iNet Web Blog

Lately I’ve seen a lot of people asking, in various forums & social groups…

“Am I a Web Designer?”

or

“What skills should I have to be a web designer?“

This prompted me to peruse the job ads floating around to see what’s progressing around the traps, and what companies and design houses are looking for.

If you’re actually pursuing a web designer role with any business, expect for the employer to ask for the world. Many have no idea “who” they actually require, and the rest just want the biggest bang for their buck. However, IMO anyone who says they know how to do everything, has very limited skills in any of the disciplines. I wouldn’t hire a plumber to do an electricians job, even though they both know how a house is built.

I’d have to see your work first whether to call you a web designer. A fantastic website won’t impress me, as most of the best designers I know don’t have fantastic websites because they are too busy, and most designers have trouble designing for themselves (sometimes we’re a tad fussy and often do things that just tickle our fancy). An alternative is that many will have others build their website because they want a good shop front. So the look of your website holds little relevance.

Is it your client base I am looking at. No. Many design firms have salesmen that procure work for them. Just because they designed the Guggenheim’s website, doesn’t mean that they are web designers. They were just lucky they got the tender. I know many many SEO businesses that started to suffer under new search engine guidelines that drifted into web design, the same can be said for web developers (programmers,etc). On the flip side, I have seen many very talented web designers struggling to support themselves because they are out there learning their craft and don’t have enough time left to sell themselves.

Unfortunately “web designer” is also a hat that too many “backyard’ ‘out of the box’ grunts are wearing. Pretty much anyone over the age of 5 can drag & drop to create a website.

A web designer to me has to:

• have a good working knowledge of web standards, usability, accessibility & architecture,
• be able to hand code so you can liaise adequately with programmers,
• have a very good knowledge of the industry, the web & the Internet, otherwise you are no use to the client in the design process,
• have to have a pretty good working knowledge of search engine & web optimisation to design the page appropriately (i.e. useless splash pages)
• be able to design for other online mediums apart from just the web (mobile devices, etc)

A web designer can always contract graphic artists, programmers, etc. Your job (in the absence of consultations & IA’s) is to design a good web presence that can be worked with, adapted & moulded as the website grows.

If you have to ask if you are a web designer, then I don’t think you are quite there yet. A web designer knows what their job is, they know the skills required and how fast those skills have to be continually updated. They know what’s out there in the job market & what’s expected of them, even if the bar is a tad high.

Why do they know they’re web designers? Because they have been in the industry a long time, or have studied the industry they are entering into.

A web designer designs websites.

K.I.S.S!