Becoming a professional web designer is not a big deal, but the process of how you become one is what matters.
Howdy web designer, in this article, we are going to talk about becoming a professional web designer, what it takes to become one, and who is one.
Becoming a web designer for me took a lot of time and energy and although I don’t consider myself a professional, my clients are always wowed by my websites.
Being a professional doesn’t mean you must be good at every tool and software, it means the ability to give your client what they want and satisfy their desire.
You must also know that nobody becomes a professional or becomes good by morning, every good web designer started with bad design.
So don’t get mad at your design, take your time to grow through it before you can become a professional web designer.
To couple with what this post entails, let’s get to see what people are asking and find answers to it.
How long does it take to become a professional web designer?
Becoming a professional in any field takes time, if your goal is to find a job after getting the skill, then in less than 3 months, you can be done.
But if you are to focus on the long-term goal of becoming perfect, then you need to at least spend more time building websites so as to master the skill.
Can I be a web designer without coding?
Sure you absolutely can, I really don’t have a strong background in coding but I do WordPress. So you can become a WordPress developer or a web designer using drag-and-drop tools.
Some web designers specialize in Shopify, others Wix. You just have to pick a great platform and know the difference between a web designer and a programmer.
Does web design pay well?
Sure, web design pays well, it can be a side hustle or can be your main job. In the post about what is web design, I explained a lot about this.
You can make as many as six figures in web design if you understand your way and get high-paying clients.
Can I teach myself web design?
Yes, you can, good courses are recommended for fast learning, and also, knowing the difference between websites(types of websites and platforms) can help you focus your learning.
If you are on a low budget, you can get started with youtube and grasp your way through.
The journey to becoming a professional web designer is not a hard one if you focus on it. Here are some steps that could guide you.
6 steps to becoming a professional web designer
- Understand web design basis
- Practice all necessary tools
- Follow trends
- Create a portfolio
- work for free
- Focus on SEO and Optimization
If you decided to settle for web design, you need to understand these steps and do them accordingly.
Understand the basis of web design:
Web design goes a long way from designing a website. In the post, what is a web design, we spoke about some of the things web design entails? The truth is web design cuts across a lot of things.
The process of web design is strict and must be followed professionally. Starting from understanding UX and UI. Web design principle covers a lot from color integration to layout and structure and even design.
Without all these put in place, you might not really understand what web design is. You might feel that web design is about designing a website without following the principle that governs it.
The journey to learning web design is an unending one. The more you learn, the more you continue to learn. The perfect truth is to start with a course or youtube video that will teach you the basics.
I would advise you to start with udemy. I guess there are a lot of good and cheap courses on web design that can get you started. Once that is done, you can begin with the next step.
Youtube is also great but there are limitations to taking it step by step.
Practice all necessary tools:
In web design, the graphic has a lot of tools, design has its own tools and even colors have their own tools. You have to learn as much as you can.
Here are some basic tools you can learn to get started.
Canva: This is the easiest online graphic design tool that you should master. These tools will save you a lot of time and money.
Dreamweaver: Another part of the Adobe suite that web designers should get familiar with, Dreamweaver allows you to directly code your website design even if you’re not a programming pro.
WordPress: This comprises a lot of tools that can be used to build a website. Tools like Elementor, Beaver Page Builder, and a lot of others.
Coding: As a web designer, you are not compelled to completely learn this but it’s important because you need it when you want to add custom code to your WordPress website.
Related Link:
Follow trends:
Trends are the other of the day. To stay alive as a web designer, you need to follow the trend, know what is happening and stay on top.
Trends are switching. Just like people started with blogger, Shopify, Wix, and a lot of others now we are all focused on WordPress,
The trends in design will keep you professional. There are a lot of good websites you can get these trends from. A website like Behance and Slack can be of great help.
Create a portfolio:
A portfolio is great for designers, not only designers but also employers and clients. Having a great portfolio keeps you professional and would make your job professionally.
Sometimes, a portfolio is required by an agency, other times, they aren’t. the point is kept one. Plan ahead for what is to come and you would always be in trend.
Work for free:
Working for free can give you a bigger audience, and a great recommendation, and these companies can be added to your portfolio.
If you are just starting out as a web designer, I would advise you do that. Whenever you work for a company for free, you are more likely to get a referral or bigger jobs from them In the future.
I have done it and I would encourage you to do so. If the business is just starting out, you can make use of the Google site to help them get started.
Focus on SEO and Optimization:
Website optimization is another part of the web design business you want to focus on. It is wide and needs detailed focus.
It is necessary for a web designer. One truth about this is that you cannot really rank every website on page one of google but you can do keywords.
So as a web designer, keeping SEO skills by your site can help you leverage your business.
While writing this post, I had to stop because I was working on creating a website for a client. The client actually wanted the website to show up on search engines, and I had to charge him extra.
SEO is a good deal for web designers, you can get a head start on website optimization on the post I wrote about it.
Conclusion
As I made mentioned above, becoming a web designer takes time, and becoming a professional web designer takes extra time.
You need a lot of practice, practice, and practice to become very good. So go ahead and start practicing. Ensure you get the required knowledge and start your journey.
There are a lot of other helpful tips on this website, that are on the homepage. You can as well read them and also share this article on your favorite social media sites.
Incredible points. Great arguments. Keep up the
good work.