Why You Need a UX Designer

By creating a flawless user experience and a pleasant visual design, web design agencies can boost your performance and give your startup a perfect start. The benefits you get from the right design justify the investments:

1. Cost savings. The cost of fixing an error at the design stage is tens or even hundreds of times less than at the development stage.
2. Faster launch. The point of UX design is to get product structure and design for development and eliminate all blockers that might appear on the way.
3. Systematic promotion. Thanks to UX design all promotional items are in one style, and developers have clear instructions to follow that style; thus, advertisements and campaigns work better.
4. Engaging user experience. All user paths are designed to convey the company’s main message and help users achieve their goals.

What a UX Designer Does

Here we come to the most exciting part — the role of the UX designer, the responsibilities they take on, and the results for your startup.

Market Research

The first thing the UX designer must do is conduct research. Designers have to study the target market, audience, and competitors to find the right needs to address and come up with ideas to make the product useful and profitable. During market research, a web design company or a designer from your internal team gathers quantitative and qualitative data. Quantitative data includes the number of interested users, the size of the market, and other statistics. Qualitative data refers to deeper issues like what problems people face or what goals they want to achieve. After conducting research, the UX designer should have a clear idea of what the product should be and what features it should include. This is the starting point for developing any product.

User Personas

Data gathered during market research is then used to build buyer personas. In buyer personas, designers describe typical users of the product with particular needs and goals. Creating personas helps UX designers better understand users and thus make the product and thus make the product better meet their needs. When you know who’s going to use your product and how and why they will do so, you can prepare all users’ paths without missing any steps.

Information Architecture

The next step is creating the information architecture. At this stage, UX designers structure all of the website’s or app’s data and features in a way that’s convenient for users to navigate. This process might require additional research. As a result, designers deliver a site map with a clear structure that is intuitive and convenient for all users.

Wireframing

After the sitemap is ready, UX designers create a wireframe of the app, or a low-detail prototype showing what should be located where on each screen. The point is to depict the main features and all the user’s paths but not yet pay attention to the product’s visual identity. At this step, you must approve and validate the wireframe created by designers before moving forward. It’s convenient for stakeholders to check on the features and navigation of the product before there are many detailed elements, pictures, and animations that can distract from the focal point.

Prototyping

Now it’s time to take the wireframe to the next level by building a prototype and bringing it alive. A prototype still lacks color and design features, but in addition to focusing on functionality, it allows you to click, scroll, and navigate. Thus, you can get the real experience of using the product before developing it and explore every user path to ensure it isn’t missing any steps.

A prototype is a perfect artifact for testing your product before you invest a lot of time and money. Stakeholders can give their feedback on your prototype, and UX designers can make all necessary improvements.

UI Design

User interface design is another web design service, and it’s mostly carried out by the same designer who is responsible for the UX design. However, this differs from vendor to vendor.

After the prototype is approved, designers can move to create the product’s look and feel. The aim is to create a design that will distinguish the product from competitors and convey the company’s values to the customer. The challenge is to follow the company’s style guidelines, though sometimes there’s no brand identity yet, so it falls to the UI/UX designer to create one. When the user interface design is ready, the designer creates a guide for developers to follow.

Usability Testing

The last step and the last responsibility of a UX designer are testing the design. The goal here is to ensure that the design fulfills all the customers’ and stakeholders’ needs. As a rule, usability testing is conducted by the development team or the product owner’s team, but engaging users is also possible and gives the most relevant results. Designers choose a usability testing method according to the product and its peculiarities. In the image below, you can see possible options.

UX Designer Role – Summing up

UX design helps to ensure that your product will meet its audience’s needs and benefit both users and stakeholders. It is one of the first stages of product development and ensures that the product has all the demanded features and provides a smooth user experience.

The post What Is the Role of a UX Designer in a Digital Startup? appeared first on DesignWebKit.

Who Is a Web Designer?

Before we go deeper into the issues of where you can learn web design, consider the meaning of the existence of this profession. Web design is a type of design and a branch of web development. Web-designer – a specialist responsible for how a particular site is perceived and displayed on the Internet. Using computer technology, he creates and handles the elements of graphics, comes up with logos, banners, develops the structure and navigation of the site.

Thus, the scope of competence of a typical web designer can be divided into programmatic, visual, and style components. This is the organization of electronic information and its pleasant design, the development of interfaces for websites and applications, the creation of amazing graphics that serve the main tasks of the site and the needs of the target audience. To create compelling websites or the best networking presentation, a web designer works closely with brand managers, web programmers, layout designers, marketing specialists, and SEO web promotion specialists.

A good web designer – a specialist who knows how to work with graphics editors and has good artistic taste. A great designer is both a talented artist, an intuitive psychologist, and a strong technical expert.

Become a Web Designer – Essential Knowledge and Skills

A good craftsman should make a functional website that will be convenient for visitors to use. For this reason, he must have the following skills and knowledge:

• knowledge and capabilities in working with typography, colors, and other structural design elements;
• make user-friendly functionality, think through UI/UX;
• know how to work with essential tools such as Adobe Photoshop and Illustrator, Corel DRAW, and others. In addition, knowledge of the programs GIF Animator, FineReader is welcome. This list is not complete, as in the process of work may need other specialized programs;
• be competent in specifics of work with the layout in HTML and CSS;
• competently prepare design layouts before sending them to the layout designer;
• be able to intelligently design advertising, know how best to attract potential customers, and have the marketing competencies to ensure effective sales or other important goals;
• have an individual, good taste, sense of style;
• process images based on a predetermined model through the use of special programs.

