Web Design Career Advice

Web Design Career Tips

Students, especially those who are internet-native, understand the technological field is something that will continue to develop for years to come. Following that, some of the careers likely to remain in demand for quite a while are in web design. Companies depend on talented and successful web designers to keep their site looking clean and easy to navigate. A lot of companies, especially those in ecommerce, must have a functioning website to stay in business.

We wanted to create a web design resource specifically for students, so we chatted with some successful web design professionals about possible career paths, web designer responsibilities, and advice they could offer. More information about these individuals can be found at the bottom of this page.

If a student desires a career in web design, what courses should they take and what skills are the most valuable?

Aside from the basics of design and color theory, make sure you understand usability. Making a website look "artistic" rarely accomplishes the goal of the website. Understanding users and creating an easy-to-use website is the first and foremost responsibility of a web designer.

Most websites are created for businesses. Business sites drive sales, online orders, leads and create a sense of trust between the business and the user. Often, it is the first point of contact a user has with a business. Therefore, it makes sense that the person designing the site should have some basic business background. I was lucky to have the opportunity to double major and tack on a Business Management degree to my Information Systems degree. That business background has been invaluable in my web design experience for the last 10 years. I’d recommend marketing courses (not just online marketing) and statistics as a good place to start.

-Brandon Andersen

Courses in design, marketing, and business might be the most helpful.   Outside of school however, students should focus on coding skills, (HTML, CSS, JavaScript, PHP) and working with prexisting CMS, such as Wordpress and Joomla.

-Trey Kane

I would recommend general design concept courses to get the basics of design down. Just because you might dream in HTML doesn’t mean you can lay out a navigation or content flow. More specifically take design courses that utilize Flash and HTML as early as you can in school to help that knowledge grow as much as possible.

Other design courses that are non-directly related can also help broaden one’s approach to web design. For instance, courses on user experience design, interaction design, or even print/publishing design classes can help with how you handle large amounts of content for websites or think of unique solutions outside the expected “web design” vocabulary.

-Shaun Strack

Taking courses directly related to the field are certainly going to give you more opportunities and a better portfolio. In addition to that, having time management, self-direction, problem solving and Adobe program skills are instrumental.

-Nicholas Chilenko

How and where should students apply for jobs and internships in web design?

I've been out of the job hunt for a while, but in general my advice to new grads is to network with people. Your school probably has a program to help you find internships and job placement. Don't be afraid to ask for help or references. I got some great experience while in college by working on my school’s theater website. It challenged me and gave me a great portfolio piece when I went out into the “real world.”

-Brandon Andersen

As early as possible, practical experience will get you a long ways.  Apply for jobs where people are just looking for HTML, and CSS coders, of course you need to have a solid foundation in those languages.

-Trey Kane

First and foremost you should focus on building a strong portfolio before you go job and internship hunting. A portfolio’s primary goal is, of course, to showcase your work but your portfolio site also becomes a part of your portfolio. Also, don’t just throw in stuff that you got good grades on, put in work that represents the kind of work you want to do.

Most schools that have design programs should hopefully have resources in their career services department that are specifically for that field. If not, or if their job books are anemic, teachers are some of the best resources on breaking into an internship or job. I got my first internship on the good word of one of my instructors who had been doing freelance work for that particular agency. Of course this means you have to really show your dedication in class and not be a total pain in their ass.

Another way to start getting work is through creative-centric staffing companies. They can sometimes be hit or miss, but it was worth it to get my foot in the door at a few places and do some networking.

-Shaun Strack

Most college and university websites have job portals online, career fairs, networking events and workplace tours to connect students with employers. Also note that many jobs go unposted and personal contacts are the strongest. Consider joining a local professional organization that hosts events, or go directly to the careers page of the companies that interest you.

-Nicholas Chilenko

What might a typical career path for a web designer look like (if there is one)?

There really isn't a typical career path yet. It's such a new field that changes so often it's hard to think of a standard career. However, I’ve seen designers go from purely design responsibilities to higher level management where they have to move away from design and focus more on building a team and managing. It’s the strange thing with career growth; the more you advance, the less you actually do anything tactical, like design.

-Brandon Andersen

Most people work independently or with a team, on a variety of sites.   More rare are cooperate web design jobs where you manage a single site.  If you work on a team generally someone manages the projects and contacts clients, or this duty is shared amongst team members.   If you’re working on a development team, creating applications, it may be broken down into teams for certain parts of the application.  In this case there are generally multiple team leads reporting to a project manager.

-Trey Kane

There is a somewhat standardish type of career path for designers/art directors in the earlier part of your career; Junior, Mid-level, and Senior. Responsibilities at these roles can also vary vastly from company to company so the level of experience that qualified you to be senior designer at one place may barely be mid-level experience at another. Beyond those, depending on the type of company and industry, titles will vary based on the types of roles that need to be played, and how integral the creative department is to the company’s industry.

