A revised guide to UI and UX design for beginners

This is my response and critique of an article published on JustCreative. In my opinion, it can mislead aspiring designers eager to learn about UI and UX Design.

All citations below are from the linked article. Other thoughts are all mine. I recommend reading the original article before this one, to get the whole picture. Feel free to correct me, if you think I'm wrong, just be nice!

“Basically, the job of the User Interface is to give the users an aesthetically-appealing yet user-friendly interface so that they can interact with the system the way they prefer."

UI isn’t about eye-candy. It’s a system of components and interactions that helps people complete tasks efficiently. Visual polish is valuable but secondary—and subjective. Getting priorities wrong is how you end up with beautiful, unusable interfaces.

“(…) [users] can interact with the system in the way they prefer.”

Users prefer minimal friction. An ideal UI keeps itself out of the way—the interface disappears into the task when interactions are seamless.

“The secret of user retention lies in the consistency of the layout of interface.”

Consistency helps, but retention comes from outcomes. People want to achieve goals quickly and return to their lives. A good UI reduces effort and cognitive load so tasks get done. The real driver of retention is satisfactory user experience.

»I bet you might be wondering, “What does he mean by ‘natural layout’”? Well, natural means intuitive. Duh! That you already knew. Ok, what I want to say here is don’t leave your user with a “figure-out-yourself” interface but present him something he can easily use, interact with or navigate.«

“Natural” usually means “familiar.” Good UI is obvious: clear affordances, hierarchy, and feedback make first-use success likely. Think of a large, labeled volume knob—its function is instantly clear. For complex digital products, add user onboarding to shorten time-to-first-value.

“Ah, yes! Nothing can beat the beauty that lies in simplicity.”

Simplicity isn’t “less for less.” It’s reducing unnecessary complexity while preserving capability: clear language, focused tasks, sensible defaults, and progressive disclosure. Vague appeals to “simplicity” aren’t actionable.

“UX is not a tangible design but an intangible framework of the idea or strategy regarding how you can enhance user engagement.”

UX is the user’s overall satisfaction and outcomes from interacting with a product, service, or system. It’s not the interface, and not persuasion; it’s the result of how well needs are met with minimal friction and maximum value. We assess it through research and testing (qualitative and quantitative), not slogans.

If the article’s aim was simply to separate UI from UX, that’s useful—yet oversimplifications undermine learning. Seek reliable sources, talk to practitioners, test assumptions, and debate ideas openly.

I only hope my “reply” will serve as a warning to other designers in the field, who post their thoughts online. We should research the essential values of our posts before publishing.

I’m looking forward to your responses. As stated at the beginning, feel free to correct me if you think I'm wrong. We all learn from past mistakes.