When it comes to digital experiences, people can confuse UX strategy and UX design. As an analogy, it’s the difference between a well-planned restaurant and the actual sandwich on the plate. Both important and closely connected, but they serve distinct roles in crafting successful products.
Let’s break it down with a delicious metaphor: the legendary Philly cheesesteak.
UX Strategy: The Restaurant Plan
UX strategy is like planning the perfect cheesesteak joint. Before anyone starts cooking, you need to answer some key questions…
- Who are we serving? (Target audience)
- What makes our cheesesteak unique? (Value proposition)
- What’s our sourcing strategy? (Tools, technology, and constraints)
- How do we ensure a great customer experience? (User journey and business goals)
In other words, UX strategy is about defining the vision, setting objectives, and aligning them with user needs and business goals. This means to an end is a blueprint that helps ensure customers walking in craving the perfect cheesesteak get exactly what they expect.
UX Design: The Craft of Cooking
UX design is the process of actually making that cheesesteak—the hands-on work that brings the vision to life. Your cooks should be thinking about a few things…
- Choosing the right bread (Information architecture)
- Slicing and cooking the steak just right (Interaction design)
- Melting the cheese perfectly* (Visual design)
- Ensuring every bite is satisfying (Usability testing)
A good UX designer ensures that everything about the experience is intentional—from the way ingredients are layered to how easy it is to hold and eat. Without UX strategy, you might end up with a disorganized mess; without UX design, even the best plan won’t translate into a great final product.
* the cheese goes under the meat
Product Design: The Sandwich Itself
At the end of the day, the cheesesteak—the final product—determines whether all that planning and careful cooking actually deliver. If you cut corners here, the whole experience fails, and the strategy fails with it.
- If the bread is wrong*… (Poor usability or outdated tech)
- If the steak is overcooked… (Clunky or frustrating interactions)
- If the cheese is flavorless… (Weak branding and visual appeal)
- If you use canned mushrooms and frozen onions… (Inferior components that make the whole thing feel cheap)
When businesses rush development, sacrifice quality, or ignore what makes a product great in the first place, they undermine both strategy and design. A cheesesteak isn’t just any sandwich—it follows a specific formula that makes it work. Likewise, there are design fundamentals that must be respected, or users will take one bite and never come back.
* Amoroso’s is the right bread; all other bread is wrong
Strategy, Design, and Product Working Together
A truly great cheesesteak isn’t just about having the best ingredients—it’s about the combination of vision, execution, and product quality. UX strategy and UX design work together to define and build a great product, and that product supports either a successful or unsuccessful experience. It doesn’t matter how great your intensions, how detailed the plan … at the end of the day, your customers they care that the sandwich tastes great. Strategy, design, and execution must work in harmony to create experiences that are both satisfying and effective.
We’re talking about the bread, cheese, meat, and veggies all coming together in perfect harmony, intentionally and as planned. After all, our customers judge us by that bite.
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