Inspiroidu: How to stop building user interfaces and start creating user experience →
Building good user interfaces is important tasks to let customers interact with a system effectively. Creating positive user experience is a next step that leads to making customers happy after interacting with a system. Interface is a means by which users interact with a digital system effectively. It includes controls, tabs, navigation and other elements. The task of a designer is to organise interface elements on the screen in such a way that user can interact with them the most effective way. In ideal case user interface design would be based on goals of users, usability principles and will go through several iterations. User experience is a means by which you include the whole context of users’ life in the design process. It means that you create only those interfaces that make user’s life more pleasant and his experience working with a product more indulging. What is important is that user experience could be created or improved without changes in the user interface. As usual, products of Apple provide great examples to illustrate the difference. To download an application from the Apple application store user has to input his password. Apple provides good form for this purpose. User inputs his password that is semi-hidden and makes input on a mobile device more effective. Creating good form for inputting password is a task of a user interface designer. Now, what happens if user wants to download several applications in a row. Normally, she would has to input password all the time before another download starts. Company, however, took this tasks in a context of a real user. If she wants to download several applications in a row and has already input right password once, then why bother with asking the same question several times? Instead, iPhone or iPad memorizes the password for 15 minutes, so users get more pleasant experience of interacting with the application store. Lessons learned:
