Do you know how to design a chair or a car? Have you ever tried to compare these two before? I don't think so. As a chair designer, you will do it differently and if you would be a car designer you will do it different too. There are some similarities, but still, a chair and a car are two different things.

So why someone compare ketchup to the interface? A ketchup bottle is a physical thing and an interface is a digital product. Right? But still on the internet I would find that different shape of bottle is a UI or UX. It's madness. When you take courses or read UX books, you will realize that is a mistake. I agree with them that they have a different explanation. In this article, I will provide you mine.

What can you find on the internet?

At first, you would find on the internet that a glass bottle is UI and UX is a plastic one. Also, you can find statement that glass bottle is design the product and the second one is design an experience. That's also wrong because both bottles have UX and UI, even when the user is not using it.

Source: www.patrickhansen.com

What's the problem statement?

The glass bottle with nice shape makes it difficult to take out the ketchup.

My questions as UX/UI designer:

• What's make difficult to take out the ketchup:
  • Shape of bottle?
  • Is the material of the bottle?
  • What's in that bottle?
  • Maybe the user used it wrong?

To answer your questions, I must conduct research. I'm going to look for the answer, not only with competition of this ketchup, but with other products. Also, many different things are sold in bottles.

My UX research.

At first, I believed that someone had been mistaken. I like to make my own dishes. I know that tomato sauce is sold in glass bottles. Because plastic affects the taste of the sauce. There is no problem taking out the souse when I open the tomato bottle because it is more liquid. When the sauce is finished, I just fill the bottle with water and that is it. I thought it was similar to ketchup, too.

Even though I think it is like this, I decided to conduct user experience research. I went to the store that sells groceries.

What I found?

A ketchup bottle is usually made of plastic and has different shapes. The shape is part of UI design. The ketchup is also sold in jars, so, you can take out easily with a spoon or knife.

I bought two bottles, one of glass and one of plastic. You can see that the glass has a different shape than you saw earlier. It doesn't matter if it's big or small, flat or slim. The ketchup couldn't take out either. I was surprised.

I had to shake the glass bottle. I noticed that both products have a similar consistency.

What UX experience?

Not only bottles and the consistency of the product, but firstly the taste of the ketchup.

Glass is nice to hold and feels solid, looks good, a little bit cold, taste is sharp. Taking out ketchup is difficult. I didn't like it. When the product will finish, it will still be difficult to stand the bottle on the nut, and it's easy to see how much ketchup stay.

Plastic is warm when you take it from the fridge. To open the bottle I had to unscrew the bottle and remove tear up the pail. That's a little bit issue. It's easy to squeeze bottle. The plastic is thin and feels cheap. Is the experience positive? At this point, it is more like philosophy than science. Well, it depends. Someone would say yes, but another would say no. It's easier to stand the bottle on the nut. But you need to do it very soon. Later, when the product will be finished, the ketchup will be difficult to take out too. Also there are plastic bottles that you can't see when the product finish.

What is UI design?

My example has very nice look in both cases. Also label is well designed. The ketchup? I saw more spices in the first one, color was a little bit lighter than the second one. The red of product is intensive and looks good.

What if ketchup was an interface?

The example that you can see at the beginning of the article is from the same company. In the end, they sell a ketchup, not a bottle, so the quality of the product should be the same. Would you like to eat liquid ketchup? In some cases, it doesn't matter. But it should be tested. The problem with take out ketchup is a functionality - consistency of the product and the bottle. Do you feel where UX and UI meet?

I hope you understand why ketchup or anything in this world shouldn't be compared to the interface.