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 very pleased to announce the launch of Bar-Specialists.com.

The Bar Specialists are a highly skilled and experienced squad of bar tenders, event organisers and bar designers at the cutting edge of liquid catering culture. The client, rather refreshingly (pun intended) came to us with a few gigabytes worth of professional photography and a very slick concept idea.

We then started up the Offset Media machine and the outcome was this rather snazzy, simple yet dynamic full splash website that supports a wide range of devices and browsers and is driven by the wordpress system.

Feel free to take a look at the results.

At offset media we are currently working on some fantastic and very exciting projects. Over the last two months we have initiated work with SAB Miller, DVL Smith, C.E. Fish Essentials, Bar Specialists, Touch Sky Media, the UK NHS, More Creative & Gateway Trustees to name but a handful.

Some of these diverse projects span e-learning material, websites, e-commerce systems, mobile apps and even branding / logo design. With such a rich variety of challenging projects on the go at the moment, it’s keeping our studio pencils sharp and our minds keen.

It has been a very busy start to the year for us so we are currently working on expanding the team here in London and Bangalore to increase our production capacity whist keeping up our comitment to quality . We will update again as these works progress, so stay tuned.

Nick Smith is a specialist in the area of Interiors and Architectural photography. He also has a super keen eye and tremendous skill when it comes to fashion photography, portraiture and fine art photography.

We have recently built and launched his new blog. The blog will house monthly updates of his work. Friends, clients, colleagues and interested parties can now keep up to date Nick Smith’s progress.

You can view his blog here or visit his main website here.

Friends, partners, colleagues and associates happy new year to you all!

2012 is set to be a big year for offset media. As well as our plans to expand the team, we are also in the process of opening an office in India.

Why India? You may ask. Well apart from India being one of the world’s biggest and fastest growing emerging markets, we also see a huge potential in the native highly skilled I.T. and software development work force. We will be just a short distance from the Microsoft and Google head offices situated in Bangalore (the new Silicon valley of India). Besides the obvious prestige an international office affords us, Bangalore is well-recognized for its speciality in relevant industries such as software, telecommunications and aerospace.

Even though we are set to be busy with these new changes, we will keep our commitment to delivering quality design and creative technology.

We just returned from a promo video shoot for Deluxe 142, media post production house situated in Wardour street, London. We were asked by our coleagues over at MY Production to help support the shoot with our lighting & videography skills.

Deluxe 142 offers the highest quality, sound and picture post production services for the media industry and are responsible the post work on many major Hollywood and home grown movies and television series. Such as “Death in Paradise”, ” The Inbetweeners “, “One Life”, “One Day” & “The Hurt Locker” to name only but a few recent works.

We were honored to be asked to play a part in this project. watch this space for the upcoming video promo soon to feature.

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

DVL Smith, established for over 25 years, is a highly specialised insight and marketing development agency.  They have recently gone through a rebranding process and we were pleased to be invited to attend their launch party last week at the auspicious Institute of Contemporary Arts in London.

We have worked alongside DVL Smith for some time now on many varied projects. It was a lovely evening with an insightful presentation from David Smith (founder of DVL Smith) who talked about the companies beginnings and the future goals of continued high quality services. We also received a highly entertaining and interesting presentation from Stephanie Davies of Laughology regarding the positive impact that Laughter can have on business.

We wish DVL Smith continued success and we are looking forward to working on further exciting projects together in the future.

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.

Over the weekend we attended Aquatics live 2011 at the London Olympia. This was the largest event for aquarists in the UK for over 20 years. For the run up to the event we were busy producing banners, poster, leaflets and other marketing materials on behalf of our client Chris Englezou from C.E Fish Essentials.

We have been working with the innovative C.E Fish Essentials brand for some time now and we are very glad see them go from strength to strength. Over the last year they have been working very hard on research and development for a range of highly nutritional and colour enhancing Discus fish foods. We are responsible for designing their packaging / branding and we are looking forward to working with them creating more new and exciting world first products.

All in all it was a great show, I would highly recommend next year’s event to anyone who already keeps fish or might be interested in doing so.