The World of Web Design Careers: A Comprehensive Guide for Beginners
In this comprehensive guide, Pixelhaze Academy founder Elwyn Davies shares his best tips for becoming a professional web designer in 2023 and beyond, with a particular focus on beginner web design courses and beginner web design jobs.
Web design has evolved from a niche profession to an integral part of the digital universe. It is the art and science of creating visually appealing and user-friendly websites.
A successful web designer needs to possess a blend of creative flair and technical know-how. With companies across the globe vying for a robust online presence, web design careers have become increasingly sought-after, offering a myriad of opportunities for beginners to get started.
This guide delves into the exciting world of web design careers, providing insights into different job roles, varied career paths, essential tools, and skills needed to excel. We also offer invaluable information about job security, remuneration, and ways to kick-start a career in web design.
Online Web Design Courses
For beginners looking to break into the field, numerous beginner web design courses are available online, particularly in the UK. By enrolling in these courses, you can learn at your own pace, grasp the fundamentals of web design, gain practical experience through assignments and projects, and earn a certification upon completion. Consider exploring beginner web design tutorials on YouTube, or website design courses for beginners to start your journey. The Website Blueprint is our dedicated course for planning and project briefs If you are considering Squarespace, our Squarespace Box of Tricks course ranges from beginner level to advanced. Our transformative Moonshot: Become A Squarespace Web Designer Course covers everything you will ever need to get your web design career up and running.
Choosing the Right Platform for Web Design: A Focus on Squarespace and Other Popular Website Builders
Selecting the right platform for web design is a crucial step towards efficiency and profitability. It’s advisable to choose one platform and master its features to maximise the benefits. While several options are available, our preferred choice for beginners in web design is Squarespace, although WordPress, Wix, EditorX, and other popular website builders available in 2023 also have their unique advantages.
Choosing the Right Platform for Web Design: A Focus on Squarespace and Other Popular Website Builders
Selecting the right platform for web design is a crucial step towards efficiency and profitability. It’s advisable to choose one platform and master its features to maximise the benefits. While there are several options available, our preferred choice for web design is Squarespace, although WordPress, Wix, EditorX, and other popular website builders available in 2023 also have their unique advantages.
Squarespace
Squarespace stands out with its user-friendly interface and visually appealing templates. It’s an all-in-one solution where you can register a domain, build a website, sell products, and market your brand. Squarespace is perfect for designers looking to create beautiful, functional websites without the need for coding skills.
WordPress
WordPress continues to be a dominant platform, powering a substantial portion of the web. It’s renowned for its extensive library of themes and plugins, enabling effortless website building, editing, customisation, and optimisation.
Wix
Wix is another popular choice among web designers. Its drag-and-drop interface makes it easy to create websites. Moreover, Wix provides a variety of templates and the freedom to customise layouts to suit your unique needs.
EditorX
EditorX is known for its responsive design capabilities. It offers advanced design features that allow you to create impressive websites that look great on all screen sizes.
Essential Tools for Web Designers
To function effectively as a web designer, you need to be familiar with a variety of web design tools. These tools have been developed over time to make the process of creating visually appealing and functional websites easier. Below are some of our most regularly used tools at our Pixelhaze Web Design Studio:
Photo Editing and Graphic Design
Adobe Creative Cloud: A comprehensive suite of applications and services for graphic design, video editing, web development and more.
Canva: A user-friendly design tool for creating social media graphics, presentations, posters and other visual content.
Affinity Photo: A powerful photo editing software with many professional features.
Affinity Designer: Renowned for its precision and flexibility in vector graphic design.
Midjourney: Create unique visuals for your website with this powerful AI text-to-image generator.
Content Writing
ChatGPT: A cutting-edge text generation tool that helps in creating high-quality content.
Voilà: A supremely helpful AI assistant that aids in crafting engaging and grammatically correct content.
Writesonic: An AI-powered writing tool that generates unique, SEO-friendly content.
