More than twenty years ago Bill Gates said that, “if your business is not on the internet, your business will be out of business.” Now, with nearly 1.9 billion websites on the internet, web designers are an essential gear in any reputable company’s marketing machine, making a career in web design rather desirable.
If you want to learn web design, but you have no idea which web design courses to start, this easy-to-navigate blog post will shed a little light on what a web designer does, what you need to become one, and what web design involves.
Albert Einstein said, “Creativity is contagious. Pass it on” - this is what the above-average web designer strives for in their daily work.
What kind of person makes a good Web Designer?
Some people become web designers and create adequate work that enables them to get by. The best web designers have certain traits that set them apart from mediocre designers. So, what do you need to be the next Una Kravets or Anton Repponen?
To be competitive in the market, you need more than just design skills. An excellent designer will not only focus on the creative pillars of website development and design, but also on the technical, programming side. It is this knowledge that separates the great from the good because designers who know how programming works better understand how a page may be set up and the features expected to make it user-friendly.
A designer should be proficient in several types of design, and graphic design software, including Adobe Photoshop and Illustrator, as well as in multiple languages, such as JavaScript and CSS. Finally, a web designer must be able to work with various media types to add sound, sliders, and videos to web pages.
What Will You Do if You Become a Web Designer?
Great, you are now a ‘qualified’ web designer. You walk into the office on the first day and...do what? What is the daily grind going to be like, and what will be expected of you? A web designer creates and codes internet sites and web pages, many of which integrate text with sounds, pictures, graphics, and videos. But let’s look a little deeper.
Web designers create the design and layout of websites and web pages. You can work on a brand-new website or update an existing one. The role of web developers differs a bit from that of a designer – developers focus on bringing a website to life through writing innovative coding that is basically a genetic code that tells the different fragments of a website how to react at any given time. There are times however when the roles of designers and developers overlap. As a web designer, you will be expected to fulfil the following responsibilities:
Where can you expect to work?
You have put in the hours and worked hard to gain all the skills you need to become a web designer who is ready to get to work. So, what companies can you expect to be employed by?
If the corporate world or a ‘normal’ 9 to 5 doesn’t quite do it for you, self-employment or freelance work may be an option. Recruitment agencies, career services, and online job boards post vacancies. Top-ranked development skills in demand include UX design, web development and designers, mobile/android developers, Python and PHP developers as well as data analysts.
What Qualifications and Training Will I Need?
Web design is an option for both university graduates and school-leavers. It is common for employers to advertise to graduates who have studied digital media design or a related field. To be considered for a position as a web designer, you will have to show examples of your best work.
There are several development tools and online courses that will put you at a junction where you are faced with several pathways in your web designer career. Let us introduce you to the following design courses that will give your career a valuable boost.
CIW Site Development Associate
You will learn essential Web page development skills from CIW Site Development Associate. Learn how to develop Websites using HyperText Markup Language version 5 (HTML5) and Cascading Style Sheets (CSS). We will teach you how to create graphical user interfaces (GUI) as well as write code manually. Also in this course, you will work with images, create hyperlinks, and add tables, forms, video, and audio to your Web pages. The course will equip you with the skills you need to design or improve a website.
Students and professionals who are curious about a career in website development, can benefit from the CIW Site Development Associate course and/or certification: Aimed at:
CIW Advanced HTML5 & CSS3 Specialist
This is the first course in the CIW Web and Mobile Design series. The CIW Advanced HTML5 and CSS3 Specialist course assesses your understanding of crucial HTML5, Cascading Style Sheets (CSS), and JavaScript. The Web development trifecta provides Web pages that are easily adapted to smartphones, tablets, gaming devices, and smart TVs, as well as traditional PCs.
CIW Web Design Specialist
If you are looking to evolve and grow your skills that you need to specialize in web design, the CIW Web Design Specialist course is tailor-made for you. This online course will provide you with up-to-date knowledge of web design theory, tools, and technologies while building upon your basic Web authoring skills.
Web design beginners should consider starting with the CIW Site Development Foundations course to learn about web authoring and development.
Stuck to Tech? This Could be Your New Career
Did you ever look at a website and think, “I can do better”? Your blog or page always displays the newest features and innovations. The career of a web designer might be the perfect fit for those who are creative and always on their PC/Tablet/Mac.