Become a Web Designer – Individual Qualities

In addition to the necessary skills to perform certain types of work, a web designer must have qualities important to his profession. Let’s list the basic ones:

• communication skills: be able to express thoughts, work in a team, work with clients, focus on their needs, find an approach to everyone;
• curiosity: to find uncommon solutions, to look for different ways of solving tasks within one job
• analytical skills: to plan all the stages of the work, to analyze, structure, determine the steps and their sequence to get the best result
• diligence: to work on the task without the distraction of the social networks, messengers;
• assiduity: to work on the task for a long time, not devoting much time to rest and “smoke breaks
• responsibility: understand the importance of meeting deadlines and the timeliness of reporting to the customer of the service;
• imagination: to imagine the result – the final look of the site or page after all stages of work.

An essential thing in the work of a web designer should be considered a sense of taste. However, you should not think that taste – it is an innate quality. It develops gradually, in which a significant role is played by self-development. For this reason, it is vital to work on yourself.

6 Ways to Become a Web Designer: Online, Free, and Paid

Watch videos on YouTube, take Photoshop lessons or still enroll in a specialty at a university? Learn how to become a web designer when everything is developing rapidly.

Option 1: Online University

Enroll in an online university majoring in “web design” or “graphic design” and take several years to receive a traditional online education, aside from special subjects, brand design, interface design, web design, animation, and analytics. It may even seem like a plus. Only there’s a nuance.

Pros:

• You can study at a convenient time (if deadlines are not tight).
• Diploma of state standard.

Cons:

Even in long courses, all the best teachers from the best studios in the country and the world do not teach. This is just private practice, like everywhere else.

Option 2. Self-education

The most challenging way. To move forward on it, you must first find the process of a web designer and then, for each stage of work to find a selection of books and videos, as well as intermediate product samples.

Pros:

• You can learn at your convenience.
• Almost everything can be found for free.
• International outlook on theory, ready-made design solutions, and a good bar.

Cons:

• The path will require considerable experimentation, time, persistence, passion, and the will to win.
• You need to find a project and a mentor on your own. Otherwise, everything you learn may not add up to a coherent picture.
• There is a risk of not picking the best agencies.

Option 3. Online Courses

An excellent option to start is if you carefully study the teachers, their work, and their approach. Take a free piece and then decide.

Pros:

• You can study at a convenient time.
• You can buy courses in installments.

Cons:

• Most likely, another series of courses will be required.
• Sometimes you come across expensive trajectories with an emphasis on tools, not projects and skills.

Option 4: Online MasterClass Courses and Workshops

This approach is good for sharing experiences. You get the essentials right away, dive into the project, and start doing and adjusting with feedback. Then, the mentor parses the work and recommends what the participant should work through on his own. This is the same as when preparing a research paper. Of course, you can ask someone to write my research paper for me, but working with a mentor is invaluable. He will help the investigators with the structure, literature search, and general outline of the work. Such cooperation will only bring positive results.

Pros:

• The program contains relevant and applied information.
• You learn how to solve problems close to reality.

Cons:

High cost of working with a mentor.

Option 5: Freelance

There are a lot of clients in the marketplace who need help—ideal for work and training.

Pros:

• Opportunity to get an actual case study in your portfolio.
• You can try anything you want.

Cons:

• You may have to work nights and weekends to meet deadlines (combined with your main job).
• You set your standards, set the bar yourself. In the end, quality can suffer.

Option 6: A Balanced Approach

You practice in the tools on combat projects. Then build up your horizons and courage through a series of short courses from well-known design agencies and companies. And pack a portfolio. And then start submitting applications for test assignments, attaching portfolios and logos of agencies where you studied (will show your serious attitude).

Pros:

• You can study at a convenient time.
• You are guaranteed to learn from experienced experts and studios in the country and get an outlook on practice.
• International outlook on theory, ready-made design solutions, and an excellent global bar.
• Gain only relevant and applied information.
• Learn how to solve problems close to reality.
• Get serious pre-conditioning before the fight.
• Gather a diverse portfolio (with status studio logos) and show a severe attitude before going in for a test assignment and project.
• Get more combat experience for less time and money.
• You can buy everything inexpensively.

Cons:

• You need to do scouting experts and companies to learn from and plan your development.
• You won’t get a state diploma and an international degree.

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Overcome A Creative Block – Detox

Designers these days spend all of their time drawing on electronic screens with a stylus. While convenient, something gets lost in the creative process. Feeling the scratch of pencil, pen, or brush on paper or canvas stimulates creative sections of the mind, and it’s surprising how often creative juices flow. If you’re ever stuck on a project, step away from the screen and put pencil or your instrument of choice to paper. Get drawing or painting. Our digital worlds are full of distractions, and they can contribute to creative blocks. Stepping away from everything and getting back to basics, the thing that you love doing in the first place will help you view objects differently.

Sketching and painting require you to view objects differently since there are no digital tools to help you resize or modify your creation. It forces your brain to think about what you’re doing. The result is some much-needed downtime while stimulating the creative centers of your mind.

Stop Forcing it

Creativity can’t be forced, as you probably know by now. While it’s impossible to say where creative inspiration comes from, it definitely doesn’t come from staring at a blank piece of paper hoping something emanates. To be creative, you need to take a step back and reevaluate everything. Look at your work with fresh eyes.

