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I would say both are important. But from my experience (and I’m not talking about web designers here), more people on this earth are artistic than logical.

A developer can make a okish design, it will work, it won’t look crap since they can copy ideas off others. No it won’t be anything new but it will be practical (which I have found is better than all flashy, all these flash websites with amazing graphics are just crap). But say to a designer can you code this application so it runs across platforms and only consumes X amount of memory and they will be stuffed.

As said before there is the problem of people don’t know of how much work a developer has to do, since they don’t see the code.

So in my opinion a developer is far more important. What’s better something that looks nice but doesn’t do anything or something that looks crap but works? I think a good example would be a car. The designer can make the car look sexy and wonderful, but it won’t move. While the developer can make the car move, but the passenger is just sitting on a metal frame with no external shell (or just a cardboard box they nicked from a tramp)

Well, if you want to go in pure financial terms, developer any day of the week.

This can easily be seen in salaries paid at top companies.

I have 2 specific examples for financial difference here in the Orlando area.

Web Developer at 2 separate very large companies here in Orlando (positions that are available now)
Company 1:  $110k + benefits
Company 2:  $120k + benefits + bonus

Web Designer / Artist at same companies:
Company 1:  $65k + benefits + bonus
Company 2: $78k + benefits + bonus

Both are for experienced people.

If you want to go one step farther, Director level positions at the same 2 companies:

Director level position in Programming:
Company 1: 175k, 250k (2 different positions)
Company 2: no data

Web Director Level Position
Company 1:  105k
Company 2:  100k

This is purely from a financial standpoint.

developer

to me it makes sense that a developer gets paid more, I used to do both (and still do) but lately I do less design and focus more on development. The hardest part for the designer is coming up with a good idea, but in the end once the design is made up there’s alot more work left for the developer.

Say you have a project with a developer and a designer in the middle of the project you have to replace one, you’d pick the designer the new designer could just continue work in photoshop based on the original design concepts or whatever and carry on.

my 2 cents

An Artist is more valuable than a Mechanic anyday.

For small values of “anyday”. I’m going to have to remember this the next time I get on a plane 😉

The best coded website still looks like crap without good style. 😉

At least it works.

The best styled website will be a slow mass of security holes and errors without good development.

Being a development forum, I don’t think you’re gonna get much in the way of designers, but here’s my two cents.

“The hardest part for the designer is coming up with a good idea, but in the end once the design is made up there’s alot more work left for the developer.”
Coming up with a good idea is worth a lot. How smart would Einstein be if he didn’t come up with Relativity? (i know, it’s a stretch)...But being creative and original is worth a lot and isn’t as easy as it sounds. Furthermore, making a design after getting an idea isn’t easy either. Of-course, if the design is just round-cornered rectangles, then it would take perhaps 10 minutes to come up with a design, but it won’t be worth anything.

Furthermore, design is what sells. Design gives your code polish, and it’s what the client interacts with. Why would the client be interested in the fact that you have a CI (or CE 😛) powered site when the interface he sees is bad?

I don’t think one is worth more than the other. The designer is useless without the developer, and the develoeper is useless without the designer.

But yes, developers are usually paid more because their work is considered “harder”..and because most people don’t appreciate the importance of good design.

to me it makes sense that a developer gets paid more, I used to do both (and still do) but lately I do less design and focus more on development. The hardest part for the designer is coming up with a good idea, but in the end once the design is made up there’s alot more work left for the developer.

Say you have a project with a developer and a designer in the middle of the project you have to replace one, you’d pick the designer the new designer could just continue work in photoshop based on the original design concepts or whatever and carry on.

my 2 cents

Excellent opinion from a switch hitter.

For me, design is more difficult but often development is more work. I totally respect a good designer. Nice design is humbling.

I totally respect a good designer. Nice design is humbling.

I agree 100%, I always look at a good design and think wow, wish I could do that. I suppose everyone is in aww at things they can’t do.

Generally speaking, which skillset is more valuable?

