User Experience

Recently in class, we discussed the transition from Web Design to User Experience (UX) Design, and I found it pretty interesting.

The Shift from Web Design to UX Design

Web design used to be more like “decorating”—making a website look nice and polished. Designers focused on neat layouts, good color schemes, and making sure buttons didn’t look ugly.

But now, UX design is all about how users feel and interact with the product. It’s like decorating a house: not only does it need to look good, but it also needs to be functional. For example, the light switch should be within reach, and the layout of the rooms should make sense. UX designers care about every detail of how users experience a product: Is this button easy to click? Is the process straightforward? Does this page make the user feel good?

This shift happened because the internet has become a bigger part of our lives, and digital products are more complex. It’s not enough to just look good anymore; designers need to understand user psychology, analyze data, and collaborate with teams to make things work… Being a designer isn’t easy these days 😂.

Do Design Systems Kill Creativity?

Now, here’s the hot topic we debated: Do design systems and interaction patterns kill creativity?
Design systems are like rules for designers, such as Google’s Material Design or Apple’s Human Interface Guidelines. Interaction patterns are similar templates, like having navigation bars at the top of a page—it’s practically a standard now.

Some people think following these rules is boring, like being a factory worker, and everything ends up looking the same.

But I think these systems actually give us more time and energy to focus on real innovation. It’s like cooking: if the basic ingredients and seasonings are already prepped, you can experiment with new flavors without worrying about the fundamentals. Design systems improve efficiency and help users quickly get used to a product (because they’ve already learned similar patterns). Imagine if every app had its “back” button in a different place—users would go nuts!

Design systems and interaction patterns are tools, not shackles. It all depends on how designers use them. Sure, there are some basic frameworks, but whether you can add a unique touch to them is up to your skills. Design is about making users happier and their lives easier, not just about being “different.”

So yeah, while the design field is getting more and more “competitive,” it’s also becoming more exciting. What do you think? Let’s chat in the comments!

The invention of the computer and GUI transformed the landscape of electronic communication. Whereas previous interactions were solely text-based, primary interactions in digital spaces became visual. Analogous tools started to make their way into computers, and the creative potential of these machines attracted many artists and designers. The seemingly infinite opportunities that these machine offered ultimately became a means of expression for many creatives.

As these tools evolved, however, they were primarily geared toward productivity, with early design work relying on traditional print principles. The term “user-friendly” was still unheard of, but a few designers began to explore ways to enhance interaction. Desktop publishing and the rise of the Macintosh made designing faster and more versatile, making the Macintosh the go-to tool for professionals and non-professionals as it changed the patterns of production dependency.

This consideration for user interaction and usability is an example of the very necessary shift from web design to user experience design. Pure aesthetics or compiling type and visuals together a screen can make the user’s actions towards a goal equally as drawn-out if not more difficult. Thus the necessity for researching and learning about the user’s experience not only positively affects the user, but, from a business standpoint, differentiates your product from its competitors.

With the explosion of electronic products, including the popularity of mobile devices, people gradually moved from the web to applications. A simple example is that Steve Jobs did not add the Apple Store feature to the first generation of iOS in iPhone 1, but this feature was added to iPhone 3G a year later. This is also due to the needs of users. People began to pay more attention to the “visual effects” and “information showing” that are the main concerns of web design. People found that users have different operating logic and operation methods when using products in different situations. Based on this, designers have identified a design principle: user-centered design concept. At the same time, web design usually focused on a single interface in the past, but with the diversification of user needs and the development of interaction design, UX design began to focus on the entire journey of users from entering the website to leaving. At the same time, with HCI and psychology gradually joining the part of interaction design, people began to try to use the theories of these disciplines to understand user behavior patterns in order to further optimize the interaction logic and journey map of users using products.

The growing rise of web complexity demands for design that adapts to all users. When technology becomes too complicated, the appeal to certain demographics begin to shift. For senior individuals, they may feel technology has become too complex for daily use. For those with visual impairments, they may feel technology is exclusive to those without visual disabilities. These real life instances are the inclusive considerations that need to be raised when breaking down complex systems into universal systems. With the increasing demand for UX, comes the growing need for accessibility, diversity, and inclusion. By considering the experiences of the people we are designing for, we can make technology accessible for all. Design does not only serve aesthetic purposes, they serve working functions.

