Do you know what the first-ever website looked like?
There are almost two billion websites today, but until 30 years ago, none of them existed. The first website ever was published on August 6, 1991, and it looked like this:
Since then, many things have changed and websites have significantly evolved. Creating and maintaining a website is a more complicated process nowadays and involves an entire ecosystem of skill sets and roles.
A strong web presence has become imperative in the business world. A website is a place where you will highlight the company’s visual identity, products, and services you offer.
If you want to stand out from the competition, expand the market and opportunities, your website must attract your future customers’ attention. Let’s see how to achieve it.
What is the difference between design and development?
Whether you want to create a new website or update an existing one, you’ve probably wondered what the difference between a web design and development is and what you ultimately need.
The two terms are closely related but easily confusing. It is essential to know the differences and whether you need a designer or a developer.
A splendid growth in web development has opened many opportunities for startups to reach a broader audience. Entrepreneurs often look for a web development and web design company to ground up to their dream website.
Both these terms fundamentally serve two different aspects of framing a website that requires peculiar skills.
Because their duties focus on similar tasks, website design and development can often be perceived as one. However, both terms bring creative and technical skills that build the end product – a beautiful and user-friendly website.
Web development services comprise all the code, which makes a website tick. It is mainly divided into two parts: front-end and back-end.
The front-end (client-side) of an app is the code responsible for determining how the website will display the designs mocked up by a designer. The back-end (server-side) of an app is responsible for managing data within the database and serving them to the front-end to be displayed.
On the other hand, web design usually refers to the user experience aspects of website development rather than software development. Web design is related to website usability and visual aesthetics. These include layout, color scheme, typography, user flow, and other aspects of the user interface (UI) and user experience (UX).
The web design is focused on how the user can use the product (web, app) most intuitively. Without design, users cannot have a good interface and use the web.
Good user interface design is achieved using layout, UI components, color schemes, typography, structure, graphic elements, etc. These elements help to structure the content well and present the brand itself.
For better clarity, let’s line a difference between web development and web design.
Web design involves:
- Designing a creative solution that meets the client’s requirements
- Creating the front-end of the website
- Focusing on the end user’s experience
- Working with HTML, CSS and JavaScript
- Using design software like MockFlow, Figma, Sketch, Adobe XD, Principle, Framer and Adobe Suite
- Using page builder functionalities of WordPress, Wix, Shopify or similar.
Web development involves:
- Adding the back-end to the website (complex functionality)
- Defining and implementing application architecture and data model
- Focus on details
- Using programming languages like Java, Node.js, PHP, C#, etc.
Web designer vs. web developer: An overview
There is a clear difference between a designer and a developer. The web designer comes up with the idea of the complete website and how it should look like.
The designer is the one who creates and “draws” the website and takes care of the whole user experience. Designers strive to create original and functional websites, which users will immediately like and to which they will continuously return. They are also much more specialized in the field of UI (user interface) or UX (user experience) design.
Web developers are the ones who program the site and take care of how it will work. These are the experts who create the structure, connect the site elements with the databases, write the complete code and bring the designer’s ideas to life.
Their work is not visible at first glance, but the fact is that without them, the website would not even exist.
Let’s be clear – both designers and developers can together build a website from scratch. Designers tend to plan carefully, while developers’ stronger side is implementing the finished design.
Web designers and developers both help build websites, but they’re involved in different areas.
Web design usually involves creating layout and content in collaboration with a copywriter, while web development involves creating functionality and testing its usability.
When on the same team, web designers and web developers work together – designers focus on design and user experience and developers focus on code.
Moreover, the designer focuses on the website’s design and visuals, and the web developer translates the design into code and adds functionality to the visuals.
Designers are more visually creative and user-focused, while developers build a website’s core structure using coding languages and breathe life into the designer’s creative vision.
In web design processes, designers use some of the most famous tools, such as Zeplin, Figma and Sketch.
