These two acronyms can be a cause of contention to clients and professionals alike. So we thought it might be a good idea to shed some light on both and try explaining the differences and general misconceptions people have regarding these two very similar roles.

Say you have two professionals working on the same project. One is the UX (User Experience) designer in charge of producing a user-centered design, and the other is the UI (User Interface) developer who builds the user interface that supports the exchange of information. Now If you were to ask the UX Designer and the UI Developer who is the principal creator of the user experience, what you might expect to hear is “I am because…” from both of them.”

Now here is the tricky part.

UX Designers see their authority as coming from the research that informs their designs. “We have talked to the customers, and we know what they want.” UI Developers see their validity as coming from their knowledge of the underlying technology’s capabilities and constraints.

However it’s not like any one of them has a monopoly on the secrets about design patterns and best practices for user interactions. It’s part of a UX Designers job to study user and workflow analysis yet all UI Developers have the same knowledge and, in some cases, were even the ones who pioneered those patterns and best practices in the first place.

So what’s the real difference between the two?

Although a UI Developer might conduct general functionality testing and a UX Designer might also conduct real world usability testing on prototypes or finished products to assess the quality of a user experience. A UI Developer’s output is functional, testable, shippable code that lets users accomplish their goals when using an application.

A UX Designer designs the user experience, by producing user-centered design artifacts such as concept artwork, site maps, taxonomies, and wireframes. Whereas the UI Developer builds the user interfaces that support the exchange of information between the users and its back-end processes and databases.

UI Developer could be a fully dedicated role as part of a wider development team or a hat that a developer who is also responsible for coding the back-end processes might wear. The area that tends to fall under the exclusive domain of UI development includes the programming skills and knowledge. Whereas the UX Designer might be responsible for the bigger picture in terms of the general work flow of a user.

Ok, so what’s the big issue?

Sometimes the blurred lines between these two roles has been known to generate hard feelings. UX Designers can resent the disregard developers sometimes give their designs. And UI Developers feel that UX wireframes are too static and don’t take into account what they discover during the process of building a user interface. As a design comes to life, the developers gain new insights; either while interacting with the functionality or by testing the interactions they are building.

Best practise and the “Offset Media” way?

We know that it is a collaborative process of review and refinement. It is better when a design deliverable communicates data-driven requirements and provides a working space for collaborative input. We value both roles equally as key parts of the wider user experience.

UI developers create technology to actually make the best user experience happen. So In that role, the UI Developer is a rightful participant in the design process. Bringing the conceptual design to life is a creative process in itself, and a UI Developer can help the design mature and emerge by applying his or her own expertise. If a UX Designer were to insist that his or her concepts were unquestionable blueprints, we’d lose the insights that could come from a UI Developer’s craftsmanship.

At Offset Media we strive for results that really answer the client’s brief with design flair and supported by robust solutions, this then leads to great user experiences. This why we cultivate good communication between the client the designer and the developer in order for all parties to truly understand the project in hand. We constantly try to cut away the excesses and focus on the real focal point and functional aim by remembering that simpler = better.

We are proud to announce the launch of PremaeSkincare.com. Over the last month we have been working hard alongside Clare Eluka (C.E.O and Founder of Premae Skincare) to build their online sales platform and create their product packaging designs.

Clare is a advocate for allergen free, eco friendly products and ethical principles in business. Premae is the world’s first totally allergen free beauty brand. She has spent much time in the area of research and development in order to discover how to create her comprehensive cleansing and moisturising system. What makes the Premae product range so special is that they are made with only 100% natural allergen free ingredients.

Looking for something special this Christmas for a loved one?  PremaeSkincare.com

Christmas is nearly upon us, and here at offset media, we are feeling festive already. Who benefits from our overly festive mood? You of course! We have created a set of 20 festive vector icons as our gift to you.

l Download The Free Festive Icon Pack.

Here is a great and moving speech by the late Steve Jobs. Leading a very interesting and eventful life, he has been an inspiration to many and has had a huge impact on the modern world. His passing is not just a loss for Apple, but the entire industry.

Rest in peace.

