What is UI and what is it?

UI refers to the collection of methods by which users interact with some systems.

UI is the abbreviation of user interface. Generally refers to the user's operation interface, including mobile APP, web page, smart wearable device, etc. UI design mainly refers to the style and beauty of the interface. In use, the overall design of human-computer interaction, operational logic and beautiful interface of the software is another equally important doorway. A good UI can not only make the software personalized and tasteful, but also make the operation of the software comfortable, simple and free, fully reflecting the positioning and characteristics of the software. UI and other meaning, such as unit interval, University of Iowa, unlock command, emergency interrupt.

UI summary

UI = user interface, user interface, also known as man-machine interface. Refers to the collection of methods by which users interact with some systems, including not only computer programs, but also some machines, equipment and complex tools.

UI = Unit Interval, unit time interval, which is usually used to indicate the jitter amplitude in the jitter test of communication signals and the nominal time difference between two adjacent valid moments of an isochronous signal.

UI = University of Iowa, University of Iowa (USA).

UI = unlock command, unlock command.

UI = emergency interrupt.

UI = universal input, universal input.

Chinese phonetic symbols /ui/

Ui design

Job classification

Software design can be divided into two parts: coding design and UI design.

Everyone is familiar with coding design, but UI design is still a strange word, even some people who specialize in website and multimedia design do not fully understand the meaning of UI. The original intention of UI is user interface, which is the abbreviation of English user and interface. Literally, it is two components: user and interface, but in fact it also includes the interaction between user and interface. Interface design, in the long software development, interface design has not been paid attention to. In fact, software interface design, like industrial modeling design in industrial products, is an important selling point of products. Friendly and beautiful interface will bring people comfortable visual enjoyment, close the distance between people and computers, and create selling points for businesses. Interface design is not a simple artistic painting, it needs to locate users, use environment and use methods, and design for end users. It is a purely scientific artistic design. The standard for testing an interface is neither the opinion of the project development team leader nor the result of the project members' voting, but the feeling of the end users. Therefore, interface design should be closely combined with user research, which is a process of constantly designing satisfactory visual effects for end users.

In the process of human-computer interaction, there is a level, which is what we call interface. From the psychological point of view, the interface can be divided into two levels: feeling (vision, touch, hearing, etc. ) and emotions. User interface design is an important part of screen products. Interface design is a complex project, involving different disciplines, and cognitive psychology, design and linguistics all play important roles here. The three principles of user interface design are: putting the interface under the control of users; Reduce the memory burden of users; Maintain consistency of the interface.

Development situation

Market economy needs competition, and competition will require design to improve product competitiveness. Before 2000, domestic UI design had just begun to sprout, but at that time, doing UI was equivalent to doing graphic design, which was basically reflected in web design. Later, with the popularity of flash, some art designers began to think about interactivity. In 2002, some enterprises began to pay attention to the importance of UI design, and separated the UI department from the software coding team, and began to have graphic designers and interaction designers specializing in software products. After 2004, with the launch of a large number of products such as mobile phones, computer add-on software and MP3. ID design and UI design are getting closer and closer, and UI design has also begun to be promoted to a new height and attention. In 2005, domestic UI design was relatively mature. With the professional division of labor, many good UI front-line designers and UI design exchange institutions have emerged.

UI is still a relatively unfamiliar word in China, and even some designers don't understand it. We often see some job advertisements that say: interface artist, interface art designer and so on. This shows that the domestic understanding of UI is still in the aspect of art design, and that the work of UI is only to draw lines and strokes, and there is a lack of understanding of the importance of user interaction. On the other hand, in the process of software development, there is still a phenomenon of attaching importance to technology and neglecting application. Many merchants think that the core of software products is technology, and UI is only an aid, which can be reflected in the proportion and treatment of personnel.

However, this is not the real value embodiment of UI design, but an inevitable process for the development of UI design. Let us take the mobile phone industry as an example. When mobile phones first entered the market, they were not only prohibitively expensive, but also had no other functions except talking. Because of the dominant technology at that time, everyone was concerned about signals, standby time, life and so on. , but pay little attention to the shape of the product and the rationality of use. Times have changed, and the current technology has fully met the needs of users. Therefore, in order to create selling points and improve competitiveness, merchants attach great importance to product design, and also frequently launch SMS, color screen, MMS, CRBT, camera and so on. In this way, the beauty, individuality, ease of use and humanization of the product have become the selling points of the product. The development of software products and material products is the same. In the past, due to the limitation of computer hardware, coding design became synonymous with software development, and the beautiful and friendly graphical interface and reasonable and easy-to-use interaction mode were not paid enough attention. In fact, the software of this period is called software program, not software product.

Nowadays, with the rapid development of computer hardware, the past software programs can no longer meet the requirements of users. In the fierce market competition, it is not enough for software products to have powerful functions, and it is not enough to defeat powerful opponents. With the gradual expansion of the technical field and the increasing awareness of humanization in product production, more and more enterprises begin to pay attention to the investment in interactive design and user testing. The "three-legged" situation in the field of UI design will increasingly become the general trend. This means that UI designers with comprehensive abilities in art design, programming, market research and psychological analysis will have a broader development prospect. Fortunately, some far-sighted national enterprises in China have begun to realize the huge selling point that UI brings to software products. For example, Smartisan OS developed by Hammer Technology won the "20 14 China Internet Innovation Product Award" and "Best User Experience Award" in Geek Park because of its emphasis on UI design and user experience. For example, Kingsoft's movie tyrants, word tyrants, drug tyrants and web icons, because of the emphasis on the development and status of UI, make Kingsoft's products second to none among similar software products. The UI department of Lenovo Software actively carried out user research and usability testing, combined ease of use and aesthetics, and launched successful UI examples such as dual-mode computers and happiness series, which won Lenovo the title of the third consumer PC in the world. Even Donghua University, the leading fashion design major in Shanghai, has set up a professor UI at Yingcheng Design College. Practice has proved that as long as merchants invest little in the beautiful and easy-to-use design of products, they will have great output. Its input-output ratio is far less than the input of function-led development.

We have to admit that there is a considerable gap between China and western developed countries in many fields at this stage. How to catch up with them is the historical mission of our generation. The field of software products is not limited by technology and materials like material products, and the core problem of software products is people. Improving the personal ability of software UI designers and reducing the personnel gap is the first key issue in the development of UI in China.

At present, there is no relatively sound UI design major in domestic universities, so the key to improve the ability of UI designers lies in providing a good resource environment for learning and communication. There are many communication design websites in China, which introduce industrial design, graphic design, fashion design, painting art, multimedia flash and so on. However, UI design has not received due attention, and it is only placed in the column of digital design or graphic web design. This unique resource is not enough to train excellent designers. It is necessary to have a place with fast information, rich resources, first-class design level and professional authority to learn and exchange UI design to meet the needs of growing UI designers.