Professions for Web Designers: Which One to Choose?
When we think about web designers, we typically imagine a jack of all trades performing all elements of design from the beginning until the end. However, such a universal skillset is a rare treasure you can find, and in the majority of top-tier web agencies, various web design aspects and tasks are performed by different specialists. In this article, we clarify what types of web designers you may find online. You’ll also learn to which specialists you need to turn to with specific design-related tasks.
How Many Types of Web Designers Are There?
The sphere of web design is diverse, mainly due to the need for the digital product to comply with multiple stakeholders’ needs, expectations, and interests. As soon as you start studying to become a web designer, it’s vital to single out one of the following areas.
Graphic Designer
Graphic web designers specialize in the visual layout and look of the digital products under development. They work on graphical interfaces and contribute to the overall visual architecture of an app, website, or commercial. Thus, their primary area of focus is the visual component. These experts should possess in-depth knowledge of scales, visual hierarchy, fonts, styles, colors, and layouts to make impeccable products.
Product Designer
Product designers stand behind the actual product idea and take care of its realization across all departments and development stages. Their role incorporates aligning UX design principles and broader business objectives.
UX Engineer
UX developers typically work on the ready wireframes and prototypes to code the front-end component of the new digital product. They need to comply with the UX principles and rules in their design, thus keeping the products’ interfaces focused on user satisfaction as their ultimate outcome.
UX Researcher
Research is a distinct area of UX design that many web designers don’t like. Others enjoy the discovery process involving learning about people and their preferences. UX researchers use a variety of methods to learn what people want and like, such as surveys, interviews, field observations, focus groups, and user testing initiatives. Whatever tool is chosen, it guarantees an excellent outcome in the form of cold hard statistics and user data to base product design on.
Product Manager
Digital products of any scale involve several specialists working on them at multiple levels. Examples include development, planning, research, marketing, and sales. A product manager should align the work of all departments. It ensures that the team stays on the same page and shares a common product vision.