When it comes to creating a brand's website, several things come to mind: Are the different categories located in the correct place? Do they perform their job fine?

Are they big or small? To answer all the questions, the first thing we have to do is evaluate the users´ behavior: what actions do they commonly take, what is the first thing they look at and what are their reactions about them; all these elements are important to decide the most appropriate design.

This is where UX (user experience) and UI (user interface) come in, which aim for users to find what they are looking for in the shortest possible time, with a good experience. In this article we will define what UX and UI are and the relationship between them. (see here)

User experience or UX

UX design refers to what the user experiences before, during and after coming into contact with a web page. This experience what a brand represents and what it makes its users feel. The UX expert will be like a psychologist, since the user experience is strongly linked to people´s personalities.

The expert will look for all possible ways to make life easier for the user, and for that, some attitudes related to psychology must be taken into account:

- Perception: We must understand what gains our attention, how we move our gaze across a screen and how different colors affect us.
- Emotions: Emotions are not automatic reactions at all. Therefore, it is essential to understand how they are generated and their implications. People are guided more by emotions than by anything else, and that is precisely why it is so important to take them into account.
- Memory: When we design a website we have to think about people´s limitations to remember. Many times the paths to get back to the starting point are not taken into account, and that can make them feel confused.
- Mentality: Users have beliefs, stereotypes and specific interpretations of society and the people around them. With this, we understand why more and more users are looking for other people´s evaluations about a product on the net.
- Motivation: The user has to be motivated for the entire time that he is on the web page, not only at the beginning.
- Learning: From the moment a user enters a web page he becomes a learner and that means that we have to teach him the steps he has to take to achieve his goal.

In addition, the information has to be structured so that the user easily understands all the web content.

User interface or UI

User interface or UI is the different elements present on a screen which allow a user to interact with a website. One of the world's leading UI experts is Jakob Nielsen, who has developed a series of improvements in terms of usability and interface on the web. According to Nielsen, the most important elements of a UI are the following:

- Site purpose: it must be clear who owns the website and what functions it allows to perform.
- Help to the user: the navigation system has to be visible and it also has to include an additional search system.
- Show the content: it must be explained clearly and with text elements that help its reading (such as titles, bold, etc.).
- Functional graphic design: the graphic elements should be aimed at helping the user to find what he wants, and not only as an ornament.

Where the UX ends and the UI begins

UX is what we want the user to feel when he enters a website, while UI is what put on the screen in order to the user to feel it. Both things complement each other: a good UX won´t be achieved without a good interface design. Also, a better design will improve the user experience. Therefore, UX and UI must work together in order to achieve the desired goals.
There are more and more expert agencies on this subject and companies are looking for professionals in the sector to be able to have a website in good condition.