Today the answer to this question is a little more complicated. Regardless of what you need, knowing these differences is very important for your project so you don’t get confused with these roles. So what are the main differences between web design and web development?
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Web design is the visual look of a website and the functionality from a user’s perspective. Web designers often work within design software like Figma or Adobe XD to create visually appealing user experiences. They then hand those designs off to developers. Web application and website design involves ux designers and visual designers using their skill sets to make wireframes, mockups, design systems, color palettes, templates, and more to help developers build the product.

Web development is the process of coding a website to create the intended design using technologies like CSS, HTML, and programming languages like JavaScript, Python, Ruby on Rails, and more. There are back-end developers who focus on the infrastructure of a site or web application (hosting, security, etc), there are front-end developers who focus on the functionality of the site/app, and there are full-stack developers that work on both front-end and back-end.

What is a Web Designer?

Web designers must have a skillset involved with the visual aesthetics and usability of a website like layout, information flow, color palette, typography and everything else related to the visual aspects of the UI/UX (user interface and user experience).

Some common skills and tools that a web designer should have are:

•Photoshop
•Illustrator
•Adobe XD
•Figma
•UI Design
•UX Design
•Logo creation
•Layout / Format
•Information architecture
•Wireframes, mock-ups, and storyboards
•Color palettes
•Typography
•HTML / CSS
•Javascript
•CMS (Webflow, WordPress)

Web design is concerned with what the user actually sees on their computer screen or mobile device, and less so about the mechanisms beneath the surface that make it all work. Through the use of color, images, typography and layout, they bring a digital experience to life.

That said, many web designers are also familiar with HTML, CSS, and JavaScript but we must emphasize that not all web designers have knowledge in Frontend technologies or no-code platforms.

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What is a Web Developer?

A web developer’s primary job is to build and maintain the core structure of a website. Their role involves a lot of technical work, including using complex coding and advanced programming languages. In a nutshell, they take the ideas and concepts laid out by designers and turn them into real, live, and fully-functioning websites.

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•HTML/CSS/JavaScript
•CSS preprocessors (i.e., LESS or Sass)
•Frameworks (i.e., AngularJS, ReactJS, Ember)
•Web template design
•Libraries (i.e., jQuery)
•Git and GitHub
•On-site search engine optimization (SEO)
•Server-side programming languages (e.g., PHP, Python, Java, C#)
•Server-side web development frameworks (e.g., Ruby on Rails, Symfony, .NET)
•Database management systems (e.g., MySQL, MongoDB, PostgreSQL)
•RESTful APIs
•Authentication and security (e.g., OAuth, PassportJS)
•Servers (e.g., Linux, Apache, Express)

In conclusion a Web Designer is someone who has a mix of skills of a Frontend Developer and a Designer. A web designer must be able not only to design a beautiful UI on Figma or Adobe XD, he also has to be capable of writing the code to bring to life the designs.

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