Was drawing your favorite subject in elementary school? Make it your profession by pursuing higher education in multimedia to become a web designer. This article will tell you everything you need to know to make your dream a reality.
Characteristics of the Job
As a web designer, your primary role is to design website pages. The creation of graphic elements of the site such as illustrations, visuals or/and animations are entrusted to you to attract and retain visitors.
Required Skills
This job requires creativity, know-how, and graphic design skills. Moreover, it is essential to be attentive and have a force of proposal to understand the customer’s desires while proposing innovative aspects, especially if he wishes to have a customized Web site. Moreover, having a good sense of communication is also required, because you will be forced to work in a team whatever the status chosen in the future.
Training to Follow
To become a web designer, you must have at least a BTS in multimedia or a DTU in Multimedia and Internet. With GARTI, a graphic design school, you can get the title of art director in visual art and multimedia in only 2 years, the equivalent of a bachelor’s degree. It is advisable to integrate a professional Master’s program to perfect your knowledge. You can do internships before entering the professional world to deepen your understanding.
Status of the Webdesigner
It is recommended to work as a salaried employee to get a good start in the professional world. As creating a website has become almost an obligation for companies, it is a profession that recruits in several sectors. You can also join a web or communication agency without any difficulty. The remuneration for a beginner web designer is about 1 800 €. Among other things, you can apply for a position of responsibility as art director or creative director. With the accumulated experience, you can work as a freelancer later on to manage your own client and work for your own account.
Job Simulation
To get an idea of what to expect, here are the steps to follow to start a web design project :
Establish a Specification
A specification will serve as a beacon. It defines the type of website you will create: an e-commerce site, a web marketing site, etc. It also determines the objectives to reach, the site’s target, the contents to put, the deadline, and the budget.
Conduct Research
The activities of your customers can be very varied, but they are not necessarily in a field that speaks to you. To reach your objectives, you need to do a lot of research to put yourself in the shoes of the client and the readers. To make it easier for you, it is essential to gather the information you have collected with the help of a mood board.
Create a Site Map
The site map is presented as a flow chart or internal architecture. It should include information about the home and landing pages and the internal links of the site. In addition, each page will consist of a header, navigation menu, content location, contact information, social media sharing buttons, and a footer.
Layout
After validating the previous layout, it’s time to choose the fonts and colors to use. Preferably, you should select 3 dominant colors at most to avoid drowning out the view. The appearance of all the pages should also be uniform to facilitate navigation while playing with the organization of columns and attractive animations.