Perhaps you chose the wrong template, to begin with? When designing a new website, accessing a wide range of templates is essential since it makes your job that much easier. Instead of looking at this as a task that rips apart what you’ve done, think of it as a reevaluation. You can only make things better by looking at everything you did with fresh eyes. If creativity still doesn’t strike, walk away and return to your project later. It’s not as if your project will disappear. Take some time to step away, seek some inspiration, and return when the time feels right.

Overcome A Creative Block – Find New Sources of Inspiration

Diversity is a designer’s best friend. The more vast your inspiration field is, the better your designs will be. Make it a point to explore as many different artistic styles as possible. A good exercise to undertake is to replicate the work of an artist you admire. It doesn’t have to be a famous artist, it can even be a recreation of a website whose design you admire. Recreating the design gives you a chance to view the solution while running into problems. It shortcuts the solution discovery process and gives your brain insights into how problems were solved. You might even end up discovering a better solution to those problems.

Designers who undertake a lot of work can benefit from automating much of their process too. A lot of time can be lost recreating similar elements for clients, repeatedly. Instead, using a feature like Elementor’s Full Website Kits can eliminate the time you spend on repetitive work and force you to focus on creative work that makes a difference. Manage your time well and explore different artistic styles. Your work will mature as you grow, and you’ll discover new boundaries to push.

Break it Down

Often, a creative block is an indication that the task facing you is too large for your brain to comprehend. You might simply not know where to begin. In such situations, it’s best to break the task down into smaller chunks and tackle them one by one. Reducing the size of the problem forces your brain to look at smaller situations and figure out smaller solutions. This process is far more manageable, and it reduces the load on your brain. The result is small bursts of creativity that can get you some creative traction to tackle bigger issues, such as larger trends dominating your niche.

Do Something Monotonous

Often, our brains become exhausted, and we need a complete break from anything creative. Think of it as relaxing completely after a visit to the gym. Everyone needs a break once in a while, and your brain is no different. Doing something that requires little brainpower, such as washing the dishes, brushing your teeth, or doing the laundry will keep your brain occupied and allow it to refresh itself. When the time is right, you’ll feel the urge to get back to designing, and the ideas will flow.

Overcome A Creative Block – Many Ways, One Goal

Every designer’s goal is to create something spectacular. Creativity can be a tough thing to handle but with these tips, you’ll have a better handle on how it comes and goes. Over time, you’ll discover what works for you best and will end up managing designer blocks well.

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Develop a Good Reputation

You are going to struggle to start off a graphic design business in the first place unless you are able to show off your work. For this reason, a lot of people start off in a freelance capacity before gradually building up to taking the business full-time. In California, there are plenty of companies that could utilize your services. Therefore, this is a good opportunity to start to develop your niche. While your ultimate ambition may be to work with a major company like Google or Facebook, this is inevitably going to take a lot of time and effort. You are going to need to cut your teeth in the world of design first and show that you are able to do the job well. Not only this, but you need to develop a reputation for reliability and deliver great results on time, every time.

Set Your Branding and Website

Obviously, if you are going to be running a design business, it is inevitably the case that you need to have a beautifully branded logo, color scheme, etc. Not only this, but you also need a website that is all singing and all dancing. This is likely to be the first impression that potential clients form of your company, so you need to make sure that you are doing it in the right way. Of course, when in California, there are also plenty of business-focused events on offer. Therefore, you need to produce a range of business-focused marketing materials that you are able to distribute to leave a good impression a long time into the future.

How to Start a Design Business – Start on the SEO

As so many people search for products and services online these days, it makes sense that your business is as searchable as it possibly can be. A big part of SEO activities should be dedicated to attracting local traffic. This means that you are regularly including California in your search terms. However, when you are first starting out, you may even want to be more localized than this. Therefore, think about being more specific with the name of your town or your region. Remember, SEO is an ongoing battle, and you cannot expect to get brilliant results overnight. It is going to take time to reach the level that you would like to.

Think About Your Price Structure

You next have the task of charging clients to cover off. This means thinking about whether you would like to charge them by the hour or based on the project completion. It also means that you are going to need to compare and contrast what you are offering with other local enterprises. If you are going to position your price point a long way above them, you need to have a clear justification as to why this is the case. At the same time, you do not want to undersell yourself. As California is clearly such a creative hub, it may well be that you want to charge more than you would in another part of the country.

Set Your Business Up for Success

Beyond the obvious skill that you need in the field of design, you also need to be prepared to set your business up for success in other areas. It means that you set up your business to be tax compliant to ensure that you are not going to be hit with a huge bill further down the line. It also means that you should make sure that you get the proper legal advice to ensure that you are compliant. You should also look into how you can get business coverage in California. This way, if you need it, you have it to rely upon. Of course, another central aspect is ensuring that you have a solid business plan that you can follow through as closely as possible and some market research that shows clearly when and where you are going to position yourself on the market.

How to Start a Design Business – Chase Up Your Payments

When you start to produce work for people, it is essential that you make sure that you get paid. Otherwise, you are not managing your cash flow situation properly. In a new business, this can be extremely damaging, and you can easily find yourself in a situation when you are not able to sustain yourself. Making sure that you work with people who are reliable is an important starting point. Also, some businesses find that they are better able to encourage people to pay on time by giving them an incentive such as a reduced payment or a discount on their next order.

