In the US alone, the web design market is valued at $40 billion. Web designing can be self-taught. While the avenues of education are not free, there are cheaper alternatives than the academic route.

Online courses on web designing and there are resources that you can purchase online. The most important thing is actually determining which aspect of web design to learn first. Such aspects are important when presenting your career as a marketable one.

Back to the question: How to learn web design? From crucial learning tools to marketing techniques, a web designer must know them all.

Web Design and the Job Market

Web designing is a lucrative career path. It pays well, too. According to popular employment site, Glassdoor, a website designer can earn as much as $88,373 per year.

Even if you already have a career, it’s still an advantage to learn web design. Whatever business you are in, a website is always an integral part of it, so web design skills are transferable.

This is particularly essential if you are doing freelance work. As an individual doing business, a website is even more important since you don’t have the manpower to help you with marketing.

Steps on how to learn web design:

Understand the basic tenets of web design

Understanding the basic web design principles is important for your success as a future web designer and developer. What’s really great about web design is that it is a balance of science and creativity. There is a science to creating a website as you have to follow a formula and a process.

The web designer has to understand the concept that needs to be translated into something visually attractive. Part of knowing the basic tenets is also knowing the front end and back end of web design. Whatever you see on a website was due to the work done on the back end. Knowing how to read a webpage is an essential skill that will help your web design, from identifying tags to format adaptability.

The user usually makes a command from the front end. So, when they navigate a web page and press a button for the site to do a specific thing, the server will internalize the information and send it through the back end with all the correct HTML code so that the correct request will be displayed on the screen.

Back-end personnel are called programmers. Their task is not something that a web designer actually needs to master but it’s still good to know about it.

The front end, on the other hand, is where the HTML, CSS, JavaScript, and others have to work together in order to display the right page on the site. This is where web visitors engage with the website. It also follows that you know the basics of HTML, CSS, and JavaScript. These are the languages of web design. There are many online courses and tools available to learn this particular skill, from Codecademy to Skillshare.

Learn the principles of visual design

Creativity is usually guided by emotions. In the complex world of web design, creativity is guided by both learned practices and emotion.

Here are the important web design concepts that you need to master:

Line: Every character in the layout for the website is made up of lines. These lines also compose a more generic structure. You need to understand how these lines will create order and organization on the website. It is important that balance is achieved when it comes to the use of the lines on the design.

Shapes: You will be working with three basic designs: circles, squares, and triangles. You have to understand the practical uses of these designs when creating the website. Not only that but there are also emotions attached to these shapes. This just means that you have to be savvy about how to use the shapes to shape a website.

Color: You should know that there are appropriate colors to use for appropriate designs. There are colors that would portray the brand properly. It’s important that every web designer knows the story and the meaning behind every color and if they would mesh well together.

Typography: Just like color and shape, the use of font also conveys a message. You need to know which fonts to use that will make your website easy to understand while also making sure that they look good. There should also be consistency with typography. This doesn’t mean that you have to use only one type of font, just that the different fonts shouldn’t be at war with each other.

Master the foundations of User Experience and User Interface

User experience (UX) is what will make more people visit your website. Sometimes, it’s not the number of people who visit your site, it’s the number of people you have converted into loyal customers.

Users will spend money on the brand if the website makes it easy for them. The creative part and the science part should go well together in order to bring out the best of the website and make people feel good when navigating the site.

There are two important factors that need to be considered: information architecture and user flows. You want the display to be easy to understand and then you want the flow to be easy for the users to operate. Every button and page should be highly functional.

The user interface (UI) is what users see on every page. The content should be easy to read and the buttons should be easy to understand. Coursera provides a 4-month free course on the fundamentals of UX and UI, covering user research and project management.

Creating the Website Layout

Organization is very important in layout as well as continuity. Understanding what makes a good layout will help the UI design. A powerful website is one that can help your client achieve the full potential growth and reach of their business.

To design a website with a great layout, use these tools.

Featured Image:Eftakher Alam, Unsplash. 

The post How To Learn Web Design: 4 Steps To Start Designing appeared first on eLearningInside News.

