Web Designers vs. Developers: Which do You Need?

Ready for a new website? You may consider outsourcing to a designer or developer (or both)*. Read on (or take this quick quiz) to learn the differences between the two and see which is the right fit for your project.

*(Spoiler alert: you might not need either if you get Clean Pro).

The Basics 

Here’s the overly simplistic distinction between designers and developers:

Designers make stuff look good.

Developers bring stuff to life.

In reality, it’s much more nuanced, and not all designers or developers are the same. They have unique areas of expertise worth understanding. Let’s explore a few.

The Breakdown 

There are largely a few categories of web/app/product designers and developers that you need to know about when looking for the right one for your project. 

UX (User Experience) Designers

These guys focus on your ideal customer's expectations. They’ll do tons of research and testing to figure out what makes website visitors linger on a page, why they do or don’t click, etc. At the end of the day, their job is to design a website that’s easy and intuitive to navigate. UX designers work with simple wireframes (the site's skeleton) before adding any branding.

Once the UX Design team has worked its magic, they’ll hand things off to UI.

UI (User Interface) Designers

UI takes the prototypes and findings from UX and works to drive site conversions (like clicks and form submissions). They play with brand colors, create layout mockups, experiment with CTA button styles, and A/B test landing page designs. 

If you were building a highway instead of a website, your UX Designer would be in charge of drawing the roadmap, complete with signage, rest stops, and anything else a driver may need on his journey from point A to point B. Your UI Designer would then choose the colors and placement for the road signs and might explore how to draw a traveler's attention to the coffee stands at each rest stop entrance.

When the design team has done their part, they hand it off to development. Developers have different areas of focus, too. Here are a few you should know:

Front-End Developers

These folks code the stuff website visitors see (page layouts, buttons, widgets, chatbots, etc.) using languages like JavaScript, HTML, and CSS.

Back-End Developers

Back-End Developers code the invisible things, like the text, image, and code files that live on your website server.  

When you type in a web address, you see a webpage appear as if by magic. In the background, your browser sends a request to the server, which collects and serves the content to the site's front end.  

You can thank back-end developers for that behind-the-scenes wizardry.

Going back to our highway and rest stop analogy, think of your back-end developer as an electrician (running wires and things you don’t see) and your front-end developer as the guy who installs the light switch covers and paints the walls. 

Full-Stack Developers

These guys do it all! They’re basically superheroes.

The Budget

How much does it cost to hire a designer or developer? Well, it ranges anywhere from $2000 to $20,000 (depending on the size and scope of your site).

When compared with other CMS platforms, that price tag is pretty hefty.  

Keep in mind that hiring a designer or developer isn’t always a one-and-done job. If you need website edits down the road, be prepared to cough up extra cash.

Boiling it Down

In summary:

You might need a UX designer if:

• Your customers are frustrated with your website or application
• You are trying to understand if your product is solving a *real* problem
• You have an overly robust website that you want to simplify 
• Your project requires a series of interactive features

You might need a UI designer if:

• You want a fresh new look for your website.
• You want to ensure a level of polish and design consistency across all channels
• You want to increase the perceived value of your website or product

You might need a front-end web developer if:

• Your project largely revolves around displaying content with simple interactions
  
  

You might need a back-end web developer if:

• Your project largely revolves around more complex user interactions
• Your project requires a more sophisticated database integration
• Your project requires the use or creation of an API to sync with other platforms

Ready to outsource? Get our tips for hiring the right website professional. 

Remember that you can always DIY your website, too! If you’re even a little tech-savvy, an easy DIY solution like our Clean Pro Theme could save you time, money, and headaches.