Build Up a Referral System

It is important that you are able to spread your good name as widely as possible. One central way of doing this is by coming up with a referral system. This way, you are incentivizing people to pass your details onto others. Hopefully, once you get the ball rolling, you are then going to be able to spread a referral code from one person to the next.

How to Start a Design Business – Keep Innovating

When you live in a highly innovative environment such as California, you need to make sure that you are constantly innovating and coming up with new ways of doing things. This way, you are going to be able to stand out from the crowd rather than producing the same thing over and over again. Of course, when you are setting up a graphic design business in California, you are going to have your work cut out, but these are some of the ways of achieving success.

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Don’t Write Down Everything You’ve Done

If you’re applying for software engineer jobs, nobody cares if you’ve once been working in the dropshipping field. This means that there’s no use mentioning that last part, especially if it was your last job. It doesn’t mean you’re lying. You just don’t mention the dropshipping part. Usually, an employer doesn’t bother looking more than two minutes at a resume, and the last thing he wants to see in the professional experience area is a job that has nothing to do with what you’re applying for. We get it, you want to convince the employer that you’ve been a diligent person who has been doing a lot of interesting stuff and has vast experience, but contrary to this common mentality, it can actually ruin everything.

Make Your Resume Look Professional – Watch out for Grammatical Errors

Grammatical errors are not recommended at all in a resume, as it gives the employer an awful impression. That age-old saying that the first impression is crucial is entirely true, and you certainly wouldn’t want to miss that job you’re applying for.

Don’t Forget to Mention Your Driver’s License

Having a driver’s license is crucial these days, and a lot of companies avoid hiring people who don’t meet this criterion. This means that you should mention any driver’s license you have. At the same time, those who still don’t have the right to drive a car don’t have to lose hope in finding a job.

Make Your Resume Look Professional – Change the File’s Name

Don’t leave your resume only as something like ‘my_resume.pdf’. In this way, the hiring managers could also have a bad impression of you. It’s much better to save the file with both your first name and last name.

Convert Your Resume File to PDF

PDF is the ideal format, as you can access it unaltered from a multitude of devices and programs. Therefore, it’s best to keep your resume in PDF format, and there are plenty of tools across the internet to get the job done for you. One of them is Lua (GetLua.com), a very powerful online tool that can make the Word to PDF conversion in only a few seconds and at no cost. If your resume is in an image format you may Convert JPG to PDF.

Make the Hyperlinks Live

It’s a good idea to mention as many links as possible on your resumes, such as those from LinkedIn, Twitter, Upwork, or a personal webpage. While doing so, make sure they’re clickable, as the hiring managers will easily be able to open them and see what you want from life.

In the end, don’t forget to go to the interview with confidence and not have an arrogant attitude, whether you do it through a video call or not. One last piece of advice is to never respond with a plain ‘no’ if the employer asks you if you know to do something specific. You don’t have to lie, either, but you can say any related experience you had, regardless of how apparently insignificant it is. For instance, you can respond with ‘I’ve done a project once in high school using MySQL’ if the employer asks you about that database service and if, of course, you’re not telling any lies.

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Overcoming Designer’s Block – Relax, Relax, Relax…

It surely sounds useless at first, but relaxing is the first step towards thinking the way you would want. You can’t focus on the positive aspect of something if both your body and mind are tense. In other words, you feel anxious and nervous, which will automatically lead to making mistakes and becoming afraid. Therefore, start to relax by taking deep breaths each day before going out, for instance. Repeat the process as often as possible. It will release you of a lot of tension. There are countless other ways to relax – listening to music, going for a walk, meeting a friend, and so on. Just relax in your own way at least a few minutes per day!

Working Out Is Priceless

There are a lot of scientific studies that show how doing physical exercises at least half an hour per day has a huge effect on releasing both anxiety and depression. This block of designers frequently causes anxiety and depression, but you can overcome all of them by simply working out. Any type of physical exercise will do as long as you break a sweat – even the simple act of walking a long road. The harder the exercises, the more benefits you’ll get. If you exercise your entire body for at least half an hour per day, you’ll not only overcome designer’s block. You’ll have tons of energy and jump off the bed in the same way in the morning while you’re waiting for a new challenge every day.

Look at the Bright Side

Why would you get scared of experiencing something new when you can look at the bright side by thinking about the benefits? It may sound ridiculous, but let’s put it this way: as long as you live, you accumulate knowledge. Why not accumulate useful information rather than the usual stuff we hear every day? You have the chance to evolve by engaging in a new journey, so go ahead and take a new challenge! Every human being has the ability to learn new things, and he or she can use it totally to his or her own advantage.

Remind yourself of a thing you’ve learned during your life and how you perceived it at first. If you have a driver’s license, for instance, remind yourself about how difficult it seemed for you before driving a car. If you master driving a car now, it means you have already overcome designer’s block. Therefore, nothing stops you from doing it again with something else you perceive as necessary, but you don’t have the courage to act!

Fighting Against the Designer’s Block – Play Solitaire

Solitaire is a simple card game that can nurture your ego and trust in your own abilities. Playing it can become insanely addictive, as the only enemy you’ll have is yourself. The rules are made to induce the player into a pleasant journey where he has to carefully calculate his moves, make decisions according to different situations, build some strategies, and last but not least to not waste too much time. Solitaire will both be training your mind and relaxing it at the same time, and let’s not forget what we wrote earlier about relaxation. Get your hands on FreeCell solitaire which is among the most played games.

We would be delighted to know if you have any other methods of overcoming designer’s block and that we didn’t cover in this article. Feel free to leave us a comment!

