What is UX design? - AHN Media Group

Design

March 13, 2025

What does UX stand for? Learn more about what UX means, why it’s so important and what defines good UX.

“UX” stands for “user experience.” It describes the quality of the experience an end user has with a specific product, service, company or brand.

Although it’s often talked about in relation to digital products, like apps and websites, UX can relate to anything that an end user can interact with or encounter.

Take the example of going into your local bank to open a new account. If the process is quick and simple with clear instructions, easy-to-find information and friendly customer service, you’d come away feeling like you had a good user experience.

The same goes for ordering something online or using an app on your phone. If you’re able to accomplish your desired tasks with minimal effort, you’ll find the user experience to be a pleasant one.

UX doesn’t relate to one specific thing. It’s the sum of all the smaller parts that determines whether the overall encounter between the product/service and the user is a positive one. You can think of it as the impression the user leaves with and whether or not they’d be keen to repeat the experience. To learn more, keep reading.

What is user experience (UX) design?

If UX describes the quality of a user’s encounter with a particular product or service, UX design is the process of creating and shaping these experiences, with the goal of making them positive, pleasant and valuable for the end user.

UX design isn’t about how a product looks; that’s just one aspect of the overall user experience. It’s about ensuring that the product is logical, functional, easy to navigate and generally user-friendly.

There are 5 elements of UX design to consider:

Strategy: Deciding which objectives the product should meet, including both end user goals and client/business stakeholder objectives.
Scope: Fleshing out the details of the product, determining which features and functionality it should offer.
Structure: Mapping out the structure of the product, considering how users will navigate from one point to the next and what information they’ll need to move around the product and accomplish their goals.
Skeleton: Drilling down to the finer details of how each page should be structured and which elements (buttons, menus and other content) will go where.
Surface: Considering the user’s sensory experience of the product, defining how the product will look in terms of colors, imagery, spacing, typography and so on. This is where UI design comes in.

Where does the term “UX” come from?

The term “UX” was invented by Donald Norman, a cognitive psychologist who started working at Apple in the early 1990s. He took on the role of User Experience Architect, making him the first (known) person in history to have UX in their job title.

Explaining the origins of UX, Donald Norman said:

“I invented the term because I thought human interface and usability were too narrow. I wanted to cover all aspects of the person’s experience with a system, including industrial design, graphics, the interface, the physical interaction and the manual.”

What is the difference between UX and UI?

If you’ve heard of UX, you’ve probably also heard of UI. The terms are often used together but it’s important to be clear on the difference between them.

UX is a much broader term, covering everything that influences how a user feels when they use a product or service. It’s a comprehensive discipline that involves research, analysis, and understanding user needs.

UI stands for “user interface”, which is the point of interaction between an end user and a digital product. It’s a more narrow discipline that involves the visual design of the screens, buttons and other touchpoints you might use to navigate an app or a website.

The way the user interface (UI) is designed has an impact on the overall user experience, so UI is an important part of UX.

UX	UI
Stands for “user experience”	Stands for “user interface”
A broad discipline	A narrow discipline
Involves the quality of the experience as a whole	Involves the design of the user interface
Concerned with research, analysis, and understanding user needs	Concerned with visual design

You can learn more about the difference between the two, as well as how they go hand-in-hand, in this guide to UX vs. UI.

Why is UX important?

UX is important for two reasons: business value and human value. Let’s look at both.

The business value of UX design

If you have a positive experience with a product or service, you’re more likely to use it again and become a loyal customer. You might even recommend it to friends and family. That’s great for the brand reputation, which ultimately determines whether or not the product or service is successful and profitable.

On the flip side, a negative user experience leaves a bad impression of the product, service or brand. If it’s less than satisfactory, you’ll be inclined to go elsewhere, like a competitor with better UX.

Wherever there are two similar products or services offering the same functionality, the one with the best UX will always win out. UX is therefore crucial for winning and keeping customers, developing a positive brand reputation and, ultimately, for driving profit and business growth.

In sum, the business value of UX design includes:

A competitive edge in the market
Increased sales and revenue
Higher conversion rates
Better word-of-mouth marketing
A strong brand reputation
Improved customer loyalty and retention

We compiled some interesting statistics about the business value of UX, like the fact that 66% of customers are willing to pay more for a great user experience.

The human value of UX design

In addition to being valuable to businesses, end users also value good UX even if they don’t know it. UX influences whether we enjoy an experience or not and whether products and services are efficient and easy or frustrating and difficult.

In addition, UX determines whether products are accessible and inclusive for as many users as possible. Whether they are disabled, come from a different place with different needs, or have different requirements, good UX make products and services accessible for all.

