Difference between Web Designers and Developers

There is often a confusion between web designers and developers. Both give their contributions in the development of a website. But there is a huge difference in their roles which is often mixed up. In this article, we are going to learn about the difference between web designers and web developers. So, let’s get started…

Who are Web Designers?

A web designer is involved with enhancing the look and feel of a website. The web designers communicate with the clients and end-users to find out the requirements of the website. They build prototypes of the expected final website design. The prototypes are then shown to the clients for feedback. This goes in iteration till a prototype is finalized for the website.

The web designers think into a more empathetic way. Hence, they take into consideration all the factors which will be responsible for developing a user-friendly product. They are more focused on finding out how to satisfy user needs and expectations while using a website. They work on softwares like Photoshop, Adobe XD, InDesign, etc.

We can further specify the web designers on the basis of their roles. The major ones are as follows-

UX Designers

UX designers are involved in giving a good experience to the users of a website. They work in a user-centric manner. UX designers perform user research and try to incorporate their findings in the website. They develop the first structure of a website and decide what goes where.

UI Designers

UI designers are more focused on the aesthetics of a website. They experiment with the typography, colors and elements and decide what is going to look the best. They work in design-driven fashion. In short, UI designers provide a skin to the skeleton of the website which is created by the UX designers.

Click here to find the difference between UI design and UX design

Visual Designers

Visual designers work in a brand-specific manner. They are responsible for creating an image of the brand. Visual designers propose designs for websites, app and other digital platforms. They try to make such designs that the users will be able to recognize a brand and get a good impression about it.

Who are Web Developers?

A web developer is responsible for bringing the web designer’s vision into reality. They need technical skills and knowledge of programming languages for building a website. However, web developers don’t have to worry about the layout or the colors of the website. In fact, they just have to develop the website based on prototype shared by the designers.

The web developers think into a calculative way. Their role is to develop the website exactly how it is designed. They need to incorporate the design details shared by the designers, for example- specifications, color codes, etc, in their codes.

Just like designers, web developers too can be specified on the basis of their roles. The main types of web developers are-

Front-end Developers

The front-end developers are responsible for the client-side development. So, they work with HTML, CSS or Javascript to develop the front-end of a website which the users can see and interact with.

Back-end Developers

Back-end developers takes care of the server-side development. They develop and manage the server, application and database of the website. Hence, they work on languages like PHP, Java, .NET, etc for developing applications. In addition, for managing database they should be experienced with the tools like MySQL, Oracle, SQL Server, etc.

Full-stack Developers

Full-stack developers work in a combination of front-end and back-end development. They are the experts of both fields and can develop a website on their own.

Conclusion

To sum up, in this article we discussed about web designers and web developers. We got to know the responsibilities of both. We also learnt about the role specific web designers and developers. The main types of web designers are UX designers, UI designers and visual designers. Similarly, the main types of web developers are front-end developer, back-end developer and full-stack developer.

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