Why Are Web Development and Web Design Not the Same

Are web design and web development services the same? This is a question that almost every service seeker usually has when looking for the type of service to render. This happens mostly with new businesses seeking these services for the first time. Sometimes due to a lack of experience and knowledge, businesses end up with the wrong service. 

Web design and web development services are two completely different things. Web development is all about writing codes and building the website's structure. In contrast, web design takes care of a website's aesthetics and user interface. Hence people need to know the difference between web development and web design.  

In this post, we'll discuss web development and web design and take a deeper look at the critical differences that every service seeker should know. So, let's move forward and take a brief look at web development and web design.

Web Development 

Web development is all about developing a website from its core. Just like the human body's main building block is a cell, the same way a website's main building block is code. Web development is all about preparing the codebase that provides the website's supporting structure and functioning. 

Web development is categorized into two types; front-end development and back-end development. Front-end, also known as client-side development, deals with writing the codebase for building the front of the website, i.e., the user interface. This includes writing the program for how the website should look. In another way, we can say that it is responsible for creating the part of the website the user sees. 

Back-end development deals with creating everything that runs behind the website. The back-end is also sometimes referred to as "server-side," which is everything that runs behind the scene on the server side or databases responsible for the overall functioning of the website on browsers.

With the growing popularity and demand of web development, today, businesses have a wide range of choices when it comes to outsourcing development tasks. They can choose developers based on the framework they use for web development, such as  Drupal, Joomla, WordPress, and ASP.NET.

Web Design

Web design also relates itself to the development of websites but in an entirely different manner than web development. We learned that front-end development deals with designing the parts of the website that visitors access and see. Web designing also deals with designing the UI/UX of the website but it is very different from front-end development which we will learn more about in the other sections. 

Web design deals with everything related to the aesthetics and visuals of a website. From typography, color schemes, graphics, borders & spacing, and content to other essential visual elements, everything related to the look and feel of the website are dealt with in web designing. 

Suggested Reading: 7 Visual Elements That Make A Perfect Web Design

Key Differences Between Web Development and Web Design

#1 Different Roles 

Web development and web designing are two integral parts of the website development process. Doing both tasks perfectly and synchronously can help you build a robust website. Though sometimes misconstrued to be the same, service seekers need to know that these two tasks are different and hence opt for the right service. 

Those looking forward to getting their websites built need to know that there are two services they'll need to render; web designing and web development.

Web designing will deal with designing the wireframe of how the website will look, the sections it will have, and every other aspect related to the visuals of the website. The design team works on ways to make the website look more simple and easier to navigate for the visitors in order to improve user experience. 

Meanwhile, the web development team works on writing the codebase for the website based on the wireframe provided by web designers. From server-side/back-end to client-side/front-end, web developers are responsible for creating and developing a functional website that follows the design requirements. Hence web design and web development are two different jobs that require separate attention. 

#2 Frequency of Involvement 

The work doesn't end once a website is made live after successful completion; instead, the main task of leading a website to success starts after it. A website needs time-to-time checks from web developers and designers even after it is live. But it has been seen that web designers are more involved after a website is made live as they are usually involved when publishing content, especially for designing images and infographics.

Meanwhile, web developers don't interact with the website with the same frequency a web designer does. They usually involve themselves in conducting timely checkups in order to detect any security errors and when there's a need to create a new feature.

#3 Extent of Technicality

Web development is more concerned with the technicality of the website; in contrast, web designers are less concerned with the technical aspect. This is the primary reason most web designers don't know how to code, as their work is more related to drawing the layout and UI/UX designs that don't require programming. 

Meanwhile, web developers are responsible for writing the entire codebase for the website, which is responsible for the full functionalities. Hence web developers are more technically linked to the overall development of the website when compared to the web designers who are responsible for designing the potential visuals and layout of the website.  

#4 Different Professional Education/Skills Required

Just as the job is different, the qualifications one needs for web development and web designing are slightly different too. When it comes to web developers, they usually need to be skilled programmers with proficiency in one or more programming languages. Javascript, HTML, PHP, Python, Ruby, and CSS are some of the most common languages that web developers usually use. 

Meanwhile, web designers must know one or more of the design softwares. Adobe XD, Sketch, Google web designer, Canva, and Figma are some of the most popular web or graphic design softwares. Businesses can hire web designing services for the software of their choice. 

The primary skill differentiating web designers from web developers is that the former doesn't need expertise in high-end programming languages like Java, C++, PHP, etc., but the latter must know one or more of the mentioned programming languages.

#5 Different Budgets Required 

The other most striking factor that defines the difference between web development and web design is the budget or average charges that a service seeker needs to pay to render any of the two services. Web development tends to need more budget when compared to web designing. This fact can be proved with just a look at the average figures web developers and web designers make.

According to Coursera, the average annual salary of a web designer in the US stands at $63,019. Meanwhile, the average salary of web developers in the US stands at $82,450. This difference in salaries for web developers and designers shows that web development is more expensive than web designing. 

The Symbiotic Relationship Between Web Design and Development

We discussed many differences between web development and web design, but before ending the post, readers need to know the symbiotic relationship these two share. For a website to succeed, both of these operations need to be done carefully and with synchronization. 

With the right web designing service provider in your hands, you can get a great wireframe and web design for your website. But without the right web development services, you won't be able to put what the designers have designed into reality. 

The same goes for web developers; they can't start working on any website without the web designers' wireframe and layout. 

Not only are web designers and their work crucial for web developers, but the exact relationship also runs for the latter and former. Web designers also need input from web development teams when designing the wireframe and UI layout. This is because when working under a limited budget, they need inputs from web developers to know how much each element they place in the wireframe will cost. 

In some cases, web developers might advise designers to remove some elements to keep things under budget. Without their advice, the final design from designers could go uninterrupted to the web developers causing the cases of redesigning and leading to loss of time and money. Hence, to save time and labor, web designers should take continuous inputs from web developers working on the same project to avoid redesigning. 

To Conclude 

Website development is a very comprehensive task, and to make a successful one, it is essential to focus on the two critical aspects of the development process; web designing and web development. Although these operations are considered similar by amateurs, they are very different. 

This post discussed web development and web design. We looked at some of the most defining differences showing how web developers and web designers are two jobs. The points discussed in this post are crucial for service seekers looking to get a website built for their new venture to get clarity on what services they might need and the average budgets each requires.