What defines good UX? The fundamental principles of UX design

Defining good UX can be tricky. It’s not down to one specific thing. There are seven principles of UX design that all designers should follow. They are:

User-centricity — Design products and services in a way that centres the user’s needs and helps to solve their problems.
Consistency — This can mean keeping your designs consistent across all pages, screens, and products within the same product family. It can also mean meeting the user’s expectations for the kind of product you’re designing.
Hierarchy — This includes putting more important elements in more prominent positions in both a site’s information architecture and in the visual hierarchy.
Context — Consider the circumstances in which your products of services will be used and how that will effect the user experience.
User control — Give the user the right amount of control over their interactions with a product, such as being able to reverse or undo errors to a text message without throwing the whole user experience into disarray.
Accessibility — Ensure your product or service is accessible to as many users as possible, including people with disabilities or in other environments.
Usability — Usability relates to how easy a given product is to use and it’s influenced by things like:
- Learnability – how easy it is for a user to learn how to use the product for the first time.
- Efficiency – how quickly and seamlessly the user is able to complete their goals and tasks.
- Memorability – how easy it is for the user to jump back into the product after not using it for a while.
- Errors – how many errors does a user typically make when using the product.
- Satisfaction – how pleasant or enjoyable is the product to use.

What is the UX design process?

The UX design process focuses on identifying and solving a problem for a specific target audience. It includes:

Conducting user research to understand who you’re designing the experience for and what problems they need solving.
Narrowing it down to one problem and coming up with potential solutions.
Designing the chosen solution.
Making prototypes to test and validate the design, i.e. to make sure it will actually solve the user’s problem.
Developing the prototypes into a fully-fledged product or service which people can use.
Continuously improving the product/service (and thus the user experience) based on continuous testing and feedback.

News

Denver’s Vietnamese Refugees Share New Life While Keeping Family’s Heritage

Because of the chaos that was happening in their homeland in the 1970s, thousands of Vietnamese fled and some, later on, found a home in Colorado.

The melancholic memory is still fresh for Nga Vương-Sandoval, who, at the age of three, had to temporarily stay in refugee camps in the Philippines, Guam, and Arkansas.

She was with the about 2 million people who were unhoused and still have from within the shock of their suffering.

It had been very challenging for them as they had to leave behind the good life they have in Vietnam and even depart from their relatives in order for them to leave safely.

Starting their life all over again, Denver has become a home to the 24,000-man Vietnamese Americans.

After being able to establish their community and found a home in the place, Nga said “I’m proud to say that it’s the city that I love, it’s the state that I love.”

Meanwhile, Vo, a 21-year-old grandchild of a Vietnamese who grew up in Aurora after his grannies and parents left Vietnam in the 1990s to seek a better life, had the experience of living in “a very diverse place.”

Knowing very little about his family’s past in Vietnam, he conducted a research project to unleash an “inherently American story,” according to him.

Enabling people to have a glimpse of the refugees from a different perspective, Vo made use of his relatives as objects of his photography.

“Even though we moved here, they still lived a very Vietnamese life,” Vo said in Denver Post,

It was also in his research that he found out how the majority of his family members were able to escape Vietnam while being robbed of cash and gold on their way.

He also mentioned how his family kept their culture by still practicing them in Denver which contributed to what America is, a place with diverse cultures.

Despite having to start from scratch, they were able to begin life anew and even owned an Asian supermarket, Asian cinema, and Truong An Gifts.

His family also started the Far East Center shopping mall in 1987, home to him and his cousins and even to the Asian community.

Dec 8, 2022
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South Asians Found Second Home in Devon Avenue’s “Little India”

At Devon Avenue in Chicago, immigrants from India discovered a taste and comfort of their home country.

The area, commonly referred to as “Little India,” has served as a shelter for Indians who miss their culture.

Finding a home in it, Indians such as National Indo-American Museum board member Beverly Kumar, go there every now and then, especially when she craves Kalakand, a traditional Indian fudge.

According to Kumar, “It’s very comforting knowing that just 14 miles away from my house, there is an essence of Little India.” She also mentioned how reminiscing it is to see familiar sights, sounds, scents, and flavors when visiting Devon Avenue since it makes her feel as though she has never left home.

The area not only became a haven for Indians, but also for other South Asians who opened grocery stores, sari and jewelry stores, as well as many other enterprises in addition to food stores.

In the middle of 1960s, the place it became the second and fourth-largest enclave for Indian and Pakistani Americans, respectively.

