If you are creative, are passionate about designing, and familiar with the world of coding, web designing field might interest you. An integral part of the IT industry, web designing has become a lucrative career option.
In present times, every institution or company requires a website to reach out and make their presence felt. Web designing is the process by which a web designer gathers ideas, arranges them and implements the content on an electronic page that is accessible through a web browser on the Internet. The design of a website plays a crucial role in attracting users, and therefore, plays an important role in generating business.
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Who is a Web Designer?
A web designer is someone who is responsible for the color, layout and general design of a website. They are responsible for the look and feel of a website. A web designer ensures that the website is aesthetically pleasing, ensures proper placement of images and content and makes sure that the website is easy to navigate. In addition to that, a web designer needs to ensure proper placement of advertisements and also know how to help a website ranks in SEO searches.
A web designer needs to be creative, be familiar or have knowledge of coding and programming language, and possess some knowledge about the web design tools like Adobe Photoshop and languages like JavaScript. They can either create new websites or redesign existing ones.
Skills and Techniques Required
To become a successful graphic designer, you must have an understanding of the software functionality and graphic design skills. With the availability of various design software, you may not be required to do extensive coding, but familiarity with basic programming languages like HTML and CSS, and tools like Flash and Dreamweaver will help you work with developers and coders. A degree in computer science is desirable, but not mandatory.
Students can choose between various web design courses offered online and by regular universities. If you wish to pursue a degree in web designing, you should also consider joining an art school and some technical institute.
Web designing is also offered as a short-term course by various institutes. Offered by various private institutes spread across every city and state, anyone with a design aptitude can pursue these certified courses. A certification helps you attain the technical skills required and prepares you for the field. You should be creative and computer savvy. Most importantly, you need to be open to learning.
Although, most companies employ designers with degrees, initially you can also work under experienced web designers as apprentice or assistants, and gain experience. With a couple of years experience designing websites, soon you will be able to build an impressive portfolio. With an impressive portfolio, you can either work with a corporation or as a freelancer.
Scope of Work
Web designing is concerned with designing websites, web applications, and web pages. It is mainly concerned with the front-end of a web page. A web designer needs to make a website accessible and appealing to a visitor. An appealing and convincing website helps generate business, and promote products and services.
In order to create attractive and user-friendly website, a web designer may also be required to do the following tasks:
- Interaction with the client to understand the website requirements.
- Developing a design plan to show the site structure, and how different parts of a website link together.
- Adding features like sound, animation, and audio.
- Deciding the color scheme and the backgrounds to be used.
- Designing layouts and positioning of links, pictures, and advertisements on a web page.
- Extensively working with developers and coders to integrate the design ideas.
- Testing the design and the website until it meets the client requirements.
- Value adding and improving the web interface to generate more traffic.
As a web designer, you will design websites ranging from educational to e-commerce websites. Depending upon the job requirements, you could also be responsible for managing a website.
Jobs and Pay Scale
The career of web designer starts as a trainee, progressing to a medium level designer, senior designer, to a team leader and finally to a manager. The most common designations offered to a web designer include web designer, flash designer, graphic designer etc. With the boom in online business, graphic designers are the most sought after professionals.
Following are some of the promising job industries for a web designer:
- E-learning companies
- E-commerce companies
- Advertising agencies
- Print and publishing houses
- Design studios
- TV production houses
- Website development companies
Like any other field, the salary of web designers depends upon their experience and job complexity. It will also depend on their skills and how often they work. In India, the field with the maximum opportunities for web designers is the IT or the software field. On average, a fresher in web designing earns anywhere between Rs 10,000 to Rs 15,000 per month. With a few years experience and an impressive portfolio, the salary can reach up to Rs 30,000 to Rs 35,000 per month, or even higher depending on experience and skills. An experienced web designer can go on to create his/her own design studio.
Web designing is a promising field. With most organizations recruiting web designers to design their websites, web designers have a wide range of options to choose from. From designing learning materials for schools or professionals to the marketing of a product offering, a web designer is required everywhere.
In addition to designing attractive web pages, a web designer needs to ensure that their designs are responsive, mobile, and minimalistic and have a content first approach.
