You want to be a designer but what type of designer? Graphic design and web design may sound similar but there are key differences. In this article, weâll dive into the two design fields to help you decide which career path to choose.
If youâre new to design, you may be wondering what is the difference between graphic design and web design? Are they the same or do they require completely different skill sets? Which should you pursue and which offers more opportunities as a freelance designer?
Weâll start with defining what each role specializes in then discuss key similarities and differences between the two. Weâll also offer our recommendation for the next step when youâre deciding which career path to pursue as a new designer.
As a business owner, knowing the differences between graphic design and web design is crucial for creating the visual assets your company needs. While they sound similar, the roles of graphic designers and web designers vary quite a bit.
In this comprehensive guide, we’ll distinguish graphic design vs web design by digging into their unique purposes, required skills, tools used, and more. Read on to gain clarity on when you need each, as well as actionable tips for working with both graphic and web designers.
Defining Graphic Design and Web Design
First, let’s start with the basics – what is graphic design and web design individually?
Graphic design involves creating visual concepts, typically to communicate ideas or messages Graphic designers utilize typography, images, color, shapes, and layouts to tell a story and evoke emotion.
Results of graphic design projects include logos, print materials like business cards and brochures, advertisments, product packaging, and digital assets like social media posts
Web design focuses on the appearance, layout, and user experience (UX) of websites and web applications. Web designers architect the structure, navigation, interfaces, and visual elements of online properties using HTML, CSS, JavaScript, and design tools.
Outcomes from web design include home pages, landing pages, content pages, web apps, mobile responsiveness, navigation menus, calls-to-action, and optimized user flows.
With those high-level definitions in mind, let’s explore key similarities and differences between these two fields.
3 Key Similarities Between Graphic Design and Web Design
While their purposes vary, graphic design and web design do share some common ground:
1. Visual communication skills – Both require knowledge of aesthetics, typography, color theory, layout, and visual hierarchy. These foundational design skills allow graphic and web designers to create appealing, easy-to-digest assets.
2. Software and tool mastery – Proficiency with design programs is essential for both graphic designers (Photoshop, Illustrator, InDesign) and web designers (Figma, Sketch, Webflow). They utilize these tools to bring concepts to life digitally.
3. Creative problem-solving – Designers in both fields need creativity and critical thinking to translate client goals into end products that are useful, usable, and compelling. Each project brings unique constraints to work within.
However, this is largely where the similarities end. Next, let’s unpack key differences between graphic and web design disciplines.
5 Key Differences Between Graphic Design and Web Design
Despite some shared skills and qualities, graphic and web design diverge in several meaningful ways:
1. Print vs digital focus
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Graphic designers work in both print and digital mediums. Print examples include magazines, product packaging, brochures, and billboards.
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Web designers solely focus on crafting experiences for the digital realm. Websites, mobile apps, and web applications fall under their domain.
2. Static vs interactive
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Graphic design produces fixed, static assets. Once complete, they remain unchanged regardless of who engages with them.
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Web design is inherently interactive. Websites adapt to user actions like clicking buttons, scrolling, and entering data in forms. The experience changes in response.
3. Context involvement
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Graphic designers mainly focus just on crafting individual assets like logos, ads, or magazine covers.
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Web designers have to deeply understand the broader brand, products, content, and goals. Websites they design sit within a larger ecosystem.
4. Top-down vs bottom-up design
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Graphic designers map out overall visual concepts first, then fill in details later.
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Web designers start with small components like buttons and work up to larger layouts. The process is more incremental.
5. Workflows and collaboration
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Graphic designers rarely need to involve developers in their process.
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Web designers routinely collaborate with developers for technical considerations during creation.
These core differences demonstrate why graphic and web design demand distinct skill sets and knowledge to be successful. Next, let’s explore an example project for each discipline.
Graphic Design Example: Brand Style Guide
Say a marketing agency is rebranding for a client. The graphic designer may be tasked with creating a brand style guide.
This would provide examples and guidelines on:
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Typography – approved fonts, sizes, and uses
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Color palette – primary and secondary brand colors
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Logo usage – minimum size, spacing, variations
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Imagery – photography styles, subjects, filters
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Graphic elements – badges, banners, icons, dividers
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Layout – spacing, grids, composition tips
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Tone and voice – product descriptions, About Us copy, messaging
The style guide encapsulates the brand’s visual identity in one place. It serves as a reference for the client’s internal teams to maintain visual consistency.
The graphic designer determines the most effective ways to communicate the guidelines visually. For example, they may use example interface screenshots overlaid with arrows pointing out proper logo placement.
Web Design Example: Ecommerce Website
For a web design project, consider an ecommerce company hiring a web designer to improve their online store.
The web designer may be tasked with:
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Optimizing page layouts and flows to make browsing and finding products intuitive
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Ensuring critical pages like the homepage, shop, cart, and checkout are mobile-friendly
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Designing an engaging hero banner with strong calls-to-action
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Adding “Add to Cart” buttons that stand out and are easy to click on product pages
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Improving filtering and search to help customers quickly find relevant products
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Displaying customer reviews, shipping information, and discounts prominently
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Following web accessibility standards so all users can navigate the store
These changes would aim to increase sales by making the shopping experience seamless. The web designer has to synthesize usability principles, marketing knowledge, and technical capabilities to achieve the goals.
Key Takeaways on Graphic Design vs Web Design
To summarize the main differences:
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Purpose: Graphic design is for visual storytelling. Web design is for digital experiences and usability.
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Type of work: Graphic design outputs static assets. Web design outputs interactive properties.
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Mindset: Graphic designers focus just on aesthetics. Web designers focus on both aesthetics and function.
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Collaboration: Graphic designers mostly work independently. Web designers routinely collaborate with stakeholders.