Webflow, the no-code web-design platform, has recently announced that it will be offering its services for free to all students. Last month, the company made the move to provide a free annual CMS site plan to help students build a strong design portfolio, without the barrier of affordability or specialized coding skills. The unique no-code feature has proven successful amongst users and investors, with Webflow having raised over $200 million in funding, valuing the company at $2.1 billion as of 2021.

“The web is an essential part of learning and expression–and for too long, it’s been too hard for too many to harness the web’s full power. Webflow’s mission is to remove barriers for anyone to build for the web and by offering Webflow free to students we’re dramatically expanding access to a modern platform to boost student studies,” said Vlad Magdalin, the CEO of Webflow. “We’ve already seen incredible websites built by students at Carnegie Mellon, California College for the Arts, Dartmouth, Purdue, and more–and we can’t wait to see what students will build next.”

Webflow worked with the students on the Masters in Human-Computer Interaction (MHCI) program at Carnegie Mellon, surveying the design portfolios the students managed to develop with the platform. eLearning Inside caught up with the program coordinator of MHCI, Jennifer McPherson, who talked about their experience with Webflow:

When were you first introduced to Webflow? Was there a particular project you needed it for?

I was first introduced to Webflow in April 2019 when some of my team came to me and asked if they could purchase a lite version of Webflow to build their project website.

Were you familiar with web design or website builders before using Webflow?

Yes, I was familiar with website building prior to Webflow; several of my students had been building websites for many years leading up to the switch.

Webflow gives people the ability to learn and share their work with other people, do you think this community-building aspect is encouraging for those who have never tried web design before?

Absolutely! In the case of our particular program, we have found that using Webflow has encouraged all team members to get involved in the platform. It’s been nice because we often have students working in teams of five or more, and Webflow enables them to work together.

The site includes tips on SEO, advanced CMS, and customizing domains, all design features which are essential to running a website today. How accessible has Webflow made these features? Are you comfortable using them?

Webflow’s tips across features have made the platform super accessible, easy to deploy, and test quickly. Many of my students like using Webflow because of the ease of accessibility and features.

Before starting any project, Webflow asks users a series of questions to personalize their experience of using the platform. Does this make web design easier to navigate, especially for beginners who may not know what they want to build?

Absolutely! Our students come from a variety of technical backgrounds. Some have extensive experience while others don’t have any. Webflow has made it easy for students to create their websites using templates and used the other tips provided to build out their websites to their liking.

The stand-out feature of Webflow is its capability of building and managing a website without the use of code. Has this omission been helpful to you? Will it encourage those intimidated by web design to try it out?

Yes, the low and no code features have been a game-changer! As part of our program, my students have a required portfolio as well as a website for their capstone projects. Webflow has made it easier for a team with less technical knowledge to create a website with ease. And again, students are able to deploy it and test it quickly, make changes, deploy and test again!

Is there something Webflow can offer to people who already have experience in web design and coding? would it provide a different approach for them?

From my experience, the students with more technical experience have still used Webflow because of its ease of creating, deploying, and being able to host a website directly with the platform. Webflow has allowed those students to create complex websites and portfolios while taking away the stress of web designing and coding.

There are website builders similar to Webflow, like Wix and Squarespace. What makes Webflow different from them?

Webflow’s mission is to democratize building for the web and I’ve seen that as a primary focus when it comes to education, especially now with their free offering for students. Through our partnership, Webflow has continued to make investments in its product to better help users. Webflow facilitates the creation and support of completely customizable immersive web experiences.

Are there any design features the site hasn’t included that you would like to see?

So far, Webflow’s design features have covered everything that I’m looking for from an educator standpoint.

Is there anything else you would like to mention about Webflow?

Webflow has been a great collaborator! I have worked with Webflow for the last several years to get my current and former students access to the tool. I’ve had so many students create their professional portfolio using the tool, as well as their capstone website in which they talk about their client-sponsored project for the spring and summer semesters.

Part of my role for our program is to seek tools the students wish to use and try to build relationships with those companies and tools as a way to provide the students with a wide range of tools they’ll use during their one-year professional program and hopefully beyond that as well. Webflow has been a great partner in this endeavor.

Featured Image: Brooke Cagle, Unsplash

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