tl;dr all these fancy design titles and philosophical debates do not matter much in day to day life of a designer.
Whether you are starting your journey in designing digital products or already a professional working in the field for years; you might have confused yourself with all the trendy things designers like to call themselves. Titles like UX Designer, UI Designer, Product Designer, or even UI/UX Designer are often used interchangeably. However, there are nuanced differences between all these titles.
While some folks may not agree if you look at the origin of these titles and how each of these titleholders likes to emphasize certain practices, you will see that they all have a shared and simple common goal. Which is to make things that people will love and generate profit for the company.
The great confusion of UX or UI or Product Design
People often use pictures like this to show the difference, which is very misguided. The left side (incorrectly labeled as UX) is a low-fidelity wireframe. The right side (incorrectly labeled as UI) is a high-fidelity mockup or wireframe.
There is a common misconception that, UX = Making things usable and working well. UI = Making things look good.
Nothing is farther from the truth than this. I repeat, nothing!
User Experience is the outcome and User Interface is how you get that outcome. Also, people often say things like, “Let’s fix the UI/UX of this feature,” while referring to either making the interface look pretty or refining the user flow.
A hodgepodge in the making, namely UI/UX
Since all these developments in this sector happened very quickly and most of these were not coming from structured academia but directly from the field, miscommunication persists. The term where people use “UI/UX” is one of the terms that is not very accurate but fairly acceptable in the industry from top to bottom. Many designers even use the title “UI/UX Designer” to show they can do both.
I personally feel it is like calling yourself ‘Science/Chemistry Teacher’ instead of just calling yourself ‘Science Teacher’ or ‘Chemistry Teacher’. Which makes little to no sense to me.
In a nutshell
If you have read all of the texts above or are just skipping to see the conclusion, let me conclude with a positive note! Often, designers can get a bit opinionated on various things, starting from which typeface is better to what title to use to introduce themselves. While these discussions can be enjoyable, we must remember that our primary role as designers is to add value.
We, as designers, should prioritize creating useful and usable products that contribute positively to our organization or the company we serve. By focusing on value creation, we not only enhance the user experience but also demonstrate the significance of our work in the grand scheme of things.