The post What is Designer’s Block and How To Overcome It? appeared first on DesignWebKit.

Sublime Text 3

After you have chosen to use a video calling app such as WhatsApp Web for establishing the plans with your teammates, the next step is to choose the right text editor for writing your lines of code. We recommend Sublime Text 3 from the bottom of our heart, as it will ease your programming work tremendously. When you’re typing an opening tag, for instance, the program will automatically place the ending tag and set your writing between them. There are also a lot of useful shortcuts to use in the app once you highlight the desired text.

Productivity Tools for Web Designers – Trello

Trello is more like the program for web pros, and it gives them the opportunity to organize their projects. You can use Trello for grouping projects out into boards. Each card will have its own notes, attachments, comments, due date, and checklists. You can always use Trello for adding other users to your boards to help you in your projects.

Top Productivity Tools for Web Designers – Harvest

Web pros can use Harvest to track the time of their clients through the built-in timer to see how much time is being spent for each client and project. Harvest even allows the user to add unlimited projects. It surely means a lot for a mainly free-of-charge app, although it has some paid options. Over 70,000 companies are tracking time using Harvest, and there’s no wonder why. As the description itself says, we’re talking about a modern time tracking app that involves less effort, improved profitability, and more joy.

WhatsApp Web

WhatsApp Web recently received the long-awaited video-calling feature, although it was initially available only for the mobile version of the Facebook-owned instant messaging app. This means that web designers and programmers, in general, can easily use WhatsApp Web for video calling each other and therefore collaborate in a more efficient way. Almost everyone has a WhatsApp account these days, considering that the service has more than 2 billion users worldwide. This could only mean that you can find pretty much anyone while using WhatsApp Web, the desktop version of WhatsApp. You can also use a secondary account using BlueStacks.

Productivity Tools for Web Designers – Jing

Jing is basically the Snipping Tool built into Windows but on steroids! Whenever you need screenshots for edits and revisions, you can trustfully use Jing to snap them and mark them up. The sharing part is also easy. You’ll instantly get links to your screenshots that you can give to others via emails or WhatsApp. With technology constantly evolving and never ceasing to amaze us all, we can be sure of at least one thing: web design will always be an exciting domain.

The post Productivity Tools for Web Designers – 5 Best Ones in 2021 appeared first on DesignWebKit.

Familiarize Yourself with the Field

Before you go rushing full-steam ahead, it’s important that you slow down and take the time to understand what exactly this job entails. One of the biggest misconceptions people have when learning how to become a web designer is that it’s all about making pretty sites. Aesthetic appeal is important, but there are a lot of underlying factors that have to be taken into account.

Experts know that a good site is all about form and function. The visual elements all come together to create an experience that helps clients achieve their goals. From connecting with an audience to converting viewers into customers, there’s a lot riding on a web designer’s shoulders.

The process is long and often filled with revisions. You’ll be collaborating with a team if you’re in an office or going back and forth with clients as an independent contractor. Make sure that you’re prepared to handle constant feedback without taking it too personally. After all, this is a job, and your sites are the product. It’s not just about artistic expression. Another thing you need to be familiar with is all the other key factors that go into this field. Aside from the HTML coding, there are all sorts of things you need to learn including:

• HTML and CSS formatting
• Digital marketing principles and best practices
• Graphic design fundamentals
• Time and project management skills
• User experience (UX) and user interface (UI) knowledge
• Educate Yourself on How to Become a Web Designer

Speaking of educational requirements, this brings us to the next topic: college. It should go without saying that you won’t ever get a long-lasting career without a proper education. This is especially true regarding the one that’s very technical like web design. There are various types of web designers, like freelancers, agencies and in-house. Freelancers work at their own pace and agenda. In-house designers typically work for a company that has them work on a certain part or the entire website. Agencies are in charge of managing the company, but the thing is that you won’t have as much freedom as the other two options.

How you choose to work is up to you, but you’ll still need a strong education to support your journey. When you research how to become a web designer, you’ll likely find that a degree is considered a bonus rather than a hard requirement. If you decide to be self-taught, then you’ll need the portfolio and references to prove to future employers that you’re the right hire. Because so many people do enter the field on their own, companies are raising the requirements for candidates to ensure they only get the best talent. If finances are holding you back, you can take out a student loan from a private lender in order to pay for your higher education and invest in yourself, while starting repayment after graduation.

Become a Web Designer Sharpening Your Skills

We briefly touched upon the basics of how to become a web designer. Now, let’s explore them in a bit more detail.

HTML & CSS Formatting

HTML primarily focuses on the overall structure of the site and how everything is laid out. It is, however, possible to aesthetically customize the website using only HTML. The problem with this is that it can get mixed up in the main code, which can make it really confusing. CSS lets you focus on the overall base of the website before going into the design aspects. We’ll begin with the HTML’s companion; CSS. CSS stands for Cascading Style Sheets. This is mainly used for the aesthetic of the website such as coloring, pictures, and unique fonts that will be displayed. CSS makes developing a website much easier because it separates the needs from the wants, per se.

Graphic Design

Continuing on the topic of design, you need to learn how to properly implement the coding for it. The colors and pictures you add are also in various forms of code. There are four ways of adding colors; RGB values, HSL values, Hex color codes, and HTML color names. RGB is short for red, green, and blue. HSL stands for hue, saturation, and lightness. Hex color codes use a hexadecimal value and HTML color names when you simply write the name of the color within the code. As for the pictures, they’re embedded into an internal link from a designated location. Each web designer has their own way of doing things, so experiment with each method to see which one you are most comfortable with.

