You are looking for ways to either create a new website for your company or update an existing one. Whatever the case may be, maybe you’ve found yourself in a strange situation – do you need to hire someone who is an expert in web design or in web development?
These two terms are very similar so it’s no wonder many people confuse them. But, when it comes to your business and building an effective website, it is critical to hire the right specialists. It is vital to therefore understand exactly what you need.
Before you continue reading or even searching for a reliable contractor, take a minute to breath. The search can be overwhelming, but it doesn’t have to be. The thing is that most web design agencies provide a range of services, including web design, web development, graphic design, copywriting, SEO, and more. In other words, whatever your particular need is, you should hire a web design agency that offers both web design and web development services at the very least. Hopefully the agency you end up hiring can provide you with an even wider range of services and assistance – this is the best-case scenario for your site, budget, and business altogether.
But, for the sake of providing useful information, we are going to take a closer look at what web design is all about and what web development actually serves. It should help you make the right choice if you can’t find an agency that does both, and it’s critical to find the right specialist.
Understanding Web Design and Web Development
Before we get into the detailed differences between web design and web development, it’s best to first overview each process individually.
Web Design in a Nutshell
Web design deals with the aesthetic look of a website. It makes certain that all of the site’s different parts and pieces blend together perfectly and create a successful Internet environment for its owner.
Web designers don’t actually build your site. They create prototypes of its pages using software such as Adobe Illustrator and Adobe Photoshop, among other tools. This prototype helps get a clearer idea of where the design is taking your business and functions as a vital building block that web developers use while building your site.
Web design also provides you with an opportunity to provide feedback regarding your site’s appearance and tell your web designer or design team what you like about it and what seems off. You can participate in the web design process by proposing adjustments at each stage.
Hiring a web design agency that has both web designers and web developers in its team is vital if you want your site to be an appealing and effective tool for your business.
Web Development in a Nutshell
Since we’ve already covered what a web designer does, let’s take a look at a web developer’s responsibilities.
While web designers create the outer, artistic chassis of your site, web developers are taking care of making that design function properly. For instance, if there are three call-to-action (CTAs) buttons included on your home page design, they have to be hard-coded into the website to assure that when visitors click them, they respond correctly. It’s the same with basically every element on your site. This includes contact forms, the navigation bar, hyperlinks in the content, etc. The developer’s job is to breathe life into the prototype and make sure it works and acts like an actual website.
Web developers usually work with content management systems (CMSs), such as Joomla or WordPress. But, they can also code websites from the ground up using such programming languages as CSS, HTML, and PHP, among others.
Here’s a Rundown
To summarize what’s been described above: web design and web development are two distinct and different things yet both are vital to creating a visually appealing and properly functioning website.
While web designers are responsible for making sure everything looks good, web developers ensure that the elements, including links, navigation bars, videos, forms, and buttons work properly on each page.
This means that neither one of the two is more critically important than the other because both are needed to make an effective, converting, website that’s racking up the sales.
So, Which One Do You Need After All?
Whether you require a new website or want to update an existing one, there are several things you should consider. In either case, you will need the assistance of professional web designers or developers.
So, let’s say that you need to create a site from scratch. If your new site requires someone to help you with a wireframe of design ideas, choose a color pattern, decide on the look of your homepage, or select appropriate fonts, you should definitely hire a web designer. At the same time, you also need to find a reliable web developer in order to make sure there are no problems with functionality on your site. It’s important to build out the design provided to you by the web designer and understand the difference between HTML and CMS, and other related aspects.
And what if you already have a website and you want to update it? You will certainly have to hire a web designer to update branding on the site. If you need to switch from HTML to a CMS, fix broken links, incorporate new graphics for the site, introduce a redirect for a useless page, learn how to use your site’s CMS, or solve server problems, you need an experienced web developer.
Conclusion: Hiring the Right Web Design Agency
Even though we’ve reviewed web design and web development separately, this doesn’t mean that you will need to hire separate companies to do each task for you. As we’ve already stated, the best way to go is to hire a web design agency that provides a range of different services and doesn’t just design graphics.
Hiring a web design agency that does everything provides a wide range of benefits. Such companies have teams that work collectively to make sure that the website they are working on looks attractive and functions as needed and intended. They also work in a highly collaborative environment, where web development and web design are closely interrelated. When you work with such an agency, you can get valuable marketing ideas and strategies that will help you get the most out of your website. And these are just some of the advantages that come with hiring one, multifaceted, professional and highly dedicated web design company.
If you want your website to be user-friendly and highly-converting, you want to work with a team of specialists that adequately takes care of numerous aspects of the website – beyond just adding a few pretty pictures or designs on your page. And this doesn’t end with web designers and web developers. Your site also requires quality copywriting, search engine optimization, testing, and a number of other things that will ultimately turn your website into a formidable online tool, assistant, and sales manager.
Article Submitted By Community Writer