If a company is in a creative focused industry (like product design consultant or advertising) then there are likely higher-level opportunities for designers than working as an in house web designer for a retail company. Neither is a better or worse path, it just matters that you find what is best suited for you.

My suggestion for finding the right path is to intern at as many different types of companies as possible while you are in school. The internships I had varied from advertising agencies, to 15 person ecommerce start-ups, to in-house design for a production company, to a software company. In the end I wound up working in advertising as it allowed me to focus primarily on design.

-Shaun Strack

Every career path is unique, especially with an industry as young and ever-changing as the web. It is important to build your network and gain as much experience as you can so that you can pioneer your own way and enjoy what you do.

-Nicholas Chilenko

What responsibilities should students expect to have in an entry-level web design position?

Expect to push out a TON of designs. Clients will demand multiple versions of a mock-up, so don’t fall in love with one design and spend all of your time on it. You will be pushing out 3-10 versions of everything you do, and the client will probably never agree with your opinion. Accept that. You’re designing for them, not for you. Be patient and don’t take feedback too hard. The client has an idea of what they want and you’re not going to change that. Your job is to build what they want as best as you can. Even if you hate what they want.

-Brandon Andersen

They should be prepared to handle and simple coding tasks that are given to them, and depending on where they start out customer service skills are very important as well, since you will often have to communicate with clients. 

-Trey Kane

People should expect a lot of day-to-day work. This means anything from image resizes, content updates, to banner builds. Everyone goes through the less-than-glamorous phase of working in any industry, or at least everyone should. Depending on the clients and company there could also be opportunity for more hands on design for some more interesting but likely smaller projects like microsites or reskins to existing content.

Some schools set their students up to have lofty expectations once they break into their field so it can be easy to get discouraged, but don’t expect to be doing major design overhauls on corporate sites in your first year on the job. That’s not to say it doesn’t happen, it just isn’t the norm.

-Shaun Strack

It depends on the experience. Typically, entry-level designers or developers might be challenged to see if they can handle multiple client projects. It’s an experience-driven field. Although there might be some learning curve, you will be expected to teach yourself a bit through trial and error.

-Nicholas Chilenko

Are there different sections/positions within the web design field?

Tons. Sometimes all of these positions are required of one person. Sometimes it’s broken out into teams. Depends on the size of the business.

Usability expert – understands how users interact with a site, does A/B testing, and constantly has a nose in feedback and analytics data. Designer – creates wireframes and mockups based on feedback from the client or business. Coordinator/manager – keeps the team running and acts as the conduit between the client and the design team. Interface programmer – combines design with more advance coding, brings the pages to life and is very good at front end programming languages like JavaScript and HTML5.

-Brandon Andersen

There are, most people either focus on front-end development - what the user sees - or they focus on back-end development - this is where the application of the website functions. 

-Trey Kane

Yes. Like many things it depends on the particular industry and company you are working for. Your job could be strictly focused on the design and layout of websites and online experiences, or it may require you to be familiar or even fluent in the development side.

-Shaun Strack

Generally speaking, there are two types of positions: designers and programmers (or developers). Designers focus on the “design” aspects: layout, mapping, graphic design, etc., while programmers focus on building out projects with code. That’s a very simplified answer.

-Nicholas Chilenko

What are some things students can or should do to set themselves apart from others in the web design industry?

Understand usability and be willing to work with feedback. If you want more opportunity in your career (working independently and in small to mid-sized companies) learn the technologies behind a design. Understand how to set up a site from scratch. You don’t necessarily need to know how to configure an Apache server, but know some basic PHP, ASP.net, HTML (obviously), CSS (LESS CSS preferred), JavaScript (about as important as HTML and CSS anymore) and XML. If you can be a Jack (or Jill) of all trades, you significantly increase your opportunities.

-Brandon Andersen

Develop a wide range of skills and spend the time outside of school to get an intimate understanding of the programing languages, pre-existing CMS, and how to work within it all.  Often times we will see people un-prepared to apply their skills in a practical and efficient way.  Schools tend to frown upon the use of CMS as a tool for building sites, but the fact is, it’s a practical way to design, and it’s what you will or should be using on client sites.

-Trey Kane

Be eager to learn and work hard. At internships seek more work, don’t waste half the day on Facebook just because you got your one project done think it’s a slow day. You might be missing out on some other cool project.

 

Also, stay current on what new possibilities there are in web design and development. Even if you don’t know HTML5 and jQuery learn what can be done with it, what the strengths are, etc.

