CX, CPL, CTA, ROI, CPM, CPA… with so many acronyms, it’s easy to get confused.
Pretty often, I’ve found clients confusing the differences between UX, UI and Usability. Although they don’t need to be experts in the field, this confusion made it difficult for them to understand certain problems with their own products, making it very difficult to identify some of their needs.
knowing and being able to explain to the client the basic differences between these concepts is essential to jointly carrying out an adequate analysis of the project, as well as to argue for the proposals that we are introducing. Let’s see it!
UI
This is the acronym for “User Interface”. It refers to the elements that we see and “touch” and through which we use a product. In the case of digital products, with UI we are referring to the buttons, forms, menus and other elements that set up a website or app on the screen of our device.
Usability
Usability is a quality attribute that measures how easy to use, or usable, a user interface is.
UX
It is the acronym for “User Experience*” and encompasses all aspects of the user’s interaction with a product. The result of this interaction is a positive or negative perception of the experience.
* Yes, it should be called UE instead of UX but since “ex-“, from experience, it’s pronounced like the letter “X”, someone decided to abbreviate it as UX. And so it has remained.
knowing and being able to explain to the client the basic differences between these concepts is essential to argue for the proposals that we are introducing.
It is important to keep in mind that these three concepts are related to each other in a hierarchical way. UX is conditioned by Usability which, in turn, is conditioned by UI.
In some way, this hierarchy also has a timeline correspondence. For example, when entering a website, the first thing we see is the UI. Depending on how it’s designed, it will influence whether the Usability of that website is better or worse. In the same way, the level of Usability that we’ve encountered when navigating the website will influence whether the UX is more or less satisfactory.
Knowing the terminology is a first step that will provide us with a structure on which to begin organizing ideas and will allow us to help our clients to better understand their needs.
If we want this knowledge to become a tangible value in our proposals, we will have to go a little deeper. If you dare, you can start by exploring The Components of Usability.