A Four-Year Degree Isn’t Always Required for Successful Web Designers

Web design is a highly portfolio-centered field. While some web designers attend universities or colleges full-time, others get into the field by building a portfolio through an immersive bootcamp or certificate program. These courses prepare budding web designers who train in everything from coding to web page layout design.

Finding Work In The Competitive Web Design Field

Web designers of all types enter their fields of choice at various levels. User interface (UI) designers, user experience (UX) designers, and visual designers often find work in this competitive field based on their skill sets, not where they went to school.

The median pay for web developers and digital designers is around $77,000 in the U.S., and many of these skilled professionals learn through online or in-person certificate programs. This comprehensive mode of training gives students the tools they need to succeed, in a much more concentrated timeframe than that of a four-year program.

An Overview of How to Become a Web Designer

Here are some steps you can take to get into web design (click the link to skip to that step).

  1. Get an Overview of the Field of Web Design
  2. Study Web Design, UX/UI Design, or Visual Design
  3. Master Coding, Graphic Design Tools, or Both
  4. Build Your Web Design Portfolio
  5. Gain Experience as a Freelance or Intern
  6. Choose an Area of Expertise
  7. Continue Your Education
  8. Learn By Doing

1. Get an Overview of the Field of Web Design

One of the first things a prospective web designer should do is learn more about the field before enrolling in a course of study. Noble Desktop offers free two-hour videos on YouTube that cover topics like Web Design, UX/UI Design, and Visual Design.

The video linked below is How to Get Started in Web Design. It includes topics like:

  • An overview of the design process
  • Using HTML and CSS to create webpages
  • Front end coding with JavaScript
  • Back end development with PHP and Ruby
  • Optimizing graphics
  • Uploading via FTP

How to Get Started in Web Design

You can also view the slides used in the YouTube video here

2. Study Web Design, UX/UI Design, or Visual Design

When you decide to pursue a web design career, it’s important to know what roles you might take on in the future. A college or university program takes years, but you can learn a great deal in a much shorter timeframe if you enroll in a design certificate or bootcamp.

A Web Design Certificate generally offers training in coding and coding-adjacent skills like HTML/CSS and WordPress, whereas a UX & UI Design Certificate focuses more on prototyping with apps like Figma, Sketch, and Adobe XD. Alternatively, students whose main focus is visual design might prefer a Visual Design Certificate, with its emphasis on Photoshop and Illustrator. Any of these programs will help build a strong portfolio.

3. Master Coding, Graphic Design Tools, or Both

Web design has so many components that beginners often find their training options overwhelming. For that reason alone, it’s a good idea to compare and contrast the various career choices open to those with web design skills.

Want to become a web designer? You’ll need to learn WordPress, HTML/CSS, and tools from the Adobe Creative Cloud. Visual and digital designers also master Adobe apps. If you’re interested in UX/UI design, you’ll need to learn multiple Adobe programs as well. Many web design roles also require training in tools like Canva, Figma, and Webflow, to name a few.

4. Build Your Web Design Portfolio

Web design is a portfolio-centered field. Whether you get your training through a college or university, or by taking an in-depth bootcamp or certificate program, your portfolio is one of the first things an HR Manager or new client will see.

If you have an Adobe Creative Cloud subscription, you can host examples of your work online, including work you’ve done using Sketch, Illustrator, or XD. Other portfolio hosting options include Wix, Crevado, and Coroflot. Some of these services are more appealing to other creatives, such as artists or photographers, so look for one that best suits your needs.

5. Gain Experience as a Freelance or Intern

Working as an Intern

Many companies offer free or even paid internships to web designers, web developers, and graphic designers. While some of these are seasonal positions, others can be an ideal way to gain a full-time design role with a company, where you can quickly build your web design resume. Check LinkedIn and online job sites like Indeed or ZipRecruiter for internship opportunities in your area.

The Freelance Route

You may instead want to start a freelance business. If so, you’ll need to determine if you want to be a sole proprietor, form an LLC, or choose another type of business like a partnership. Most freelancers find their clients are less interested in their educational background than in what they can do for them. Therefore, a strong design portfolio is of the utmost importance.

6. Choose an Area of Expertise

Web design covers a range of disciplines, from UX/UI design to visual design. Front end web developers fall into the web design category, too, as they train in many of the same tools, such as HTML/CSS and JavaScript.

After you have mastered solid web design skills, you can take your training in multiple directions. You may decide web design is the role you’d prefer to fill, but you might as easily tend toward web development, especially front end development. If you’ve gotten work interning or freelancing, you might focus on an area like UI design, or even a complementary field like motion graphics.

Careers open to web design professionals include:

  • Web Designer
  • Visual Designer
  • UX Designer
  • UI Designer
  • Web Developer
  • Front End Developer

Whether you specialize in a particular field or not, the best positions require a host of skills. One of the best ways to get started is an immersive bootcamp or certificate program.

7. Continue Your Education

Once you’ve reached a particular goal with your web design training, you may decide to learn more. If your organization believes it would benefit you to get a degree, they might pay for your education. You can also choose to take additional bootcamps or shorter courses, especially if you want to move up to a higher position in a company. Professional and personal development classes can help you stay current with industry trends, as well as learning how to better succeed in your chosen field.

8. Learn By Doing

Jonah Schrogin took Noble Desktop’s Web Design Certificate and Web Development Certificate programs, and was impressed with how much his training helped him in his design career.

“After I received the Web Design and Development certificates, I felt confident in developing websites,” he says, “and I successfully did that for a number of clients. I like learning and improving as a designer, so I took Sketch in a Day. I also completed the Web Animation certificate. I had a great experience at Noble and look forward to going back to continue learning.”