Four different job titles. Four very different skill sets. Here is what they actually mean.
If you have ever tried to find someone to build or improve your website, you will have encountered a confusing range of job titles — web designer, front-end developer, back-end developer, full-stack developer. These are not interchangeable. They describe genuinely different skills, and hiring the wrong type for your project can lead to frustration, wasted money, and a website that still does not do what you need.
This article explains each role in plain English, what they do, what they do not do, and which one you are most likely to need as a business owner.
A web designer is concerned with how a website looks and how easy it is to use. Their focus is visual — layout, colour scheme, typography, spacing, imagery, and the overall impression the site makes on a visitor.
A good web designer thinks about the user experience: where the eye travels on a page, how quickly a visitor can find what they are looking for, and whether the design reflects the business brand appropriately. They may use tools such as Photoshop or Figma to create mockups before anything is built.
What a web designer is not, necessarily, is a coder. Some designers can write basic HTML and CSS — the languages that control how a page is structured and styled — but many work purely on visuals and hand their designs to a developer to build.
You need a web designer if: your website looks outdated, off-brand, or confusing to navigate, and you need someone to rethink the look and feel before any technical work begins.
A front-end developer takes a design — either their own or one created by a designer — and turns it into a working web page. They write the code that runs in a visitor's browser: HTML for structure, CSS for styling, and JavaScript for interactive behaviour such as dropdown menus, image sliders, or form validation.
Everything a visitor sees and interacts with on a website is the front end. The front-end developer is responsible for making sure it displays correctly on all screen sizes, loads quickly, and behaves as expected regardless of which browser or device is being used.
A front-end developer is not typically responsible for what happens behind the scenes — storing data, processing payments, sending emails, or managing user accounts. That is the back end.
You need a front-end developer if: you have a design that needs to be built, or your existing site has visual or interactive problems — elements that do not display correctly, pages that break on mobile, or features that do not work as they should.
A back-end developer works on the parts of a website that visitors never see directly — the server, the database, and the logic that processes information. When you submit a contact form and receive a confirmation email, place an order and see your stock level update, or log into a members area and see your personal account, that is all back-end work.
Back-end developers write code in languages such as PHP, Python, or JavaScript running on a server rather than in a browser. They design and manage databases, build the systems that handle user data, and create the connections between a website and any external services it relies on — payment processors, booking systems, or third-party APIs.
A back-end developer is not typically focused on visual design. They are engineers working on logic, data, and security.
You need a back-end developer if: your website needs to do something — take bookings, process orders, manage user accounts, store data, or connect with other systems. If your site is purely informational with no interactive functionality, you may not need back-end development at all.
A full-stack developer works across both the front end and the back end. They can take a project from blank canvas to finished website — handling design decisions, writing the code that users see, and building the server-side systems that power it.
For small and medium-sized business websites, a full-stack developer or a skilled web designer who also codes is often the most practical and cost-effective choice. Rather than coordinating between a designer, a front-end developer, and a back-end developer — each with their own timeline and costs — one person handles the complete picture.
The trade-off is depth of specialisation. A full-stack developer is capable across the board but may not match the expertise of a dedicated specialist in any one area. For highly complex projects — large e-commerce platforms, sophisticated web applications, or systems handling sensitive data at scale — separate specialists may be warranted.
You need a full-stack developer if: you want a single point of contact who can handle your entire website project, from design through to functionality, without the complexity of managing multiple specialists.
In the real world, these boundaries are not always rigid. Many professionals describe themselves as web designers but write competent front-end code. Many front-end developers have a strong design sense and can make good visual decisions without a separate designer. And many full-stack developers have worked across enough projects to know what looks good and what works technically.
What matters more than the job title is understanding what you need your website to do, then asking any prospective hire or agency to explain clearly which of those needs falls within their expertise — and which does not.
| What you need | Who to look for |
|---|---|
| A new website designed from scratch | Web designer or full-stack developer |
| An existing design built into a working website | Front-end developer |
| Online shop, booking system, or member area | Back-end or full-stack developer |
| A site that looks wrong or breaks on mobile | Front-end developer |
| A complete website project, one point of contact | Full-stack developer |
| Branding, logo, and visual identity work | Graphic designer (a separate discipline again) |
If you are unsure which applies to your situation, the best starting point is a conversation with a professional who can assess what you have, what you need, and give you an honest recommendation — even if that recommendation turns out to be someone other than themselves.
