UX Researcher or Designer?
Both.
Let me explain.
For starters, a UX Designer is not a Graphic Designer. To put it simply, I’d like to give you an example. Say there is a mobile app. Say this mobile app is Instagram. When you look at it, you see the logo and some icons, right? Those are what the Graphic Designers work on. Images, illustrations, sometimes photos, brochures, pamphlets and logos.
Graphic Designers
They design illustrations like this one and so much more! This is what I designed back in the days.
Then there are UX Designers who we can also be divided into two categories.
UX Researchers who do research with users to see what is working with the existing app, or what the users are looking for in a new app, how easy or complicated the users find using apps etc. There are so many other things of course such as, how many times a user has to click to get to the point of completion in their task processes etc. UX Researchers look for ways to improve apps and web pages based on their research findings. Imagine a Graphic Designer working on the computer while a UX Designer/ Researcher is talking to customers, surveying them, having focus group exercises or zoom calling couple of people to test their products while it’s being used.
Research process looks like this but it can definitely get done in two weeks by a professional UX Designer/ Researcher. Ask me more!
UX Designers design user journey maps based on their research findings. Check out mine here.
UX Designer is a wrong term to think that they design apps, well not really because they do design apps, too but a UI Designer would be the correct term for the person who designs the screens, combining all the research from a UX Designer and icons, images, logos from Graphic Designer. UI is where there interactive design comes to life with the visual components.
UI Designers combine the images and other files like logo, illustrations and icons that they get from Graphic Designers with the research findings along with the useful user journey maps to create the most efficient, user friendly and useful apps in prototype versions.
What happens then?
A button design might look easy on the screen as a user, but just to give you an idea of the backstage of this process, I will leave this here. Both UX Designers and UI Designers work on these to pass it to the developers.
UX Designer takes over again to have a usability testing with the product that the UI Designer designs. After presenting the project to the stakeholders, it is now in the hands of a developer team to make it come alive! UX field is truly based on a teamwork no matter what you read online.
I hope this article helps you to understand the differences between a Graphic Designer, a UX Researcher, UX Designer and a UI Designer. You can always email me your feedback or questions anytime!
If you are looking to hire a UX Designer/ Researcher or UI Designer, Product Manager, contact me via email at anytime! I’d like to hear from you.
-Elif
Email: elifz.ux@gmail.com
