User Experience (UX)
Everything about how it feels to use a thing, not just how it looks.
Definition
The whole of a person's experience with a product or service, including everything before, during and after use.
Craft convention. True because the industry converged on it. Breaking it costs familiarity, not correctness.
On this plate
In plain language
Everything about how it feels to use a thing, not just how it looks.
Example
The experience of returning a parcel includes finding the policy, printing a label and queueing at a drop-off point, not only the return form on the website.
Commonly confused with
Close neighbours that get substituted for each other. The difference is stated first, then the condition that picks one over the other.
User Interface (UI)
TermThe surface people look at and operate: layout, controls, type, colour and states.
Key difference
UX is how the whole experience works, including things with no interface at all. UI is the visual and interactive surface. Every UI decision is a UX decision, but most UX decisions are not UI decisions.
Use User Experience (UX) when
- The question spans research, flow, content and outcome.
- The problem may not live on a screen at all.
- You are talking about whether the product works for someone.
Use User Interface (UI) when
- The question is what the reader sees and touches.
- You are specifying components, states or visual hierarchy.
- The work is producing or reviewing the interface itself.
Local chart
TERM·001 · Region X · Grid D6
This entry and the entries it is stated to connect with. Each line is labelled with what the connection means.
Continue from here
Each link says what the connection is, so you can tell a principle from an alternative from a thing people mix this up with.
Related concept
Connected closely enough to change how you apply this.
- Service DesignTERM·017 · Term
- UsabilityTERM·003 · Term
Nearby in the Atlas
Adjacent territory, found through shared tags rather than a stated link.