, visual communication or another design-related discipline or equivalent professional experience |
| Proficiency in industry-standard UX design tools such as Figma, Sketch and Adobe XD | Proficiency in industry-standard UI tools such as Figma and Adobe XD |
| Excellent communication and presentation skills; the ability to build relationships with different stakeholders | Excellent communication and storytelling abilities; demonstrated ability to work as part of a highly collaborative team |
| A professional UX portfolio | A professional UI portfolio |
Learn more: What does a UI designer do?
How do UX and UI designers work together?
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While there are many differences between UX and UI designers, they work together throughout the product design process. Here are some things that they both do:
- Design products and features, with UX designers creating wireframes and prototypes and UI designers creating mockups and style guides.
- Establish processes for how the design team works together and with other areas of the business
- Conduct research and competitor analysis to better understand the target user
- Present ideas and designs to stakeholders and get buy-in from others in the company
- Maintain design documentation and naming so there’s a universal, reliable record of all work that’s gone into a particular product
UX vs UI design: which should you learn?
As we have seen there are some key differences between UX vs UI. Both UX and UI are extremely valuable skills to master. They both play a critical role in the design and development of digital products and it is impossible to have one without the other.
If you’re looking to become a multiskilled designer who can handle the product design process from start to finish, you might want to learn both UX and UI. If you’re more interested in user research, problem-solving and product architecture, consider focusing on UX design. If you’re a visual person who wants to design the finer details and make sure digital products are both beautiful and user-friendly, you might be leaning more towards UI.
Whichever path you choose, you’ll find that your skills are in high demand and that a creative and rewarding career awaits you.
Key takeaways
- UX stands for user experience
- UI stands for user interface
- UX design is the careful planning and creation of the user experience
- UI design is the process of designing how digital interfaces look and behave
- UX designers consider the end user’s needs, to create products and services that are easy and enjoyable to use
- UI designers consider the look, feel, and behaviour of digital user interfaces
- While UX designers are concerned with the overall experience, UI designers are concerned with the design of the interface
- While UX design is steeped in user research and analysis, UI design is steeped in visual and interactive design
- UX and UI designers tend to have very different job responsibilities but they also tend to collaborate on designs such that UX designers create wireframes and prototypes and UI designers create mockups and style guides
If you’re interested in learning UX, find out how to become a certified UX designer here. More interested in UI? Discover how to become a certified UI designer. And if you want to learn both, learn how to become a certified product designer (UI/UX).
Emily is a professional writer and content strategist with an MSc in Psychology. She has 8+ years of experience in the tech industry, with a focus on UX and design thinking. A regular contributor to top design publications, she also authored a chapter in The UX Careers Handbook. Emily also holds a BA in French and German and is passionate about languages and continuous learning.
