A Complete List of Learning Resources for the Aspiring Web Designer
The skills-hungry people who enroll in our full-time program are hustlers, and they're driven. What does this mean? It means that, once they've defined their goals, they can't sit idle until the program gets underway. They want to start learning now.
Do you want to become a web designer? We've compiled this list of resources for incoming students in our web design course, who often ask us to share resources to help get the juices flowing before Day One. Explore these web design learning resources to get a sense of web design and if this career path is right for you.
Are you a web designer with intel into other great resources? Let us know in the comments what you'd add to this list.
[bctt tweet="Awesome Learning Resources for the Aspiring #WebDesigner, by @LarCavezz"]
What do web designers do, anyway?
Design needs to change with the medium. This elegant and insightful piece shows how web design differs from other types of design.
- What Are the Jobs in Web Design and Development?
As you start building web design skills, you should have a sense of what you're driving toward. This article describes different web design-related job titles and functions, including the different skill sets and talents that people in each of these roles need to build.
- What is User Experience Design?
For the visual learners out there. This whiteboard video animation breaks down purpose and goals of UX design, it's growing importance to business, and why you may want to become a UX designer.
In many cases, a user experience designer will design the website or product's interface, too. Still, user experience design and user interface design are two different animals. This article explains the difference between two commonly confused crafts.
This site describes human-centered design, which is an example of a process and methodology that many designers champion. The industry, as a whole, is shifting toward this human-centered approach.
Learn the basics of UX design.
This free eBook explains the difference between mockups, prototypes, and wireframes, with ideas for incorporating these tools into different processes for design.
For those interested in becoming a ux designer, this collection of 31 articles about user experience design is a quick overview of the basics, meant to "get you from zero-to-hero" as quickly as possible.
Best practices are just that—best practices. They're ideals that we all mean to strive for, but are they always realistic? This article from Smashing Magazine describes why process what real-life UX design processes actually look like, and why process is so important.
This is a short course on the user experience principles, including researching, sketching, and measuring user experience.
Skill-up on the front-end.
This book introduces HTML and CSS in an accessible and digestible way.
Codecademy offers free online courses to learn HTML and CSS. The lessons are fun and interactive, and interwoven with whimsical and punny humor.
Treehouse's HTML/CSS course is great, but there is a monthly subscription fee. Luckily, they do have a free trial (click the link above).
This article explains how to improve your site's accessibility so that people with disabilities can also enjoy a great user experience.
Find your inspiration.
Check out these web design resources, recommended by NYC web design course instructor Firat Parlak, Founder and Creative Director at Awesome.
"It's like crack for designers. And good for you too!"
Interaction design and front-end magazine. Their newsletter sends out hand-picked resources for designers.
Designspiration is a way to share and explore design, architecture, photography and fashion inspiration.
Panda is a is newsfeed dashboard for designers, developers, and entrepreneurs. Panda aggregates content from sources like Hacker News, Product Hunt and Dribbble.
Niice allows you to search only the best of the web, collect inspiration, and create moodboards. According to web design course instructor and front-end designer at Maxwell Health Lucas Mosele, "Niice is great due to it’s ease of use and one tricky little feature– instead of giving you exactly what you searched for, it will always throw curve balls at you, which is usually what sparks that fire to break through a creative block."
Take a lesson from the masters.
- 7 Websites to Inspire Glorious UX Design
We asked some star web designers from the startup community to share their go-to examples of great user experiences. Check out their picks below and lessons-learned about UX best practices.
- 3 Ways Context Can Inspire More Empathetic Design
Matthew Bush is a software designer and engineer at Trunk Club and winner of our spring 2015 Students' Choice instructor award for web design. This article details some of the key takeaways from Matthew's session on how to develop remarkable digital products that are optimized for both context and performance.
- 6 Principles to Inspire Ideation
Inspiration comes in all forms. Here are the favorite ideation strategies of some of our web design course instructors.
Meet our alumni.
If you're considering starting a career in web design, it's helpful to hear from others who have recently pivoted their careers. Read these interviews from two of our alumni, and connect with them on Twitter to learn more.
- Career Success Story: Rodney Dennis Crushes Code at Carbonmade
Learn about coding on the front-end from web design alumnus Rodney Dennis, front-end developer at Carbonmade in Chicago.
- Career Success Story: From Legal Assistant to Product Designer
Julia Feld now works at Tamr as an Associate Product Designer. Read on for insights on her interview process and day-to-day as a designer.
Get our course guide.
Interested in learning how to become a web designer? Check out our web design course syllabus to learn more about our program offerings.
