We explain the difference between UI design and UX, what makes a good UI designer, and what advice you should follow to achieve success in this field.
UI/UX is an important area in game development. These specialists are responsible for the convenience of the game interface for the player. The key difference between these areas is the approach: UI is more about the visual component of the interface, while UX is about the technical component.
Artists and designers are more familiar with UI — they create icons, menus, key page designs, and much more. However, in this field, it is not enough to be good at drawing and designing — specialists must understand which design will be more convenient for the player.
In this article, we will look at what UI design is, what UI design rules help create a cool interface, what tools are useful in this work, and what beginners need to know to become successful UI artists.
UX/UI: what is it?
Icons are an important part of the graphical interfaces of games and applications, helping you unleash a fiery storm on your enemies or understand what the flashing number in the corner of the screen means. These small images should make interaction between the user and the program as easy as possible. For icons to work properly, they must be in the right place and clearly convey meaning.
When developing an interface with icons, specialists responsible for UX/UI design are involved.
- UX is an abbreviation for User Experience. This area of design focuses on creating an interface architecture that makes the user interaction process convenient and intuitive.
- UI stands for User Interface. Designers specializing in this field determine how the interface elements will look — they select the color scheme, line thickness, font, and also draw icons.
The role of UX/UI in icon design
At first glance, the work of UX/UI designers seems similar — both shape the appearance of the interface at the design stage. However, both areas have their own specific features, which is why companies sometimes hire separate employees for these positions. Let’s look at the nuances using examples.
What does a UX designer do?
A UX specialist represents the entire process of user interaction with the interface and creates a detailed scenario. The designer thinks through what actions will be performed, how much time will be required to make decisions, which interface elements need to be paid attention to first, and how to arrange them correctly and logically.
A clear example of this is the skill tree in any RPG game. It is UX designers who decide during the design process in what order the icons will be arranged and where the buttons for switching between different branches will be located. It is also necessary to consider how the player can return to the game, accept changes, or cancel them.