UI/UX Designer vs. Graphic Designer – What Is The Difference?

Back then, when we thought about “design”, we immediately thought about editing visual aesthetics – which nowadays is known as Graphic Design. It was simply about images, shapes, and colors. But as the digital world evolved, the definition of design has changed as well. Now, we don’t have just graphic design anymore. We have UI design, UX design, and so many others. 

But because of this, terms like UX designer, UI designer, and Graphic designer are often thrown around. And the truth is that it’s easy to get confused. Especially since they all take part in the product design process. But think about it this way!

Imagine you're building a house. The UX designer plans the structure and its architecture, thinking about how you’ll move through the house and ensuring it works perfectly. The UI Designer chooses the furniture and where to put it to make it look homey and that the arrangements make sense. And the graphic designer chooses its style and theme – whether it’s minimalist, vintage, mid-century modern, etc. 

Now, think about this in the context of app design or any other UI UX design. Yes, all of these roles combined are needed to create the perfect product. But how exactly does it translate into the UI UX design world? What are the differences between these design roles?  Is a UX UI designer the same as a graphic designer? What is the salary of a graphic designer vs UI UX designer?

A UX designer is the user advocate and helps the design come together. In fact, a user experience designer creates an enjoyable experience for our users. Its purpose in the design process lies in creating accessible, efficient, fun, and logical flows for our users to complete the entire customer purchasing cycle. 

In other words, a UX designer is like a storyteller. It creates the skeleton that holds together all the elements and ensures the users can interact and understand the design, bringing the answers before they are asked. 

But what exactly does a UX designer do? Well, a lot. It includes strategy, creating a customer persona, creating a story for our product, testing, prototyping, and especially – implementing.  The bottom line: A user experience designer is a part-time designer and part-time marketer. They don’t focus on making the product look pretty – they focus on our customers' interaction with the product. 

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UX Designer Salary:

According to Glassdoor, the averages of a UX Designer salary in the US are: 

• Junior UX Designer – $78.704/year
• UX Designer – $99.116/year
• Senior UX Designer – $120.942/year

The UI designer is the visual artist. It focuses on how a design looks – whether a mobile app, a website, or even a software platform – aka the user interface. In other words, a UI designer will create a pretty and interactive platform while ensuring the product is as intuitive and visually appealing as possible. 

It is the art of choosing the perfect placement of elements, the cool animations, and the aesthetically pleasing images. Not only will a UI designer think about how every button and every icon fits together, but he will also think about how everything fits with our brand and our industry. 

A UI design is what we see and interact with when using a digital product. It’s the touchscreen of your phone or computer. Or even your car’s touchpad to adjust the temperature or change the song on shuffle. A UI designer is the one responsible for how these look and feel. 

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UI Designer Salary:

According to Glassdoor, the averages of a UI Designer salary in the US are: 

• Junior UI Designer – $79.847/year
• UI Designer – $93.624/year
• Senior UI Designer – $114.975/year

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The graphic designer is the visual storyteller. He chooses the right color palette and fonts that will define our brand, creates the perfect icons that will fit our UI UX design, and even designs the logo that will make us stand out. In other words, graphic design oversees the visual communication. 

But while UI UX designers focus on building digital platforms, graphic design also focuses on other aspects. They design logos, brochures, posters, advertisements, and other visual assets our business needs. However, UI and graphic designers' roles might overlap in the website or app design process. How exactly? Well, they will work together to create custom illustrations, background images, and so on to create an aesthetically pleasing interface that will resonate with the audience. 

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Graphic Designer Salary:

According to Glassdoor, the averages of a Graphic Designer salary in the US are: 

• Junior Graphic Designer –$43.000/year
• UX Designer – $53.000/year
• Senior UX Designer – $66.000/year

Sometimes, a designer will wear multiple hats – especially in smaller design teams or startups. This means that a UI designer will take on the role of a graphic designer and vice versa. But it’s important to remember that although these roles might overlap, a UI designer, a UX designer, and a graphic designer will have different responsibilities in the design process. 

So, what is the difference between UX designer, UI designer and graphic designer?

UX Designers Core Responsibilities:

• Creating the structure of the product design;
• Understanding customer needs and conducting user research;
• Creating wireframes and prototypes for easy usability;
• Creating a user-friendly interface. 

UI Designers Core Responsibilities:

• Focus on the visual aspects of the product design;
• Designing the layout and the composition of a product interface;
• Choosing and creating the graphic elements – colors, fonts, animations, illustrations, etc. 
• Creating an interactive and visually appealing interface while maintaining functionality. 

Graphic Designers Core Responsibilities:

• Creating the brand elements – logos, illustrations, fonts, typography, and other graphical elements;
• Creating marketing-related visual assets;
• Developing the brand identity.

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No doubt, choosing the right design role depends on your skills and your interests. But keep in mind that these roles are not mutually exclusive. And the reality is that many of us will find ourselves doing multiple design tasks – tasks that are not quite related to our actual job. And many of us will even transition between roles as our careers progress. 

However, there is no doubt that the UI UX design world is expanding more and more. Because of this, UI UX designers are in the most demand out of all design roles as more digital products are emerging every day. On the other hand, the graphic design industry is currently stagnant due to the demand for technology-focused jobs. This can also be seen in the average graphic designer's salary. For this reason, employers will likely ask for UI or UX design skills as well, even though a UX UI designer is not the same as a graphic designer. 

We at uinkits understand the importance of inputs in great user experiences and creating amazing UI designs. That’s why we’ve developed a Figma UI Kit with design components that include these essential UI elements that enable you to design intuitive and user-friendly interfaces effortlessly.  

“You press the button, we do the rest,” – Kodak.

Inspired by this iconic tagline from Kodak, we believe in simplifying the design process for you. Our Figma UI Kit, uinkits, is a complete design system with UI components that allows you, as a UI UX designer, to create your products as quickly as pressing a button.

Our design system includes components, icons, variables, cards, buttons, and everything you need for your design process. All you have to do is take your UI design component needed, and you’re ready to use it in your designs!