Many people get confused when it comes to hiring a designer for creating their websites or apps for mobile phones, which is a result of limited knowledge that they have regarding this particular field. Design is a rather broad term and where one could use a DIY guide to become a graphic designer; there are quite a few areas that need to be addressed and covered step by step in order to accomplish a well-planned and user-friendly web page. So when it comes to hiring a professional, make sure that just because you are not willing to shell out a little bit of your money for some different technicians who understand the different types of designing that goes into creating the perfect web page, you don’t end up with a confusing array of icons on your screen.

There are many technical designers for your use. They are:

User Experience Designers:

The user experience designers, known as the UX designers, are the designers whose job it is to study, follow and evaluate an object or as brand for its feedback among the users. As is apparent enough by the name, these designers are trained to specifically observe the 3 most important questions. 1) Is it easy to use? 2) Does it give me value? 3) Is it pleasant to use? To attain the result of these questions, a UX designer has to make sure that the whole interface has a logical flow, from one step to the next. The UX designer has to make the HCI- the human computer interaction as fluid and as pleasurable as possible to ensure the influx of users, by giving them an overall sound experience. It deals with the ultimate user’s needs, by observing and studying surveys and reports about how the current experience is, a UX improvement consultation by a UX designer makes the interaction easily accessible by making the overall approach friendly and hassle-free.

Deliverables: wireframes of screen, storyboards, sitemaps.

Tools of Trade: Photoshop, Sketch, Illustrator, Fireworks, InVision.

User Interface Designer:

The user interface designers, known as the UI designers, work within the walls that have been corrected by the UX designers. Simply put, a UI designer works from page to page, creating a pathway for users that is easily understood within the confines of what the UX designer has planned. They work within the box, creating the step by step procedure of a webpage whose overall design has been laid out by the UX designer. It is the job of a UI designer to provide users with an easy and accessible design, a pattern that they can get familiar with, and get accustomed to. If a user doesn’t feel comfortable while using a page, or if there are many hidden steps within steps, the user will not return to the page. To keep the user happy, and to ensure his commitment, a UI designer creates the simplest, and the oft-used interface design so that the user can easily get in tuned with the page and would like to revisit it later. While designing a page, a UI designer provides the customers with the feedback options among others, so that he might be in constant know about the likes and dislikes of the user and can make alterations accordingly. It is also imperative to maintain consistency in your design and to give due warnings of errors beforehand, all this lies under the job description of a UI designer.

Tools of Trade: Photoshop, Sketch, Illustrator, Fireworks.

Visual Designer:

A visual designer or a Graphic designer focuses on aesthetics of a site and its related materials by strategically implementing images, colors, fonts and other elements. Whether or not they use the golden ration in design, the quality of a successful visual design is that it does not take away from the page or its functions; it rather enhances the look and helps in engaging the trust of the users and the brand. To a person who isn’t tech savvy, a designer does what in reality is the job of a Visual designer. They are the people who push pixels, and by saying that I mean that they create the ultimate face of a web design or a page. By using lines, shapes, color palette, typography, texture and form, they create the color contrasts and the size and shape measurements, balancing everything on the page with perfect harmony, so that the end result is a visual wonder, the most appealing and welcoming page a user can come across.

Tools of trade: Photoshop, Sketch

Interaction Designer:

An interaction designer can also be called a motion designer, for it’s his job to create the motion effects required in the web pages or the phone apps. The bouncing of icons when you click, the sliding of the page on the screen, and the various animations are created by an interaction designer, for want of a better interaction between the user and the company. A motion designer works with animated objects; whereas, a visual designer works with static images and placements. By enabling an interface to sweep and slide at a user’s touch, making the icons expand and to pages these designers enhance the app or the page, making it so much more interesting to use.

Tools of the trade:  AfterEffects, Core Composer, Flash, Origami.

User Researcher:

A user researcher is an integral part of any design team because he has the job to find out what the users are saying about their product, about the designs, and their feedback of the users regarding the usability of the page. In the business of design, the most important idea is to reinvent yourself by constantly trying to come up with newer and fresher ideas, designs that would enable the users to communicate efficiently and easily. Without a user researcher, a UX cannot work properly, because a user researcher brings to the table what the customers really want, through studying the feedbacks and surveying the markets, understanding the user’s needs, a user researcher understands the impact of design on its audience.

Tools of trade: Mic, Paper, Documentations.

Deliverables: user personas, A/B test results, investigative user studies and interviews.

Front End Developer:

It might come across as an obscure job, but in reality a front end developer actually enables a design of any page or site to come into reality. When a UI designer hands over the mockup, a developer then converts it into an interactive, working experience.

Tools of trade: JavaScript, HTML, CSS

Product Designer:

A product designer is the wonder worker that every design team of every company needs, for s/he is the person who will design the solution to every problem till the problem changes. A product designer works with every member of a design team, starting from UX, UI designers to researchers and developers, analysts and strategists. The role of a Product designer varies from company to company, but she is there to ensure that your brand comes out with a flourish and no glitch hinders it.

In all honesty, this design and tech industry is still comparatively new. So many a times, the boundaries between these designers gets merged, for instance, a UX designer will often work as a UX Researcher too, and a UI designer will perform the task of a developer alongside his own. But if you really want every nook and cranny of your designed web or app to be perfect, you know what to do. Get the whole team, coz every job is equally important!