The Federal Immigration and Naturalization Act of 1965 ushered in the first wave of South Asian immigration, which established settlements for South Asian professionals in Chicago, while the second phase arrived in the 1980s and 1990s.

Psychotherapist Ranjana Bhargava was one of the first immigrants who yearned for vegan food and searched for spices to sate her craving for Indian cuisines, which she found at Mexican places.

Between the first and second waves, businesses such as The Sari Palace sari store and Indian grocery stores began to thrive there.

Since then, a new community has been created where Indians continue to practice their culture through activities like viewing Indian movies, getting together, playing instruments, performing traditional dances, and eating.

The once Jewish-dominated place became a mainly Indian community which captivated more visitors where one can meet not only Indians but people of different races.

Dec 8, 2022
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Stories

Chinatown’s Oldest and Most Respected Businesses Proudly Carried On By Next Generation

The blood of entrepreneurship runs through the veins of Chinatown’s Chinese food business owners, as three of the longest-running businesses have their children enter the management fields of their family business.

Tony and Selina Chun, together with Alan and Helen Chun, who have been in the business for decades, fully trusted their children to run the meat market company they bought in the 1980s.

The older generation passed it down to their children believing that they would treat it the same way they had after 40 years of building and creating the Chinatown cornerstone with crispy roast pigs, burnished roast ducks, and glazed char siu along with butcher store and seafood vendor.

Frankie, 35, and his cousins are now in charge of running the company that they established through diligence and thrift. Given that they have a family business to manage, Frankie has known since then that he won’t take long in any career.

He was reported in Honolulu magazine as saying, “I knew that anything I was going to pursue wasn’t going to be lengthy, because the family would always ask us back for support.”

He and his cousins learned the operations as a result of early exposure to the business and used them as a means of support, which pleased their parents, especially when they took their first vacation in four decades.

Meanwhile, Liana Fang, whose parents Wesley and Jie Mei Fang founded Sing Cheong Yuan Bakery, assists in running the business.

The pair bought the bakery from its original owners and then expanded it by bringing in more goods. The homemade goods were prepared using original family recipes that they later improved.

The 27-year-old claims she adores Chinatown but acknowledges that she is more passionate about cooking than baking. “It’s so authentic. I love Asian food, the fresh markets, the mom-and-pop shops,” she said.

Completing the list, the 33-year-old daughter of Sun Chong supermarket co-owner Ann Sung also contributes to management of the business.

Sun helps them sell their products and other items by marketing it online and by helping accomplish other stuff needed in the business.

Sun, who grew up at the shop with her cousins, said that their business is like a thread that can connect generations. She also claimed that coming home after studying abroad was like paying back her mother, who had done everything for her. Sun plans to update and improve her mother and aunt’s traditional business structure.

Dec 8, 2022
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Stories

29-Year-Old Drift Racer Sara Choi Excels With Prowess In Male-Dominated Industry

Sara Choi, a South Korean drift racer, is one of the rare female drift racers who compete on an equal or even higher level with men in the automotive industry.

“Men have egos. Men have pride,” says Choi upon knowing that some guys dislike her.

The 29-year-old was taken care of by a gang of automobile kids after leaving her Hawaii home at 15 and this is when she first acquired her curiosity and passion in cars.

Cool as she is, Choi drives a car at 70 mph while it “drifts” due to oversteering and also has to deal with microaggressions and crude remarks about her body as a drift racer.

Being one of the few women of color who is so skilled at it, vehicles are more than simply a hobby, a source of celebrity, or a source of income to her. Not only did she find a great deal of thrill when she drives sideways at high speed, but a new family as well.

“In Hawaii, we only have three freeways. Every Wednesday and every weekend, they would host a “car cruise meet” at the military base, which was everyone—sometimes up to 200 or 300 cars—going on the freeway and just racing. I would always go with my friends to that,” Choi said in Cosmopolitan.

When Choi got her first full-time work at a tuning shop, she got a 1999 Civic through her boss, which she paid for with every paycheck. This marked the beginning of her passion for cars.

After being introduced to drifting, she traveled to Japan, the country where the practice first emerged, years later. After completely experiencing the pleasure of drifting there, she grew passionate about it to the point that it became not only a hobby but a career.

Choi revealed that she is still debating whether or not to compete because it is a male-dominated field and that she is experiencing psychological difficulties.

She is currently concentrating on running racing events to keep the fire going.

One big achievement she had in the arena was when she created the Acura mod, a vehicle she worked on for three months for the SEMA exhibition in Las Vegas.

Additionally, Choi encouraged other women who want to pursue drift racing to “Just do it,” adding that they should put themselves out there to connect with individuals in the field.

Dec 7, 2022
2 min read