UX and UI

Understanding how to properly implement UX and UI will help the website you’re building soar. The UI of the website is how the website is laid out. Each website has its own unique layout that makes it different from the rest. In today’s day and age, you want to keep things as simple and accessible as possible. Having a complex UI can deter a lot of people. In this context, UX is how a consumer interacts with the website. This can include how long it took for the page to load, what they clicked on, and things they actively searched out. One way to ensure the UX is sufficient is to constantly optimize it. Optimizing simply means making something more functional. You can do this by getting rid of unnecessary clutter, like miscellaneous images.

Become a Web Designer – Start the Job Search

While you’re in college or once you’re confident in your skills, you can start taking on jobs. It can be helpful to offer your services free to family and friends, building sites for them that you can show off in your portfolio. Low-pressure opportunities like this are ideal for newcomers who want to establish a professional image. One of the best things about this career is that there is almost no shortage of jobs. Companies are always on the lookout for aspiring designers to bring on to their team. All you have to do is search, be patient and compare each job offer until you find the one. The road to being a successful web designer may be a long path, but it’s one worth walking if you’re passionate about it.

The post How to Become a Web Designer – Main Tips appeared first on DesignWebKit.

To achieve this, a Design Engineer has to collaborate with the client and an Architect. The client tells the Design Engineer his/her requirements. The Architect works together with the Design Engineer to design the structure in a way that all architectural requirements are fine, and the building is structurally safe and strong. The need to design a structure arises from the various risks that a building is exposed to. A Design Engineer has to make the structure strong enough to withstand and resist a load of earthquakes, strong and high-speed wing, and other effects of weather and temperature. Along with that, the Design Engineer also has to ensure that the materials for construction are suitable to lend the structure the strength it needs and for it to finish on time. 

It may mean adding admixtures to concrete to increase its setting time so that the subsequent columns and slabs can be cast soon after that. The Design Engineer may also have to add admixtures to concrete to make it set rapidly in the winter season because the cold temperature tends to prolong the setting time. So, a Design Engineer has to consider all such factors while designing each element of the building.

How To Design the Structure?

The first step in designing a structure is getting the requirements of a client. Every client has unique requirements. People want to have the homes of their dreams, so they must sit with the Design Engineer to tell their expectations. 

The Design Engineer notes the requirements and works out if they are practicable and realistic. Accordingly, he/she may devise certain alterations in the expectations. The Design Engineer, together with the Architect, makes a plan and elevations of the structure. Alongside that, the Design Engineer decides what materials the elements will be constructed of.

Different countries can have different requirements for an Engineer to approve a design. In most cases, the Design Engineer has to be a licensed Professional Engineer to approve a design. A Registered Engineer may have to get the design he/she creates approved by a Professional Engineer. 

How Can a Student Become a Design Engineer?

The knowledge of structural design is imparted in the program of Civil Engineering. After high school, a student should prepare to be enrolled in a college offering a Civil Engineering degree. The courses that a Civil Engineering degree constitutes are as follows

• Strength of Materials
• Survey
• Geological Studies
• Hydraulics
• Structural Mechanics
• Structural Design
• Steel Structures
• Concrete Structures
• Structural Analysis

The list goes on. A Civil Engineering degree typically consists of eight semesters. All students enrolled in a Civil Engineering program study the same courses. However, students form groups, each constituting four to five students in the final semester. The groups are assigned projects by research supervisors. Students have to research a Civil Engineering topic and may have to come up with a design of a structure when given a set of weather and environmental conditions. The final-year project tests the knowledge and practical field skills of the students. Students are awarded grades on the basis of their performance in the final-year project.

What Happens After Completing a Civil Engineering Bachelor’s Program

The Bachelor’s of Civil Engineering is the minimum requirement for a Design Engineer to be hired in any design firm. However, after completing the Bachelor’s program, a student has two choices — either the student starts a job in a design firm, or he/she pursues further education to obtain a Master’s in Structural Design. Students choose either of the two pathways depending upon their personal preferences and ambitions in life.

Students who join a design firm are exposed to real-life situations and meet clients. They design structures for them and get firsthand experience of the structural design. They may not be very polished Design Engineers in the beginning, but with experience and hard work, they get very professional and expert in structural designing. On the other hand, students who pursue a Master’s degree in Structural Design and Engineering get further knowledge about structural design. They are introduced to the latest techniques, tools, and equipment used in structural design. Doing a Master’s in Structural Designing is recommendable right after completing a Bachelor’s degree in Civil Engineering. 

A  new graduate has fresh knowledge of Civil Engineering so he/she can easily connect the dots when the student is exposed to new information, tools, and equipment. Besides, a student is more likely to pursue education right after completing the Bachelor’s program in Civil Engineering because the mind and lifestyle are tuned to education. Getting back in college after spending a few years in the field seems difficult and requires a major shift in the existing lifestyle of an individual.

What Happens After Completing the Master’s Degree?

A student again has two options after doing the Masters in Structural Engineering. One way is to continue education up to the Ph.D. level, and the other is to get into the field. Most students with high grades in education prefer pursuing a Ph.D. degree. A Ph.D. degree involves complex research work. You can consult a good science homework helper to assist you with the writing of the report on your research project. However, you will have to collect the data and analyze it.

