How to Become a Web Designer in 2024? Learn Important Tools

Many new websites are launched every day. During the pandemic, we have seen how online businesses surged through websites and apps. This has also given rise to opportunities in the web designing career. It is no surprise that web designers are highly in demand these days. But with cost-effective methods like outsourcing web design and the availability of thousands of freelancers worldwide, the competition is also challenging.

If you’re looking forward to developing a career in web designing but are unaware of where to start, then don’t worry because we have all the answers to your ambiguities. In this article, you will learn how to become a web designer in 8 simple steps.

What Is the Website Design Theory?

Before learning how to become a web designer, it is important that you know about web design theory. Web design refers to the user experience elements of a website’s design. Web design theory is based on the principles and elements of design. It involves how some aspects of a website design interact with each other. It is essential to learn the principles of design to understand how elements of a web design work. This is the fundamental knowledge that every web designer must have.

What Are the Main Responsibilities of a Professional Web Designer?

If you’re looking forward to starting a career in web design, you will obviously be worried about the responsibilities of a web designer. The primary responsibility of a web designer is to create and maintain a website. But that’s not all! There are tonnes of other things that web designers have to do. But don’t panic! With advanced tools and technologies, it’s easier to manage websites and create meaningful web designs.

Here is a list of some things that web designers are expected to do:

• Designing the user experience and user interface of a website.
• Testing a website’s aesthetics, responsiveness, and effectiveness across multiple devices.
• Developing a sitemap and wireframing for a website.
• Cross-platform and beta testing for clients.
• Gathering user feedback and improving web design based on it.

But if you work as a freelancer or part-time worker at a design agency, your responsibilities can be more specific. You might be responsible for handling day-to-day tasks, like planning the content for design, designing the layout of a web page, updating a website, or removing bugs.

Requirements to Become a Professional Web Designer

Many people wonder how to become a web designer without a degree. Although it is not necessary to get a degree in web design to pursue this career, many companies have some specific requirements for a senior-level web design job. While each firm will have different criteria for web designers, they almost always share two fundamental qualifications. The same two criteria are consistently listed in job postings like on Indeed: HTML and CSS. Without learning Html and CSS, there is not much you can do to create websites.

• HTML: Web pages are written in HTML (Hyper Text Markup Language). It is a language that chooses where text and graphics are placed and what content is displayed on the page. HTML5 was the current norm in 2021.
• CSS: Multiple web pages can share the same styles thanks to CSS (Cascading Style Sheets), which controls how information is presented. They specify how styles, such as fonts, colors, and the size of borders surrounding images, will look in specific contexts.

You need to be proficient in popular web design tools like Adobe Photoshop, WordPress, Wix, Illustrator, Squarespace, etc. Shopify and BigCommerce are also popular tools specially used in E-commerce websites. All these tools are used in various parts of web design. For example, Adobe Photoshop is used as a photo editing software, and tools like Illustrator and Squarespace are used in preparing graphical content.

Apart from these technical skills, you will also need interpersonal skills to land a successful web design job. Candidates for web design jobs must be able to collaborate with developers, graphic designers, and other team members while following instructions from clients. They must also be flexible and able to function in a changing setting. Most employers want college degrees in graphic design, web development, or a similar profession from candidates. That degree might not be as crucial, though, if you can develop a good portfolio.

Read this article about How to Become a UX designer without industry experience.

How to Become a Web Designer in 8 Simple Steps?

Let’s get to the main topic, “How to Become a Web Designer?”. It is not mandatory to have a degree in web design or graphic design and it is also not very important to enter these fields. You need to focus on learning the skills. We have simplified the process of becoming a web designer by dividing it into 8 simple steps. These steps are as follows:

• Learn the Website Design Theory
• Get the Basic Understanding of Websites
• Learn the Necessary Skills
• Choose a Specific Career Path
• Master the Best in Market Tools
• Create a Portfolio of Your Web Designs
• Get Some Industry Experience
• Keep Improving

1) Learn the Website Design Theory

To become a web designer, you will need to learn about design theory, which helps you in every step of your design decisions. One needs to be aware of design principles first to understand how to create powerful web designs. Free courses on Youtube and other platforms will help you learn this fundamental part of web design. You can also enroll in a college/university to complete a course on web design theory.

Highly informative books are also available online and in printed form on websites like Smashing Magazine, which will help you understand web design-related topics.

2) Get the Basic Understanding of Websites

Your next task is to get a basic understanding of how to create websites. You need to be aware of the latest concepts that are being used in the industry to create websites. For example, learn about mobile-first design, responsive websites, and the difference between website responsiveness and adaptability. These are just some of the topics that you need to learn to get a brief idea of how websites work.

Apart from these, you will also need some basic coding skills in HTML, CSS, and JavaScript as they form the technical structure of the sites. You do not have to be a proficient code builder, but you need to have knowledge of these three basic languages to be able to work with web developers. There are many platforms where you can learn about these languages i.e, Youtube videos, Wix Learning, online courses, etc.

