Web designers are among the most sought after professionals in the world today. Almost everything we do has an element of online interaction. Whether it’s shopping, watching movies, or even looking for fashion ideas, the handiwork of a good web designer is at every turn of the experience.
Good design is what separates the old shimmering titles and rainbow texts from the sophisticated sites that we use every day. But just like any aspect of the tech world, web design is constantly evolving.
There are so many things to keep up with that one may find themselves in a dizzying vacuum of terms and at a loss for a starting point. Here are a few tips to help you get on your way and improve upon the skills you already have.
IMAGE: PIXABAY
Know Your Audience
When it comes to web design, it’s always a good idea to focus on the target user. Know who your audience is. Age group, region, and subject, all matter. From that perspective, you can fabricate a design around what the majority of your users are most likely to gravitate towards.
If you’re in one of the world’s growing tech hubs, such as England’s south coast, you have a regional advantage in this manner. Experts like the folks in Clickfusion generate some of the best web design Portsmouth has to offer. They’ve grown from the experience and know the ins and outs of creating a sound user interface tailored to a target audience.
For instance, having a flurry of dropdown boxes to get to pertinent information may be a bit much for a small business owner looking to establish a new vendor. On the flip side, having a company number in bold letters may not be the best idea for a young, trendy, vegan baker. All designs must be in the context of the user. Now, this may seem like an oversimplification of User Experience. But at its core, UX is all about how your target audience perceives the product.
Learn A Little Code
Learning how to code, even a little bit, can separate you from the competition. In the spirit of utilitarian adaptability, it allows you to know how to navigate through the potential hurdles and communicate with other people on your team. Not to mention, it saves time when it comes to minor problems you may face down the road. Mind you, and you don’t have to be an expert coder.
You may not be trying to be the one-stop-shop. Developers on the team can sometimes perceive that as overstepping boundaries. But knowing the basics can give a shared understanding in regards to timelines, expectations, and bugs. Basic HTML and CSS are your go-to technologies to be familiar with for front end proficiency.
Keep It Simple
Keeping things simple and straight to the point is the best strategy for most tasks, the design included. You want to avoid over-designing pages and, most of all, you want people to stay. A great way to do this is to design in greyscale and add color from there. This keeps one from focusing too much on details that matter less than the intended subject.
This skill is essential for web designers who create wireframes. You want to guide the user’s eyes. Starting from the grey assures that this is done, minus the use of slideshows, carousels, and sidebars. Simplicity is the key and adding or subtracting from that base ensures that what truly matters stays.
Soft Skills For The Job
The nature of the web design world often has people in times of creative fact-finding with bouts of frenzied crunch time. Applying universal soft skills can keep you on track and, most importantly, sane. Along with project benchmarks, establish your own task list and manage your time around that. Doing so allows you to create a sound work ethic and pace.
The idea is to chip away with enough time to review and go over the day’s output. Adaptability and the ability to take criticism will keep things moving forward better than any single great idea. Know that management and stakeholders are interested in the finished product. They’re looking for one’s ability to grow with the project and the company.
It will sting a little bit, having to adjust around people you feel may not get it. But if you roll with the punches, you’ll be able to handle anything that comes your way. New programming language? New performance targets? New coworkers? Having the steel stoicism to prove you can adapt with your hard and technical skills assures that you’re an asset in any environment.
Web design moves fast. The industry is constantly being introduced to new programs and means. Ideas change, and management shifts. The style through which people receive information evolves as well. Everything about the tech industry is poised to move forward, often leaving things in the dust.
As a web designer, the ace up your sleeve is to always be ahead of the game. Whether it be through learning some code or fine-tuning your soft skills, you can rest assured that constant improvement will keep you sharp and design at your best.
If you are interested in even more design-related articles and information from us here at Bit Rebels, then we have a lot to choose from.
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