A good web designer needs to have both creative graphic skills and technical skills. They need to be able to visualise how a site will look (the graphical design of the site) and how it will function (conversion of a design into a working website).
The term Web Designer is often incorrectly interchanged with the term Web Developer and vice versa. A web developer is often more likely to be a software developer who works with programming languages to create a higher level of interactions on a website such as the integration with a database system.
To be yourself in a world that is constantly trying to make you something else is the greatest accomplishment.
Ralph Waldo Emerson
Be yourself; everyone else is already taken.
To get a job as a web designer you do not always need any formal qualifications. Many web designers however do have experience in other design fields or have taken training in web design software either formally through college or through self-teaching.
Example: Journey towards design perfection
Many large public and private sector IT companies have in-house design departments. If working within such an organisation, a person can progress their careers by moving into design team management, or by expanding their current skill set to become a web developer, covering both web design and development.
So many books, so little time.
You can find Web Design jobs here.
Some of the skills usually associated with web designers include:
- Good working knowledge of one or more of the following web designer packages: Dreamweaver, Photoshop, Fireworks, Flash
- The ability to create compliant XHTML and CSS, not always using one of the packages shown above
- An understanding of scripting languages such as JavaScript, PHP and .NET is often desirable
- The ability to work to tight deadlines
- Strong creative skills
- Up-to-date skills inline with technology and software developments
A room without books is like a body without a soul.
When declining a job offer, it is polite to send a letter which will help you to maintain a positive relationship with the employer which you may benefit from if you apply for different role at the same company in the future. To write your letter, you should ensure it is a business format and includes the following:
Developers use their expert programming and coding knowledge to breathe life into the designer’s creative vision. Think of developers as construction workers, and web designers as architects – they’re both necessary roles for building a website, but they have different skill sets.
Be the change that you wish to see in the world.
In order to get everyone on the same page, with the right incentives, we have to accomplish a few things:
- User Experience (UX) designer. A UX web designer’s job is to keep your visitors hooked. They know exactly how to craft a website that your specific audience will enjoy because they’ve carried out thorough research into the users’ demographics and website-needs, not to mention tons of prototype testing and site restructuring.
- User Interface (UI) designer. A UI web designer helps to improve the way users interact with elements, or the interface, on your website.
- Visual designer. A visual designer is a mixture of both UX and UI. It’s their job to not only improve the user journey using their creative and coding skills, but to solve design issues.
Read: Top 10 Web Designers in New York
How does it differ to UX? It’s a subtle one, really. UX involves research into building a solid foundation for a positive user experience, while UI focuses on the aesthetics (the look and feel) of the actual website.
You only live once, but if you do it right, once is enough.
A freelance web designer usually costs between $10-$50 p/h, while hiring a freelance developer normally costs $30-$65 p/h. A medium sized web design agency (which provides both sides of website construction) will cost between $65-$100 p/h for a basic website.
In a lump sum, you’re probably looking at around $6,000 in total for designing a site if you use both developers and designers.
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