Web Design, A Few Questions

Posted: Tue, Jun 19 2012, 5:37 pm Post subject: Web Design, A Few Questions

I am currently mainly a sahm, and work a few hours a week at a job I don't particularly enjoy or want to progress in.

I'd love to retrain as a web designer. I've always been interested in graphics, and after looking into web design a bit, mainly through google, I'm finding myself really fascinated and wanting to learn more and more!
But first I have a few questions for anyone with experience in this field.

1) First of all, is it a lucrative business? Or is web design something most people learn enough of through free web tutorials and just do themselves?

2) Do I need a strong background in graphic design and if not do I need to take a course in graphics as well?
(I've taught myself photoshop and use it alot as a hobby, but I've never used any of the other design programs)

3) To go into web design as a business, is it enough to do one of those online tutorials where you go at your own pace and pay per month, or do I need to enroll in a proper course? I've read/watched a few of the free online tutorials and they seem quite thorough, but then again I'm starting from scratch so I don't know.

4) Is it advisable to learn web programming too? In all the descriptions it wasn't clear if the courses provide programming training too.

5) If anyone can suggest/recommend a course? preferably an online one, or London based.

TIA

Moderator Joined: Jun 05 2011 Posts: 3378

I don't know all the answers to your questions. I often hire designers, but I don't pay much - I like to find good deals!

One thing to think about: If you intend to freelance, you'll be spending at least 80% of your time MARKETING yourself the first year, and only 20% of the time doing design work. This is the case in virtually all professions where you'll freelance; obviously, if you choose to take a job, then you don't need to be concerned about marketing yourself and finding clients!
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Diamond Member Joined: Nov 14 2007 Posts: 2569

Web design can definitely be a lucrative business, if you're good at it.

My opinion- web design is graphic design, but with a whole other component- coding. I think that the best web designers are ones that have a strong knowledge of the Adobe design software, understand successful design aesthetics and theory, and are organized and detail-oriented so that they can work quickly and code well. That being said, I would strongly recommend taking more than just a few tutorials if you intend on turning it into a proper business. Of course, you can just do very basic design work like page layouts in photoshop, but even to do that you have to understand a lot about building web pages. Have you looked into learning Dreamweaver?

T&P, what kind of work do designers do for you?

Moderator Joined: Jun 05 2011 Posts: 3378

I hire designers to create logos, banners, and sometimes entire Wordpress themes. I think knowing how to create Wordpress themes might be just as valuable as knowing how to use Dreamweaver. (I might be wrong, just because virtually all of my colleagues use Wordpress and often need design customizations.)

I paid logonerds $47 (they have a 50% off code on the warrior forum) to create this cute cow mascot for my ice cream maker site: http://ice-cream-maker-reviews.net/ They gave me 3 revisions free. I can't imagine they did all that within just one hour, but I have no idea!

I bartered online marketing advice with a designer who created the header for the site in my sig, but I think she usually charges just $75.

I was once considering creating a site modeled after the format of http://gifts.com. I got quotes from designers who could create that sort of interface for me using Wordpress for $3-5,000. I never ended up pursuing that project, but it remains in my memory as a time I would have paid good money for a custom design of a Wordpress theme.

Ironically enough, I took computer graphics in Maalot for a full year in 1996, but I never followed through on working in that field. (I guess the understanding of design concepts help me these days, but it's definitely worthwhile for me to outsource this stuff, as I can get beautiful work for low prices.)

Executive Member Joined: Feb 23 2011 Posts: 496

I am learning Web Design with Compuskills. They are based in Jerusalem, but they also have amazing online videos.
I really recommend them!!!

See their website:

www.compuskills.org

Hatzlocha.

Posted: Wed, Jun 20 2012, 3:32 pm Post subject: re: Web Design, A Few Questions

OP here.

Diamond Member Joined: May 24 2007 Posts: 4623

I am a web programmer - so I will try to answer you

Posted: Wed, Jun 20 2012, 4:45 pm Post subject: re: Web Design, A Few Questions

OP here

Thanks for all your help!

(Not trying to be boastful but...) I do think I can be a 'good' designer. I've had interest in the design world since forever, and I do feel like I have an eye for it, I just have never had any formal education in this particular area.

So, from what I'm hearing, I'm thinking it will be more worth my while to learn graphics (by taking a course) and to learn the web part (coding, programming, etc) from online tutorials. Does this make sense?

