Web design can be a good choice of career if you’re creative and very hands-on with technology – but what exactly does it involve? Here is all the basic information you could need to know about web design roles.

The Role of a Web Designer

A web designer is someone who takes care of the planning, creating and coding of web pages. A web designer gets involved with both technical and graphical aspects of the web pages. They are responsible for creating a website’s ‘look’ and ‘feel’, and also for making sure everything works as it should. As well as creating a website from scratch, it may also be part of a web designer’s job to maintain existing site.

In recent years, there has been a significant growth in people accessing the internet on their smartphones and tablets. Because of this, web designers now have to consider a website’s accessibility on mobile devices, making sure they’re responsive no matter what platform they’re being viewed on.

From day to day, a web designer’s role can include drawing up website specs, designing layouts and graphics, registering domains, coding and working with a variety of different content management systems. They also have to communicate with a number of people, including clients, copywriters and, sometimes, agency staff.

Skills and qualifications

When it comes to web design, you do not necessarily need a formal qualification to get where you want to be. Nonetheless, obtaining a degree may be one of the easiest ways of getting your foot through the door, especially as a lot of employers offer graduate training schemes.

You could consider any of the following subjects:

  • web design
  • graphic design
  • multimedia web design
  • digital media production
  • computer science
  • information technology

To secure a role in web design, you should work to build a portfolio; include the best examples of your work so that any prospective employers can see what you’re capable of.

As well as considering the best way into the industry, you should also think about the skillset employers will be looking for, and try to ensure that you have something which matches industry needs. There are soft skills and technical skills that are essential to the role. Here are just a few:

  • problem solving
  • communication
  • presentation of information
  • coding
  • programming
  • graphic design

Salary

According to data gathered by payscale.com, a web designer can expect to earn somewhere in the region of £23,000. They note that, after 20 years of web design experience, employees often move on to different roles.

Career development and prospects

It’s really important that web designers stay in the loop when it comes to technical developments and design trends. Once you’ve secured a position, you will likely be given some sort of in-house training so that you’re able to acclimatise.

Web design entails many different skills, and so it can take many a year to develop these in a professional capacity. Web designers may work for five or more years before being offered any kind of promotion.