Updated on: January 23, 2021
Table of Content
- Web Design Theory
- Knowledge of Programming Language
- Three Things You Need to Know
- Know the Basics of SEO
- Test your Websites
- Familiarise with new Trends
- Web Design Communities
- Communication Skills
- Feedback
- Create a good Portfolio
- Conclusion
The internet age has well and truly come to our world. Everybody, from an affluent city dweller to a farmer in a village, has started depending on the internet for any information. To sell any kind of product, you need to have a presence on the internet. To inform people about anything, including your product and service, you must have a website that promotes your goods. A web designer is an individual who presents these pieces of information to the net in a suitable structure. Therefore, a web designer is one of the truly essential parts of almost any business organization. A good web designer has an unlimited career opportunity. We will discuss those below about the steps to become a good web designer.
Also learn about: How To Design a Website
1. Web Design Theory
One of the basic requirements of any website is that it must be very user-friendly. If the site is presented in such a way that is taxing the user, he will immediately leave for other websites about which he feels more at ease. If you are asking about how to become a web designer, this is the first thing you should learn. A web designer must prepare the website in such a manner that it is readable by the user without much hassle and must be displayed in a polished way that pleases the aesthetic sense of the users. So, the first knowledge a web designer must have is how to structure the website in a way that is easily understood and navigated. To know all these aspects, you should get yourself well prepared in the knowledge of UX design, which enables you to present the product accurately and lets you know about the information architecture.
2. Knowledge of Programming Language
Websites are designed and written with some languages of their own, and a professional web designer needs to know these languages well. The two of the most used are HTML (Hypertext Markup Language) and CSS (Cascading Style Sheets). By HTML, you set up the structural design and placing of the contents. CSS gives you the tool to stylize the web content to your liking.
As beginners or amateurs, you can use formats given by the likes of Squarespace, which can be used to build a website without knowing much about the programming languages. However, these limit your design in specific ways. To create a website with full creativity using its full depth, you must know the coding languages well if you are going to be a professional web designer. Additionally, it is useful to know JavaScript, the programming language used to create advanced websites.
3. Three Things You Need to Know
Web design is a broad discipline where you need to know a few related subjects without which you will not be able to create the website.
A. Graphic Design: You must know the basics of image editing using Photoshop and open source software Gimp so that you can place and crop all the images that are coming into the website.
B. Using Prototypes: You need to make the prototypes of your web design before you can make the final version. The prototypes let you and your customers know how the contents will be systematically presented to the user. Once a prototype gets the nod of yourself and the customer, you can go ahead to make the final version of your website. This helps you to steer clear of wasting time and money with designs that may not be best suited for your purpose.
C. Content Management System: As you already know, you have to design your websites using coding like HTML and CSS. You can use this coding with a good code editor like Atom or Zoomla, which are well built to make this coding step by step. So it would be best if you were well versed in these editors’ usage. Content management systems like WordPress, Joomla, and Drupal help you to create websites of almost all types with ease and also to make adjustments in the sites as the need arises. With these, you can easily make templates or your new website and even build new plugins when you get to know things better.
4. Know the Basics of SEO
SEO or Search Engine Optimization is crucial in promoting website visibility to customers. It is a vast field, and a lot of research is done to get the top Google rankings for a company’s website so that users get to see it at first glance when they search for a particular thing. Though it is a big separate subject, you should know basics like how to write Meta tags and have an idea about keywords, etc.
5. Test your Websites
Structure and styling are not the only things for a good website. It should load quickly in web browsers and be visible properly in both desktops and mobiles. For this, you must test your sites for web browsers regularly.
6. Familiarise with new Trends
Web design is a whole world of innovation, and new techniques and trends are always flooding the market, and before you know it, a particular trend may become the market leader. So, it would help if you familiarized very regularly what new trends of web designing are coming to the market
7. Web Design Communities
One of the essential parts of how to become the best web site designers is to mingle and discuss with people in the web designer community online and offline. You will get to know how to solve many problems and get many tips to improve your work.
8. Communication Skills
Web design is a matter of teamwork where active cooperation between content writers, graphic designers, SEO specialists, and many others are required at every step. So you must communicate with these other human elements properly to get the best cooperation from them and interacting with them to get unparalleled results.
9. Feedback
Try to get proper feedback from as many sources as you can to improve your work. Opinions of customers, users, and other web designers will help you to improve your site rapidly by adding beneficial inputs.
10. Create a good Portfolio
To present yourself to the web designer market, you must create outstanding examples of your work, which you can show your potential to the employers and customers. Use all your knowledge and creativity to produce excellent websites adding something personal uniqueness to it. You can display these sites to the world to attract customers and employers from where you can get good work against the proper value.
Learn more about: What is Web Designing? Career Scope, Salary and Jobs
Conclusion
We have discussed salient points about how to become a website designer. However, to be a master of any skill, you must first understand the basic principles of your subject and then practice with diligence. More you practice with passion and innovativeness, better you will progress to be master of your craft. The basic thing is you must enjoy what you are doing. The more you enjoy, the more you learn and practice. When you get to know your stuff, the money will come in your way automatically. So chase your passion instead of cash.
