The difference between a web designer and a web developer

Web designers and web developers are both in charge of the web page function. Both of them are important for website building, It’s easy to get web designers and developers mixed up. They both help build websites, but they’re involved in very different areas.

WHAT IS WEB DESIGN?
Web design governs everything involved with the visual aesthetics and usability of a website—color scheme, layout, information flow, and everything else related to the visual aspects of the UI/UX (user interface and user experience).

Web designers are responsible for web visual design and overall performance style positioning of the website, they provide an overall visual perception of users. They are responsible for the prototyping design, they carry out the graphic design of the product catalog and various activities of advertising design. They also assist developers in page design and other work.

Web designers have a great sense of aesthetics and have the ability to make the website look beautiful. They are more visually creative and user-focused. Web designer makes your website look good. They focus on the style and overall feel of the page, using software like Photoshop, Coreldraw, Frontpage, Dreamweaver to customize the website’s visual elements and make the website stand out of the crowd. They also use code like HTML and CSS (Cascading Style Sheets) to create their designs.

Some common skills and tools of a web designer
Adobe Creative Suite (Photoshop, Illustrator) or other design software
Graphic design
Logo design
Layout/format
Placing call-to-action buttons
Branding
Wireframes, mock-ups, and storyboards
Color palettes
Typography

Specialization in web design

1. User Experience (UX) designer
A UX web designer’s job is to keep your visitors hooked. They know exactly how to craft a website that your specific audience will enjoy because they’ve carried out thorough research into the users’ demographics and website-needs, not to mention tons of prototype testing and site restructuring, if people enjoy using your website, they’re more likely to revisit or recommend. So, you can already see how it can help grow your online community.

2. User Interface (UI) designer
A UI web designer helps to improve the way users interact with elements, or the interface, on your website. This is done by translating complex brand ideas and values into a website that’s enjoyable and easy to navigate. How does it differ to UX? It’s a subtle one, really. UX involves research into building a solid foundation for positive user experience, while UI focuses on the aesthetics (the look and feel) of the actual website.

3. Visual designer
A visual designer is a mixture of both UX and UI. It’s their job not only to improve the user journey using their creative and coding skills but to solve design issues. They also help to conceptualize a brand’s unique style or tone of voice. In essence, they’re a master of all web design trades and their specific roles can vary hugely depending on what you want.

WHAT IS WEB DEVELOPMENT?
Web development governs all the coding or programming that enables website functionality.

Web Developers, sometimes called programmers, take a website design and actually build a functioning website from it. Web developers use HTML, CSS, Javascript, PHP, and other programming languages to create websites and web applications. They also utilize other languages to set up email services, user authentication, databases, and other technical aspects of websites. To do this, developers use software like text editors, command-line interface, and version control to build the technical information (the code) that will present the data.

To put it simply, think of the design as a non-interactive “picture” of a website. Developers take that design and break it up into its components. They then either use just HTML or a more dynamic approach incorporating programming languages such as PHP to develop the various website pages. More advanced web developers may choose to utilize a Content Management System (CMS) like WordPress or Joomla in order to streamline development and allow clients an easy way to maintain and update their website.

A web developer builds a website’s framework using software like Javascript and JQuery, aiming to craft a smooth-running website, which web designers then pour their creative juices onto.

Some common skills and tools of a web developer

HTML/CSS/JavaScript
CSS preprocessors (i.e., LESS or Sass)
Frameworks (i.e., AngularJS, ReactJS, Ember)
Libraries (i.e., jQuery)
Git and GitHub

Specialization in Web Development

Back-end developer
The back-end is where the website’s core structure is designed. These developers are experts in programming and using complex software languages like Java, SQL and C#. The work they do is not seen by users because it involves coding on the web servers and databases, not on the browser. In short, their job is to create logical, functional websites using various programs. They also spend a lot of time testing and fixing bugs.

Front-end developer
This is also known as client-side development. It’s more connected to web design than back-end development because it involves using HTML, CSS, and JavaScript to create things the user can see, like client lead forms. In summary, like a back-end developer, those developing the front-end have coding skills but they build frameworks the user can actually interact with.

Full-stack developer
A full-stack developer works across different layers – or stacks – including both the front and back end. It is essentially the full package when it comes to web development because they are an expert in all areas.

 

Summary

The difference between a web developer and a web designer is bigger than you think. A web designer brings a brand’s idea into an on-screen reality and knows exactly what the specific audience will enjoy. A web developer builds the site’s core structure, using coding languages to construct logical, programmatic websites.

However, you need both to get the best experience. When building a website from nothing, you need a web developer to build the foundation, and web designers to make it look and feel the way you and the users want.