It’s perfectly normal to feel a little confused about the terminology and job descriptions that are circulating in the design world.
What exactly is the difference between graphic design and UX (user experience) design?
Here is a detailed overview of what these different profiles do within the design industry. This will help you to decide which type of design is the right choice for you.
Graphic designer
The graphic designer communicates with the users through text and images – whether it is branding, information or advertising. Or, how the elements, the images and the text are placed on the web page or the printed page, as part of the graphic designer’s work tasks. This includes the choice of font, its colour and other visual elements.
Through their work, graphic designers inspire emotions and reactions to their designs and all related design elements.
The graphic designer will know that users will react very differently to text written in the “notorious” Comic Sans font, unlike the old-fashioned Courier New.
Similarly, the response to the anti-poverty campaign will be different, if it is illustrated with a picture of a malnourished baby instead of a stock photograph of food. At best, graphic design is widely known and recognizable, such as the Coca-Cola font or the I <3 NY logo.
Skills and Salary
Nowadays, most designers need to have graphic design skills that go beyond sketchpad and pencil. Such professionals are expected to have a thorough knowledge of design tools such as Adobe Photoshop, Illustrator and InDesign. It is essential for online & offline work as a graphic designer.
Of course, we should not forget that it is necessary to complete a Graphic Design Bootcamp or similar type of studies, as well as to prepare a portfolio with real projects.
According to Glassdoor.com, the average annual income of a graphic designer is $ 42,000.
These professionals can work on designs for printed materials (packaging, brochures, magazines, clothing, etc.) or the design of websites and applications.
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UX/UI Designer (User Experience Designer)
Unlike graphic designers who have a major focus on aesthetics and communication, UX/UI designers focus on interaction design, or how the users of a product (digital or otherwise) interact with it and interpret the elements of the user interface.
Specifically, they seek answers to questions such as:
- How do people navigate the website itself?
- What happens when people click a button?
- Will changing the colour or size of an item influence users to place larger orders or interact with the site differently?
To answer these questions, UX/UI designers (also called User Experience Designers) implement various methods to test the user experience.
Although they also deal with the layout of the web solution. Their top priority is how users interact with it, ensuring that users can successfully navigate through it, and make intuitive decisions about where to or not to click.
UX/UI designers present concepts of design, in the form of wireframes or visual blueprints of the design of a website or application.
They also sort out the information architecture, which is the basic way how the information is organized, displayed and identified by users.
In essence, UX/UI designers ensure that a website is easy to use. That way the users can understand it and navigate smoothly and efficiently through information, services or items for sale.
Skills and Salary
The UX/UI design field is relatively new and interdisciplinary. So graduates in psychology, architecture, anthropology, computer science, or graphic design are considered to be relevant profiles for building a career in UX/UI design.
According to Glassdoor, the average annual income for a UX/UI designer is about $ 85,000.
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