Flag

We stand with Ukraine and our team members from Ukraine. Here are ways you can help

Get exclusive access to thought-provoking articles, bonus podcast content, and cutting-edge whitepapers. Become a member of the UX Magazine community today!

Home ›› UX Design ›› The Historical Context of UX, UI, and Product Design

The Historical Context of UX, UI, and Product Design

by Andy Budd
5 min read
Share this post on
Tweet
Share
Post
Share
Email
Print

Save

In an industry that thrives on clarity — creating systems to guide users and foster understanding — why do we struggle to define our own roles? This article traces the evolution of design professions, from the early days of web pioneers to the specialized roles of UX, UI, and Product Designers today. It explores how early design challenges gave rise to fields like Interaction Design and User Research, and how the emergence of mobile apps blurred the lines between UX and Product Designers. Discover how the lack of clear terminology impacts our industry and why resolving this issue is crucial for its future.

This morning I found myself writing a long response to a question somebody posted on a design leadership Slack about the difference between UX, UI, and Product Design. Yes, I know, we’re all fed up with conversations about “defining the damned thing”; something I find deeply ironic as most digital designers work in a domain where language and nuance are important. However, the fact that these conversations still happen among us means that confusion still persists, so I thought I’d take another stab at this topic using a historical context. In order to do this, I wanted to take you back to the early days of the Web.

Design and the early web

Early websites were generally created by a single person, leading early Web Designers to be multi-discipline individuals with a strong technical background. As Web capabilities started to allow more nuanced visual design (like improved CSS browser support), this started butting up against many Web Designers’ visual design abilities. At the same time, this opened the door for traditional Graphic Designers who would focus on the visual design side of things. As such, Web Design bifurcated into Visual Design and Front-End Development.

As sites started to get more complicated, new types of problems started to emerge, including how to structure large-scale websites, how people would navigate around those websites, and how they would interact with things like buttons, forms, and “DHTML elements”. This led to the rise of disciplines like Information Architecture, Interaction Design, User Research, and Usability Engineering.

The rise of UX design

While larger institutions like Universities could bring in specialists from their Library Science, HCI, and CogSci courses to tackle these issues, the new role of UX Designer emerged to cover these areas. As such, for a while, it was common in large organizations and the agencies that served them to see UX Designers coming from these fields and UI designers coming from Graphic Design. This balance was maintained for a while, especially in Europe, where large institutions dominated the early Web. However, a few things happened to switch this up.

First, as Web Sites slowly morphed into Web Apps, people moved away from IA and towards Interaction Design. So this was one less thing for the generalist UX Designer to cover. As the importance of the Web grew, so did team sizes. This allowed further specialization, with companies hiring dedicated researchers, taking another role (usability testing) out of the hands of the generalist UX Designer. As such, UX Designers started moving more towards Interaction Design and then Visual Design (often out of necessity), while UI Designers started moving more towards Interaction Design and UX. As such, we found ourselves with a reduced need for dedicated UX Designers and a rise in hybrid UX/UI Designers.

I’d also add that UI Design is much easier to learn and practice on your own than UX Design. So it’s relatively easy to imagine (or re-imagine) a visual interface and post the resulting designs to Dribbble. It’s much harder to do user research, run a bunch of stakeholder workshops, sketch out some low-fidelity wireframes, turn these into a high-fidelity prototype, and then test them on your own. So even if you did a UX-related course, UI (and to a lesser extent Interaction Design) was always going to be the easiest entry point into the field. This means that most new designers start with a UI and Interaction Design bias, and grow their UX capabilities through exposure.

Enter the product design stage left

Around this time, we started seeing the rise of mobile apps. These mobile platforms already had user interface guidelines, reducing the need for UX Designers to approach things from a position of first principles. They also came with at least some pre-designed components, diminishing the need for quite so much UI design work. Instead, the work became assembling pre-existing components into a limited number of user flows. This was helped by the small screen real estate, which started squashing these skills together. As such, we started needing people with more Interaction Design skills, particularly animation skills, in order to improve interaction on smaller screens.

As a result we started seeing a whole new generation of designers influenced by the UX/UI generalists, but working on smaller screens, and in smaller teams. These apps were often heavily productized and had analytics and feedback mechanisms (like app store ratings) baked in. These designers took a little more interest in how their work affected growth, often leaning into topics like gamification. Influenced by the language of Silicon Valley and finding themselves part of smaller Product Teams led by a Product Manager who often led product discovery and strategy, the term Product Designer became increasingly popular.

As a result of these trends, you began to find UX Designers, UI Designers, and UX/UI Designers coalescing in agencies and larger institutions, especially in European countries; while Product Designers tended to feature in startups and tech companies, especially in the US.

UX/UI designer vs product designer

There’s obviously a huge overlap between a Product Designer and a UX/UI Designer these days (and arguably there always has been). As such, when it comes to craft skills, the differentiation is too small to be almost meaningless. However, I still find that the title people use hints at the individuals’ background, the type of work they’ve been doing, and the type of companies they’ve been doing it for, as well as a subtle difference in attitude based on the slightly different lens they view their work through.

