Good read here. I am a photographer first and formost, but I have worked in web for several years, along side and most times right beside print designers, there is a difference, and many things they just don´t get about building for the web. I enjoyed your article and can relate with it!

I totally agree with you. I´m a web developer, but although I´m not a graphics designer, I am a competent web designer who utilises full XHTML 1.0 Strict code and CSS styles, all of which is hand coded too. However, a few graphics designers I know think they know all about creating web pages because they use Dreamweaver! A proper, professional web designer does not use Dreamweaver (at least none of them use it that I know). And a web page is more than just HTML code and graphics - its about accessibility and interoperability these days too.

What about New Media designers?

Nice article. Always fun to see that the article was written in 2005 and people are writing comments in 2007. well I´m a software developer, working with C, .NET, Sybase etc etc. But I´ve been doing serious research on new technologies to learn so I can work on my dream of working with the web and Visual Communications. I must say, this article is very much to the point.
and to all the people who read this and care to give me a few tips, please feel free. My ultimate dream is to be a freelancer (as a second job), developing websites and more fun would be to be able to do animations and learn more about Visual Communications industry.

I´m a graphic designer that has never had an interest in web. Recently though, I´ve been looking for a new job and it seems the web flash jobs outnumber the print jobs. What´s frustrating to me is that these employers want a graphic designer that´s also a web wizard. Is this just a trend happening? At what level do these companies expect print designers to know web design. I honestly have no interest in hand coding anything. Any thoughts on this?

This comment is my attempt to represent all of the graphic designers that have become increasingly frustrated by web developers who claim to be “designers” and who have presented a wall of discontent towards “real” designers.

My first point and probably the most important one is that we are artists. It is my educated opinion that web developers are “artist wanna bee´s”. You guys think you have a revolutionary handle on a new way to promote businesses on the internet but you have NO artistic flair. You are engineers at best and we (real designers/artists) are the architects. And the sooner you realize it the better off we will all be. You are fighting a losing battle.

I have worked with many web/tech people and am really tired of hearing the same excuse of “we, graphic designers” just don’t have a clue as to how transferring graphics and design to a web format works. Good design is good design. We graphic designers are the people that clients are coming to with the same complaint: Why does the branding direction you created for us not have the same appeal online that it has in print? The initial art direction is created by the agency or independent designer and it is imperative that this direction be carried through to their web presence. What about this concept is so hard to comprehend?

Why can’t you guys implement the creative edge that we “designers” have developed? You rely on templates that utilize y our coding and restrictions including layout, fonts and placement of graphics. It is very regimented and annoyingly limited to a variety of design alternatives that most creatives rely ont. Do you guys even have a background in art or professional design? Sorry, I really don’t mean to be offensive but I am so frustrated with your lack of creative flexibility!! I have created web pages that web developers have applied to code in a way that can be downloaded in a timely manner, compatible with ALL browsers so you tell me why is there a problem? You claim that “graphic designers” just don’t understand the process. Well, maybe you guys need to understand “our” process and do what we all strive to do in this industry: MAKE THE CLIENT HAPPY.

There is a real ego tug-of-war happening here. If you "webbies" just do what you do best on your end and help to support the “artists” and not try to tap into the creative part of your brain (which is lacking, sorry, again, not trying to offend, but really your true talent is more to the other less creative side of the brain, which we creative types truly admire and respect, really. we do) and try to work with us we could accomplish amazing things.

So please let’s get with the program and make it all happen . . . or not. Your choice, we’ll be okay without you. we are the creatives after all, we just don’t want to have to do the grunt work. You guys do that soooo much better. ha

I am non-technical person who was having problem in understanding what is the difference between the two.The matter has helped me - But it would have been more clear if I could know what is required skill sets in the two particular fields.

Hi!I came across your site while I was browsing for information about web/graphic design. I´m trying to choose one of them to take classes on, but I don´t really know the difference between them very well.
Do you think you could send me some "light" into those differences?
Thank you!

I´ve been a graphic designer for 25 years. I learned Dreamweaver 9 years ago and started doing Web sites. What happened was, I was so concerned with how the page was supposed to function that my designs suffered. Since I knew I had to create the code to make the design happen, my designs became slaves to my limited abilities instead of purely good design. I hate Web development! The rules seem to change daily and it´s a full-time job keeping up with it. I never intend to become proficient in it again, and most of my colleagues of all ages feel the same way. I think that graphic designers should create the designs and Web developers should implement them. That way everyone gets to do what they do best, and clients benefit. This requires both parties to learn a little bit about the other, but not a whole new trade.

