What exactly is the distinction between a web designer and a web developer
What exactly is the distinction between a web designer and a web developer? In the web’s earliest days, the answer was simple: designers designed and developers coded. Today, that question needs a few finer details to be hard-pressed to find a website designer who needs help understanding at least a little HTML and CSS, and a frontend web developer who can stir up a storyboard won’t be hard to find.
However, the distinction is a little clearer regarding the primary themes of web design vs. web development. Let’s look at these two ideas and the roles individuals play in creating the websites and apps we are familiar with.
Web design determines a website’s visual aesthetics and usability—color scheme, layout, the flow of information, and everything else about the visual elements of the UI/UX (user interface and user experience). Some prevalent skills and tools that different web designers from web developers are as follows:
- Adobe Creative Suite (for example, Photoshop and Illustrator) or similar design software
- UX design Graphic design UI design
- Design of a logo
- Layout/format
- Making use of call-to-action buttons
- Branding
- Mockups, wireframes, and storyboards
- Color schemes
- Typography
Web design is more concerned with what many see on their computer screen or mobile device than with the mechanisms that make it all work. They introduce a user platform to life by using color, images, typography, and layout.
However, many web designers are also acquainted with HTML, CSS, and JavaScript—being able to produce living mockups of a web app is useful when pitching an idea to the team or fine-tuning an app’s UI/UX.
Web designers frequently use templating services such as WordPress or Joomla!, which enable you to build websites with themes and widgets without composing a single line of code.
What is web development?
The code used to make a website work is governed by web development. It is divided into two parts: frontend and backend. The application’s front end or client side of an application is the code that determines how the webpage will genuinely display the designs framed by a designer.
The backend, or server-side, of implementation is in charge of managing data in the database and trying to serve it to the front for display. As you might expect, the frontend developer’s role overlaps the most with the web designer’s. The following are some specific skills and tools thought to be unique to frontend developers:
- HTML
- CSS
- Framework
- Web template design
- Libraries
- Search Engine Optimization
Front-end web developers rarely create mockups, choose typography, or choose color palettes; the designer generally offers these. It is the developer’s responsibility to bring some of these mockups to life.
However, knowing what the designer wants necessitates some expertise in UI/UX design so the developer can select the appropriate technology to achieve the desired look, feel, and encounter in the final product.
Backend developers are in charge of an application’s core functionality and data management. They create the APIs and forwarding that permit data to move between an application’s front and back ends.
Full-stack developers are web developers with a working knowledge of the front and backend of a technology stack.
At a glance, there are significant differences between web designers and web developers.
Web designers do not code
Web designers are in charge of the overall appearance and feel of the website. They may use a visual editor such as Photoshop to create images or an app functional prototypes and animation tool such as Qode Maker to develop layouts and produce high mockups. However, none of these primary responsibilities necessitate the use of coding.
Further than their traditional position as visual designers, the prevalence of content management systems (CMS) such as WordPress and no-code website builders shows that there are web designers who can use their graphic skills to build your website without knowing how to code.
Web developers do not create assets.
Web developers are programmers who can add features to a website. They use HTML, CSS, and JavaScript to convert the designer’s wireframes and mockups into code. Web developers are rarely required to create visual assets such as images behind buttons, color schemes, and fonts. They only need to employ code to incorporate people into the page.
Web developers are more expensive than web designers.
Looking to hire a web developer is typically more expensive than hiring a website designer. According to research, the average hourly rate for web developers is $36 per hour, while the average hourly rate for web designers is $29 per hour.
The main reason for this disparity is most likely supply side is more creatives than designers, and programming, in general, is in high demand. The discrepancy between rates narrows as writing code becomes more common among the talent pool. When it comes to expertise, you are paying for the experience, whether hiring developers or designers.
