Short answer: a web designer decides what a website should look like and how it should behave, and works in Figma, Adobe XD or Illustrator. A web developer builds it, in code or in a CMS such as WordPress. Many people who sell “web design” do neither: they pick a theme, drag blocks around in a page builder and ship. That can still be a fine website. The problem starts when the person cannot tell you which of the two jobs they did, because then they cannot tell you what they skipped.
We wrote the first version of this article out of irritation. The irritation has not gone away, but it has become a useful checklist for anyone about to hire someone for a website, so here it is again, less angry and more practical.
What each job actually is
Web design is deciding. Layout, hierarchy, typography, colour, spacing, how a page reads on a phone, where the eye lands first, what the user does next. The output is a design file, a set of screens with states and a system behind them. A designer’s tools are Figma, XD, Illustrator, sometimes Photoshop. A designer can produce a complete website without touching WordPress.
Web development is building. Turning that design into pages that load fast, work in every browser, read correctly to search engines and screen readers, connect to forms, payments, couriers and whatever else the business runs on. A developer’s tools are a code editor and the platform itself: WordPress and a builder for standard sites, a framework such as Next.js for custom ones. A developer can build a website without opening Figma, and if the design was good, you can tell.
Both are real skills, both are learnable, and the best small agencies have people who do each. What they are not is the same thing.
Why the confusion is not harmless
When someone offers “web design” and delivers a themed WordPress site with a page builder, they have done a slice of development and none of the design. Nobody thought about your customer’s path, nobody tested the copy against the layout, nobody decided anything; the theme decided. You paid for a decision-maker and received an installer.
The reverse happens too. A designer sells a website, delivers beautiful screens, then builds them with whatever tool is closest, and the result is a site that looks right on their monitor and falls over on a phone, or takes six seconds to load because every image is the original export.
The terminology matters because it tells you what was skipped. A vendor who will not fix their own vocabulary usually has not fixed their process either.
The AI problem
We use AI tools every day, on this very site, so this is not a complaint about the tools. It is a complaint about a specific kind of vendor: someone who generates a layout, generates the copy, generates the code, and cannot explain any of it. Ask them why the hero loads a two-megabyte image, why the contact form sends nothing, or why the site has three H1 tags, and you get a rebuild instead of an answer, because the mechanism underneath was never understood.
AI makes a good developer faster. It makes an inexperienced one confident. The output can look identical for about a week, until the first change request.
Eight questions to ask before you hire
- “Will you design the site, build it, or both?” A clear answer names the tools for each part. A vague answer means one part is missing.
- “Can I see the design before you build?” If there is no design stage, there is no design. That may be fine for a small site, but you should know you are buying a build, not a design.
- “Which theme or builder will you use, and why?” The honest answer is a name and a reason. “It’s custom” without a stack behind it is a red flag.
- “Show me three live sites and their PageSpeed scores on mobile.” Anyone can score well on desktop. Mobile is where the shortcuts show.
- “Who owns the code and the accounts when we are done?” Domain, hosting, the site itself. The answer should be you, in writing.
- “What happens when I want a change in six months?” A process, a rate, and someone who can explain how the site works.
- “Which parts did AI write, and did you review them?” The right answer is specific and unembarrassed. The wrong answers are “none” from someone who obviously used it, and “all of it” from someone who cannot explain it.
- “What would you do differently on this project if you had twice the budget?” A professional has an answer. An installer does not, because the theme has already decided.
Signs you are talking to a professional
- They ask about your customers before they ask about your colours.
- They say no to something you asked for and explain why.
- Their portfolio sites still work a year later.
- They can name the stack, the hosting and the plugins, and tell you what each one is for.
- They put a written scope in front of you before a price.
Signs you are not
- “Web design” on the invoice, a theme demo on the screen.
- Results promised in rankings or traffic. Nobody honest guarantees Google.
- A portfolio of screenshots with no live links.
- Every answer is “yes” until the site is paid for.
How we split it
Design is a separate service at Pavels, done in Figma, reviewed with you before code exists; it is optional on standard builds and mandatory on custom ones. Development is either a standard WordPress build with Breakdance, where your team can later edit layouts themselves, or a headless build in Next.js for sites where the front end is the product. Either way you get a named person, a written scope, and the code.
Frequently asked questions
Do I need both a designer and a developer?
For a small site, a good developer working from a proven layout is enough. For anything where the site has to persuade, sell or stand out, yes, and the design stage should come first.
Is a page builder site a bad website?
No. We build most standard sites with one. It becomes a bad website when nobody made decisions about it, or when it was sold as something it is not.
Is it a problem if my vendor uses AI?
Not by itself. It is a problem if they cannot explain what it produced. Ask them to walk you through one page.
