What It Takes To Be A Successful Web Designer

28 January, 2010 (12:18) | Careers | By: Sandy

I was talking with one of my coworkers today who is in web design about what characteristics, education and experience are important in the field of web design. Fortunately, she was full of great information. In fact, she gave me so much great information in an easy-to-read bullet list, I decided not to change a thing, well, almost nothing .

She is speaking from the voice of experience, so she basically wrote my blog post for today! How awesome is that? Here is what she had to say:

Characteristics:

Be a problem solver

Embrace challenges

Walk the line between design aesthetics and user experience

Communicator: visual, oral, written (also able to describe/defend your design choices professionally…be confident when giving presentations to clients)

Seamlessly interact with others in the team (content writers, developers, programmers, etc.)

Education:

A background/study/appreciation of fine arts is almost always helpful. Many of the most successful web designers started out drawing or painting, or some other graphic design discipline and continue to have an alternate creative outlet

Many web designers today have a Bachelor Degree in illustration or graphic design and have migrated to web design

There are many great 2 year programs out there for web design (many taught by professionals in the industry)

Include design as well as technical areas of study (e.g. color theory and coding)

Experience:

Be proficient with design software – look for online tutorials beyond class assignments

Demonstrate knowledge and competence in coding HTML and CSS

Treat every project as a learning experience – the education of web design never ends

Be inspired by anything and everything – you could design a website based off the style of a chair if you wanted to.

Always seek out and test concepts and designs you see on the web that interest you

Stay in tune with the latest technology advances, but don’t let them dictate your design

So if you’re thinking about web design as a career, I think this is wonderful, realistic advice. I can tell you that if you can follow this web designer’s lead, you’re sure to be successful in this field.

There are quite a number of online web design degrees you can pursue in your quest to become a web designer. Check out the directory at Accredited-Online-Colleges.com to see if there is a program in Web Design that can help you reach your career goals.