Web Designer or Web Artist?

Web Development is a booming industry nowadays; what with the sudden upsurge of companies turning to the World Wide Web to build their business, the demand for website developers and designers have increased as well. But in your quest to create that perfect corporate site, you have to hire the right people as well: skilled web programmers, and creative designers. When it comes to the design and interface of your website, designers have always been the option. They are able to produce visually appealing yet functional designs. However, why not try hiring an artist for a change? The results you get may overwhelm your expectations. Confused between designers and artists? Read on.

A designer creates aesthetically pleasing designs that provide functionality, too. They comply with the demands of the clients, so usually their designs are a bit restricted to what the clients want. To put it frankly, design aims to please people other than them; it’s something people do mainly for money. It doesn’t matter whether they like a person’s preference or not; they’re given a job to design for him/her, so they will. They’re supposed to "feel" around for what they think that a client, who has a set of tastes and preferences that are separate to theirs, will like. They are also supposed to design something and put all thoughts of functionality first before "decorating" it with other elements, and after decorating, they should still make sure that the functionality is apparent, because for designers, functionality comes first. If you want a web site, and you can or want to specify on the color, theme, etc. of the site, then a designer is for you.

An artist, on the other hand, produces art. It may or may not be functional; it may or may not make sense, because it’s art. It only aims to express the artist’s emotions to its audience, mainly the people who will view what they make. Clients may make suggestions here and there, but in the end, it’s all up to the artist on what he or she wants to do with it. Functionality, here, ranks lower than design. If it manages to convey what they’re trying to express, then it’s already satisfactory; functionality only comes in second. If they don’t like something, they don’t do it, if they like something, they do. If they use black and white for what is supposed to be colorful, or apply styles that usually aren’t used in a particular field, it’s alright, because they have already expressed what they want to express and have reached a satisfactory result, for them. The artist is more in control of your website here; he or she has no limits of what he or she can and will do to your site. If you want a more creative site and don’t mind or are unsure of what color schemes, styles, layout types, etc., you’d want, then an artist would be best for you. Take in mind, though, that you may have to code separately for what they do; a tool like Sitegrinder would be able to help you with that.

An artist may be more effective if used to design more laid-back websites, or those with a more playful and creative nature; on the other hand, designers are for those who value control of the layout of their websites and is more suited for those more serious websites with a professional air.

Sitegrinder
Contains tutorials and such on building your own website from Photoshop without any manual coding.