Executive Member Joined: May 22 2007 Posts: 282

I personally think that there are different principles for the web that is not taught as part of a graphic design course. after all graphic design is for print. With web you need to think and design differently. There are aspects of design that do overlap. You should also think about learning how to integrate custom designs into WordPress and ecommerce and learn marketing for the web too

Senior Member Joined: Feb 21 2011 Posts: 153

I recently took a long course on web design and I found that a lot of people wanted web pages! Whoever heard I was doing that asked me to make one for them. I'm new at this so I decided to charge less that what web designers charge, also because I take much longer. The course I took included dreamweaver, fireworks and flash and that's enough to start
I am currently learnig programming and though it's similar you don't need one to work on the other.
I recommend once you start maybe take a course on java, it's programming but it ads a lot. Also yes, web design is import but not necessary, I don't know a lot about web design and I still get work to do so start by a plain web design course and see how it goes!!
Good luck

Executive Member Joined: Feb 23 2011 Posts: 496

Hi, I'm not the OP. I hope it's okay to ask the more experienced web designers: if I'm not really artistic, but I can see what looks good, do you still think that I could be a ''good'' web designer. (I am learning Fireworks, Flash and Dreamweaver and I took a course in Photoshop).

Also for anyone who lives in Eretz Yisroel, do you know what web designers can charge if they freelance?

What can they earn if they work for a company, and what would be the hours?

TIA

Posted: Thu, Jun 21 2012, 3:04 am Post subject: re: Web Design, A Few Questions

I think that most web designers unfortunately do not learn web standards properly. If you can't code well, do not understand CSS idiosyncracies, and don't understand how javascript interacts with your page - I wouldn't want you touching my sites.

I try very hard to make sure everything I code is valid css/html.

I am a print designer btw (Adobe InDesign <3), but primarily a web coder (PHP/MySQL). I have written entire sites completely from scratch.

Making a good looking design for web is fine and nice, and most people are capable of it. But translating that into a quick-loading, validating site that looks good cross-browser and is accessible to those with older computers or R"L vision issues - that takes more work. When I see a site coded with tables because someone did a slice-and-dice in Photoshop... I wonder.

Diamond Member Joined: May 24 2007 Posts: 4623

Silver Member Joined: May 18 2011 Posts: 620

As a designer who used to do both web and graphics, (and now does packaging haha) here is my two cents:

There is designing for the web, which are standards such as the ones that were mentioned above that have to be followed for an effective website, plus the aesthetics of what makes a good-looking web site (since web design is different than print or other forms of graphic design.) Nowadays, the actual design is not as limited as it used to be, but you have to know how to take into account user experience, loading time, and how the design itself will be coded, so a basic understanding of how coding works is helpful.

There is web coding/development, which is the actual taking of a design and programming it so that it works for web. In addition, there is the coding required that tells the website what to do. (For example, you can design a very pretty form, but its the web coder/developer who tells the form where to email the information to, where and how it appears on a page, and makes sure it's secure). It is helpful for a web coder to have a sense of design because sometimes they will have to tweak designs or ask the designer to make tweaks, and it's helpful to know what the other is talking about. That being said, I don't think it's necessary.

Also, the web is SO much more huge than it was a few years ago. There are many different ways to code -- its no longer just basic HTML, and there are so many content management systems, different levels of coding, types, etc. that it's really difficult to be an expert in all of them PLUS design, so it ends up being split into two different fields. I, as a graphic designer, am capable of setting up websites and understand them, but for more advanced ones, I don't have the time to learn up to date skills plus it's quicker just to hire an expert.

Web coders tend to make more than straight up designers because of the intensity of the work, plus the demand.

If web is your forte, I say focus energy on learning that and if you have a good sense of design, you can always hone that later. Another plus is coding is coding, while design varies by taste so you won't be working with opinions, rather, whether or not the site works.

Good luck!

Posted: Sun, Jun 24 2012, 12:58 pm Post subject: re: Web Design, A Few Questions

OP here.

Sorry been busy past few days!

Anyway I've decided that I definitely want to do this. My next step is finding a course. How do I determine whether a course will teach everything I need to know? What criterias should I be looking for? I'm hoping to find a well rounded course which will teach both, coding and design.
What areas are the most important for coding, and what areas for design?

I saw The Bold Edge online? Does anyone know anything about it?

TIA