Three Things You Need To Be A Successful Web Designer

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Are you trying to find the perfect career and web design looks like a good option? If so, you will be entering into a career field that provides plenty of opportunity for growth. You can hone your skills to provide design services to a specific industry or company, be a jack or jill of all trades, or even dabble in self employment and freelancing. The following guide can help you make sure that this is the best course for you:

Does design and aesthetics excite you?

A web designer doesn't have to be a great artist -- that is what graphic designers are for. Instead, a good web designer needs a good sense of aesthetics, the ability to graph out design ideas and layouts for clients and peers (like your graphic designer), all while keeping the needs of the user in mind. You can learn all of these skills, but it helps if you have an actual interest in aesthetics and design. If you don't then you may find the training and the implementation tedious, which can make it difficult to master the techniques you need to learn to become a good designer.

Are you comfortable learning new software?

It's likely obvious to you that you will be spending a lot of time on the computer, but there is a difference between cruising the internet and actively learning and using a variety of new software programs. Software for design comes and goes, and sometimes clients have a specific requirement for which software you use. Design suites like Photoshop, Wordpress, and Dreamweaver seem to maintain popularity, but you will likely have to learn new programs even after you are well established in your career. It's also vital to keep abreast of updates and changes, even in software you don't use as regularly. Further, you will also have to learn programming languages, such as Python and CSS. If you are comfortable and enjoy learning to use new programs, then web design is a good career choice.

Will a degree be part of your plan?

Everyone has heard stories of successful self-trained web designers, but this can be a difficult way to break into the field. One issue is that self-trained designers often have holes in their knowledge, or take shortcuts simply because they are unaware of the accepted design protocols. This isn't an issue when the same designer maintains a site for the duration of its life, but this is rarely the case. For this reason, more and more employers prefer to hire designers that have a degree, or at least professional certification. This way they know that their website will stand the test of time, even if the initial designer has moved on to other projects.

If you still think this is the path for you, research web design courses.


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