Grammarly: A digital writing tool that uses artificial intelligence and natural language processing to detect potential errors and offer suggestions for improvement.
Chrome Extensions
Colorzilla: An invaluable ‘color picker’ built directly into the browser, making colour selection a breeze.
Image Downloader: A handy tool for batch downloading images from a website.
Copytables: A convenient extension that converts any table into HTML and CSS code.
The key is to explore these platforms and tools, select those that best align with your needs, and then master their features to create visually appealing and functional websites.
Beginner Web Design Jobs and Projects
Web design offers numerous opportunities for beginners. As a beginner web designer, you can start your career as an intern or a junior designer at a company or work on freelance projects. Beginner web design projects offer hands-on experience and help build your portfolio. You can take up more complex projects and roles as you progress in your career.
Finding a Web Design Course Near Me
With technology making learning accessible from anywhere, finding a web design course near you is just a click away. Numerous online platforms offer beginner courses in web design that you can access from the comfort of your home.
Regardless of where you are in your career or location, transitioning into web design is possible. This dynamic field offers a world of opportunities with the right combination of technical skills and creative flair. With the increasing demand for web designers, now is an excellent time to consider beginner web design courses and start crafting a successful career in this exciting field.
Web Designer vs Web Developer
A web designer's main responsibility is to design the visual aspects, layout and structure of a website. Their role is akin to that of an artist who understands user experience (UX) and user interface (UI) design. Their objective is to create an aesthetically pleasing and intuitive website that aligns with a brand's image. They are proficient in design tools like Photoshop and Illustrator.
On the other hand, a web developer focuses on the technical aspect of a website. Their role is more about functionality rather than the site's aesthetic presentation. With a strong technical background, they are adept at a multitude of programming languages. They employ languages like PHP, Python, and SQL to ensure the website functions as intended.
Web Designer vs UX Designer
A UX designer's role revolves around ensuring the user has a positive experience when interacting with a product. This role transcends the realm of web design and applies to both physical and digital products. This implies that while all web designers need to understand elements of UX design, not all UX designers need to delve into web design.
The key distinction lies in the fact that a web designer is client-oriented, working to fulfil the client's needs. In contrast, a UX designer is user-oriented, focusing on enhancing the user's experience with a product or website.
Possible Career Paths in Web Design
The career trajectory of a web designer is as diverse as it is exciting. Let's explore a typical career path of a web designer.
Intern or Junior Designer: Kick-start your career with an internship or a junior designer position. You start with limited responsibilities and learn the ropes from experienced designers. This phase is an excellent opportunity to acquire new skills and understand your role in the organisation.
Web Designer: After gaining some experience, you will start handling more tasks independently and move up to the web designer role. Though your designs will need approval from senior members, you will start participating in client meetings. This phase will see you continually learning new technical skills and honing your communication, presentation, and organisation skills.
Senior Web Designer: With a few years of experience, you will become a senior web designer. This role comes with more design freedom, responsibility for multiple clients, and leading client meetings to gather requirements. Your job may now involve presenting to company stakeholders and updating managers on project progress.
Managerial Role or Transition to Other Roles: You then have the chance to enter a managerial role where you will lead a design team, recruit new designers, and make critical project decisions. Alternatively, you could transition into the role of a UX designer or a back-end developer.
Creative Director or Senior Manager: After further experience, you can climb the career ladder and become a creative director or senior manager.
Job Security in Web Design
In today's digital age, it is rare to find an organisation that does not invest in its digital presence. Websites allow companies to connect with customers and sell products globally. The front-end design, which represents the brand, needs to be polished and professional. This need puts top designers in high demand in the tech industry, with no signs of slowing down.
Moreover, web design careers offer the flexibility to work remotely and flexible working hours. Web designers can also expect above-average salaries, with the potential to earn between $40,000 to $125,000, depending on experience and skills.
