If you own a business, you need a professionally designed website to attract, retain, and convert your target customers.
In This Post
We’ll be shining a light on everything you need to know about web design. By the end of it, you’ll have a good understanding of:
- What actually is a web design
- The role of a web designer
- The difference between a web designer and a developer
- Methods website designers use to build a website
- The web design trends of 2022 you need to know
Let’s dive in!
What is Web Design?
This refers to the process of creating visual elements of a website.
The aim of the website designing process is to provide the best user experience. It has nothing to do with how your website functions on the back-end. Up until the mid-2010s, the focus was on creating the best user experience for desktop users.
But, more than 50% of worldwide website traffic comes from smartphones these days. This is why mobile optimization is an important part of the web designing process.
What does a Web Designer do?
Web designers create and design websites and web pages, focusing mostly on the visual elements such as colour scheme, layout, graphic design & animations. A web designer will often work closely with a web developer to create the site, but some web designers are able to develop the website themselves.
A web designer typically takes care of two aspects of a website:
- Its appearance
- Its layout
The appearance of your site indicates its colours, font, and images. Whereas, layout refers to how the content is categorized and structured on a site. A good web designer makes sure that your site is easy to navigate/use and aesthetically appealing. Moreover, your site’s design also plays a role in converting your visitors, which can also be a part of a web designer’s job.
Is Web Design in Demand?
Every business that has a sizeable audience online needs a professionally designed website. As more and more businesses are jumping on the bandwagon of digital practises, the industry is only going to grow in the future.
Don’t take our word for it; according to research, in 2022, the size of the web design industry is projected to increase by 2.5%. This means more opportunities for web design service providers.
Web Developer vs Web Designer
As discussed earlier, web design refers to whatever a website visitor sees on their computer, mobile, or tablet’s screen. It has less to do with the code that makes all that possible. On the flip side, web development refers to the code that makes all the visual and functional elements of website work.
Web development has two sub-categories.
Front-end: It refers to the code responsible for showing the design and layout of a website. Front-end developers use HTML, CSS, and JAVASCRIPT to develop the graphical user interface of a site.
Back-end: Also known as server-side development, back-end development indicates everything that a user can’t see.
As you might have guessed, a web designer’s job tends to overlap with a front-end developer’s job; both work on the visible elements of a website.
Here is a quick walkthrough of the differences between a web designer and a web developer:
- Most web designers don’t know how to code
- Web developers add functionality to a website with coding
- Web developers are primarily coders
- From a business’s perspective, a web developer is more expensive than a web designer
Looking for a Web Designer?
What do Web Designers use to Build Websites?
Before website builders were a thing, the primary job of a web designer was to come up with a “Design” and hand it over to the developer. The developer then converted it into a static site. But, now, you have content management systems like WordPress and drag-and-drop website creation tools like Elementor to rely on.
Or, you could create a design on third-party apps like Adobe XD and convert it into HTML.
So, there are essentially two ways a web designer designs a site these days:
- Design a site directly on WordPress with page builders
- Create a design in a prototyping tool like Adobe XD
The second option is more expensive as you have to convert the design to an HTML file, too.
Best Web Design Trends for 2022
Let’s look at the best trends for 2022.
The popularity of One-Page Websites: The adage, “less is more” applies here. One-page websites are gaining in popularity because they are simple and cost-effective.
3D visuals are still in: 3D visuals add some spice to a web page; they’ve been growing in popularity, too.
Storytelling through design: Words aren’t the only way to tell a story; powerful visuals also let you communicate a specific message to your target audience.
Ecommerce Web Design Trends
Cantered Navigational Menu: You’re probably used to seeing navigational menus at the top/bottom/sides of an e-commerce store. Designers are now giving this navigation menu the centre stage on websites.
Lazy Loading of Images: Lazy loading is when a website’s design loads one element at a time to keep a visitor engaged. This also helps you increase your websites loading times, and eventually SEO rankings.
The Use of Micro Animations: To prevent visitors from hitting the back button, webmasters are also using micro animations.
Looking for Web Design from a Reliable Agency?
Web design is an ever-evolving industry; it’s a difficult industry to keep on top of, let alone keeping your website
Whether you own a business or are a service provider, you need to keep yourself updated about developments in the web design industry. If you’re a business owner thinking of a new website, or just a website makeover, request a quote from our web design team today.
