Many people think that web design and web development are the same. Both are necessary for creating websites that showcase a company’s unique brand and services. They interact, and the result is a visual representation of a company. So, what’s the difference between web design and development?
People often confuse web design and web development, but they are not synonymous. Both play a significant role in creating a website, requiring specific skills to perform their functions: drafting and building.
Don’t sweat it. We’ll straighten your thoughts and draw out that fine line in the web designer vs. web developer match-up.
What Do They Do?
We can tell the difference between these two when you look at the process of making clothes. The designer creates the style and chooses the fabric while the seamstress brings the design to life. A web developer is like a seamstress.
In making a website, a web designer visualizes the overall look and feel of each webpage. They craft the overall design and plan the layout, font style, font size, color palette, and graphics. Web design uses the design theory to maintain the user interface and user experience. The main task of a web designer is to make the website pleasing to the eyes. The plan is to entice site visitors to stay on the page as long as possible. They structure a website to deliver a positive customer experience and encourage them to interact and take action.
Web developers, on the other hand, are code experts. They are programmers who work on the plan made by the web designer by using coding languages to bring the layout visualized into a functioning website. They build and maintain the website using complex coding technologies required to “construct” what was initially imagined.
What Skills Do They Have?
Web designers are said to be right-brain thinkers and web developers left-brain thinkers. A web designer’s creative mind works with the design principles, while a web developer applies analytical and logical skills to principles of functionality and interactivity.
The work of web designers evolves around balancing layouts by ensuring consistency across the website, contrasting colors using a color wheel, defining shapes and textures, and emphasizing content.
Web developers work their magic by turning complex codes into interactive pieces. They do tons of testing, debugging, and work with databases, content management systems and search engine optimization.
The skills of each job title are further defined based on its different types.
Types of web designers:
- User Experience (UX): This type of web designer establishes a way to get visitors hooked to the website. They research and gather data to understand what the target audience is looking for in a website.
- User Interface (UI): They ensure that the website is user-friendly with easy navigation. Compared to UX designers, UI designers mainly focus on the “feel” of the website while UX creates a positive experience.
- Visual: They function as both UX and UI by balancing a website’s aesthetics and convenience.
Types of web developers:
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- Front-end: Dubbed as the client-side development, this developer handles the front programming on what the customers see. They work on the wireframes from web designers and handle the development of the browser. They are skilled in using programming languages like HTML, CSS, and Javascript.
- Back-end: Referred to as the server-side development, they mainly focus on the core structure of the website and are skilled in using more complex programming languages like PHP, C#, Ruby, SQL, Java, and NodeJS, among others. They are the ones responsible for the behind-the-scenes that the customers do not see.
- Full-stack: They work both with a website’s front-end and back-end skilled. In other words, they work in all areas of developing websites.
Web Designer Vs. Web Developer: Which One to Choose?
Choosing between these two fields begins with identifying your specific needs. If you need to revisit your old website homepage and add more layout or graphics, you need a web designer. If you need to fix server issues, develop a mobile app, add a contact form, or integrate a chatbox, you need a web developer.
However, if you are building your website from scratch, you need both. Luckily, there is no need to look far on hiring a designer and a developer separately. Many digital companies offer both services – designing and development.
Elevate your website design and development with an SEO company like Advanced Digital Media Services. We take pride in our highly skilled web designers and web developers who work with our SEO experts and home-grown content writers to give your website a whole new look and take it to a higher level! Our state-of-the-art tools enable effective methods that give you a professional-looking and interactive website, and ensure a better ranking in search engine results.
We are more than glad to be your partner in achieving your goals. To know more about how we do it, give us a call at 877-237-6969 or email us at [email protected] to schedule an appointment.
