What is UI Design?

When you are visiting a website, using a piece of technology, or browsing through an application, your main goal as the user is to complete your tasks or satisfy your wants with as little effort as possible. Everything regarding the creation of such interfaces can be summarized using one term: user-interface design.

Graphical User-Interface Design (GUI)

When operating your business, you will primarily be using graphical user-interface design (GUI design). GUI design is creating and styling the visual interface that the user will be interacting with in an application, website, piece of machinery, etc. When designing a GUI, it is not only about creating an aesthetic interface but also the functionality of the design. You could create a visually stunning website, but if the font is difficult to understand or important information is hard to find, the design will not be successful when published. On the other hand, if the design is too simple, which makes it easy for the user to quickly find what they are looking for, your site can look unfinished and lack key elements of your business’s brand. Finding the balance between usability and artistic graphic interface designs is incredibly important.

If you are struggling with creating a balanced UI design for something such as your website, seeking advice from professional UI designers on how you can improve your design can elevate it. An alternative is to hire UI designers to create the design themselves, but the cost will be significantly higher. If you do not have any way to get feedback from a professional, using a premade design template on sites like Weebly or Canva can allow you to focus on the information more than trying to make a visually appealing design from scratch (check out our article on Common Website-Building Applications!).

Other Types of UI Design

In addition to GUI design, there are other types of UI design that are utilized in every aspect of technology. You may not use them when running your business, but they are still good to know about:

Voice Controlled UI Design****- Using voice to interact with the interface of a piece of technology. This is used in smart devices like Alexa and Google Home.

Gesture Based UI Design - Using gestures in 3d space to control the technology: think virtual reality or XBOX Kinect sensor. Some technologies incorporate gesture-based interfaces to make it completely touchless for consumers.