Website design is the process of establishing the aesthetic appearance of a web page, including how content is organized and how design elements are implemented. Web designers typically focus on what is called the “front end” of a website, which is the part of the website that users see and interact with (as opposed to the “back end” code that determines the functionality of the website).
This means they are responsible for choosing everything. Including photos and images, fonts, graphic language, color scheme, buttons, as well as how all of these elements fit together. They use design software (such as Photoshop or Sketch) to create mockups, or image-based representations of how the website should look after the code is applied.
By these definitions, web designers are usually not responsible for building the working part of the website – they focus only on laying the visual design foundation. Developers write the code that makes the website work; and Site development requires a different understanding and skill set than design.
Where does a web designer fit into the process?
To understand what a web designer does, let’s briefly review the most common roles involved in the process of creating a website.
• Website Strategist: Conducts in-depth market research to determine business goals for the overall website and individual pages.
• Graphic Designer: Creates the visual elements for the brand – logo, color scheme, typeface – and the graphic assets – images and icons – that are used on the website.
• Copywriter: Creates all the written content – from headlines to body copy and closing – used on the website. builds.
• UX designer: Focuses on user needs, and designs skeletal web page designs (called wireframes) that optimize website elements around user behavior and expectations.
• UI designer: Designs interactive elements, such as buttons and forms.
• Web designer: Focuses on all visual elements of a website, and transforms skeletal designs into finished web page designs.
• Front-end developer: In order to implement website design on a The web browser uses markup languages and code (HTML, CSS, and Javascript). Back-end developer: Uses coding languages to develop the more complex behind-the-scenes functionality of a web page. In short, a web designer takes the goals provided by a website strategist and a UX designer’s wireframes, and combines the content produced by graphic designers, copywriters, and UI designers to achieve a finished prototype web page. Developers then take this prototype file, separate and export the graphic elements, and use code to turn it into a live web page. All of this means that if you’re looking to hire a web designer, you should have your own strategy and most of your website content, both in draft and finished form.
With all of this said, treat these job descriptions with a grain of salt. They are generalizations and descriptions of traditional definitions of these roles. As mentioned earlier, many people use the term “web designer” loosely, so it can mean different things to different people. There may be overlap between the roles – most web designers do their own market research, do graphic and UX design, and some even do double the work of developers (especially on the front end). It’s also not uncommon for companies (or clients) to combine roles and responsibilities, depending on budget. Always make sure you agree on the expectations of the role before starting a project.
The truth is a little more complicated than that. Making a website a reality requires a lot of planning, content creation, artistic effort, coding, and hiring experts. Web designers are one of these experts, but they usually have a very specific role in the entire process. Whether you’re looking to become a web designer or hire one, it’s important to be familiar with exactly what web designers do and what they don’t do. Otherwise, you could be wasting time and money.