Web designers are responsible for creating beautiful, clean, and responsive sites that we use every day. Whether you’re on the train scrolling through Facebook or catching up with the news during your lunch break, talented web designers are behind everything you see.

The role requires an impressive mix of skills. You’ll need technical know-how, excellent social skills, and a positive attitude to succeed.

If you’re set on a future career in web design, we’re here to help you get started. We’ll cover how you can learn all the necessary skills required to become a well-paid web designer at a top tech company.

Types of Web Designers

It’s important to understand the different specializations that exist in the field of web design. This should help you identify your areas of interest and plot your ideal career path. Here’s a list of the most common type of web designers:

• WordPress Specialist: WordPress is a popular open-source content management system (CMS) built in PHP. A staggering 35% of all online sites now use WordPress. So, if you can master it, you’ll always be in high demand. WordPress specialists understand PHP and MySQL. They’re able to create custom themes and plugins to meet client requirements.
• Graphic Designer: These professionals focus on fundamental design principles. They’re often artistic and experts at using graphic design tools such as Adobe Photoshop or Webflow. Graphic designers are less experienced in front-end languages like HTML, CSS, and JavaScript. They’ll often need to work alongside a more technical web designer to build a site.
• Full-Stack Developer: Also known as a web developer, full-stack developers have an all-around understanding of building websites. They’re able to work on both the front-end and back-end. They’re experts in several programming languages including PHP, Python, Ruby, NodeJS, and JavaScript. Full-stack developers also have good graphic design skills. They often prefer to build sites from the ground up rather than use a CMS.

Hard Skills Needed to Become a Web Designer

Web design requires both hard and soft skills. Let’s first look at the technical know-how required to make it in this field:

• Visual Design: The web is a highly visual place. Possessing visual design skills is essential to become a successful web designer. Visual elements include color, layout, logo, images, videos, animations, fonts, and headings. The visual design of a website must align with the company brand.
• Front-End Languages: Front-end technologies like HTML, CSS, and JavaScript are the fundamental languages of web design. Web designers are expected to at least possess basic knowledge of HTML and CSS. Proficiency in JavaScript is also helpful for those who would like to transition into web development roles.
• SEO: Web designers aren’t expected to be masters of search engine optimization, but they should understand the basics. They need to consider on-page SEO concepts such as title tags, meta tags, keywords, breadcrumb navigation, and SEO-friendly URLs when designing sites.
• Design Tools: Web designers should have proficiency in tools like Adobe Photoshop, Adobe Illustrator, and Sketch. These tools are used to create product mockups and enhance images and logos.
• Responsive Design: The internet is now viewed through many different devices. Responsive design is the process of ensuring sites appear correctly on various screen sizes. Due to the popularity of mobile browsing, dynamic web pages must adjust automatically to provide the best user experience.
• Content Management Systems: A CMS allows easier management of website content. Examples of popular CMS platforms include WordPress, Joomla, Drupal, and Magento. These systems speed up the process of adding and updating content to sites. They handle many of the back-end tasks automatically so are perfect for less technical web designers.