The shift from Web Design to User Experience (UX) Design is something I’ve seen and felt firsthand in my work. Early web design was pretty simple—it was all about making things look good, organizing content in a way that caught the eye. But as digital products grew more complex, it became clear that a website wasn’t just a “place” anymore; it was an experience. Aesthetics alone didn’t cut it. We needed to think about how people felt using our sites, what they were trying to do, and how we could make it easier for them.

One huge factor driving this shift was the rise of mobile. Suddenly, people were using devices of all shapes and sizes, and traditional web layouts started to break down.

This forced us to design with more flexibility and empathy for different types of users. The experience couldn’t just look good on a desktop; it had to be seamless on every device.

UX brought in a whole new mindset. It wasn’t just about how things looked but about how they worked—and more importantly, how they worked for the person using them. We started focusing on user flows, usability testing, and really understanding user pain points.

Analytics played a role, too. We had real data on user behavior, which allowed us to make changes based on actual needs, not just assumptions.

I think that the transition from Web design to User Experience design happened as designers started focusing not just on how a website looks and functions, but on how users interact with and feel about the site. At first, the goal in Web design was to make sites that were visually appealing and functionally smooth. Over time, as more people with diverse needs used the internet, the importance of understanding and improving the entire user experience became evident. UX Design emerged as a field that prioritizes this comprehensive approach, focusing on creating positive, engaging, and user-friendly experiences by deeply understanding users’ needs and behaviors. Since users are satisfied with their experience, then it is a good design.

The transition from Web Design to User Experience (UX) Design arose as digital technology and user needs evolved.

Early web design focused on aesthetics and functions, but increasing complexity in digital products required attention to usability and user journeys. When smart phones and more convenient product was invented, web design had to upgrade as well. With the technology rising, function and aesthetics was built based on a product, web design are included in these features. Web design no longer needs to built functions and aesthetics, these things upgrades with the technology growth. What they can focus on is the people who use it. Better user experience can allow users get to their approach easier and faster, by claiming datas and doing research, adding human -based component to the design.

The transition from traditional web design to user experience design was driven by technological advancements and a shift toward user-centered approaches. Initially, web design focused on creating functional websites, often prioritizing brand aesthetics and simple interactions. However, as technology evolved to support more interactive and personalized experiences, designers recognized the importance of focusing on the overall user journey, from accessibility to emotional engagement. UX design emerged to address these needs, emphasizing empathy, usability testing, and iterative design based on user feedback to ensure more intuitive, inclusive, and enjoyable digital experiences. This shift also mirrored broader changes in business strategies, where providing a high-quality user experience became key to customer retention and satisfaction.

I think the transition from web design to user experience design is a natural process, just as the Internet has evolved from static display pages to more user interaction-oriented applications.

In my opinion there are several main reasons that have contributed to this shift. First, with the continued development of HTML5, CSS3, and JavaScript, web pages are no longer just static collections of images and text, but allow for more complex interactions and dynamic effects. This provides designers with more room for creativity, while also placing higher demands on design. Second, the popularity of smartphones and tablets allows users to access the Internet anytime and anywhere. This fragmented usage scenario requires designers to pay more attention to the user’s experience on different devices, rather than being limited to the traditional computer screen. Third, users are no longer satisfied with simple access to information; they want websites and applications to be more personalized, smarter, and more responsive to their needs. This has pushed designers from focusing on visual design to focusing on user psychology and behavior.

The shift from web design to user experience design (UX design) is driven by a number of factors. With the advancement of the Internet and technology, the complexity of websites has increased, and traditional web design is no longer sufficient to meet the growing needs of users.

Users have higher and higher expectations for digital products. They not only want websites to be beautiful, but also want them to be easy, fast and barrier-free to use.

Modern design principles focus more on user-centered methodologies and emphasize understanding user needs and behaviors. User research, testing and data-driven design have become key, pushing design from a static approach based on interfaces to experience design that focuses on user behavior and feelings.

Improving user experience can directly affect business results, such as increasing conversion rates and user satisfaction. Companies recognize that investing in UX design is an important strategy to improve the competitiveness of products and services.

UX design integrates multiple disciplines such as psychology, human-computer interaction, information architecture and visual design, making it an overall design field that goes beyond the traditional scope of web design.

