Graphic Designers vs Web Designers: What’s the Difference?

When it comes to graphic designers and web designers, there’s more to the names than just a job title. Once graphic artists who handled it all, designers nowadays are segmented into more focused specialties as digital and web work continues to evolve.

Graphic designers and web designers specialize in different aspects of the creative world. Can their skill sets overlap? Of course. But, when you’re working with a creative agency, it’s good to know who the experts are for your project. Let’s explore…

The Similarities

Graphic designers and web designers are creative and artistic professionals who, at their core, share many skills and interests. Both types of designers have an eye for design and visual communications. Each understands how to present information in an attractive and efficient way. They use layouts, graphics, typography, charts and images to convey ideas. They are well-versed in the importance of branding and brand consistency and the visual aspects of marketing. The most effective creative professionals, whether they specialize in web or graphic design, are passionate about learning, evolving, and keeping up with modern trends.

The Differences

Graphic designers offer a diverse scope of skills. They are adept at producing a number of different projects for both print and digital applications. They can design an advertisement for one client, then switch gears to create a logo for another. Many of their graphics can be for print work or used on a website. Their wheelhouse can encompass different types of finished deliverables with concrete specifications. Basically, once a design is approved, it’s finalized, sent to print, and put to bed. That definitive endpoint makes graphic design a bit different from web design.

Web designers are more specialized. They design website-related work ranging from landing pages to complete sites. They focus on both the design of the website and the functional, intuitive user experience. Not only is their objective to create a visually attractive site, but also ensure that it performs well and adheres to proven information architecture and U/X principles. This often includes optimizing page load times and file sizes. A web designer may dabble in SEO and content, but they are not web “developers” who specialize in coding and programming. Websites go through changes as company brands change. New content needs to be added for SEO or navigation needs to be tweaked to increase conversions. So, technically, a web designer’s job is never done.

The Blend

Nowadays, it’s not uncommon for the lines to be blurred between the two areas of design work. Most designers can do both graphic and web design. Their skillsets can bleed into each other and be blended depending on the client or project. They are both creative and understand their medium — they know their stuff. Just make sure that you know who you’re working with when engaging with an agency on your next project.

Why SEO Matters to YOU

You want your website to be found… but at what price? PPC advertisements and paid keywords can cost anywhere from a few bucks to a whopping $150 per click! Those rates can be budget-blowing to any organization if a person clicks, and clicks, and clicks and then leaves your site without making a purchase or taking an action. This is why search engine optimization (or “SEO”) matters. SEO is critical for receiving those quality organic clicks — without the additional cost.

What’s the difference between organic and paid? For the most part, organic searches are closely related to a user’s query based on relevance (determined through SEO and various other factors). Compare that to search engine marketing (“SEM”), which is promotion through online advertising.

SEO helps in myriad ways. Optimizing your site’s SEO can increase your efforts to better reach your target audience. It can also help you climb above your competitors. With organic placement, you bring in customers by proving to the search engine algorithms that your site has relevant content and authority on keywords. It’s more valuable to own your destiny through SEO than relying on a third party for paid search.

Here are some interesting facts about organic searches and SEO:

  • Organic SEO is about five times better than paid search ads. (New Media Campaigns, 2018)
  • One in 10 blog posts are compounding, meaning organic search increases their traffic over time. (HubSpot, 2016)
  • Up to 80 percent of search engine users are only focusing on the organic results. (MarTech, 2018)
  • About 60 percent of marketers say improving SEO and growing their organic presence is their top inbound marketing priority. (HubSpot, 2018)

Plus, SEO is an evergreen solution. Increasing organic traffic through SEO is a much more sustainable model for your strategic plan than paying for each visitor. Through optimizing SEO, you begin to speak to the visitors you’re most interested in engaging with, not the search engine bots.

New content helps accomplish this. And, not just any content, but content that is authentic to you and your business. Fresh content keeps your SEO and website relevant through blogs, new pages, white papers, videos, etc. It’s no longer acceptable to stuff content with keywords for the sake of search engines — this keyword stuffing was quite common before Google cracked down on abusers. Good SEO practice is about adding more organic search-ability with keywords significant to you.

With strategic SEO, you can tap into the perceived benefits to appearing in an organic search — especially on page one. That ranking suggests to users that you’re an authority and leader in the area. It gives you credibility. Your brand gets in front of consumers, which leads to more click-through and potentially more leads.

Everyone’s dream is to spend $0 on advertising their website. But when it comes to being found online, there needs to be a compromise. (Remember, free advertising is only a dream.) A reasonable plan includes balancing SEM spend and bringing traffic in through SEO, which is instrumental to organic searches.

Interested in SEO? Let’s chat! We offer full service of marketing solutions

Award Winning Web Design, Brand Development & Online Marketing since 1986

We are web designers, developers, marketers and creative service strategists and our team can help you reach your goals through award-winning creative products. Discover more about our Company and our Culture.

Copyright © 2022 ACS Creative. All Rights Reserved.