Students aspiring to obtain a Ph.D. have research interests in a defined field of structural design and engineering. They write a research proposal and share it with interested supervisors. Many students find scholarships for Ph.D. studies. They find supervisors with similar research interests. The supervisors sponsor the Ph.D. researcher taking funds from the institution they work for. Sometimes, certain clients, including factories and companies, approach them for research and development purposes. In such cases, they sponsor the Ph.D. research of the candidate.

Students who start jobs after completing the Master’s in Structural Design and Engineering are likely to get more than the employees with B.E. in Civil Engineering degrees. Prospective employers like to hire highly educated engineers because they can devise solutions to complex problems using their knowledge and skills. 

In either case, the career is quite rewarding as the salaries for Design Engineers are higher as compared to many other professions. On the negative side, the Design Engineering profession can be very demanding. Many engineers spend most of their time in the field. 

What Kinds of Works Can a Structural Design Engineer Expect?

A Design Engineer may need to design all kinds of structures. An engineer designs a bridge, a dam, a multi-story building, and houses in addition to other structures. The design requirements of two similar structures can differ on the basis of geological conditions of the places they have to be built in as well as the prevalent laws and regulations. 

A Design Engineer should be familiar with the construction rules and regulations of the place the structure has to be constructed on. Likewise, a Design Engineer should know how to read, interpret, understand, and explain soil reports and surveying and leveling because they mark the start of any construction project.

Is Design Engineering a Career in Demand?

Yes, it is! Construction is an on-going process. It is one of the busiest industries all over the world. Every day, millions of projects start across the world: some, related to the construction of new buildings, while others are related to demolition or rehabilitation of old and existing structures. It is why Design Engineers find plentiful employment opportunities.

Many projects Design Engineers work upon are about existing structures. Structural strength and integrity wane over time. Constant exposure to extreme weather conditions and changes in the geological makeup of land and water-table causes the existing structures to weaken. Many structures are affected by earthquakes and floods. They have to get reconstruction in part or as a whole after they have suffered from a major calamity. 

A Design Engineer should be able to test the strength and life of a structure. Alongside that, he/she is to devise suitable, quick, and cost-effective ways of rehabilitating the existing structures. Building and maintenance is a continuous process, so the construction industry keeps producing job opportunities for the Design Engineers.

Many Design Engineers work abroad. For example, the Middle Eastern countries employ a big construction workforce that originates in South East Asia. Hundreds of thousands of engineers go from India, Bangladesh, and Pakistan to Saudi Arabia and Dubai every year to work there. They get foreign work experience, high salaries, and a high standard of living, and they also send remuneration to their home countries. They majorly contribute to the financial prosperity of their homelands.

Can I Open My Company After Becoming a Design Engineer?

Yes, why not! That will be a very good step because that will give you work-life balance as well as an opportunity to lead and manage a team of workers. You should get a license to open a construction company. Open an office so that people can approach you for the design of a structure. People will need all kinds of construction services from you. Some will approach you for making a plan or a set of drawings, while others will consult you for cost estimation and construction.

To accommodate the needs of prospective clients, you will need a construction team in your company. You need a team of design engineers, a construction manager, a project manager, surveyors, and construction labor, including masons, carpenters, and laborers. 

Also, you will need machines and equipment. If you don’t have them or lack the funds needed to purchase them, you can hire or rent them. Things may seem difficult in the beginning, but with experience, you will have a boost in your confidence, and you will take up complex projects more confidently and with a can-do attitude. You can grow your construction company with time.

Design Engineer – Final Words

To sum it all up, becoming a Design Engineer is the right step to take particularly if you are interested in construction work. A Design Engineer finds plentiful opportunities to work. It is a demanding but rewarding profession. Just study hard to develop the concepts, and then you can do a job or establish your own company.

The post Design Engineer –  A Lucrative Career in Structural Designing appeared first on DesignWebKit.

Hello Christian, it’s a great pleasure to interview you for our MotoDesignBlog readers, thank you for this wonderful opportunity. I know that you have more than nine years of design experience and your career started when you were only 19. Have you remembered your first work and what or who inspired you to create it?

When I first started my endeavour into the realm of digital art I had no real inspiration to be honest. At this point the only thing I knew was that I wanted to do something with computers. My first contact with an image editing software was in the late 90s. I was enthralled by the possibilities and a little intimidated by that too. It took me a while to get going with the matter. That’s probably the only let down when it comes to autodidactic learning. It was more family and the friends I had that pushed me further and further at the beginning. Later when I started to explore digital painting and similar techniques my inspiration were artists like Dylan Cole, Gary Tonge and Syd Mead… just to name a few.

Why did you choose the digital painting direction?

Digital painting is a rather broad technique these days… so I would specify my own way to work as a mix between 3d, photo manipulation and digital painting. Mixed Media so to speak. The technique I use to create my pics is so chaotic! But to answer your question… I would say it did choose me. I never intended to do what I’m doing now. Let alone reaching a level of quality where nice people like you are interested in interviewing me about my work. That’s amazing and a wonderful motivation.

As you do a lot of mixed media work, what applications and tools do you use most?

Like mentioned above my usual way of creating a picture these days consists of 3D elements, photos for textures and digital painting for details and additions. The 3D part is created with Vue. Vue is a 3D tool completely specialized in artificial landscape creation. You can create mountains, forests, deserts… pretty much everything landscape related. To bring it all together I, of course, use Photoshop. That’s where texturing, manipulation and painting happens. I use the 3D part mostly to create myself a base of operation that, once rendered, will be fully worked out through Photoshop.