Breaking into Web Design
Regardless of where you are in your career, transitioning into web design is possible, and you don't even need a four-year degree. Here are some steps to consider:
Research the Role: Familiarise yourself with the role and ensure it aligns with your career goals. Utilise resources like books, design blogs, and YouTube videos.
Practice: Use your free time to build a website. You could set up a personal WordPress blog or take on a small freelance project.
Build your Portfolio: Impress potential employers with a portfolio showcasing your capabilities.
Enroll in a Bootcamp: Bootcamps offer career-ready skills to fast-track your journey into a top web design role. Enroll in our UX/UI design bootcamp to learn how to create stunning front-end designs.
How do I become a Web Designer?
Becoming a successful web designer involves a combination of education, skill development, practical experience, and continuous learning. While a bachelor’s degree in computer programming or graphic design can provide a solid foundation, it’s not always required. Focus on mastering essential web design tools and software, such as Adobe Creative Cloud and popular content management systems (CMS) like WordPress or Squarespace.
Building a strong portfolio is crucial for showcasing your skills and attracting potential clients or employers. Create websites for personal projects or local businesses to demonstrate your versatility and problem-solving abilities. Stay updated with current design trends, attend webinars, and continuously expand your knowledge through online courses and workshops. Networking is also essential in the web design industry, so connect with other professionals, attend industry events, and leverage platforms like LinkedIn to find job opportunities and collaborations. You can embark on a rewarding web design career by following these steps and staying dedicated to your craft.
Finding a Job in Web Design
Choosing a career in web design through the Design Agency Route offers a less chaotic path once you secure a job. However, securing a job in web design requires showcasing your work, networking, consistent job searching, and acing technical interviews. An essential aspect of job searching as a web designer is having a well-rounded portfolio that demonstrates your skills and capabilities for the position. If you have coding skills, consider setting up a GitHub account and uploading projects or contributing to open-source projects to showcase your coding abilities.
When applying for full-time positions, reaching out to potential managers or other web designers within the company through LinkedIn can be beneficial. This connection can enhance your resume and provide an opportunity for follow-up on your application.
If you face challenges finding a suitable web design job, exploring freelance or contract gigs can be an excellent alternative. Freelancing allows you to gain first-hand experience, build your portfolio with real-world projects, improve your communication skills, and demonstrate your initiative and ability to learn independently. Embracing freelance opportunities can also provide networking opportunities and potentially lead to more permanent positions.
By actively showcasing your work, networking effectively, and considering freelance opportunities, you can increase your chances of securing a web design job and kick-starting your career in this exciting field.
Routes into Web Design Careers
Web design careers are versatile, with multiple routes into this field. These include:
Building your own websites with a website builder like Squarespace: This practical approach is a great start for aspiring professional web designers. Platforms like Squarespace, Wix, and WordPress simplify designing attractive websites without needing to code, providing the ideal ‘training wheels’ for your web design career.
A degree in graphic design, product design, or web design: This formal education route provides a structured learning environment and foundational knowledge to understand and apply design principles effectively.
Side-hustle, hobbyist route: Many web designers began their careers designing websites as a hobby or side gig while working in a different field.
Computer Science route: Studying computer science through a degree or self-learning gives a deeper understanding of how the internet works.
Start in a junior role at a design agency: With this route you can gain valuable experience, learn from experienced designers, and gradually progress towards more senior positions. This may be more difficult to achieve without extensive freelance experience or completion of a design-related degree.
The field of web design offers an abundance of opportunities for aspiring professionals. Whether you choose to pursue formal education, self-learning, or a combination of both, acquiring the necessary technical skills and nurturing your creative flair will set you on a path to success. With continuous learning, staying updated with industry trends, and building a strong portfolio, you can carve out a rewarding career in this dynamic and ever-evolving field of website creation. Embrace the possibilities, unleash your creativity, and embark on a journey towards a fulfilling web design career.
