Graphic Design vs Web Design, What’s the Difference, Which is better
Technology is an enormous sphere with employment opportunities sprouting everywhere. This definitely covers web designing and graphic designing. If you are willing to be one or you are thinking of hiring a graphic or a web designer you first need to know what exactly they do. Are they the same or different? What kind of jobs do they perform? Which one is better? Which type of industries do they cover? And which job suits you better according to your skills? Basically you need to dive into graphic design vs web design.
For starters, graphic design and web design are two different things. Generally speaking they both share a common ground in terms of creativity, having proper understanding of topography, basic principles of design and graphics is required in both. But there are a few key differences that are not to be neglected.
It can be said that a graphic designer works on the visual appearances and a web designer adds functionality to it.
GRAPHIC DESIGN
Using one or more typography, illustrations, photography and graphic designing tools for problem solving and visual communication is known as graphic designing. Graphic designers use various tools to present the concept, story or the message creatively to make it look interesting for the target audience. They may design posters, banners, logos, catalogs ads etc.,
Roles of a graphic designer includes:
- Outlining design to make it understandable for the targeted audience
- It’s a one way communication system so errors should be avoided
- The final design should be visually appealing
- The frame for design is limited hence it should be creative and must cover all the important aspects of the story
- They have to predict how well the design will communicate with the target audience and how they would feel about it
- Efficient use of color and font combination to make the audience engage
- To make sure that the essence of the story is properly highlighted
WEB DESIGN
Web design is concerned with designing the website only. The process of shaping the visual look, feel and functionality of a website is web design. Web designers usually look for production and maintenance of websites. They have to master various technical tools and coding languages like HTML and CSS.
Roles of a web designer includes:
- Develop a user friendly website
- Attentively maintaining mutual interaction with the target audience
- To check the maintenance of the website by looking for errors and solving it
- Blending art and technology in an innovative manner to grab the attention of the target audience
- targeting the look of their design on different gadgets like smartphones, laptops and tablets
- Stay abreast with trending web design tools and coding languages
- To fulfill the motive of the design is most important
SIMILARITIES BETWEEN WEB DESIGN AND GRAPHIC DESIGN
Before looking for graphic design vs web design we must talk about the similarities between the two. Displaying the content with creativity so as to pull the attention of the targeted audience and make them understand the essence of the content is the focused area for both a graphic designer as well as a web designer. A web designer uses basic graphic theories and graphic tools to structure the visuals of the website. Similarly a graphic designer needs to know about the website for designing a suitable banner or logo for that particular website.
Communicating with the audience is their main task. A web designer who is also familiar with graphic designing can design a more tempting website.
GRAPHIC DESIGN VS WEB DESIGN
Now that we have understood the basics of graphic design and web design, we can relate the differences between them under the following aspects:
- Method of designing: As graphic design focuses on visual appearances they generally use tools for photoshop, illustrations, font design and colors. Web designers use more complex tools and coding languages. Along with visual appearance they also put mutual conversation with the targeted audience into account.
- Usage of typography and colors: Graphic designers have more freedom when it comes to typography and use of colors. They have more font options and can use vibrant colors to catch the attention of their audience. Whereas web designers are offered with a few default fonts (although the gap is narrowing with advancing technology) and they are not advised to use bright colors because it can cause visual fatigue to the audience.
- Method of presentation: Graphic design is printable and hence its more like a picture presentation of an idea or story. Web design on the contrary is dynamic in nature. There are links that will take you to a different webpage and there are functional buttons and dropdown menus. They provide the audience with the facility to perform certain actions.
- Approach towards the audience: The targeted audience in case of graphic design is allowed to understand the message but it is restricted to that only. Only one way communication is possible here. In web design the audience can take actions as well. They can lodge queries and navigate from one option to another.
- Limit to add content: Graphic design is limited to a single frame like a page or a cloth. Adding too much content can make the design look clumsy. Web designers can add more content to their design with the help to links and dropdown menus.
WHICH ONE IS A BETTER CHOICE?
Graphic design vs web design, which one is better? A study rolled out that the number of students enrolled for web designing courses were 5% more than the students enrolled for graphic design. So, clearly more people are drawn toward web designing. Both the fields require unique skills although web designing is more demanding. From the point of view of payroll a web designer earns $ 76,000 annually and a graphic designer earns about $50,000 per year. Web designing is better for the pocket and requires more set of skills. But if someone is more inclined to arts and creativity then graphic design is a better choice.