-Shaun Strack

Becoming an expert in your craft is most important. Have a portfolio with a myriad of projects that range in style and platforms. If you are good at what you do, can keep up with deadlines without being micromanaged and be known as a problem solver, you become very valuable.

-Nicholas Chilenko

Does a student need to be a good graphic designer to be a good web designer?

No. Usability experts might be terrible at design or have very little artistic ability, but they understand what works and what doesn’t based on statistics and feedback. Oftentimes, this leads to better performing sites overall because they don’t get caught up in something looking really good or “flowing” well. If you think something looks great and flows well, but your users don’t respond, you need to make a change. Usability experts know how to make that change.

-Brandon Andersen

Not at all, often times other web designers will have the graphics skills, or you can bring a graphic designer onto you team.  That said some basic image editing skills are a must, as often we will find ourselves making small changes to images or resizing them. 

-Trey Kane

Yes. Of course there are people who are stronger at designing for different mediums. Some designers can do phenomenal designs and layouts for publications but can’t create a web site design or wrap their head around motion design. I will be the first to admit that I’ve always had a more difficult time designing for print.

I think a good graphic designer has “an eye for design” (I hate that cliché) and is able to carry out concepts from an initial half-thought on a bar napkin to a finished product. What it comes down to is a passion for a particular medium over any other.

-Shaun Strack

Core elements of web design are carried over directly from graphic design. Understanding hierarchy, typography, color and spatial relationships are just as important on the web as they are in print. You may not need to be a graphic designer master, but having strong design sense and skills will reflect in your work and obviously set you apart.

-Nicholas Chilenko

Where do you see the web design field going in the next 10 years or so?

In the next 2-5 years you’re going to see a huge push toward responsive designs – using one code base to display a website on a desktop as well as mobile. Marketing and publishing sites are doing this now, but soon most online applications will be web-based and not native like iPhone or Android apps. Competition in the field will also grow as the industry matures.

-Brandon Andersen

I see the demand increasing.   Everyone with a business wants a website, and they don't want to spend the time to learn or manage it. 

-Trey Kane

No idea. Likely growing, since everything is moving to more digital-centric experiences.

-Shaun Strack

If you asked anyone this question 10 years ago, they would have likely been way off. The internet is moving so fast that it is hard to predict. Greater emphasis on social integration, mobile platforms and real world applications is going to make design more challenging and fun.

-Nicholas Chilenko

If you could give students one bit of advice, what would it be?

Listen to feedback. Don’t assume that your way of doing things is the right way. There are billions of opinions out there; listen to them. Keep an open mind and design what your client or business wants. You’ll both be happier for it.

-Brandon Andersen

Never stop developing your skills, study the current standard and keep up with industry changes.   The best way to become a poor web developer is to become complacent with your current skill set, because in a year or two, the standards will change again.  You have to be willing to accept the change, and change the way you do things.

-Trey Kane

• Take the work you do in school as serious as you will your career.

• Fulfilling the minimum requirements for an assignment is just that, the bare minimum. That being said, you will only accomplish more if you force yourself to go beyond what is expected of you and over-deliver.

-Shaun Strack

Woody Allen once said, “80 percent of life is showing up.” It takes a little bit more than that. If you show up, but you show up 15 minutes early and stay 10 minutes late, it gets noticed. Giving that little bit of extra effort in your work, pushing yourself to learn something new on your own is invaluable.

-Nicholas Chilenko

Is there anything else you think is important to add?

You are in a field that is going to change a lot in the future. Keep an open mind and explore new technologies as they come out. And don’t be afraid of looking at statistics to measure your success. A website isn’t a picture in an art gallery. It’s a business tool and its success should be measured on how well it impacts the business.

-Brandon Andersen

Don’t take it too seriously, it’s all made up anyways.

 

-Shaun Strack

This field might not be for everyone, and at first it may seem difficult, but it’s a very flexible field with endless, growing opportunities. Don’t be afraid to give it a shot.

-Nicholas Chilenko

Biographies

Brandon Andersen is the Manager of Global SEO/Social Media Product Development at Cision.  He joined Cision in 2007 and was previously the Interactive Marketing Manager for Cision North America.  Brandon has been designing and developing websites and applications for over 10 years and holds bachelor’s degrees in Information Systems and Business Management from Doane College.

Trey Kane is a web developer at LongerDays.com.

Shaun Strack is a College for Creative Studies graduate living in Metro-Detroit.His work experience has primarily been in advertising working for clients ranging from cars to healthcare to tuna to cellphones. Make internets and floss daily.

Nicholas Chilenko is the founder of Nicholas Creative, a boutique creative agency serving small- and medium sized businesses nationwide with web design, email marketing and search engine optimization services. Prior to founding the firm in 2006, he was creative director for a metro-Detroit web agency, managing accounts such as Microsoft, Ford, AAA and Comerica Bank.