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Web Design vs. Graphic Design
Website Design Blog > Website Design Tips
April 21, 2005
There are numerous graphic designers out there who
really know their stuff when it comes to print design,
brochure layout, and Pantone Matching System (pms).
However, not all graphic designers are good web
designers.
Web design is a totally different medium where the
"paper size" (the screen resolution) changes for
every viewer, colors don't cost extra, fonts are limited
to a select handful, and extra images might mean
losing
customers.
Website design walks a fine line between having a
great design and having a great design that no one will
see because it loads too slowly or cannot be indexed by
search engines. There are many "tricks" that
web designers employ to overcome these obstacles and still
have a great looking layout. However, many of these are
hidden from graphic designers because they don't know the
programming that is going on behind the scenes. All they
know is how to pull up an image, slice it up in Photoshop,
and dump it to the web. (Ok, that might have been a little
harsh, but I've seen it done.) Or, if they have stepped
into the realm of WYSIWYG programming (insert favorite
WYSIWYG editor here), they get tons of extra
"bloated" code and increased download sizes and
still no real control over their layouts.
Unfortunately, those people who make wonderful graphic
designers, normally were not the people in programming
classes. They think with different sides of their brains -
creative and logical, right and left brained. After
learning that a new client was having difficulty getting
any visitors to their website, I was asked to look at
their site and give an evaluation. After reviewing the
site, I sat down and showed them what the site looked like
to the search engine. The entire cached site read as
follows, "Your browser does not support
frames.". Another site I once saw had only a blue
rectangle on the cached page. No text, no images, nothing
but a blue rectangle. The normal site looked amazing and
very appealing to a human visitor with the right plugins
(although the site still took 2 minutes to load on a T1
connection).
However, the search engines were merely drawing a blank.
Any wonder why they were not getting any visitors?
Now I want to say something to all my graphic design
friends out there. You are some of the most passionate,
strong willed, dedicated people I have ever met. I am
always impressed with good graphic design. If you are
contemplating doing a little web design, sit down and talk
with a 100% pure web designer, someone who has experience
with great web design. They will give you the needed
guidance to give you a framework that you can build your
masterpiece around. (Now please don't send me tons of hate
mail.)
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"Web Design vs. Graphic Design"
made this comment on September 08, 2008
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.
made this comment on August 27, 2008
I was wondering should I go to school for grahpic design or web design or both?
made this comment on July 02, 2008
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.
made this comment on June 22, 2008
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.
made this comment on April 18, 2008
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!
made this comment on February 28, 2008
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.
made this comment on February 25, 2008
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
made this comment on January 29, 2008
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?
made this comment on March 31, 2007
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.
made this comment on March 22, 2007
What about New Media designers?
made this comment on March 01, 2007
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.
made this comment on January 12, 2007
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!
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