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So you think you want to build webs?

Sometime this month I’m going to have a high school kid in to do some job shadowing. He is going to graduate this year and thinks that he might like to study web design when he gets into college. His counselor asked me if I would be able to have him spend a day seeing what I do. Yes, of course!

I just finished putting together a short document with some basic information about the field and how to get into it. I thought this might be something that other folks might find useful, too, so I’ll share…

Here are some things to remember and note when you’re taking the first steps:

3 main aspects of web design.

You don’t have to learn all of these in depth, but you should at least learn enough to know how they might be incorporated into a web you’re designing or helping put together. Of course, you’ll probably specialize in one or more of these areas that you find the most interesting. Keep in mind that this field never stands still. You’ll never be an expert on it all because there’s always something new being developed.

  • Graphic Design– The way your webs look, how content is presented
    • Design classes can be a great way to build these skills
    • Study existing interface design, “borrow” ideas from them
    • Create your own designs and see how they work
    • Learn design tools like Photoshop, Illustrator, Flash, GIMP, others. (A little about all, and pick one to use as your main and delve in.)
  • Web development– The way your webs function, how content functions
  • Content Development– Tricks to creating and presenting your content.
    • Writing – If you’re going to successfully communicate your ideas to your visitors, this is an extremely important skill.
    • Search Engine Optimization (SEO) tricks to help your content be indexed correctly.
    • Tools for generating sales and leads – Know what tools are at your disposal if you want to generate leads with your website. Want to have a PayPal shopping cart? Maybe just a form that collects feedback from your visitors? Maybe you want a blog? Know your tools, chances are they already exist and you won’t need to program them yourself.

3 Crucial pieces to having a website

  • Web Host – To have a website you have to find space on a web server or “host”. Basically, this is a computer that remains on virtually every minute of every day and has the correct software installed to know what to do when a request for information comes in from a visitor on the internet. A few people have servers at their own home or office that they use for server space, but most people simply rent space from a hosting company.
  • Web Content – You need things to put in your reserved server space for your visitors to see. This includes web pages (often html, php, aspx, etc), photos, audio, video, graphics, programs like applets or flash files for games, etc. Someone will have to create this content… probably you or a designer, or a combination of people.
  • Domain Name – You don’t have to have a domain name to have your place on the web, but having a domain name makes your content much easier for people to find. You can reserve a domain name through any number of registrars. Most web hosts also are registrars or work closely with one. It’s often most convenient to set up your domain name when you set up your hosting.

I want to go to school for web design. What degree do I go for?

That’s a good question and you’ll probably hear conflicting information on what would be the best path. To start with, until you really know what aspect of web design you like best, you’ll just want to learn some general information about all aspects of it. You don’t have to be in college to start learning about web design. In fact, I would personally recommend that you do a bit of legwork before you even talk to your college counselor. There are many great resources on the web to at least get a good first-time look at the many aspects of web design.

You can have a website now, before you’ve had any training! There are many places where you can have a free website. Geocities is one that I’ve used in the past, but search Google for Free Web Hosting and there might be some good banner-free ones that come up. I saw a couple I might like to try that even appeared to include a domain name. To create your first pages even knowing very little about web design, you can use a free page design tool like Mozilla to compose your first pages, or use the tools that will most likely come with your hosting. Don’t be afraid to try it!

If this seems daunting to you, you could even start with something relatively simple, like a blog. There is a vast ocean out there of blog software that make it easy for anyone to have web presence. Blogger, Live Journal, and MySpace are just the tip of the tip of the iceberg.

Once you think you have your points of interest nailed down, talk to your college counselor. Once again, explore your options. There are tons! Certainly, many degrees in CIT, Multimedia design and Graphic design will give you elements of what you’re particular niche might be, but you’ll need to explore how you want your majors and minors set up. You might even want to ask them about Certified Internet Webmasters training, or check out more information at the CIW Certification site.

What kind of job can I expect to find as a web designer?

Again, that depends on your niche. Who knows! You might find yourself creating webs for any kind of company at all. That could be photographing or formatting butterfly images for National Geographic or writing widgets for Apple’s website. You could create small webs for local companies. Maybe you’d like people to pay you to sell their old junk on eBay. Some people make a living by analyzing a company’s web stats and making recommendations about how webs can be more efficient and attractive to search engines. The possibilities are endless! (Sounds like a cliché, but it’s the truth!)

What can I expect to be paid?

This is all based on my experiences, so I don’t offer this as a definitive answer. For all I know, the years since my beginnings mean that minimum wage has gone up or that the whimpy economy has forced wages down. At any rate, here’s a rough guess of the numbers you might see…

What kind of a designer you choose to be can really affect how much you money you make and how frequently you get paid. I’d expect a complete beginner on their very first web design project to make no less than $15 hourly. But this also depends on what you’re doing. If you’ve just graduated with a degree in programming, your beginning wage might be much higher.

After you’ve picked up some experience (and good web tricks), you might find wages to increase quite a lot. $25 hourly would not be completely uncommon for a position for a moderately experienced web designer. If you’re freelancing at this point, I wouldn’t charge less than $35 per hour for general web design. After all, when freelancing you probably won’t have benefits (unless you’re lucky) and jobs can come sporadically. (Speaking from experience, some months can have you working 60-hour weeks all month long, and other months might yield no jobs at all.)

Know your people…

Build your list of contacts. Seek out people who would be good resources for you to ask questions of and possibly cooperate with on projects. Give in to the fact that you’re not going to be able to learn it all, but know that there’s always an expert out there who’ll be able to help when you need it.

And most importantly…

HAVE FUN! ;-)

Happy New Year! :-)