I agree!! I am a graphic designer. Not a web designer!! I am so sick of people wanted a two for one!! They want a graphic/web designer for the price of one! I have had a small amount of training in web design in college (html), but a lot has changed since 98´. Of course I can work my around GoLive, FLASH and Dreamweaver, but I am not in any way an experienced web programmer. I almost think that we need to band together, graphic designers and web designers and make our professions accredited (ie interior designers). That way every kid with a computer cannot claim that they are designers. They are filling up the market, and producing low par work. Not to mention undercutting what we deserve to make for our work. Sorry to rant, but I have been coming up against this a lot lately. I was laid of from a really great position after 8 years of being a Dept. Head Senior Graphic Designer. I have since started my own business, going well, no complaints. However, I still need to make a little more to support my family. So I am continuing to look for a new full time. I am up against employers wanting graphic designer/web designers. They simply do not understand that the two are completely different! Or young kids that can now do it all for little or no money!! Guess I am heading back to school for some Flash, Web Coding classes.

I was wondering should I go to school for grahpic design or web design or both?

Dennis,

That is a good question, I am currently writing a capstone paper for my Bachelors degree in graphic desgin. Its about whether or not graphic designers should seek out a web design degree and what I´ve found in my research is that you should pick either one or the other. Where does your heart lie? Do you love art or computers more? Web designers do a lot of programming and coding while graphic designers do more branding and use more fine art skills. You will find it difficult in searching for a school that offers both web and graphic design in one complete program. And whichever program you choose, do it to the best of your ability and get your Bachelors or Masters, there is no reason to get two separate degrees in graphic and web. Its a waste of money and the salary wouldn´t justify all the student loans. If you enter in graphic design it is good to pick up some web design skills but it is not necessary to be fluent in the field. SCAD offers a good graphic design program that introduces web design. And when looking for a school, find one that is fully accredited. Hope that clears the air for you.

I sort of stumbled upon this post after doing a search for an article that might highlight the differences between "web designer" and "graphic designer." It´s interesting because, like so many others, I will occasionally respond to job ads that seem interesting and that I feel might utilize my web design abilities. It´s frustrating to read many of the job postings out there because, as has been stated in these comments, so many employers "want it all" in just one person. Now let me state up front that while I am told by clients that I have a good sense of balance and that I do some nice design work, I am in no way whatsoever a "graphic designer," which I define as someone who can not only visualize a design, but who has the skills and talent to actually create the artwork that is needed for others to visualize it too.

I consider myself a web designer. Without the help of a graphic artist, I can visualize a web page design and create that design, sans artwork, from raw code. I think many web designers of my ilk might consider themselves artists, but in a different light. I joke to my wife that I "paint with code." All of our brains are wired differently. Some need to doodle, others need to read instructions, others wait for the flash of inspiration, etc. I prefer to take the time to understand the raw content (the words, the message) that is going to be served up on the site, semantically mark it up with XHTML, and only then, start playing with CSS to ´paint´ my picture that being the framework, or the ´bones,´ of what will become the website itself.

Speaking for myself, I am in awe of artists. I love it when I am presented with a beautiful Photoshop comp and asked to bring it to life. Sure, I´ve been given some rather challenging tasks, but that´s usually the case of the designer not quite understanding that web browsers do have some limitations. However, I normally find that if you break things down into smaller and smaller problems, that by solving each of them one at a time you will, 99 of the time, resolve any issues that may have at first seemed insurmountable.

Like most things in life, a little bit of understanding by each side in terms of what each is trying to achieve, combined with a little understanding of the limitations imposed by each party´s medium, can result in a project being completed successfully and to the satisfaction of both the client and the design teams.

Thank you so much. I loved this. I´m a sophomore in high school right now but I´m obviously already thinking about what college I´d like to go to. I´m also debating on whether I´d like to go into Web or Graphic design. I´ve had experience with web design since I´ve interned for a record label and had to do some of their bands sites, but graphic design always was appealing to me too. but this article definitely just made up my mind. Helloooo Web Design.