In Apple related news; we have just purchased a brand new iPad 2, now that we are venturing into developing apps for the iOS platform. We think it is a great addition to our collection of development devices that include Blackberries, Android and Windows Phone 7. It’s also now our “weapon of choice” when it comes down to taking minuets at meetings and showcasing work to clients whilst on the move.

crowdSPRING have recently released infographic poster detailing the effects of social media marketing for small businesses. There are some interesting figures in there, namely the successfulness of social media marketing for small businesses but not as much for medium to large businesses. It also seems that twitter is just beating facebook for brand loyalty with 64% of twitter users being more likely to buy the brand they follow. Overall though, it seem that facebook takes the social media crown sending more traffic to the band’s website and generating more sales leads.

At offset we are definitely pro social media, and generally advice our clients to adopt at least one . Although in our experience, it is not about blanketing the brand on every social website, not all forms social media are suited to every brand. Also, social media marketing requires a lot of input and time, and you can only get out of it what you put in (just take a look at Gary Vaynerchuk). With all the positives of online social media, you should not forget the merits of being social in physical world.

Here at offset media, we do enjoy a grid or two. We regularly use a couple grids that work very well for web, The Golden Grid, and this one from thegridsystem.org.

I have, however, not yet used a grid system that I really like for print. Then I remembered about the unigrid! The unigrid was created by legendary designer Massimo Vignelli for the  National Park Service.

Much to my amazement, when I went to download the unigrid, I could not find a digital version anywhere. So, based on the information I found on inksie, I decided to create one myself. If you want to mess about with the unigrid yourself we have uploaded a zip file containing an Adobe Photoshop, InDesign, and Illustrator version.

l You can Download the zip file from here: The Unigrid.

We have just helped launched the new Illustrator’s Lounge daily blog. Focused on showcasing work from illustrators of all fields and backgrounds, it already has great content. There is even a ‘Cabinet of Curiosities‘ which is bursting with helpful free downloads like fonts and textures.

You can follow The Illustrator’s Lounge’s progress via their twitter page – @the_loungers

It is quite impressive (or shameful) to think we have been updating this blog for 3 years and not once mentioned Olly Moss. It is probably written somewhere you can only officially call yourself a design blog once you dedicate a post to Olly’s work. So to rectify this, I decided to post about Olly’s recent Art exhibition at Gallery 1988.

It was his first major exhibition and for it he created 300 stunning paper-cut silhouettes. All the silhouettes are based on Olly’s favourite pop culture icons, and it is a real treat trying to guess who they all are. You can check out a few of them here. To say the exhibition was a complete success would be an understatement—there was a 5 hour queue to get in on the opening day. Unheard of for a designer’s first exhibition. So congratulations Olly! I’m keeping my fingers-crossed your next exhibition is in little old London.

We are now recruiting interns for the summer!

For more details about our opening please click here

If you would like to (or know someone who would like to) join the offset media team to gain real world experience and design skills at our multi-disciplined design agency, please apply now.

How to apply?

Just email us your CV and some samples of any favorite designs that you have created and your contact information. We will then process your application and if successful, you will be invited to a short interview. If you impress us at the interview we will invite you to work alongside the team to help you develop your skills as a designer.

From our internship you will gain not only a professional entry on your CV but also great insight into how the design & multimedia industry works. After the duration of the intership there will be a potential to extend your time with us or appy for part-time / full-time employment.

Ever since the @font-face tag came along the web has become that bit more user-friendly, no longer needing to use an unselectable images for headings. Most developers have happily jumped on board the font-face train, which is great to see.

Something that hasn’t really been explored much yet is the use of icon font packs. When we started building the new offset media website, it was one of the main things we wanted to exploit. So we set about building our own icon font pack, keen to include all the essential website icons (tag, printer, trolly etc.) and the most popular social network icons (facebook, twitter, vimeo etc.). We were very happy with the results—a host of easily manipulable icons without the hassle of going back and forth between programmes.

We like the font so much that we had to share it! You can download our font of 48 icons completely free! Free for you to use however and wherever you like! We generated our font-face kit using Font Squirrel’s generator.

l You can download the zip file from here – om icon font pack.

Enjoy!