A web designer is a professional who develops and designs the appearance of the pages of a website or mobile application. It is members of this profession who make pages on the web beautiful and user-friendly.
Who is a web designer and what does he do?
A web designer creates the appearance of the future site. It determines where and what elements will be located, how they will be designed, how the interaction of the user with the site elements will be displayed on the computer screen. For example, how to change the button in the form when the cursor is moved, or the appearance of links during the same action, how to minimize the menu when you change the scale of the screen.
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Web designers used to be tasked with “making the site look good. Today, web designers are more important to make the design user-friendly. There is a growing importance of literate development of interfaces, attention to detail.
To design sites, you need to be both a designer and a bit of a programmer, and a specialist in Internet marketing. The developer of design has to solve several problems at once:
- He must take into account the specific content of the site, the limitations of technology and the peculiarities of search engine promotion.
- In this case, a web designer must contrive to make the site unique and recognizable. Without original solutions here can not do.
The result of the web-designer’s work is a package of graphic files, which contain the design of the various pages of the future site. On complex projects, the number of layouts can exceed a hundred!
Pros and cons of the profession
In the profession of web designer there are many pros and some cons. This is an interesting job that requires certain knowledge and skills.
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There are many newcomers on the market, but few professionals. It is difficult for newcomers to find work, while professionals have clients lined up for them. A number of large companies hold refresher courses for designers to take the best into their ranks. Of course, to take these courses you need to have the skills of a web designer and have a portfolio.
What does a specialist need to know and be able to do?
- Professional skills with Adobe Illustrator, Adobe Photoshop, CorelDraw, Axure, etc.),
- Ability to design interfaces, create prototypes (including interactive),
- Knowledge of usability, the basics of creating a user-friendly interface,
- Understanding how users interact with the site. Ability to create user-friendly interfaces for audiences of different skill and knowledge levels,
- Knowledge of technological limitations (to put it simply, what design can be technically implemented, which one not),
- Knowledge of internet marketing,
- Impeccable sense of style.
Desirable skills and knowledge:
- Experience and knowledge of website creation and promotion will be very helpful,
- Experience in website testing,
- General outlook, desire to constantly learn new things,
- Art education will allow you to learn a new specialty faster.
Where to learn the profession of web designer?
Educational institutions
In fact, the diploma of higher education in the career of a web designer is not so important. It is much more important to have practical experience. A specialist’s portfolio can tell you more about him than his educational documents.
The most appropriate and prestigious educational institution is considered the British Higher School of Design. Here you can learn product design interfaces. But you can’t do it from scratch. The requirements are:
- skills in working with a graphic editor;
- Experience in the digital environment (preferably) as a designer, developer, product analyst, etc;
- Basic knowledge of English, to work with documentation.
The training program is designed for one year and is more suitable for someone who wants to retrain.
Courses
Online courses will be quicker and more effective. A good bonus at the end will be a ready portfolio and assistance with employment.
Jobs and careers
Web designers work in:
- Studios and digital agencies
- IT-companies
- advertising agencies
Often the services of web designers are used by entrepreneurs and individuals to create a personal website.
Beginning specialist, while there is little experience, it’s better to think about a career in web studios. Improving the acquired skills in teamwork – this is what the newcomer needs. You can find a job on the stock exchanges, thematic forums, job sites and so on. The highest rung of the career ladder in such a case is a leading designer and art director.
As for the freelance, growth in it is due to the accumulated experience in large projects for well-known customers. Of course, such orders are unlikely to get immediately, but each, even a small completed project is a plus in the piggy bank of experience.
Knowledge in related fields, gained by the web designer during the study and work, allows you to change the profession and become a programmer or network administrator.
Future Prospects
Clubs, firms, studios, stores, restaurants, industrial companies – any business needs its own website to post information about its services. The direct creation of Internet pages are engaged in programmers, and their stylistic design – web designers. Therefore, you can be sure that this specialty will be relevant as long as the Internet exists.
