UX is the plan; UI is the surface
UX (user experience) design is deciding how a thing should work: who the users are, what they're trying to do, what steps get them there with the least friction. Its raw materials are research, user flows and wireframes — deliberately ugly sketches of structure, because at this stage colour is a distraction.
UI (user interface) design is deciding how it looks and feels: layout, typography, colour, spacing, buttons, states, motion. Good UI makes the UX plan tangible and trustworthy. The two overlap constantly in practice — which is why most small-business projects hire one person or studio who does both, not two specialists.
What a UI/UX designer produces
Concrete deliverables you should expect: user flows (diagrams of paths through the site or app), wireframes (structure without styling), high-fidelity mockups (pixel-accurate designs, usually in Figma), a component system (buttons, forms and cards defined once, reused everywhere), and prototypes you can click through before a line of code is written.
The part buyers underrate: decisions with reasons. A real designer can tell you why the quote button is where it is, why the form has four fields not nine, why the pricing table reads left to right. If the only justification on offer is 'it looks modern', you bought decoration, not design.
- check_circleUser flows and journey maps
- check_circleWireframes → high-fidelity Figma mockups
- check_circleA reusable component system
- check_circleClickable prototypes before build
- check_circleDesign rationale you can interrogate
When a small business actually needs one
You need UX/UI work when: visitors arrive but don't enquire (a conversion problem, not a traffic problem); your product or booking flow has steps people abandon; you're building an app or portal where structure mistakes are expensive to fix later; or your site looks dated enough that it undermines the price you charge.
You probably don't need a separate designer for a five-page brochure site — a good web studio bakes competent UX/UI into the build. The separate engagement earns its fee on flows and products: checkouts, calculators, dashboards, booking systems, anywhere a visitor makes more than two decisions.
What it costs and how to buy it well
In the UK in 2026: a structured design audit of an existing site runs £300–£800, full UI/UX design for a site or small product £800–£3,000, and ongoing product design support from around £300/mo. Freelancer day rates run £250–£500; studios price by deliverable, which is easier to compare.
Buy it like you'd buy the build: ask to see live work, ask for the reasoning behind two or three of their decisions, and get the deliverables named in the quote. Design without a fixed scope inflates faster than development does.
See our UI/UX design services — audits from £399 →
Frequently asked questions
Is UI/UX design worth it for a small website?expand_more
For a simple brochure site, competent UX/UI should come included in a professional build — you shouldn't pay twice. It becomes a separate, worthwhile investment when there's a flow to optimise: bookings, quotes, checkout, or any app-like functionality where drop-off costs real money.
What's the difference between a UX audit and a UX redesign?expand_more
The audit reviews your existing site against usability evidence and delivers a prioritised problem list; the redesign implements solutions. Audits are cheap relative to redesigns and frequently prove the full redesign unnecessary — fixing the top five issues often recovers most of the lost conversion.
Do UI/UX designers write code?expand_more
Some do, most don't. The standard handoff is Figma files plus a component spec that developers build from. Studios that both design and build (like ours) skip the handoff loss — what's designed is what ships, and there's one throat to choke when it isn't.
What tools do UI/UX designers use?expand_more
Figma dominates in 2026 for design and prototyping, with Maze/Hotjar-style tools for testing and analytics for evidence. But tools are the least important part — a designer with Figma and no reasoning is a decorator with a licence.