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Software and tools: Graphic designers use Photoshop, Illustrator. Web designers use HTML, CSS, and design programs.
Understanding these unique roles and required skill sets will ensure you hire the right design expert to meet your business needs.
Actionable Tips for Working With Graphic and Web Designers
Based on the differences uncovered above, here are some tips to ensure your engagements with graphic and web designers go smoothly:
For graphic designers:
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Provide high-quality brand guidelines and assets upfront so they understand your brand identity.
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Be very clear about what the main message or purpose of the design project is.
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Give context on how the asset will ultimately be used and seen by customers.
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Provide concise, detailed feedback on drafts focused on the visuals and messaging.
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Avoid asking for fundamental changes late in the process that would alter the whole concept.
For web designers:
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Share your business model, customer profiles, content strategy, and growth goals so they can design accordingly.
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Be understanding about the technical limitations and development needs that can constrain some design ideas.
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Provide feedback focused on site goals and user experience, not just aesthetics.
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Avoid drastic design deviations once development is underway to prevent major rework.
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Budget ample time for iteration and testing. Many rounds of feedback will be necessary.
With this guidance in mind, you can better partner with graphic and web design pros to bring your digital initiatives to life.
Should You Work With a Graphic Designer or Web Designer?
Most businesses need to leverage skills from both graphic designers and web designers. The right expert to hire depends mainly on your specific project goals.
As a rule of thumb:
Hire graphic designers for: logos, printed collateral, advertisements, packaging, marketing assets, visual guidelines.
Hire web designers for: websites, web/mobile apps, web portals, online stores, landing pages, user flows.
For major initiatives like rebranding, hiring both is advised since you’ll likely need assets for print and digital channels.
The most successful outcomes happen when companies align the right designers with the right efforts based on their specialized skillsets.
Key Takeaway
Understanding graphic design vs web design distinctions helps you staff critical visual and digital projects correctly. While they share some core design principles, graphic designers and web designers serve very different purposes. Keep these unique roles and required capabilities in mind as you plan projects to achieve success.
What challenges have you faced working with graphic or web designers? Share your experiences in the comments below!
What is graphic design
Graphic designers focus on creating graphics, combining typography with photos and illustration to present an idea. Traditionally, graphic designers used to work more on logos and print design like posters, brochures, magazine and book layouts, and packaging. But over time design has evolved along with technology and now graphic designers work on creating more digital assets for web and email.Â
Graphic designers have a deep understanding of the fundamentals of design. Mastering design elements like typography, color theory, visual hierarchy, and layout are key to graphic design. They use software like Adobe Photoshop, Illustrator, and InDesign on a daily basis to create their work. Hereâs a YouTube playlist on the best tools for graphic designers.
You can think of visual design as an umbrella. Graphic design and web design are subcategories within design. For more of a background on graphic design and how it has evolved over time, check out this article on The History of Graphic Design. Youâll also learn how key art movements influenced graphic design.
How are web design and graphic design similar?
Weâve discussed some of the key differences between web design and graphic design. It might sound like theyâre not related at all but there are a few similarities within both fields, actually within any type of design role for that matter.
Both web design and graphic design require you to have a basic understanding of design fundamentals. Know how to use typography and color to add a clear level of hierarchy to your designs. There may be some technical differences between the two mediums, but both require design knowledge.
If youâre a new designer and still mastering the fundamentals of design, the Flux YouTube channel offers a wealth of information.Â
No matter what type of design you specialize in, itâs important to keep on top of design trends. Sometimes, you may want the design direction to have a retro feel or be reminiscent of another time period. But most of the time you want to keep things modern and reflective of todayâs trends, especially for web design. This is yet another reason why brands and websites go through significant redesigns every few years. They want to remain relevant and keep business growing with the next generation.Â
If youâre curious to learn more about design trends, check out our article on The Best Web Design Trends.Â
Both web and graphic design require you to be a creative problem solver for the client. Art is for pure pleasure, it doesnât have to have a purpose, it can just look pleasing to the eye. Design, however, serves a purpose. Youâre solving a problem, youâre communicating an idea, the only difference is the medium. Web designers solve creative problems through a well-designed website that converts users to customers. Graphic designers solve creative problems through a logo, branding, or printed materials to educate a potential customer.
You also need to be a good communicator no matter what type of designer you are. Whether youâre designing a website or a printed ad, you need to be able to communicate well with a client. You need to know how to ask a client the right questions. Thereâs key information theyâll want to be included in their project, overcommunicate and ask clarifying questions so you donât misinterpret their guidelines.Â
You also need to know how to articulate your design decisions. When you share your design with the client, theyâll likely have questions and feedback. You need to develop your skills and be comfortable with responding in an objective way that conveys you are the design expert.Â
In this video, Ran shares how to deal with clients who give bad feedback.
Should You Become A Graphic Designer or Web Designer?
What is the difference between a graphic designer and a web developer?
What is the Difference Between a Graphic Designer and a Web Designer? The Categorical Differences. The first telling difference between graphic designers and web designers is the category that each falls under with the U.S. Graphic Designers. As mentioned, compared with web designers, graphic designers are much more involved in the artistic and (as obvious as it may seem) graphic side of a project. Web Designers.
Is graphic design the same as digital design?
While graphic design focuses mostly on static designs, digital design involves movement, such as animation, interactive pages, and 2D or 3D modeling. Digital designers create images and elements that will end up on a screen, whether that’s a computer screen, a phone screen, a dashboard, or any other digital formats.
Should I do graphic design?
We all know how addictive social media can be. Designers love creating mood boards because visual research can inspire and spark creativity in unpredictable ways. You should consider becoming a graphic designer if you find yourself lusting over stationery on Pinterest or in a deep spiral of #typography tags on Instagram.