In contrast, the most important thing for any web developer is to know how to use the programming languages and tools necessary to create and maintain websites.
Experienced web developers know both client-side and server-side technologies, including HTML and CSS, PHP, Java, Node.js, JavaScript, JQuery, AngularJS, C #, ASP.NET, etc.
Web designers are in charge of creating an intuitive and user-friendly interface. They create a prototype layout of your homepage and interior pages. On the other hand, the developer is the one who is responsible for making sure all the elements on the page work properly.
Good web design is key to presenting your business or product online and gaining new customers.
The benefits of web design and development
The significant benefits that web design and web development bring to owner’s websites include forming SEO, lower bounce rates, improving user engagement and increasing sales.
Win with SEO
A primary aspect of assessing the websites is SEO (Search Engine Optimization). Web development and design are here to help obtain a higher ranking.
Developers know how to form SEO friendly websites since they know the tricks to retain the desired traffic. They incorporate features like simplistic designs on the pages and boost the loading speeds.
Lower bounce rate
Bounce rate represents a term used in web traffic analysis. It is the percentage of website visitors who enter the site and then navigate away from after staying on a single page.
Skilled web developers and designers can help create a responsive website that will make visitors inclined to click and stay on the website longer. This cuts off your bounce rate.
Increasing the sale
According to Statista, in 2019, e-retail sales accounted for 14.1 percent of all retail sales worldwide, which indicates that sales on websites are attracting more users. This figure is expected to reach 22 percent in 2023.
Nowadays, many business owners have spotted an excellent opportunity to complete their transactions online and capitalize on online sales.
Through updates and upgrades, website functions get smoother, showing clients that the brand offers exemplary services and information. All of this replicates into more sales.
Improving user engagement
When you have a great website, it is relatively easy to maintain a good rapport with the end-user. This includes interactions with users and getting their feedback on the services and products.
Example of web design and web development
As with every new digital product constructed entirely from the ground up, we have engaged with the Revuto team on solving several significant challenges, including web application/presentational website.
All team members (Developers, Designers, Management) helped define the client’s idea. The goal was to create a project scope and offer a solution to a client’s web page problem.
In this case, it was the development of a Landing page for an early user sign-up for the Revuto App. The purpose of the web page is to present the Revuto App. Besides, it has a database of users who receive certain benefits for using the Revuto app.
In the first phase, the idea was put into sketches or wireframes. The UX designer defined the initial screens, their interrelationship and user flow. In the second phase, we actively worked on UI design and backend. The UI was created based on wireframes and sketched according to the client’s idea/solution.
At a later stage, the frontend implemented UI and UX. The frontend combined the backend part and sliced the UI design to obtain a functional web interface.
To better understand the client’s ideas and give a quick response to requests, both the design and the frontend participated in meetings at all stages of development.
We can say that the designer is the link between the client’s vision and the idea’s implementation. The designer listened to the client’s ideas and problems and offered a visual representation of the solution. In contrast, development was responsible for the performance and functionality of the idea/project.
Thanks to good communication and close collaboration of design and development, the project was very successful.
Create a web experience that keeps people coming back
Whether you need a designer or a developer, always evaluate your options, investment and choose the service worth the time and money that works for your business.
Overall, web design and web development are different activities. But both are crucial if you want to have an aesthetically pleasing and functional website.
Neither is more important than the other because you need both to make your webpage come to life.
Both design and development are essential parts of the website process planning. Web design will make your website look nice and visually attractive and development will make everything work fast and smoothly.
If you are looking for both a design and development, want to build or update your website, full-service agency Async Labs is here to meet your needs.
Our team of web designers and developers will create a visually appealing and engaging website, improve your appearance in search engine results and put all efforts to ensure that your web presence is excellent in all different aspects.
Turn your ideas into full screens and bridge the gap between design and development with us!
Do you agree that design and development are two different things, both being imperative in today’s business world? We would love to hear your thoughts. Feel free to write us an email.