Thanks!

LOL, I don´t have a URL because I´m one of "those" Graphic Designers without a website! UGH, it´s frustrating these days, I´m 36 and went to 4 years of school for Fine Arts and Graphic Design. I have a great eye for color, I can make a package design, cut it out, fold it, create a mock-up that looks like the final piece, make a brochure, design the logos, pick the paper and at best, take a great photo of the finished piece and email that to you as a nice JPG! Ask me to create a matching website and yes, I could put the great photos together in photoshop layers, bevel some edges, shadow some fonts, but would it be a working website with clickable buttons and links - NO. I know at least what size image need to be on the web, that images and colors are RGB based, so photos and colors are WEB format, photos are JPGS or GIF files, as I worked with web designers to post items, little Dreamweaver, lol 2.0.Some Flash and lingo, HTML, Javascript, shockwave, copy pasting codes for my myspace page, but sadly I do not have my own Graphic Design or Art website. I parked a free website name a few years ago, just haven´t created the working website. Now, could a great web designer create a great package, brochure, logo or do a nice painting, hmm? Well, I appreciate your blog, and if you can help me create a website, I can help you with something on the Graphic Design side. But you probably already know print.talk to you soon,
Delia S.

Linda Murphy wow so you think you´re better than a web designer. I´ve seen plenty of web designers that are a full package and have the right to call themselves graphic designers. I myself have a bachelor´s in graphic designer from 2005, but I also love, love to program. I have also worked with creating several Graphic Designer´s websites, and help them realize what they can put up there, what they need to modify and what is a no-no. I´ve done that more often, than not.

Talk about being one sided, if we are to rely on your to be creative, since we are uh, lacking, then you should rely on us for making giving it its heart beat.

Linda Murphy: You are the perfect example of what is wrong with graphic "designers." I bet you, like most of your colleagues think you can only design on a Mac. You prove to be the arrogant, insecure designer I have spent my career dealing with.

I am a web designer, and a good one. I come from an 3d animation and illustration background, but I have the added knowledge of front-end coding. Most actual web designers are better than their print bretheren in that they can design for anything AND have the intelligence to learn some code.

If your print designs don´t translate well to the web, you are a bad designer. Every web site/ email/ flash ad I´ve made has looked amazing, has made the client more than happy, and has adhered to their style. I never once had a problem with print to web translation.

It sounds like you are confusing the terms developer and designer, as most people do. I do not code much beyond CSS and Actionscript. I use Adobe creative suite on a PC. I am a designer, I am creative, and I´m good at it. I´m sorry that I´m taking your job, but perhaps I´m just better than you.

Good read. I am first and foremost a print designer. I can do some web design, but I would never claim to be a web developer and sorry, but I don´t like to code! I had to make this decision years ago because I just could not keep up with all the web software in addition to the print software you need to keep up with. I really wish there was more education about this difference in the workplace though. I see job postings where they expect the Designer to be the "be all, end all, jack of all trades" in regard to print, web and multimedia design. I suspect very few people can do it all like that.

Don´t artistic people explore with different things? I grew up drawing everything imaginable but once I graduated from college (won a bunch of stupid awards but I also won money;) I started to realize the limitless possibilities INCLUDING WEB. I had to force myself to learn XHTML/CSS (tried to work in Strict). Now I´m working with php and now Ajax and Wordpress are next to learn .WTF are these anyway? I guess I´ll find out as I did everything else. I´ll never master code but what I´ve been able to create by knowing just a few things has blown my mind! I also picked up on photography and it´s become one of my favourite (Canadian spelling :) ) things to do. My dream is to work in the special effects industry but tuition is 30G´s Cdn and that would hurt but I haven´t ruled it out! Might just do the two year web program this fall so that I can call myself a real web designer; I have until the 23rd of this month to make up my mind so that´s why I´m here looking around at what others are doing. It´s great program and this is where I originally went to school and also have done all my upgrading.

I claim to be a great designer and I´ve had great reviews but there are some freaks out there that I just don´t understand how they´re so good! They´re rare but they can do it all! Check out a site at www.thefwa.com. Some of the solo designers on there will blow your doors off!

