Two connected disciplines

• UX (user experience) design is about how a product works for people: their goals, the steps they take, how easy and pleasant it is to achieve what they came to do.
• UI (user interface) design is about what people see and interact with: layout, typography, colour, buttons, icons and states.

A beautiful interface with a confusing flow fails. A logical flow with an unreadable interface also fails. Professional designers care about both.

The design process

Most teams follow a version of the double diamond:

1. Discover: research users and the problem.
2. Define: decide which problem to solve and for whom.
3. Develop: explore ideas, sketch, wireframe, prototype.
4. Deliver: refine, test, hand over to developers, measure.

The process is not strictly linear. Testing often sends you back to an earlier step. That is normal and healthy.

Roles you will meet

In small companies, one designer often covers research, UX and UI.

Principles to remember

• You are not the user. Your preferences are not evidence.
• Clarity beats cleverness. Users should not have to think about how to use your interface.
• Consistency reduces learning. Similar things should look and behave the same.
• Accessibility is part of quality, not an extra.

The course project

“Brew Box” sells coffee subscriptions. Customers choose beans, set a delivery schedule, and can pause, skip or change their plan. Complaints from customers (our starting evidence) include: “I couldn’t find how to skip a delivery,” “Too many steps to change my coffee,” and “I didn’t know when my next box was coming.” Your job is to design an app that solves these problems.

Practice task

Choose an app you use every day. Write down one thing it does very well and one thing that frustrates you, and explain each using the principles above. This trains you to look at products as a designer.