Getting the Right Skills
There are certain skills you need to have if you want to become a successful web designer. These give you the knowledge and experience necessary to ensure that every project you complete is as great as it can be.
But acquiring these skills will take some time. As you will see, some web design skills are more difficult to develop than others. All of them, however, are worth the hard work and effort you put into developing them.
Here are 10 of the most important skills you need to become a successful web designer:
Hard skills
Hard skills are those that relate directly to a job. They’re typically found in the requirements section of any job posting and are usually technical in nature. As a web designer, the hard skills you have will play a big determining factor in how your career will go. For web designers, these are some of the most important skills to have:
Visual design
This skill is the foundation on which a web designer builds their career. A good web designer understands what looks good and what doesn’t work. They use this knowledge to create innovative and visually appealing designs.
Some of the fundamental aspects of visual design are:
- Proportions, scale, and size
- Color theory
- Typography
- Space
- Texture
- Lines and shapes
If you’re considering a career in web design, visual design is the first step in learning more about the process.
Design software
Design programs are the basic tools with which a web designer does their job. This means that you need to have an in-depth understanding of how to work with various types of design software. There are a variety of design tools available to web designers, but some of the basic ones to learn are:
- Adobe Illustrator
- Adobe After Effects
- Photoshop
- Sketch
- Figma
Take the time to figure out what each program does and how it works. This will help you build an arsenal of tools that improve your work and expand your capabilities.
User Experience (UX)
None of the skills you learn in this article will give you the ability to design optimized websites without UX. UX stands for User Experience, and it is one of the most important aspects of becoming a successful designer. This is because a website needs to be designed around the user, and not the other way around.
As a web designer, you need to understand the user journey and determine the best way to offer the user what they’re looking for and more. You also need to understand the platforms they use to access a website, such as android devices. Succeed in this aspect, and the rest of your skills will shine through.
Programming languages
It might come as a surprise that you need to learn programming languages, but they’re incredibly helpful to the web designer. These are the three programming languages you can begin with:
- HTML
- CSS
- JavaScript
Knowing these programming languages will help you better understand and solve technical problems as they arise. They also increase your web design capabilities, as you can optimize the code to fit your client’s design needs.
Digital marketing
Nowadays, if you want to be found, you need to actively put yourself out there. This means that digital marketing is one of the most invaluable skills you can have as a web designer. It can also increase your capabilities as a web designer. You’ll learn about the factors that help you optimize a website, such as using a VPN to optimize the websites you create. Some of the most useful components of digital marketing are:
- Search engine optimization (SEO)
- Social media marketing
- Content marketing
- Advertising
- Web analytics
Once you understand these components, you’ll have the knowledge necessary to get found online and properly sell yourself to a potential client. It will also help you improve in your career as a web designer, as a key to website success is the quality of the design and how usable it is to search engines and visitors alike.
Soft skills
Soft skills are typically considered less valuable than hard skills. But make no mistake, soft skills are just as important, if not more, as hard skills. Research shows that 85% of job success comes from having the right soft skills. Evidently, soft skills can make a huge difference in the relationship you have with your peers and clients, and even impact your career. Here are the ones you need to focus on developing:
Communication
Effective communication is a skill that seems obvious to many but practiced by few. Data shows that an average of $420,000 is lost every year in businesses with 100 employees; all because of miscommunication. Not only is effective communication important, but it has more to do with the success of a business than you might’ve known.
As a web designer, you need to be able to understand your client’s needs. You also need to properly communicate your progress and expectations. All employers look for someone who:
- Knows how to listen
- Knows how and when to ask questions
- Can understand and empathize with others
- Knows how to communicate clearly and directly
If you meet those criteria, you will improve the work-related relationships you have in your career, build trust, and prevent problems from emerging. This makes it easier for you as a web designer to complete projects smoothly and efficiently
Time management
Knowing how to manage your time effectively is a crucial aspect of being an efficient web designer. Even as a freelancer, juggling various projects and meeting tight deadlines is all part of the job. You can develop this skill through simple methods like time-chunking or breaking down a project into smaller, more manageable parts. Regardless of how you prefer to do so, time management is an invaluable skill.
Problem-solving
Being a web designer means you are continually solving problems. The main one being how to innovatively capture your client’s vision. This is where good problem-solving skills come in. Having the skills to understand a problem and figure out creative and effective solutions is essential. This skill also ties into other skills, as it makes you a more efficient web designer.
Openness to feedback
As a web designer, every website you create has to serve the client you are designing it for. This means that you need to be open to all kinds of feedback they might give you. The key is remembering that negative feedback is not personal. Your job is to satisfy the needs of your client, and that sometimes means going back and making revisions. It’s a small, yet important, part of the web designer’s career.
Ability to perform under pressure
Between the complexities of web design, deadlines, and client feedback, the web designer’s job can get stressful. This is why learning how to perform under pressure is vital. It’s a skill that develops over time but needs to be actively worked on, due to its importance. How you manage high-pressure situations can define the success of a project.
Conclusion
Becoming a successful web designer doesn’t happen overnight. It takes time and effort in order to get there. Fortunately, having the right skillset can set you on a path to this complex but fulfilling career. Develop the skills listed in this article and watch your web designing potential grow.
