The basic skill set a web designer needs to have included creativity, graphics, and technical knowledge. Whereas, a web developer needs to be capable of making the website functional by coding using programming languages like html css and javascript.
Both professions differ a lot in terms of skill sets, work, and qualifications. There are many factors that affect both of these professions in different ways. Here we are going to discuss the basic differences in the roles of Web Designer vs Web Developer in some depth.
Who is a Web Designer?
The role of Web Designers includes various tasks and works. The main focus of the designers is on making the layouts and adding visual elements to the website.
The graphic designer’s objective is to turn your site into something that pleases the users visually and is easy to navigate so that the users stay on your website for longer periods of time. They are not just solely responsible for creating the framework and layout structures of the website but also for creating conversion-generating elements. Besides they also design the web pages in such a way that it is compatible with every type of device used by the users.
Web designer needs to be aware of the recent web design trends and keep themselves updated accordingly. They also follow some standards and the best suited practices that are in use at that time. Their works include dealing with the imageries of brands, various fonts, color palettes, and more. They sometimes create a web style guide for themselves to stick to it every time they’re designing a website and it looks consistent in terms of design.
Not just this, web designers are given responsibilities to create some of the crucial documents and resources. They also administer and oversee them. These documents include contracts for web design, briefs of the website, questionnaires for web designs, and proposals for the website.
They sometimes even do research and testing while designing the website. The website they create should meet all the requirements and expectations of the clients. Moreover, graphic designers need to keep in mind how their designs might affect the coding of the website done by the developers.
Here, the designers and developers must match their work. The site structure and structure created by the designers are later converted into the code of the site by the developers.
In addition to this, web designers also get involved in post-launch services like creating content and regularly updating it, maintaining and monitoring sites, and also checking the ongoing performance of the site.
Various Types of Web Designers
Web designers are of mainly three types depending on their specific works namely, User Experience (UX), User Interface (UI), and Visual. Let’s learn about them one by one here:
UX DesignersÂ
UX Designers’ main role is to ensure that the website is formed in such a way that involves the users and gives a positive experience. Their focus is on providing user friendly designs that are created on the basis of the data or statistics. They need to do lots of researching and testing for collecting and analyzing all the data that helps them decide on their final designs.
UI Designers
UI Designers have a crucial role in the designing of the website. They are responsible for providing a good experience to the users and their priority is their interactions. The main task that they do includes improvising the usability of the website and to optimize in such a way that it assists in getting more conversions.
Visual Designers
As the name suggests, the Visual Designers are responsible for providing the layout and visual elements for your website. They combine the work of both UX and UI designers. Their tasks include both keeping the user interface look pleasing to the users and easy to navigate through.
As discussed in the various works of different types of web designers, some take the help of tools, software, and programs for carrying out their tasks. This mainly includes the design and editing software like Adobe Photoshop. Other tools they might use are stock photography resources, and image optimization and compression tools. They also use a CMS like WordPress and website builder platforms like Elementor.
Some other tools like Wireframe and prototype tools also come in handy for the web designers while laying out and visualizing the framework and later creating mockups and models for testing the whole development process.
Skills Required By Web Designers
As discussed above, web designers need different types of skill sets depending on their roles and specialties. Here we are providing the crucial skills required:
- Knowledge of CSS and HTML
- Proper understanding of web design and its standards
- Design that is responsive and interactive
- Conversion Rate Optimization (CRO)
- Evaluate the Viewer’s behavior
- Logo Branding, color schemes, and various typography
- Web design tools, programs, or software
Besides these technical skills, web designers also need to have some non-technical skills like good communication for communicating with clients. Also, they need to know how to work in a team which includes working with the web developers, so that the projects become successful.
Who is a Web Developer?
The main task of the web developer is to create and maintain the core structure of your website. Their work includes all kinds of technical works like complex coding and advanced programming languages. In short, what they do is convert the web designer’s ideas into reality, and visible websites that are capable of functioning.
They are responsible for constructing the whole website. The process of creating a website includes coding and configuring the server and databases on the back end. And they also add user side features and functionality. In addition to their tasks, they are also responsible for performing the testing and debugging and might also deal with post-launch services, like giving ongoing support and maintenance while repairing server or hosting issues.
Various Types of Web Developers
Web developers are usually dealing with programming languages and the type of languages they use depends on the type of web development work they are doing. There are three main types of web developers viz., Front-end, Back-end, and Full-stack. Let’s learn who they are and what they do here:
Front-End Web DevelopersÂ
Front end developers are responsible for doing the coding of the website with the help of programming like CSS, HTML, JavaScript, and many other languages, this includes Content Management Systems (CMS) like WordPress.
Front end development is also referred to as client side development, and it majorly consists of coding and programming all the visual parts of the websites that are visible to the users. This shows that the front end developers and web designers have somewhat similar tasks and associations.
Back-End Web Developers
Back end developers are responsible for doing the coding of the database and server using programming languages like PHP, C#, SQL, Ruby, and Java, plus, NodeJS in addition to server side frameworks.
Back end development is also referred to as server side development and it includes all the parts of the website that is occurring ‘behind the scenes’ and it’s not visible to the users on the front side.
Full-Stack Web Developers
Lastly, the full stack developers are the ones who work on the combination of both the front and back end of the websites. They are apt in knowing how both the parts work and function together. Besides coding the web pages with the help of HTML, CSS, and JavaScript, full stack developers set up and configure Application Programming Interfaces (APIs), servers code, query databases, and others.
Skills Required By Web Developers
As discussed above, web developers require a lot many technical skills and need to be good in the following skill sets:
- Knowing how to code with the help of programming languages like HTML, JavaScript, CSS, and PHP
- Understanding JavaScript frameworks like jQuery
- Capable of testing and debugging the website
- Knowledge of back ends and databases
- Understanding of Content Management Systems like WordPress
- Knowledge of how to optimize the website for more traffic like SEO
Web developers also need to have non-technical skills like problem-solving and analytical thinking that are very useful in the process of debugging the website. They also require good communication and collaboration skills to work with the clients and other team members including web designers.
They also take the help of various tools and platforms like Jira used for tracking issues and GitHub used for code versioning. Moreover, web developers also take advantage of the tools for testing and debugging, Chrome DevTools. They also need to have some familiarity with hosting control panels and File Transfer Protocol (FTP) clients such as FileZilla.
Web Designer vs Web Developer
Conclusion
When we consider web designer vs web developer, there are many critical differences between both. But in case you require to build a website for your business, you will need both of them at the same time. You cannot do it without another, as we already mentioned that both work in teams together.
Alternatively, you can also work with a design agency for saving yourself from the hassle of searching for designers and developers separately. Also, they can combine the charges together, so it will be less in comparison to the individual charges.
But, it’s always essential that you choose on the basis of your own requirements and not due to the reason that you were advised about something. Especially when you need a custom based website, it’s always better to hire freelance designers and developers. There are also many good agencies that can provide you the freelance designers and developers and they provide quality work at affordable costs.
Rankingeek is one such agency in Delhi NCR that delivers the best web applications and lucrative website design. You can check out their graphic design portfolio here.
