User Experience (UX)

User experience (abbreviated as UX) is how a user feels when interfacing with a system. The system could be a website, a web application or desktop software and, in modern contexts, is generally denoted by some form of human-computer interaction (HCI).

User Experience is not about good industrial design, multi-touch, or fancy interfaces. It is about transcending the material. It is about creating an experience through a device, application, product.

 Those who work on UX (called UX designers) study and evaluate how users feel about a system, looking at such things as ease of use, perception of the value of the system, utility, efficiency in performing tasks and so forth. UX designers also look at sub-systems and processes within a system. For example, they might study the checkout process of an e-commerce website to see whether users find the process of buying products from the website easy and pleasant. They could delve deeper by studying components of the sub-system, such as seeing how efficient and pleasant is the experience of users filling out input fields in a Web form.

Difference between user interface and user experience

We can’t talk about UX without mentioning UI, or user interface. The two often get mixed up, or even lumped together as the same discipline.

There’s a great analogy to help explain the differences. Imagine the human body: the bones are the code, the UX is everything internal that makes the body function well, and UI is everything on the outside that makes the body look nice and appealing.

UI is focused on how a product looks and operates. This includes everything from designing the navigational flow of a website, to its visual design. UX however, takes that design and makes sure it resonates with users, based on the elements of the UX honeycomb.