What Skills Do You Need to Become a Web Designer?

So you want to become a web designer. While you know you'll need to build your coding abilities and learn some fundamental design principles, what skills do you actually need to get into web design? What does it take to get hired as a web designer? Learning how to become a web designer involves one part coding, two parts design know-how and a whole lot of great intuition about what looks, works and feels best — and what doesn't. Whether you've been speaking in HTML and CSS since you were born, or don't even know what a div tag is, there are plenty of skills you need to learn before you can master the art of web design.

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"Learning how to become a web designer involves one part coding, two parts design know-how."

Part one: Coding You'll need to know HTML, CSS, languages such as JavaScript, and frameworks like jQuery. While web designers at small companies are likely to manage all development on the front-end, designers at large companies don't usually write a lot of code. Still, it is important that all web designers know how to read code to communicate and collaborate with their development team. Just as HTML is the backbone of the website, CSS will bring beauty to your site's design, especially if you will be working on front-end development as well.

In a day and age when people and small businesses are turning to customized webpage templates and low-cost platforms to host their websites, it's more crucial than ever for you to expand your coding and technical skills. You'll want to continue growing your coding skills base so that you will remain knowledgeable about your industry—no matter what the future holds. After all, as Forbes says, automation can only take websites so far, which is where you can provide customization where they fall short.

"UX design is a rapidly growing field centered around human behavior."

Part two: Design know-how You also need to hone your grasp on the basic principles of good design. Not an art school alum? Don't be discouraged — user experience design is a rapidly growing field that is centered around an understanding of human behavior; less on visual aesthetics. Some of the essential skills include conducting user research and testing, wireframing, mockups, and prototyping. You should also familiarize yourself with responsive design and user-centered best practices. Check out this article of resources for more tips on how to get started in UX design.[bctt tweet="Not an artist? Not a problem. #UXdesign is centered around human behavior— @LarCavezz" username="StartupInst"]

Part three: Intuition The last element a good designer needs to have is the intuition to differentiate between good and bad (or right and wrong) in the industry. This quality is derived from learning to trust your instincts and building the courage to put yourself out there and take calculated risks. You can get good at this by surrounding yourself with a network of peers and mentors who will give you feedback and help you improve. Believe in yourself and work hard to make your goal become a reality.[bctt tweet="New #webdesigners need #courage to take calculated risks, says @LarCavezz" username="StartupInst"]

What is the secret to becoming a web designer, you may ask? Learning. Learn more about our web design classes with our course syllabus, below.