Why Learn Web Design?

Web design refers to the cluster of creative and technical skills that go into planning, building, and maintaining modern web pages. These include the programming skills used to code a web page and the creative skills used to design the visual elements of that web page. Have you ever explored all of the things web design can do? Since almost all industries maintain some degree of a web presence, there are a great many career opportunities in the field of web design. In addition, learning how to design web pages will be useful for students' own personal online presence, and learning these skills will lay the groundwork for more detailed training in the fields of visual design and programming. Regardless of your overall goals, learning web design is a valuable and impressive skill to add to your resume. 

What is Web Design?

Web design is the process of creating and maintaining websites. It covers a wide range of topics, including web architecture, user experience, information architecture, and web development. The primary goal of web design is to create a website that is easy to use, informative, and visually appealing. The skill set required for web design is constantly evolving as new technologies and trends emerge. However, some core principles remain constant.

Web design is a process, not a product. The term “web design” refers to creating a website or the finished product itself. A Web Designer is someone who specializes in this process by using their creativity, technical skills, and experience to craft websites that meet the specific needs of their clients. This means that web design is not a one-time event but an ongoing process that should be regularly updated to keep up with the latest trends and technologies. 

Read more about what web design is and why you should learn it.

What Can You Do with Web Design?

As the name suggests, learning web design skills will teach you how to design, develop, and maintain web pages. This means that whatever you can do on the digital canvas of Web 2.0, you can learn to do with web design. You can learn to build professional working websites as a career path or build your own personal brand using elaborate WordPress designs. Students can build a digital CV to make themselves more attractive to employers, or they can launch a digital art project hoping to advocate for a cause that is important to them. Students can turn their passions into a business by building a digital marketplace to advertise their wares or get an idea off the ground with a rhetorically appealing pitch website. The sky's the limit for talented web designers.

Web design also covers a diverse field of specializations and skills so that individuals can create even more specific niches for themselves within the field. Programmers can enter a vibrant community of like-minded designers who iterate on and improve programming languages, making them more versatile and accessible to new users. Developers may find themselves specializing in a specific programming language for things like Data Science and SEO purposes. User Experience Designers will make web pages themselves more accessible and easy to navigate. Given the amount of time individuals spend online each day, there is no shortage of unique opportunities for skilled web design students.

Groundwork for more advanced skills

One of the perks of learning web design skills is that they are incredibly versatile and easily transferable to a number of different fields and industries. Beyond this, they are also great first sets of skills to learn for anyone looking to do more advanced design and development work. For example, students who want to do web design will need to learn basic coding skills using HTML/CSS and JavaScript. These are versatile languages to learn and will lay the groundwork for students looking to learn more complex programming languages, such as Python or React. Students interested in learning more about these options should consider exploring Noble’s Full Stack Web Development Certificate course to learn more about how they can expand their coding knowledge.

There are still ways to expand their web design training for students who aren't interested in learning to code. Learning the visual aspects of web design means students will likely be learning how to build design layouts and rudimentary animated assets. Students who find this work rewarding may want to consider enrolling in a more advanced skills course, such as Noble’s Graphic Design Certificate program or their Motion Graphics Certificate program. In these classes, students will learn what goes into designing 2D and 3D digital assets that can be part of design projects outside the scope of a web page, such as a marketing campaign, a film, or a video game.

Building a Personal Online Presence

More and more, individuals are just as protective of their online presence as corporations are. Whether you want to build your own web page to house your CV and other information for prospective employers or you are hoping to kick-start your own small e-commerce business, knowing how to design a professional-looking, functional website is a great way to set yourself apart from the crowd. Plus, it will be important to maintain these web pages and update them when the need arises, meaning that learning how to do it on your own will pay off in the long run.

The digital space also offers creatives a whole new set of tools with which they can make their voices heard. Artists and activists can use the space of the internet to produce content that is unlike anything that was possible before the last few decades, and the internet is a powerful tool for persuasion. This makes learning how to design websites a useful skill for those who aren’t interested in the commercial side of things.

How to Start Learning Web Design

Students looking to learn web design skills will have a few different ways they can go about receiving training in web design. They will have to choose the environment in which they learn the skills and the delivery method of the course in which they enroll. While each student’s needs are different, there are a few key differences between the types of courses that are worth considering.

