5 Key Attributes of a Web Designer
Web Designer Attributes
- Design Fundamentals
- HTML Coding
- Willingness to Learn
- Business Skills
- Copywriting Skills
The web designer has to have the skills of other fields too. It’s not enough to know the right way to create a web page. You have to be able to give a client or employer a unique design that functions properly. The client or employee needs to be confident that you’re giving them the freshest design style that will help them gain customers, clients or sales.
Graphic Design Fundamentals
Web designers need skills in graphic design almost as much as they need to know how to make a website. The two jobs overlap so much that the concepts can often be interchangeable to the public and clients. When you’re choosing the design for the website, color choice is vital as is flow, spacing and balance. All of these are graphic design concepts that will make you stand out from the crowd of other web designers when you’re looking for work.
HTML Coding
While some website designers will rely on their graphic design and artistic capabilities, others believe that you should be able to code to create websites. Most websites have a basic frame that consists of HTML coding. At the very least, you should know how to use HTML to change fonts, colors and spacing. The theme you use for your website should have ways to make changes, you’ll need to know basic coding to dig in and customize the site for your clients.
Copywriting Skills
Many clients will have their own writers or plan on doing the copy themselves, but some might hope that you’ll have enough basic skills to set them up with content. It’s an effective skill that you can market to set yourself away from the pack. It’s important to have a skill you can market that makes you more attractive to clients. This is a skill that translates well to your own business too. You can gain more traffic and more customers with the right kind of content that’s optimized for search engines.
Business Skills
Whether you plan to freelance or not, it’s important to have business skills. When you know how to run a business, you’ll be able to make decisions related to marketing yourself and finding clients as a freelancer. As an employee, you’ll better understand the client’s needs since you’ll know what they’re trying to accomplish with their marketing and web design needs. Web design is a competitive field where students will have to be willing to do whatever it takes to keep their clients, according to CNN.
Willingness to Learn
There has to be a willingness to keep learning when you’re a web designer. Your education doesn’t end when you leave school. There’s always new techniques and design styles that are being used while old ones are being retired when they look outdated. Design has to be fresh, innovative and cutting-edge to get noticed. That happens with an open mind and willingness to learn new techniques, fonts, color schemes and styles.
Conclusion
As a web designer, you’re in a competitive space that requires you to have all the skills of a web designer, but also the skills of a business owner, copywriter and coder. You’ll need to place yourself above others who might be going for the same position or the same clients. A competitive advantage is vital to success.
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