In summary, the evolution of user needs, technological advances and changes in the business environment have all contributed to the shift from web design to user experience design.

Shuoning Liang

Web Design is now UX Design, and UX Design is the digital transition from a static design to a dynamic design that responds to the needs and expectations of users in the future. Web design was, until the advent of the internet, mostly about appearance: designing websites that looked good, with the right colors, fonts, and structures. It was always about getting a user’s attention and making something beautiful. But as the web matured and websites evolved into more interactive, designers came to see that looks were not enough. We had to think too about the actual usage of these sites, so there were more considerations about usability, navigation and functionality.

This change was only further stimulated by smartphones and mobile internet connections, which spread so fast. Now designers had to suddenly learn how to create websites that scaled to various sizes and types of inputs. This demand led to the discipline of responsive design which needed a deeper understanding of how users were behaving in various situations. There was no longer just a matter of designing something to appear nice on a desktop screen, it had to be user-friendly and customizable that was smooth and seamless on any device. This focus on adaptability and usability also formed the foundation of User Experience Design.

Another important influencer of this change was the advent of more dynamic and advanced web technologies. Websites became more than just static pages – they were now dynamic spaces with the capacity for rich interactions, from social feeds to advanced online apps. As digital products became more complex, they must be comprehensible and easy to use by the user. This complexity required a user-centric strategy based on understanding user requirements, motivations and pain points. It became important to have data analytics and a sense of user behavior so designers could take actions on evidence instead of assumptions. This data-driven mindset grew into UX Design, which relied on research, prototyping, and iterative testing to develop better and more fun experiences.

And also as digital space became more competitive, businesses found that great user experience was not only nice to have, but essential differentiation. Things were bigger and users were more demanding; they wanted a site that loads fast, was easy to navigate and smooth. Meeting these expectations involved a whole new kind of design thinking, a web design that took into account not only the visual appearance but the functionality and experience of a website. That awareness is what gave rise to UX Design as a broad discipline, which includes visual design, user research, interaction design, and information architecture. UX Design is in its essence human oriented and draws upon psychology, cognitive science and behavioural research to design digital experiences that make people feel right at home and continue to come back.

Web Design Changing to UX Design is just part of the larger cultural trend of making technology with people in mind. It’s design without intent and design without meaning. This change is a reflection of how technologies evolve and how we strive to adapt digital goods to the people who use them.

The shift from web design to user experience design occurred with the evolution of technology and the interactivity and complexity of the web. Early web design focused primarily on the visual as well as listing the boxes and all the features that were intended to be presented. Of course, as websites and applications grew in size, complexity and user expectations, people started to become more user-centered. After all, people are at the center of it all. UX design not only addresses the visual and functional aspects of a product, but also ensures that the user’s psychology is met throughout the process of using it. Combining usability testing, user research and psychology.

This shift began in the late 1990s and early 2000s with the introduction of user-centered design and the rise of interactive websites. Another important turning point was the birth of the smartphone around 2007. Such a large market demand and population base led designers to focus more on usability, accessibility and cross-device experiences.

Web-design was focused on the aesthetic and visual pleasure of a design, without focusing as much on the user experience. Over time, the internet became more commonly used by everyday people. As designers started understanding user needs more, user experience became more of a focus. It is important for an interface to be intuitive and usable, and not just pretty to look at. The information should be organized well using information architecture, which helps users find the content that they’re looking for more easily. It is also important not to overwhelm the user with too much information.

On one hand, high-quality templates, ready-made design patterns, automation, and artificial intelligence have limited Web design growth. For example, many websites run on different frameworks or services, and many free or paid templates give users quick access to professional-looking designs. This lessens the necessity for specialized web designs. Moreover, Web design innovation has become more challenging due to the well-developed nature of existing user interface elements, which may make further changes seem unnecessary or harmful. Automated Web design tools, which use AI, can sometimes produce better designs than a regular Web designer.

On the other hand, user needs and experience have become more important. Web pages are no longer the main focus of internet experiences; they are now part of a bigger digital product and system. Designers must focus on user research and usability testing, considering the full experience of the product—how people interact with it, its usefulness, and if it creates an emotional connection. User experience (UX) design is user-centered and covers psychology, interaction design, and graphic design. It aims to enrich the overall experience, not just the Web page itself.