It´s amazing that some clients/friends see me as a graphic designer, others as a web designer, a photographer, an athlete (LOL, yep, but that's another story!) a musician (not that great on guitar but I sometimes hit an open mic downtown).

It makes for an unstable life, I´m always changing things up and probing around looking for something new to learn. It keeps me busy enough that my friends often get on my case; I feel quite selfish and weird sometimes but that´s just the way our type is. I recently sold my house and quit work so that I could freelance and find more time to learn web. I figured it was a good time to do it with the state of the economy and with me still being rather young at 32; I´d likely never have a chance to do it again.

All I can say is never stop learning and never stop exploring.

Wow.stumbled upon this blog and I feel relieved to know there are others like me. I´ve been a graphic designer for 15 years and a few years ago attempted to do web design. Taught myself html and Dreamweaver, but found learning code difficult (and boring). So my attempt to learn Flash was a failure (because of ActionScript). So I have resigned myself to stick with what I know best.print media. I love, love, love Illustrator and Photoshop! AND I AM A PC USER! But I love the MAC too. I am also frustrated by the job ads that advertise for "graphic designer", but what they really want is a "web designer/developer". I never let my clients/employers know that I know html or anything web. Last time I let that out I ended up managing 3 websites (Coldfusion) and hating my job! I´m gonna stick to print from now on.

It is really great having opportunity for reading this great information’s. I like reading it because it is brief and step by step well explained, so everyone can understand it. It is really great tips for everyone, Thank You.

Great article thanks for the post

I also had same experiences. Most of the companies demand for both graphics and web designer. Its not possible to expertise in both fields. But its helpful if you have basic knowledge of other field because many times at least basic knowledge is required so that both the developer and graphic designer can work comfortably.

You have it spot on. I did come from a print background, but you soon realise that print and web design have little in common. I used to work with a creative director who could not understand why a website looking good on one browser, did not on another. But I prefer web over print any day.

I have question.
How to implement graphic design in web design. plz help I am fresher.

It really depends on the preference and/or interest of the person applying it. I´d say graphic to web designing or vise versa is just ok, as long as you´re interested to learn it, and of course, you can sacrifice your former abilities (it will deprecate and/or you´ll eventually lose it once you switch or perform both).

I´m a graphic designer myself during my college years, I hated web development in my college days; in my mind, it sucks, it looks cheap and very easy. If ever I wanted to learn programming, I would rather study and learn Assembly, it´s the toughest language in my opinion.
(NOTE: HTML and CSS is not programming, the former is simply a markup language to display content and the latter is simply the style sheets to position and layout the pages - however, javascript is a programming language).

But then again, I´ve tried it out of curiousity, and I´d say, I enjoyed it, even more than graphic designing. I´m already at my 7th month of advance experience with it, along with microformats. I say advance because I learned with from the pros (from web standards books, sites, and gurus). But I must admit, I lost my artistry in graphics, because web designing itself is tedious, and there´s a lot of brain storming and considerations to be done.

What I hate about employers is that they really think graphic and web designing are the same, and that at least, one can do the other, which is a terrible sign of ignorance. You see, graphic designers perform real artistry, imagination, creativity, and they have a good sense of color mixing. On the other hand, Web designers have much tougher job, believe me - we have a lot to consider on web sites, much more to consider even than the programmers themselves - such as Usability, Accessibility, Cross browser compatibility, Website Optimization or SEO, Code Maintainability, and even Code Optimization, what´s more frustating is that the finished design may work today but will break tomorrow, and it´s a never ending process because of different browsers also does an update frequently, while still considering ancient browsers like IE 6 and 7, which lacks CSS 2.1 support. And since we´re the front engineers, we must also be the one to talk to the client.

You can be very good on both graphics and web designing, however, don´t expect reaching a programmer´s stage - it´ll make you a retard a little to soon.
However, those who were once a part of the graphics industry that wishes to learn web programming, you can do so, but you must give up your graphical skills. It´s a different world in here.

I´d say choose what suits your interest. They have their own strengths and weaknesses.

Graphic designing requires artistry and talent; Web designing requires logic and knowledge in mathematics.

Why did I inserted math over Web designing? Because as you progress, you´ll do computations; in CSS you´ll encounter box mode and dimensions, then in Javascript, you´ll do a lot of algorithms, also in Back-end such as Python, Ruby, Pearl, PHP, etc.