This is going to be the most contentious statement in this article, but even though the differences have reduced, I still find that people who describe themselves as UX/UI designers tend to be more academic and influenced by the world of HCI (although this is definitely reducing). As such, UX/UI Designers also tend to be heavily focused on user needs, often above all else. Now this isn’t to say that Product Designers don’t also care about user needs — they clearly do. However, because they come from slightly more commercial backgrounds, they also tend to be a little more pragmatic when it comes to the trade-offs between user and business needs.

Of course, these are super subtle generalized trends. I meet a lot of UX/UI designers who lean into the business side of things, and an equal number of Product Designers who see themselves as the user champion. I also meet a lot of Designers who use UX/UI Designer and Product Designer interchangeably, rendering any distinction meaningless. So while in aggregate I still see a difference, that gap is narrowing and requires you to judge individuals on a case-by-case basis — which let’s face it, is something we should be doing anyway.

The article originally appeared on Medium.

Featured image courtesy: Edho Pratama.

post authorAndy Budd

Andy Budd
Andy is a Design Leader turned investor, advisor, and coach. He is a Venture Partner at Seedcamp, one of the top-ranked seed funds in Europe. He has written "The Growth Equation" to help startups land their first million in revenue and reach Product Market Fit. A product person at heart, Andy previously founded Clearleft (the first UX agency in the UK), Leading Design, and UX London. He is a founding member of the Adobe Design Circle and has appeared on both the Wired 100 and BIMA 100 lists. Andy once worked as a shark diver and has been recently qualified as a pilot.

Tweet
Share
Post
Share
Email
Print
Ideas In Brief
  • This article delves into the historical evolution of UX, UI, and Product Design, tracing their journey from the early days of web design to modern hybrid roles.
  • It examines how the industry’s struggle with clear terminology has impacted its growth, potentially ceding authority to other professions like project management.

Related Articles

Discover how AI is changing UX research. It’s not just making data analysis faster. It’s also encouraging people to think more deeply. Learn how to strike a balance between human insight and AI-driven efficiency to create more thoughtful designs.

Article by Charles Gedeon
How AI and Metacognition Are Shaping UX Research
  • The article talks about how AI can speed up data analysis and encourage people to think more deeply about biases and missed insights, which can improve the quality of user-centered design.
  • It shows that AI-powered UX research tools need to include reflection checkpoints. These checkpoints let researchers critically assess their assumptions and conclusions.
  • The piece highlights the collaboration between AI’s ability to recognize patterns and human judgment to make sure the research outcomes are meaningful and consider the context.
Share:How AI and Metacognition Are Shaping UX Research
4 min read

How can thoughtful workspace design transform collaboration and creativity? Discover how a human-centered approach reimagined 21,940 square feet into a flexible, inspiring environment that employees love.

Article by Aalap Doshi
Rethink Space: Designing a Human-Centered Workspace that Supports Flexibility, Collaboration, Privacy, Innovation, Creativity, and Transparency
  • The article explores how human-centered workspace design can improve collaboration, flexibility, and creativity by addressing employee needs.
  • It highlights solutions like open zones, quiet spaces, and pod-like configurations, showing how these changes boosted teamwork and morale.
  • The piece emphasizes the value of co-creation, adaptability, and clear communication in rethinking office spaces.
Share:Rethink Space: Designing a Human-Centered Workspace that Supports Flexibility, Collaboration, Privacy, Innovation, Creativity, and Transparency
7 min read

Publishing in HCI and design research can feel overwhelming, especially for newcomers. This guide breaks down the process — from choosing the right venue to writing, submitting, and handling revisions. Whether you’re aiming for conferences or journals, learn key strategies to navigate academic publishing with confidence.

Article by Malak Sadek
A Guide to Publishing Human-Computer Interaction (HCI) and Design Research Papers
  • The article provides a guide to publishing in Human-Computer Interaction (HCI) and design research, sharing insights from the author’s PhD experience.
  • It explains the significance of publishing in academia and industry, offering an overview of peer-reviewed journals and conferences.
  • It breaks down the two main types of papers — review and empirical — detailing their structures and acceptance criteria.
  • The piece emphasizes strategic research planning, collaboration, and selecting the right venue for submission.
  • The piece also outlines practical steps for writing, revising, and handling rejections, encouraging persistence and learning from reviewer feedback to improve publication success.
Share:A Guide to Publishing Human-Computer Interaction (HCI) and Design Research Papers
8 min read

Join the UX Magazine community!

Stay informed with exclusive content on the intersection of UX, AI agents, and agentic automation—essential reading for future-focused professionals.

Hello!

You're officially a member of the UX Magazine Community.
We're excited to have you with us!

Thank you!

To begin viewing member content, please verify your email.

Tell us about you. Enroll in the course.

    This website uses cookies to ensure you get the best experience on our website. Check our privacy policy and