Introduction to UI/UX
Gunikhan Sonowal · 2026
User Interface (UI) and User Experience (UX) design are essential for digital products. UI designers shape visual and interactive elements such as colors, buttons, icons, and typography. UX designers guide the user journey, from first contact to completing goals. They ensure usability, accessibility, and satisfaction. This chapter outlines the history of user-centered thinking. Feng Shui’s harmonious spaces (4000 BC) and Greek ergonomics for surgeons (500 BC) show early UX principles. Frederick Taylor studied workplace efficiency (1900s). Toyota introduced the 5S method (1940s). Henry Dreyfuss advocated ‘designing for people’ (1955). Douglas Engelbart created the mouse-driven cursor (1960). Walt Disney built immersive experiences (1966). Donald Norman defined ‘user experience’ at Apple (1995). The iPhone revolutionized digital UX in 2007. This chapter explains why UI/UX matters. UI/UX enables efficient goal completion, intuitive engagement, and trust with consistent design. They boost satisfaction by cutting friction, supporting localization, and upholding accessibility. The chapter presents a ten-step design process: define the product, conduct research, analyze results, structure information architecture, design, validate or test, craft interactions, refine visuals, hand off for development, and monitor and iterate. Readers will soon explore the psychological, structural, and ethical sides of UX design.