3) Learn the Necessary Skills

Moving further in your journey of how to become a web designer, you will need to learn the necessary skills. For example, learn about design systems to make any website’s layout and design. Other technical skills that are necessary for landing a web design job are:

• UX research
• Visual (UI) design
• Responsive design
• Wireframing
• Prototyping
• A/B testing
• Search engine optimization
• Platform-specific tools, templates, plugins, etc.

Some of the soft skills that you need to learn are:

• Communication
• Negotiation
• Active listening
• Empathy
• Sales acumen
• Project and time management

4) Choose a Specific Career Path

Now that you can apply basic web design skills, it’s time to choose a specific career path. Web design is not just about websites, it involves many other jobs. For example, graphic design, visual design, UI/UX design, etc. You need to choose which one you want to specialize in and then master that field.

5) Master the Best in Market Tools

As we already discussed above in the requirements of a web designer, you must learn basic web design tools. Figma, Sketch, or CorelDraw are some of the other popular web design tools that are a must to learn for every web designer. There are many tutorials available online that will teach you how to use these tools. Just focus and practice!

6) Create a Portfolio of Your Web Designs

Coming over to the most interesting part of how to become a web designer. You need to make a portfolio of your work to show it to employers. Your portfolio needs to be impressive Choose gradient colors for UX as they are in trend these days. Learn about other trends in market and make a portfolio that stands out among the crowd.

7) Get Some Industry Experience

After completing the rest of the steps, you need to get into the field. That means you will have to get some industry experience. You can start with internships or freelance work to learn how the industry works. Keep applying to relevant jobs so that you get noticed. If you are proficient enough in your job you will soon get the fruit of your efforts.

8) Keep Improving

Lastly, keep improving your skills so that you never get outdated. Your designs should be user-friendly and responsive. Discover what companies are looking for in their website design these days. Listen empathetically to your client’s requirements and design accordingly. These tips are essential for your career growth.

Following these steps will clear your confusion on how to become a web designer. You can further improve your skillset and qualifications by making a little effort. If you are passionate about your career in web design and working hard to improve yourself, you will surely get a job in this field. But if you ever find it challenging to land a good job in web design, you can consistently offer your services online as a web designer and earn well. You can even start your own design agency and get clients.

Scope of Web Design in 2024

With the help of new technology and interactive aspects, static websites now come to life. CSS allows designers to perform things that would have been considered science fiction just ten years ago. Designers now frequently work with HTML. The future of web design will keep pushing the boundaries of what is physically possible, and we’ll keep transforming the internet in ways that are currently inconceivable to us.

The function of a designer has significantly evolved over time. The web design industry has seen significant transformation thanks mainly to the internet. Before the internet, the majority of websites were built by web designers on contract for businesses or organizations. With so many websites out there, clients are asking designers to create something special for them.

This means that in the future, web design jobs will be more prevalent, at least for another decade. With the advent of AI technologies, the tasks of designers are now becoming easier and easier as this technology evolves. Some people worry that AI may be able to create web designs without the need for human resources. But nobody is sure what is yet to unfold in the industry for the next revolution. For now, web designing is a promising career and in demand.

Future Trends in the Web Design Industry

Staying abreast of the latest trends in your industry is essential to growing your career. You should always try to upgrade your skills according to the market demand. Let’s talk about some exciting current and future trends in the web design industry.

Parallax Scrolling

Parallax Scrolling is a web effect that makes a web page more dynamic. It can add depth to a page with image, video, or texture in full-width applications. Parallax scrolling will indeed help you to make your content more engaging.

Cursor Animations

A unique and fun way of customizing your user experience is to create cursor animations. Your website visitors can enjoy playing with various scrolling behaviors or on-click commands by changing the cursor’s appearance or putting in cursor-triggered animations.

Dynamic Content

It’s no secret that most cutting-edge websites keep track of your browsing activity and location. Modern online firms urge their clients to show dynamic content depending on past user behavior or information they already have about a user. Developing unique content for users who visit your website a second or third time can enhance conversion.

Chatbots

Another feature that has gained popularity recently and will still be useful in 2024 is chatbots. As artificial intelligence and machine learning develop, chatbots will be utilized for ordinary customer service inquiries and “personal shopping” more frequently.

Voice Activation

We now pose a question or make a demand through voice while looking for information rather than typing it into Google. In light of the increasing use of speech chatbots and virtual assistants, the site design has had to adapt. Although most websites don’t have a voice-activated interface, this new development will soon gain popularity.
More websites are anticipated to incorporate voice search as a substitute for standard text search. This feature also helps in capturing visually impaired audiences.

Want to Learn How to Design a 404 Page? 

Conclusion

Web designing is an excellent career choice in this era as more and more brands are trying to build a powerful online presence. Brands also hire web designers to update their website designs. If you’re worried about how to become a web designer, then the good news is that it is not very difficult.

You don’t need any academic qualifications to land a basic job in web design. All you need is to learn basic skills and principles of web design, get a few certifications, build a portfolio, and apply for relevant jobs. We hope this guide was helpful for you in understanding how to become a web designer and you will be able to build a successful career in web design.

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