8 Essential Web Design Skills You Need to Excel Right Now
The role of the web designer has become so sophisticated that there isn’t a single description of it. It varies strongly in different niches and also depends on the different possible workflows that professionals use. For example, some say that web designers need to have some programming skills. Others think that coding is only for developers and the web designer should only focus on the design.
However, there are certain web design skills that are essential for every designer no matter on what kind of project he or she works. You can check them listed below.
Core basics of web design
If you want to become a web designer, make sure that you have a deep understanding of the core basics of web design. These include advanced knowledge of proportions, spacing, contrasts, color theory, typography, and flow.
In fact, these are the first things you need to get familiar with if you want to start creating beautiful websites. Without this knowledge, you wouldn’t be able to craft a compelling web design project, no matter what technical skills you possess.
Understanding UI design
Great web designers also have an advanced understanding of user interface design. The user interface is the way your visitors communicate with your website through menus or buttons. This communication needs to be simple and efficient so that your visitors will never get lost in your website.
The key is to be able to guess correctly what your visitors want to do on your website and provide them with an easy to access opportunity to achieve that. A good web designer knows very well how and when to effectively use different UI elements, such as menus, buttons, search fields, etc.
A/B Testing
A/B testing means experimenting with different options or scenarios in order to check which one is more effective. In web design, A/B testing is useful as it can give clear data-driven answers on which of several design options is more effective.
There are many good reasons why A/B testing is considered among the most important web design skills. First of all, it can help you achieve your client’s goals. In fact, many web designers focus too much on the design of the website and forget what the final goal actually is. And usually the final goal of a corporate website isn’t to just be beautiful but to increase sales and exposure. By A/B testing different designs, web designers can solve this common problem and make their lives a lot easier.
Mobile web design
You must have been living under a rock for the last few years if you haven’t heard that mobile web design has become one of the biggest trends in web development. The number of smartphone users globally has increased dramatically, which has led to a big change in the mobile industry. More and more developers are focusing on mobile apps, search engines are rewarding mobile-friendly websites and companies are willing to spend a lot for a mobile-friendly website.
So, if you want to be a modern web designer, you need to have knowledge about the key principles of mobile web design. This doesn’t mean that you should become a mobile web designer, but you should definitely be able to effectively optimize a website for mobile devices.
Understanding business requirements
When you create a website there are plenty of things you need to take into consideration. When it comes to a corporate website, probably most important are the business requirements. Thea reason is that each corporate website has a certain function – bringing new customers, increasing brand’s exposure, more leads, etc. A web designer must understand these functions and make them possible to achieve trough their designs.
SEO
Nowadays SEO is considered as one of the useful web design skills. Of course, as a web designer you don’t need to become an SEO master, but you need to be able to create website designs with SEO in mind. For example, you need to get familiar with the key concepts of on-page optimization which will help you create SEO-friendly web pages. Knowing a thing or two about SEO and about the way search engines see your website could help you avoid some common design pitfalls that could hurt your clients’ websites.
So, having at least basic SEO knowledge could really help you make your life easier.
Copywriting
When you create a website for a client, in certain cases the client will provide all the content. But sometimes you will need to write some of the content by yourself (unless you work with a copywriter). That is why every modern web designer needs to have at least basic copywriting skills.
In fact, copywriting skills could be very useful in tons of other situations – from writing better emails to creating a better website for yourself, and communicating better, as a general.
Technological knowledge
And in terms of technological knowledge, it’s obvious that a certain level of them are required for every web designer. But whether designers need to know how to code? Although many will try to prove you different, our answer is that it isn’t necessary. Tools like Oxxy enable creative professionals to create fully functional websites without any coding at all. That means that a web designer can have a ready website way faster and without the need of transforming the layout into code.
Want to create the perfect website for you? Why not start now?
