Most people believed that being a website designer requires having exceptional skills in Photoshop and jQuery. But it takes more than just skills to become successful in this industry. There are a few things that aspiring web designers need to know about to building a credible repertoire.
Aside from aiming for an eye-catching web design mixed with good content, managing effective professional careers is the challenge that most web designers will be facing. If you’re thinking that web design ends after the site is up, you’re terribly wrong. There are also other factors that you’ll need to manage to be successful in this career. From planning to execution, marketing to communicating with a team, you’ll need to be sharp and professional at all times.
Web designers have a passion to learn about how the Internet works. Passion to look into how a web site works, what works for those who will visit the site, how to put up a creative site and strong interest in Photoshop and Dreamweaver are some qualities that successful web designers possess.
3 aspects a successful web designer possess
1. Efficient Communication
As pointed above, you will be working with a team. This is a soft skill that you need to possess — and if not, should master. You’ll be communicating with your client, art director, web developer, content writers and project managers to bring about the site that your client wants. Since most creative people tend to shy away from constant communication, having this soft skill on hand is going to help you sell your work to the client.
Be firm on your decisions when it comes to the design and why this will work best to the interest of your client. Be intelligent but flexible to changes if it adds value to what your client need for his or her business. This way, work will become easier and the learning curve a lot more enriching.
2. Be sell-able
It’s a jungle out there and you’re not an asset unless you stand out from the rest. This is where professionalism, experience and skills come in. By nature, designers are humble and when it comes to professional success, you need to work on your credibility. If people starts endorsing you for a successful project, you won’t have to keep elbowing your way to the top. Though social marketing and referrals are big factors to your success, adding value to yourself and doing the best you can are always winning attitudes to keep your clients.
3. Think like your client
This is not intended to seize your client of his position or success. Clients are looking into web designers who are business savvy and can think along with them to make the business better. Be innovative and create solutions (instead of adding problems!) to solve their marketing needs and bring more leads to their site. This is certainly an edge that employers are looking into more than just skills.
A deeper understanding on the basics such as CSS and HTML is first and foremost a foundation to sharpening your skills. You may also need to dwell deeper into learning on new techniques and strategies to take your web design skills to the next level. It will give you an edge to compete with other web designers in the market. Web designing can be a challenging field and building a credible profile requires persistence and lots of learning.