How do I design web?

How do I design web?

First, I would figure out what kind of designer you want to be. There are dozens of ways to be a web designer. The three most common are:

• User Experience (UX): designing usable and intuitive experiences. In this role, you might just focus on creating journey maps and black and white wireframes that show how users interact with an app. Good tools to start: Sketch and Figma.
• User Interface (UI): designing the visual web elements on the page, ex: how do buttons look? Which typeface do I use? Great UI designers take wireframes and bring them to life. Good tools to start: Sketch and Illustrator.
• Graphic Design: graphic designers typically focus on static products - think infographics, print (posters, brochures, stationery, etc.), and logos. Tools depend on project type here: Adobe Illustrator for illustrations, InDesign for print layouts, or Photoshop if you’re dealing with a lot of images you need to manipulate.

I’m leaving out a ton of other specialties here like animation, game design, product design, interaction design, and data visualization. Most designers can do multiple things, but it’s good to have an idea where you want to focus so you can pick up the right tool to start with.

Once you’ve done some research and you have some idea of the direction you want to be in, the next step would be to just give yourself a project and just start designing.

1. Pick something easy to understand, like redesigning a profile page, and just go for it. You can check Behance for thousands of examples to see how other designers execute similar challenges to get an idea of what “done” should look like.
2. Once you start, timebox it so you don’t spend too long iterating. Give yourself 1 week to get comfortable with the tool, and then another to do the design.
3. At the end of that week, no matter where you are in the design process, talk to another designer you trust about your challenges and get feedback. If you’re not embarrassed and uncomfortable showing your work, you’ve waited too long.
4. Take note of what in the process you personally enjoyed and where you can improve. What was engaging and what was boring? This will help you hone in on what you love to do and where you might want to start building out a specialty.
5. Go back, pick a new project based on what you just learned, and repeat. Keep pushing yourself to get better and don’t get complacent. If you look back in a few months and hate the work you’ve done now, it means you’re doing it right - you’re getting more skilled and developing your critical eye.

It’s not going to be easy - design is hard work! But I’ve found that the best way to figure out if you’re cut out for something is just to dive in and start doing and learning. Good luck!!