What the heck is UX/UI and why do I need it?
Right off the bat, lets demystify what "UX" and "UI" are. UX stands for User eXperience. User being the actual person who is using your site/product/app and experience as in how the person felt about interacting with it. UX is colors, the layout, how a user signs in, where the gaze flows, and considers how big a cellphone is in relation to the dominant hand's thumb. UI stands for User Interface, meaning the layout of an application or website. This includes buttons, text, images, sliders, anything else you can think of that a user would interact with while using an app or website. It is, essentially, the look and feel.
Why do you need UX? Have you ever used an app, perhaps a parking app, and thought it was awful? Could you not figure out where to submit your time? Did the app think you were in an entirely different city or state? Did it quit on you and lose all the information you just painstakingly typed out? Did you toss your phone down in frustration and just dig around your car's floor for change? I definitely have. This is an example of bad UX. The user is frustrated, cursing the creators of the app and wondering how its possible with all the technology available today that they're still relying on crusty floor quarters because guess what? The meter doesn't take credit cards (an example of bad UX IRL). Additionally, did this crappy app have a bright white screen with undefined, ugly buttons? Perhaps a dark mode that didn't update the font from the dark blue Comic Sans? That's bad UI.
You need UX and UI design to provide your user's with a good experience, so they'll use your app and enjoy it. They're essential to the success of your business. At the most basic understanding of UX and UI, we have customer service. When they're done well, the user or customer often doesn't even notice. The needs and potential problems are anticipated and solved before the user event interacts with the website/app. Its pretty, aesthetically pleasing, and following what a user would expect to see. This means loyal customers, and return business.