I guess I am an oddity here but I consider myself both a web and graphic designer. I am an artist by birth and spent many a years drawing and sketching and doing line drawings of furniture for newspapers ads. When I first got a computer, well a webtv unit to be precise, I became intrigued as to what I was seeing on the screen, so i asked around and began learning html. I will agree that hand coding does in fact limit my artistic vision, in that to make a site function properly it seems the artistic element gets sacrificed. But with Adobe Photoshop and Fireworks I find I can still use my creativity and using my html editor create sites that are artistically pleasing to the eye and have them function properly as well.
I too see young kids offering web design for extremely low prices and it does irk the hell out of me. I have taken some classes online in web and graphic design and the teachers always tell me I should be teaching instead of them. I don´t know about that but the discipline it took to be self taught has worked better for me than reading a book or doing exercises.
In reality though the bottom line is this. Do what the clients want and make them happy, for clients are the reason we all exsist.
I also agree that instead of continuing this graphic/web designer war both trades should come to an understanding and work together.

Web design and graphic design both involve artistry and creativity, but you need different tools/software in designing a website or making a business logo or wallpaper. You need Dreamweaver in webdesign, while Photoshop works great in designing graphics and other images.

Graphic designers think statically and web designers think dynamically. Sure a graphic designer can make a single page look good on a 1024 x 768 screen, but does it expand nicely to larger screens or work with more or less content? Usually not.

Phoenix online student looking for guidance and understanding. I have only recently gone back to college at Phoenix online and I love it. I am currently taking Business for a major, but am looking in the arena of either Web Design or Graphic Design. Please help me understand the differences in web design and graphic design, as far as what each entails. Are web designers more into the programming aspect, while graphic designers into the artwork? I have a few months before I enter my core classes to decide which avenue to take. Thank you for your time.

I am going to itt tech for web design and I was wondering if you knew if that would be strictly web design or if I would have enough knowledge from that to go into doing graphic design??? Are they completely different??

Nice article. The differences you pointed out between web and graphic design was great.

wish employers knew the difference between a designer and a developerinstead of asking developers to design , and designers to develope

I´m on the other end here. Everyone assumes that because I´m a graphic designer I do or should know web design. People just don´t "get" that they are completely different! I can´t tell you how many jobs I´ve missed out on not because of my portfolio, but because they post a job for a graphic designer and then are all bewildered when I tell them I don´t do web design. I´d probably like to learn one day out of necessity, but it´s really not my thing.

I am a traditionally trained Graphic and Digital Media Designer who has a full time web design / development job. First and foremost, yes there is a really big difference in designing for print vs web. Also, there is a huuuuge lack in education on Web Design in Graphic Design programs. I was thought package design, publication design, poster design, brochures, layouts but never how to properly design for the web. Naturally most graphic design grads go into the professional world thinking it is ok to design a web layout like its a print brochure.

It is the Art and Design schools who need to play ´catch-up´ and start teaching real web design which by the way does not mean coding. What it does mean is to pay as much attention to the site architecture, info flow, navigation, user experience and of course layout and graphics. A web designer is both a left and right brain thinker. The graphic designer who are capable of both (left/right brain thinking) turn into the most effective web designers. If the coding part is picked up along the way the better but partnering with a talented programmer is a must.

Forgot to mention. I have worked with real web programmers who also called themselves web designers but never pay attention to proper layout techniques, color, fonts, consistency all which contribute to effective user consumption of the information provided. Seriously, both programming and design schools need to do some catching up in education so that both worlds can start working together to bring forth the best and most appealing solutions to their clients.

Graphic designers have traditionally been in print design, know their craft very well but have limited technical skills. While a web designer might be both a developer and a designer who can tackle the technical details and execute designs.

I totally agree with your comments, but the exact same can be said for the reverse. Web designers doing graphic design. It is all relative. The problem with acquiring a job today is that the employer wants everything. There is a huge task to fill and the job market is nasty competitive. So how does an accomplished graphic designer learn how to properly create a website? I honestly can´t afford the time that it would take to go back to school as a full time student, but what other option is there? Is there an online course that isn´t mickey mouse to teach you how to competent create websites?

