01The three, side by side
| UX design | UI design | Web design | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Focus | How it works for people | How screens look and respond | Whole websites |
| Typical work | Research, flows, wireframes, testing | Components, layouts, states, design systems | Pages, content structure, visuals, conversion |
| Typical products | Apps, software, services | Apps, software, websites | Marketing, business and content sites |
| Key tools | Research tools, Figma, FigJam | Figma, design systems | Figma, Webflow, Framer, builders |
| Measure of success | Task success, satisfaction | Consistency, clarity | Leads, sales, sign-ups, brand |
02What UX designers do
UX designers find out what users need and design how they will accomplish it. That means interviews and surveys, mapping user journeys, organizing information, wireframing flows and running usability tests to see where people struggle. Coursera's Google UX Design certificate is a good outline of the field: design thinking, wireframing, prototyping, usability testing and information architecture.
03What UI designers do
UI designers turn those flows into polished screens: buttons, forms, navigation, cards, every state from empty to error, and the design system that keeps it all consistent. The work is detailed and visual, and in product companies it is often combined with UX in a single "product designer" role. What is a design system? covers one of their main outputs.
04What makes web design different
Web designers use UX and UI skills but apply them to websites whose main job is to inform and persuade: explain a business, build trust, and get visitors to call, buy or sign up. That brings brand, copywriting, SEO and conversion into the role, and makes landing pages and homepages the core work. Landing page best practices is closer to a web designer's day than a UX research plan.
05Pay and roles
The Bureau of Labor Statistics groups web and digital interface designers together and reports a median of $104,000 in May 2025, with 6% projected growth to 2035, in its occupational outlook. Product and UX roles at software companies often sit at the higher end, while freelance web design for small businesses varies widely.
06How to choose
- Choose UX if you enjoy research, psychology and solving problems in flows.
- Choose UI if you love visual detail, systems and consistency.
- Choose web design if you like brand, content, persuasion and seeing business results.
- Start with shared fundamentals and Figma; specialize once you know what you enjoy.
- Try a small project in each: a usability test, a component set and a landing page.
08Moving between them
Switching is common because the fundamentals are shared. A web designer moving into UX should add research, usability testing and flow design to their portfolio, ideally with a case study that shows how evidence changed a design. A UX designer moving into web design should add brand, copy and conversion work, such as a landing page redesign with clear goals. In both directions, the portfolio is what proves the move, more than any certificate.
What people who tried it say
Hacker News discussions about design roles often come from developers noticing the gap when a team has no designer, and from designers debating how much technical knowledge each role needs.
- The "designers should code" bullshit and a not so new ideaHacker News
A developer recalls a company with fifteen developers and no designer, where some developers assumed they could do design themselves.
Looking for more first-hand opinions? Search Reddit for “ui ux design vs web design”. We link the live threads rather than summarizing them, so you read them in full.
Our take
the labels matter less than the work. Learn the shared fundamentals, then follow what you enjoy: research, visual systems or persuasion.
Where this falls short
Job titles vary widely between companies; a "UI/UX designer" at an agency may do exactly what this page calls web design. Read job descriptions, not titles.
Orlume handles the web design side of a first version, layout, hierarchy and type, so product designers can focus on flows and research. The free plan includes 10 message credits.
Free to start · No card required · Live in one click
Sources
- 1.Google UX Design Professional Certificate · Coursera
- 2.Web developers and digital designers · US Bureau of Labor Statistics
Researched and written by the Orlume team · Updated October 2026
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