How to become a web designer

How to become a web designer

I get this question a few times a week, so figured it’s worth a blog post. Here are my tips on how to start a career in web design.

What is a web designer?

The term web designer is a loose term that to most people means ‘someone who makes websites’. I use it for myself as people get confused that I am a Front end web developer it’s just easier for me to say ‘web designer’ as people understand that.

In the real world and in larger web design agencies, you can fall into one of the following categories:-

  • Digital / Interactive Designer
  • Front End Web Developer
  • Back End Web Developer / System Architect

Digital/Interactive Designer

Someone who creates graphics and understands basic interaction design (ie. How a site will work when someone interacts with the site). It is usually a requirements that they know a small amount of HTML CSS. It’s not just about design, a big part of being a digital designer is thinking beyond pixels on the screen and more about how the user interacts with your site.

Front End Web Developer

A front end developer is someone brings a design to live. They translate a design file (usually Photoshop) into a working website using HTML, Cascading Style Sheets (CSS) and Javascript. Front end developers often need to cross over into the design realm & also into back end programming.

Back End Developer / System Architect

This is the person who makes things work. So a back end programmer will create database structures, create functions and classes that bring logic to a website. If an agency is dealing with small websites such as WordPress themes then a backend programmer would have a minimal (almost no) role.

How to get started

There are a couple of pathways into the industry.

  1. Self taught
  2. Graphic Designer learning to dabble in code
  3. University or College with a focus on Communication Design, IT or Multimedia.

Self taught web designers

Self taught web designers require a great deal of discipline and usually these types of people live and breath code. Instead of watching Game of Thrones, they are generally sitting in their bedroom making magic happen. Working on little side projects and making things work. Generally self taught people start with problems they’d like to solve or ideas they want to develop.

Without proper direction however, code can be hacky if they don’t follow programming guidelines. It’s hard to judge skill level as well as often they can often not fully understand code as they are just copying and pasting off the internet.

Graphic Designers learning to dabble in code

Sometimes graphic designers will often find clients are wanting to get websites and feel like they need to take on the coding aspect, which is great. I do find that people who are super creative struggle with the logic, and I’ve had to rescue a few attempts of graphic designer web design disasters. This is another group that is notorious from using plugins for simple code and also copying and pasting code they do not understand.

If this is where you’re at, give it a go but perhaps try some bridging courses to get there. Always remember you should focus on your strengths.

University or College

For me I went with option 3 and studied a bachelor of Multimedia with a major in design. Starting my degree I actually wanted to focus on design, it wasn’t until I did my mandatory programming courses that I found I really liked coding. The beauty of being a front end web developer is it veers on the edge of both design & code.

The university degree gave me a great foundation for my skills, it taught me critical thinking and problem solving techniques which is an absolute must for any web designer.

To be completely honest, looking back on my degree there are probably only 3 courses that I consider relevant, but the most important part of my degree is that at the end of it I got a piece of paper that helped me get a job in an agency.

How to be a good web designer

Before you start your own web design business, go get a job in an agency.

Not for a business where you will just work on their site. You need to get experience on a wide range of projects to get good at your craft, and figure out exactly what it is that you don’t want to do and an agency that works on multiple projects over a short period of time is the best way to do this.

You also get access to the best of the best, people who you can ask questions and workshop ideas with.

I learnt so much in my first 6 months on the job than I did in my entire degree, but without my degree I probably wouldn’t have got the job.

Keep up to date

The industry moves so quickly, you need to keep up to date with new skills and techniques. Follow blogs, go to courses, network with peers and just keep on top of it. In the past 10 years I have seen so many changes and if you don’t keep your finger on the pulse then you’re likely to fall behind pretty quickly.

Focus on your strengths, get good advice from peers and get good training to lay a foundation for your craft.