These days, we talk a lot about the differences between UX and UI. You can see many blog posts, infographics, and articles about it. But are there real differences between these disciplines? Let’s break it down a little.

Graphic design from school

Back in the day, when I studied for my Graphic Design degree at Bellas Artes Academy, we always said that graphic design itself can’t solve anything without knowledge. In other words, without investigation. You can take a blank page in Photoshop or whatever software you like and start making your poster, packaging, or web design. And I say “design” because this is not really design. Why isn’t this design? Basically, because it will never have the same impact if you don’t take the time to investigate, write down your objectives, and set some goals. Do research and everything else to know exactly what you need to achieve. And this has been the way graphic design works for years: solving a problem.

“Design is a solution to a problem.” -Jhon Maeda

A designer have deep background

This being said, we can see that having a strong background in graphic design actually makes you a well prepared designer and gives you the knowledge and abilities to design an interface starting from research, information architecture, going through wireframes and finally crafting the gorgeous UI design that meets your goals.

Conclusion

As designers, we’re prepared to work in any of these disciplines, or at least we’re supposed to. We have all the knowledge and tools necessary to do so, like any other output in terms of design. This doesn’t mean that you have to excel at everything. You can also choose a specialization, and that’s the greatest part of this new era of having a variety of roles. Working together in a large group of collaborators will be really helpful, but when you have to work alone or in a really small group without all the necessary resources, you need to be able to do it without problems.

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