More specifically, using a typical CRUD page as an example, who gets the bigger cut - the designer or the developer? Let’s say the designer creates some snazzy templates complete with html and css. The developer creates the database table(s), and writes the server and client side scripts.

The Developer-Designer, two jobs synconized are worth 10x than two asyncronized 😛

Btw Designers don’t only make things pretty… they also make things work by guiding the user graphically. Designers need big brains too lol

 
 
A company I know has gone off the idea of a good and expensive designer and now gets their designs from the abundant web template sites. The boss’s chosen templates are PhotoShopped by a junior designer. The boss ensures the modifications satisfy the client’s specification.

Currently it is working well and far quicker than waiting for their previous Prima Donna to create a masterpiece.

I must add this note about their long standing major client’s response after he accepted a new design   “but it took you 48 attempts before you got it right”!
 
 

I can’t design if my life would depend on it but i understand the problems designers face. John_Betong you called that company’s designer a prima donna there are a lot of prima donna developers too.

Both designer and developer have to consider the clients requests because they are the ones who are going to work with the application. For a developer is easier to say this or that manner of input is not technically possible but most of the times it comes down too you don’t see how it fits with the application design you have in your head. If a designer can do something great within the restrictions of the demands you have a good designer.

If a designer has to create many designs in a short while they will look alike because you can get only so many creative ideas. Not all works of Picasso are great.  You also have to realize you can only do so much within the constrictions of a usable site. A designer has to color within the lines of an already made base. A developer can say lets start from scratch.

To get back on topic i think developer/designer who can generate the most profit will have the most worth for a company. If clients are attracted by the the functionality of the applications the developer is worth the most. If the clients are attracted by the designs the designer is worth the most. If it’s a mix of functionality and design they should be payed equal. Or is that too obvious to be true?

I have to comment on James’ Developer-Designer comment…this is really essential.

I usually work as a two-man team (me as the developer)...normally we figure out the high-level app design together, and then go off to work.  Once the designs are done, one of us builds the CSS/HTML template “glue” depending on time and I finish the code.

Now…I can design and he can code.  But the split results in less time and better results, even if one us had twice the time on our own.  Being able to code “to a design” makes my work 10x easier, since I don’t have to think from different pieces of brain, and wear different hats. 

I love awesome designers that can also write code, but don’t.  I’d pay them more… 😊

It’s essential that web designers know about and preferably can write some markup. Surely you have all seen mockups that are made of up what the “designer” considers the Greatest GUI Hits of the Internet? You can be reasonably sure that they have thrown in custom scroll bars everywhere. Good and effective web designers are always half-decent developers (of a lesser caliber than those with a CS degree of course).

I voted for developer. I say having both skill is where its at. Its like having a creative side and the problem solving side working together without you even knowing it.  I’ve done both back to back at work and on my own time without thinking too much of it until now.  I don’t have a problem with either designer or developer. 

For me its the challenge to be different and come up with a design, and/or come up with the simplest solution to a programming problem. But to me having money isn’t what show my true skills, its the time you put into it that show how much you are worth.  I’m mutual on this discussion. LOL. 😊

It depends on the view and the target market.

Developers on average can make a higher salary due to the necessity of centralized data in a company and the need for new ways to handle customers and customer relations in most cases. There is almost always a need there, and often the requirements have nothing to do with looking pretty. I often hear from other business owners that they just want something that works, that they can count on to run, and is easy to use.

On the other hand if your target is not business “solutions”, then the designer has quite an edge. It takes a certain mind to balance code and creativity in design. As a sidenote, I often see two extremes… The more code oriented designers tend to be better for very “clean” looking sites, but the less code oriented often seem to be great at doing some beautiful or flashy layouts and such. If your target is to create a front for a large or small business either of these can be a great asset.

So in my opine both are important, but I’d say the Developer wins this match. The developer is going to be able to be used in more situations where a pretty interface isn’t needed and a simple one will suffice, the designer is specialized to front-end interfaces because physically that is the end result of their work.