The Difference Between A Designer And A Web Designer
- Posted By:
- Matt
- Posted On:
- October 30th, 2007
- Posted In:
- Design
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- No Comments, Start The Conversation
As a front-end web developer it is my job to take Photoshop mocks and turn them into functioning, standards compliant, accessible web sites. Years of wading through good and bad designs trying to make everything pixel-perfect have left me with a very strong opinion of what makes someone a web designer, not just a designer.
Web Designers
A web designer designs with the web in mind. They understand how text flows on the web, they understand that the web is dynamic and that their designs should not depend on there being a specific amount of content in one particular area. A web designer understands that there are very few fonts that can be used as live text on the web and they know to only use web safe fonts for the body copy in their Photoshop mocks. Web designers also understand when it’s necessary to use images containing non web safe fonts (for titles for example) and when it makes more sense to use web safe fonts.
Web designers understand how their Photoshop mock will be cut. They know not to design an effect that relies on transparent PNGs if most visitors to the website browse using IE6. They know how big their typical user’s monitor is and they design accordingly. Web designers know that I have to wade through their mess of a Photoshop file and they label and group their layers properly, “Layer 79″ means nothing to me!
Designers
Designers don’t understand any of the above. They design for the moment as though nothing will ever change. They don’t understand dynamic content, they don’t understand that the user has ultimate control over the font and the font size. They don’t take browser dimensions or variable font sizes into consideration. Designers use whatever font they like whenever they like. They make nice long flowing gradients that only work if there are exactly 500 characters in that column.
A designer without an understanding of the process involved in making their Photoshop mock into a website is like a print designer that has no idea how a printing press works.
There’s Hope
Don’t give up designers, you can change. Take a couple of evenings a week and start learning HTML and CSS. They’re not as hard as they may seem and once you know them (you don’t have to be an expert) you’ll be that much more employable, 2 more things to add to your resume.
You can find tutorials that I’ve written in my tutorials section or you can turn to the tutorials at W3Schools. You can read one of the many books I recommend in my library section or ask a web designer friend for some help. Once you understand some HTML and CSS you’ll have much more control over how your designs turn out on the web and you’ll be able to better communicate with your front-end developer.
Life will be better when you know HTML and CSS.
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