Many people are confused by the differences between web designers and web developers. And seeing as both professionals build websites, it’s easy to see how the two can get mixed up. But web designers and developers actually work in very different areas.
What do web designers do?
Web designers make your website look aesthetically attractive, but they do a lot more besides that. Designers focus on the website’s style and the overall feel of the web pages by using specific design software. Designers customize the visual elements of a website. They also use code like CSS and HTML to create designs.
It is easier to hire professional web designers than you may think. Expert web design companies like Parachute Design Toronto optimize users’ experience and build upon strategies that respond to their environment and behavior. Although web design companies tend to focus on all aspects of web design, such as branding, graphic design, and e-commerce design, specific web designers within an agency usually have one or more of the following three specialisms.
UX Designer
A UX web designer ensures website visitors are hooked. He or she will know how to build website designs tailored to specific audiences by carrying out thorough research into customer demographics. UX designers also do loads of site restructuring and prototype testing to ensure the website is as smooth as possible.
UI Designer
A UI web designer improves the way that users interact with the content and elements of a website. He or she will translate complex ideas and values into a site to ensure users find it easy and enjoyable to use.
Visual Designer
A visual designer combines the skills of both UX and UI web design. In addition to the skills required for both of those roles, visual designers solve design problems. They also help to conceptualize a unique brand voice.
What do web developers do?
Web developers focus more on what website visitors will enjoy doing. They build upon a web designer’s concept and build websites’ frameworks using software like jQuery and JavaScript. As with web designers, there are specific roles in which web developers can specialize.
Back-end Developer
A website’s core structure is designed in its back-end. Expert developers use programming and complex software languages such as SQL and Java. Their work involves coding on databases and web servers as opposed to browsers. In short, back-end developers build functional and logical websites and test and fix bugs.
Front-end Developer
Front-end developers also use coding skills to build frameworks; only the frameworks are ones with which users interact. Front-end-development is more closely connected to web design than back-end-developing because it involves using CSS, JavaScript, and HTML to create items that users can actually see.
Full-stack Developer
Full-stack developers are experts in all areas of web development, including both back-end and front-end. Basically, full-stack developers are the full package for web development.
Summing Up
The main difference between a web designer and a web developer is the former brings a branded concept into on-screen reality and knows how to precisely tailor the content for a specific audience, while the latter builds a website’s core structure via using coding languages.
If you want a website built from scratch, you will need a web designer to make the site look and feel appealing and a web developer to build the site’s foundations. Rather than employing two separate professionals, it is often best to hire a web design company with people with all of the various skills required to create a high-quality website that is sure to attract and convert users.