How to Correctly Tell Web Design and Web Development Apart?

Vũ Khôi

Author at Wotech Electronics Blog

How do web design and web development differ? Can one person do both web design and web development? If I am a business owner looking for someone to take on building a website and related applications, how should I hire? All of those questions will be answered in the article below by comparing the two roles — web designer and web developer — and clarifying how they differ in job requirements, roles, daily tasks, and the skills each demands.

What is web design? What does a web designer do?

A person doing web design is responsible for creating the rough version of a website (visual web design). After revision and refinement, the finished design is handed over to web developers for HTML coding, web scripting, or other kinds of coding in general. Both web designers and web developers work toward one single common goal — creating a website or web application that attracts users.

If the developer's main task is to use complex coding languages to build the core structure of the site and ensure it runs smoothly without technical glitches, then the web designer's main task is to use visual elements (colors, shapes) to build the website's "face." A web designer's work focuses more on delivering a visual experience to the viewer. You can picture developers as construction workers while designers act as architects — both are needed to build a website; they are simply in charge of different parts.

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What types of web design are there? Choose the web designer who fits your needs

Web design makes a website more attractive and eye-catching. Designers focus on shaping the style and building the user's perception of the site. Most use graphic software to creatively customize visual elements, although a few also work with HTML and CSS (Cascading Style Sheets) code to create their designs. So who uses graphic software and who uses code?

User Experience (UX) designer

A UX designer is responsible for building user perception. Their job is to keep website traffic sustained. A UX designer begins any project with the first step of researching user demographics and the website's needs, from which they know exactly how to create a site that your specific audience will like. The better they grasp user psychology, the more capable the web design specialist is of attracting more traffic, improving time on page, and encouraging users to make purchases or submit information on the site.

User Interface (UI) designer

UI improves how users interact with the visual elements on your website, especially the web interface. This is done by translating complex ideas and core brand values into a fun, easy-to-navigate website. So how does UI design differ from UX design? UX design involves research that lays a solid foundation for a positive user experience, while UI design focuses on the website's actual aesthetics (interface).

Visual designer – the perfect blend of UX and UI design

A visual designer is a mix of both UX and UI designer. Their job is not only to improve user behavior using their creative and coding skills, but also to solve design problems of an artistic nature. Visual designers also help a brand define its style or build distinctive ways for the brand to "communicate." In essence, they are a master of all web design trades, and their specific role can vary greatly depending on what you want.

What skills does a web designer need to master?

Web design work focuses mainly on front-end elements — in other words, the elements related to the "look and feel" of a website. This design work requires constantly weighing the user's perception and, naturally, proficient graphic design skills. Web designers need to be quick and adept at combining color palettes, typography, and other design elements appropriately to create quality deliverables including the website's layout/format, brand logo, wireframes, mock-ups, and storyboards.

Software commonly found on a web designer's computer

The goal of someone in this role is to create websites with clear, aesthetic interfaces that are easy for users to navigate and use no matter what device they access from — from personal computers to the smaller screens of mobile devices. To do this, a web designer must be proficient in design software in general and web design tools in particular, such as Adobe Photoshop, Adobe Illustrator, Dreamweaver, or Brackets.

How does web development differ from web design? How do you tell the two roles apart?

A web developer builds the framework for the website using software such as JavaScript and jQuery to create a site that runs smoothly; web designers then "embellish" the site with their creative ideas. The main role of a web developer is similar to the web design role: building and maintaining websites. Web developers can work in-house or freelance, but each person's specific responsibilities, duties, and related tasks depend on whether they specialize in front-end, back-end, or full stack.

Like web design, web development also covers 3 areas

Back-end developer

The concept of back-end usually refers to designing the core structures of a website. Back-end developers are programming experts who use complex software languages such as Java, SQL, and C#. Their work, completely opposite to web design, is invisible to users because it involves coding on the web server and database, not in the browser (unlike front-end developers). In short, their job is to create logical, functional websites using a variety of programs. They also spend a lot of time testing and fixing bugs on the website.

Front-end developer

Some people call front-end design the same as client-side development, because this work connects more with web design than with back-end development, as it involves using HTML, CSS, and JavaScript to create the things users can actually see. In short, like back-end developers, front-end developers have coding skills, but they build the frameworks users can actually interact with.

Full-stack developer

Full-stack development is a type of work that combines both back-end and front-end, providing a complete package of web development services. People doing this job are true experts in the field of building web structures and keeping them stable.

Does becoming a web developer require the same skills as web design work?

Every job or role requires different skills, experience, and knowledge. While web design work requires artistic knowledge and an understanding of user psychology, to do a web developer's job well you need a certain amount of knowledge of HTML/XHTML, CSS, and JavaScript code, alongside basic knowledge of server architecture and Search Engine Optimization. Experience with server-side frameworks such as Python, Ruby, PHP, Java, ASP, and ASP.NET, and experience with SQL and Oracle database systems, are also things that are certainly necessary and useful for web developers.

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