Thinking of Starting a Career in Web Design? 5 Tips Before You Go…

on Oct 13th 2009 with 40 comments

The Web is officially coming of age. The design industry is starting to take web design seriously, and it’s no longer being confined to enthusiasts. Web design is now a lucrative and exciting career path to follow, with lots of opportunity and high potential earning power.

With the Internet developing so rapidly over the past 10 years, those that are just dipping their toes into the industry may well feel that they’ve missed the boat. The truth is, you don’t need to have been there when flashing GIF animations were cool, and the best form of promotion was through a web ring. In fact, in some ways it’s better if you didn’t see these dark days so that your perception of web design isn’t muddied by these frankly horrific things.

If you are looking to design for the web, welcome, and prepare for a bumpy ride…

Chances are you’ve already started reading and doing, which is ultimately the best way to learn. Here are a few invaluable tips that I can happily pass on from my experiences of designing for the web:

Socialise - Don’t just read books because this is fundamentally one-way. Join Twitter and follow professionals who voice their thoughts and opinions – question it. Attend local networking events for some peer-to-peer geek conversations and you’ll be surprised at how much you pick up.
Push web standards - So many web designers neglect the importance of valid XHTML/CSS. Read about W3C standards and you will realise that web design is about more than just looking pretty – you need sound technical design also. This is easily achievable as long as you practice it from the off. Don’t slip into using tables for layout and inline CSS styles – do things properly and it will become natural.
If you have a client – talk to them. The single best way to design successful websites is by getting your clients views on their business/customers. Once understand their model, you can produce a more effective website than doing it blindly.
Print design is NOT web design – Contrary to what many seem to think, web and print are not the same, and the skills do not necessarily cross-over.
Drink tea. I’m not joking here – if you are stuck for inspiration, take a 10 minute tea break and when you come back you’ll more than likely have a solution.

I’ve been designing for the web for 10 years and I’ve made plenty of mistakes. The web was a simpler place when I began, with fewer standards and hardly any resources. What I’ve learnt is that you constantly need to be looking forward; be adaptable to change, and you will succeed.

This post was written and submitted by one of our contributors, Matt Saunders. Matt Saunders is owner of digital agency Northern Web which specialises in intelligent and responsible web design and marketing solutions.

Hope you liked the post. Social bookmarking and comments are welcome as ever

40 Responses

David

Oct 13th , 2009

not bad advice. I think the last one was the best one

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Oct 13th , 2009

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Web designer Philippines

Oct 13th , 2009

These are true im a web designer also. You have to apply these tips in order to be a successful in this field. I like tip no. 5

Website Design Sydney

Oct 14th , 2009

Going professional in the Web industry can be as easy as setting up your own Web design Web site, or as complicated as taking a four year college course in Web maintenance and development.

Web Design

Oct 14th , 2009

Website planning is probably the most important part of building a website. It can also be the most frustrating if you don’t start with a good understanding of how the Internet works and or have unreasonable expectations about how your site should be designed.

Reay

Oct 14th , 2009

Hi, Matt -

Nice post.
Quick question: if one was thinking of getting into web design, what kind of courses would you recommend? So far as I understand it there is (was?) web design (more about making it look pretty – the aesthetics) and web programming (more about taking the way it looks and making everything work as it should). While I’d naturally lean more toward the former, I know a solid web designer (particularly a freelancer) would need to be able to do both pretty solidly.
Any insights?

Phillip

Oct 14th , 2009

Coming of age, yes. I feel for the young beginners who start out, there’s so much to consume since the mid ’90s. Thankfully, we have a huge amount of tutorial sites devoted to spreading the word.

DennisZhu

Oct 14th , 2009

Thanks for the article, it’s good to realize that you’re not too late, too behind and too lonely in the beginners boat. “Practice makes perfect” and sharing it with others would bring you to the point you want.

web designer

Oct 15th , 2009

Thanks Your information….

its very useful

Matt Saunders

Oct 15th , 2009

@Reay
Thanks for the comment. I actually studied web design in University for 3 years and personally, got out of it nothing more than an empty degree. The course was more “self-teching” than anything, leaving it up to me to learn what I needed to know. The best thing about it was the time it gave me to study.

One thing I would suggest is that you should have transferable skills, i.e. designers should have a good knowledge of how things work dynamically, not just dabble in photoshop. Programmers should also write their code to be adaptable and manipulative by CSS. Communication is key – communication between you and other developers, and ultimately how the website communicates with the end-user. Hope this helps.

@Philip
Yes it must be scary for new-comers! There’s two sides to the mass pages of tutorials online though – a lot of them are out-dated and some are just plain wrong. New-comers should definitely buy books rather than using the internet as their only resource

clippingimages

Oct 17th , 2009

WoW Awesome tips . Thanks for sharing this nice post.

Shawanna L. Erdmann

Oct 29th , 2009

Just a question what template do you use? Is it a paid theme? Did you hire a freelancer to make this? My blog is http://www.wordpressrobot.com

Maya | Dubai Web Design

Oct 30th , 2009

I love the tips especially the last one. Overall, very informative and interesting.

Joomla Web Development

Nov 5th , 2009

This is a very beneficial BLOG…and these 5 tips can really get you closer to achieve your goal…

Alfredou

Dec 9th , 2009

That’s really wow I say because this would be a source of getting inspiration and that is all what is required to start the things, thank you.

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Dec 16th , 2009

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Ashiaali

Jan 5th , 2010

This is a great post. I’m glad it was bumped. Otherwise I would’ve missed these very useful information.

Cheap Affordable Web Design

Jan 31st , 2010

“Drink Tea”, that made me laugh. I agree with the point that web design isn’t graphic design though, alot of designers forget that websites need to be user friendly above all else.

Sharyl Pounders

Feb 18th , 2010

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Jun 3rd , 2010

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