I’ve been asked this many times:
‘What are the steps to becoming a professional web designer?’
To make a long story short, you need web design skills (listed below) and lots of practice to develop your skills.
A NERD’S ROAD-MAP TO (BECOMING A) PROFESSIONAL WEB DESIGNER
- Learn HTML
- Learn CSS
- Learn basic design skills - how to make a page look good: color combinations, white space etc.
- Learn how to produce images for use on the web. Photoshop or something similar will have to learned.
- Build a portfolio of websites.
After you’ve mastered the techniques and technologies of web design, you will need to show your skills - that’s where the good portfolio comes in.
That means it is time to build websites for yourself, friends and strangers.
Practice makes perfect … with each new site that you build, and with each new ‘client’ that you work with, the better you will become.
ABOUT WORKING WITH PEOPLE/CLIENTS
You may have not considered it, but being able to work well with people, is just about as important as having good coding skills!
… You need to learn how to communicate well, because it is crucial if you want to get the job done.
I will get more into that in another article.
Thanks,
Stefan Mischook
www.killersites.com
www.killerphp.com
i am really reling on this program because i really want to know how to design a website and become a proffessional in web design with your help.
thanks.
People Skills are more important than coding skills when you are self-employed. If you can’t “sell yourself” and talk to people to get your foot in the door, you might want to stick with an agency to do that part for you. Even then, remember that you don’t do your job in a vacuum!
Designers and Developers are often viewed as “techies” and nerds - lacking social skills. I’ve been told that to my face many times here in Southern California. I’ve also received “compliments” about how I’m “not like the other developers.” Executives, Managers and other people have actually told me…
“You really know how to TALK to people.”
I still laugh at this.
In short, you can be the best coder in the bunch, but if your people skills are terrible, you will stay in the bunch! To stand out, show that you are a PERSON who knows how to do web design.
- Taurus
After learning the basic web design skills, it is really helpful to do some work experience for a web design company - you can learn a lot from others that you may have never considered yourself.