Most students find that live instruction, available through in-person classes and live online instruction, is the most effective way to learn new skills. Particularly for novice coders, the presence of a live instructor can be a significant boon, as they are present to help ease students into the process of programming by answering questions and providing feedback. These classes also allow students to learn alongside a cohort of like-minded students, and many students find that having regular classes to attend and regular deadlines helps keep their learning on track. These courses are somewhat restrictive regarding their scheduling, as they are only offered at specific times of the day/week. They are also the most expensive training options, but most students find that training is not something they want to pinch pennies.

Students looking for more flexibility in their training will want to consider an on-demand web design course. These classes are asynchronous, self-paced lessons, meaning that students will be able to watch lectures, study material, and work on exercises as their own schedule allows. This makes them an ideal fit for students with work and family obligations that prevent them from attending regularly scheduled classes or who need to learn a specific set of skills in a very condensed period. These classes tend to be the most varied in their content and style. Still, there are also a great variety of on-demand classes to choose from, so students who desire a more flexible scheduled learning experience should explore their options.

Finally, students may be interested in free introductory classes to determine whether web design training is the right fit for them. These classes, which often take the form of pre-recorded lectures, are a great place for students to experiment with learning web design in a low-pressure, low-commitment environment. Noble Desktop provides students with a few options for free training courses, including their Getting Started in Web Design course, which provides an overview of the responsibilities of web designers and the tools that they use to make functional web pages. Noble also provides students with a series of more targeted web design videos on their Web Design and Development playlist, which is frequently updated on their official YouTube page. Students looking to learn how to design web pages in a professional capacity will still require more training, but since these classes teach fundamental skills, it won’t be a waste of your time to view them before enrolling in a seminar or bootcamp.

Read the full guide on how to learn web design.

Learn Web Design with Hands-on Training at Noble Desktop

Students looking to master web design skills should consider the hands-on training options available to them through Noble Desktop. In these courses, students can learn how to design and code web pages using a variety of platforms and programming languages. These courses, which are all taught by live instructors with years of experience in their respective fields, give students the opportunity to interface directly with their instructors, ensuring they can receive the assistance and feedback they need to succeed. Students can enroll in a web design class or bootcamp either in-person or online.

Students looking to start off their web design and development career without investing too much time into their training may want to consider Noble’s Web Development with HTML/CSS course. In this class, which requires no prior coding knowledge, students will learn the fundamental skills that go into designing and developing web pages using the HTML/CSS programming languages. This class will teach students how to design basic web pages using the coding languages that form the basic infrastructure of a modern web page. Students will learn how to use HTML to build basic web pages and how to use CSS to add a visual flair to their designs. While anyone wanting to design web pages that look up to modern standards will need more training in other, more advanced programming languages, learning HTML/CSS is essential for anyone wanting to build web pages.

Noble offers a Web Design Certificate program for students who want a more immersive, career-focused experience in their training course that aims to take students from novice programmers all the way to professional designers in just a few short weeks. In this course, students will learn how to code web pages with HTML/CSS, JavaScript, and through the WordPress hosting platform. They will learn how to build elaborate, multi-page websites that replicate the kinds of projects they will be hired to work on as professional Web Designers and Developers. In addition, since these are career-focused courses, students will receive extra professionalization training, including one-on-one career mentorship sessions and seminar time dedicated to helping students construct a sample design portfolio that they can take with them onto the job market. For students looking to start a new career in the field of web design, there is no better way to prepare themselves.

Key Insights

• Web design refers to the diverse array of skills that go into creating, launching, maintaining, and updating websites. This will include the creative skills that go into creating stunning visual designs and the technical skills that go into programming elaborate web pages.
• Since virtually every industry and sector of the workforce has an online presence, many high-paying jobs are available for talented web design professionals.
• Learning web design is a great way to lay the groundwork for further skills development in computer science, data science, graphic design, or motion graphics.
• Aspiring entrepreneurs, artists, and activists can all make use of the digital landscape to help their ideas reach a larger audience.
• Noble Desktop is there to help with live online and in-person web design training options if you want to learn web design for these or any other reasons.