Your digital creations are really impressive and exciting, all of them showcase a high fly of imagination. Do you keep an ideas journal to remember your conception and all necessary details?

Usually when you have an idea you sit down and create a sketch from it. To see how it works and to find a composition. While that is the usual professional approach… I’m a little different. When I created ‘Artificial’ in 2005 I had that kind of image in my head for a while. But I had no clue how to realize it. One day I sat down an started to work. When it was done and received some great feedback I knew I should try to continue with creating such things. Nowadays when I create personal work I open Vue and start to play with it until the results lighten up the creative spark. From then on everything comes together by itself. Sometimes you have to leave a project for a few days to find a solution to a certain problem though.

When it comes to commissioned work first sit down with Vue too and try to find a good starting point with atmosphere, lighting and composition. So I’m rather unconventional that way, not necessarily using sketches.

How does your job influence your life, do you feel that you see things around you differently?

Yes it definitely does influence my life. Whenever I’m watching a movie I’m pretty much studying it. Camera, composition, lighting… these kinds of things. Of course the visual effects too. There often are these “yeah I can tell how they did that!” and “I know what tools they worked with to get that!” moments. Especially when you’re working with Vue these days. But you’re also constantly studying your own environment. In my case it’s lighting situations, foliage and atmospheres. Skies, clouds. You will never stop observation.

What, for you personally, are the pros and cons of being a designer?

You can’t get the one without the other. So for example I’m very happy about all the feedback I get on sites like deviantart. But it’s often so much that I cannot read every comment or reply to every question. But I tend to answer pretty much all notes and mails.

Another negative thing is art theft. That’s a big really issue and almost uncontrollable. Maybe they come up with a technology that hinders people from publishing work that’s not their own and they do not own a license for.

Your head is pretty much never offline when it’s about thinking. Your current project is always ghosting through your mind. You rarely have a few hours where you are able to completely focus on something else. That can be a little annoying at times. That’s at least how it is with me.

A positive thing in my case would be that it’s cool to have the technical expertise to realize and, at the same time, explore the worlds I create.

It’s also cool to hear when other artists come and tell you how you inspired them.
Beside that there are quite a few things more but that would make the interview explode, I fear!

What are your favorite online resources to stay up to date on the web design industry?

I’m not constantly on the search for news. Every now and then I stumble across something and read it. Most my news I get from the CGTalk/CGSociety newsletter. These guys are pretty much the way to go when it’s about digital art news.

Which members of your social media circle would you recommend to our readers to follow and why?

Not exactly a member but a collective of talented people would be The Luminarium. It’s an art group with some really good artists from around the world, doing everything from music and photography to graphic design and digital art. They frequently release so called ‘exhibits’ to certain themes. These are collections of art created for that specific theme. Then there is Simon Becker. One of the most talented street photographers I know. He also won awards and publications with his work. Check him out here: http://simonsawsunlight.deviantart.com

List three things people might not know about you

I’m a girl. Just kidding! Well… three things… let me think.

I – I own 5 birds. One parakeet (for more than 9 years now) and two pairs of zebra finches. One of the finches got born and breed here in my room three years ago. That must have been quite a face I made when I discovered that little, featherless grey spot in that nest one evening. It was quite an experience and actually an accident. And yes… that is funny! =) He’s still alive and kicking. So I must have done it right I think.

II – I’m left-handed. And that’s cool!

III – If you read the short bio on my page then you probably know it. But the town, Bitterfeld, I grew up in was back then labeled as Europe’s most dirty town. It was pretty much the industrial headquarter of fromer East-Germany. But let me tell you something. I’d rather grow up in the environment I grew up in than anywhere else nowadays. I had a good time. Good friends. Bitterfeld now is the complete opposite. Clean. Fresh air. ‘Green’ would be the politically correct term I think. But the city is pretty much dead since, after the wall came down, everyone wandered off. No future in good old Bitterfeld. So it came that we moved in 2001 too.

What do you like to do to relax in your spare time?

I’m a big movies fan. So when I really need some time off I see what I have in my collection and watch something. Or I play some games. I have a nice group of friends who I really enjoy playing Left4Dead or Battlefield with. I also discovered that I’m a fan of podcasts. When it’s a smaller break I need, I sit down with my guitar and try not to wreck that beautiful thing. But to be honest I’m almost constantly working. At least in my head. And when I have some spare time I try to learn more about the tools I’m working with.

What advice would you give to someone just starting out as a designer?

Well it all comes down how serious that person really means it. How much drive is in that person. Because that’s what it needs. I’ve seen some people who were really talented in something but never had the drive to go with it, trying to get better and better. In a creative field you often have to get up and find solutions to problems yourself. You not only have to be visually creative… you also need to be creative in solving problems that might come up in your visual creative process.

However. If you have the drive and passion it needs… go with it. Give it time to evolve. Listen to advices from other folks. Keep going. Every now and then check out artists who are the high end and get inspired and motivated by their work. Don’t necessarily set yourself goals. Just try to become better with every project you’re doing. Try to learn from every project. Sooner or later everything will come together and fall in place. Patience is the key.

Once again, thank you, Christian, very much for the interview. We also wish you always stay passionate about what you do and don’t loose that drive we appreciate in your beautiful creations!

Tigaer around the Web:
Tigaer-Design.com
Twitter.com/Tigaer
Tigaer.cgsociety.org
Tigaer.deviantart.com

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