I think this article should send to every companies who still doesn´t know what are they looking for: a graphic designer or web designer. Title: graphic designer, job descriptions: UX/UI design, javascript, html, css???

Linda, did you read the title of this article?
A web designer is a different role to a web developer and a graphic design has a separate role to a web designer. Its not rocket science. Some people are gifted with all 3, some just stick to what they know best.
The reason the web developers annoy is because you are giving them a design which is probably not possible. When graphic designers are designing a site for the web, they can´t just create a pretty picture which usually ends up looking like a leaflet, and expect it to work. There are many elements, including accessibility, browsers, colours, user experience, etc that a good web designer will know. They need to know about responsive design, screen resolutions, functionalities, and many other things that a typical graphic designer wouldn´t know (but things they do).

I love this, i sit with a client at the moment that has got a graphic/print designer to design their site, and they think this guy is the best thing since sliced cheese.O my word even his site is 3 jpg´s slashed on top of each other , everything is in print measurements, and the client think we are the one that don´t know what we are doing.ooh the fun times, good to know there is more out there that´s struggling with this

Nice Information about Web Design vs. graphic design.Web design is a design of website which is used to improve your website. For improving web design you have to know about Graphic design but for Graphic design you don´t need to know web design.

As a professional graphic and web design company, our developers and designers work together to create designs that will attract customers to our client´s websites. Working together, they learn from each other and we have found that is the best way to produce a pleasing design that also works on the web.

Are you trying to say that one cannot combine both graphic designing and web designing?

I am a graphic designer for a long time and a practicing web designer, not developer (just clarifying because some clients think that web designers are developers too!). In my point of view there should be no VS in between this two. But in my own experience I can tell you point blank in your face that a graphic designer learning to do web design is way much better in creating a good looking website than just a plain web designer. There´s one comment here that using dreamweaver is not a web designer tool because it´s WYSIWYG. Well genius imagine your website without any image created by a creative individual such as a photographer or graphic designer, what would your website look like? You might be very good in coding but does your flying animated letters look attractive. The thing is web design is limited in a boxes of codes, the freedom of artistic and creativity in creating an ad is so limited.

thank you, I´ve gotten so many clients who go ´oh graphic design, that means you do web design! make me a website" and never understand when I tell them that no, I´ve never designed a website in my life, I´ve made images and all FOR websites, but never the websites themselves. the general consensus is that graphic design = web design, when it doesn´t

With the web speeds ever-increasing and SEO become fairly useless anyway (since most people know where they are going in business and don´t do "searches" these days) what difference does it make whether code is "not written correctly" if it still WORKS and looks great? I´ve never written a single line of code and all my sites show up in search engines, look good and work correctly for my clients. I´ve made thousands and thousands of dollars designing good, clean, working sites and have yet to have any code problems. Coders are basically "Do it MY way or you´re wrong!" snobs.

Wow! Interesting article. I struggle all the time with this. My degree is in interactive media, but on the way to getting it, I fell in love with photography all over again. I say again because years ago I was obsessed with photography. I got married, had children, etc. and the rest is history. I know how to design and code a site, but I feel like I am spreading myself too thin by not devoting myself to one or the other. I am not a math and numbers person, which I feel is a necessary evil with development, but LOVE photography and art. I feel I have aged out of the web design field, but give confidence to photography clients. Sorry for the rant, just trying to figure out what I really want to be when I grow up. lol
In closing, I think you can do both, but can you do both really well is a better question.

Thanks for your valuable posting it was very informative i am working in Erp Software Company In India

This is very use helpful web site.

alhera

There are a lot of things required for a web designer these days: html5, css3, jquery, bootstrap, php, etc.

I agree that there is a significant difference between a graphics designer and a true web designer. Using those web design tools to generate a website will give you a bloated one. In fact, WordPress is bloated too.

We need to see codes that are readable and well-structured, and effective. Optimization does not happen only in images, but also in the coding of pages itself. The cleanliness and "crispiness" of code is achieved through experience.

Thank you for this very informative post. It is true, web design is so much more different than graphic design. There are so many things like visual cues to lead customers to a call to action. Not every design project is the same.

Hi
Great post
i found that having graphic Designers and web designers working in conjunction is a great way to maximize the potential result. they may clash now and then but its fun sitting in a room with while the graphic designers and web designers are brainstorming it always gets intense