Natwerk Designs

Do you need to be creative to design websites or just good at writting the code?

I would like to be a website designer but am struggling a bit with the code aspect of it. Granted i have only just started to learn how to do it (literally- we touched on it yeaterday in class) but do you think it helps to have a good eye for design in this line of work. I am very creative and am trying to meld that into a good paying career ie. web designer ? Any thoughts people

Public Comments

1. Wlhat I will suggest is that you just concentrate on what you are learning at the moment. Once you will finish your course you shall be in better position to decide it. Do whatever your heart says, and you dont have to work in your life again...i mean choose a profession which you love to do...not which you have to do.
2. Both honestly. You could always team up with a good coder and you create a design (say draw it out on your choice of graphics program) and then you and the coder could work together to create it. But since you just started on code, you'll get some practice. Once you get the hang of the coding, i assure you, it gets easier (I started self teaching myself in 5th grade, and every time i did something, I looked to do something new, or If i saw something I liked, I tried to copy it! View source is a VERY useful tool --or inspect element if you are using google chrome) I have to say one thing though... some ideas from graphic design do not make good web design! My graphic design teacher this last semester asked another student (i pouted that she didn't ask me lol) to make her a website, and everythign she kept suggusting made one pretty ulgy website. She has an eye for print graphics and logos and such - BUT her idea of how a website should be is WAY off. As you learn to code more, think about design by looking at different major websites. How they do thing, their color choices, sizes, etc.
3. The Web Site Designer's ob is an amalgamation of good Designing Insight as well as a hold on the the latest technology trends. A well designed website gives the users a WOW impression as well as easy of use. Users never want to use a fussy website. For achieving a good design, the flow of control needs to be determined (the flow) and to achieve it, some coding is also needed, for prototyping, at least. Gone are the days when the designer used to code as well. Now the designing of sites is done using special tools (Adobe Photoshop, Microsoft Expression Blend etc.). The coding part is taken care by developers. So it all depends on your taste. Website Designer restricts your horizon whereas Website Developer opens new paths for you.
4. Of course it helps to have a good eye for design to be a web designer :) And yes if you become successful you could have a well-paid career. But don't be under any illusions. Most potential clients that you initially meet will not understand how something as simple as 'putting a few words' on the internet can possibly cost more than a few pennies. They just won't get it. In my experience - with the advent of computer-aided-design there are a lot of small businesses that believe they can do it just as well as the professional. I have seen some abominations! With regard to coding, you would be a pretty poor designer if you didn't understand what was going on under the hood. I have seen designers (Usually straight from print) that don't understand the intricacies of good 'web' design, it's not all about pretty colours and a nice logo, there's this whole aspect of understanding how people view pages and accepting compromises where a high level of accessibility is required. Never trust a designer that can't at least code HTML. To begin with, try and get as many designs on the web as possible, design for free if necessary and build up a good portfolio. Don't set up on your own to begin with as there's a lot of value gained from working with developers, SEO specialists etc. A lot of companies in this climate seem to prefer to take on newbies instead of experienced designers so that they can keep their costs down. A good online portfolio will help you get a start. Please don't listen to your teachers if they are filling your head with ideas of well paid work, I've met lots of just-out-of-college designers that have bought into this concept and it isn't real-world! Edit to add: If you are good with design, stick to that. Of course try to learn to program, but it's a whole speciality of it's own and there will come a time that for your clients sake you rely on a professional web developer to produce the behind-the-scenes stuff. Do a working, but cak-handed job and a busy website will grind to a halt.
5. Learning codes for designing websites is not enough to become a website designer. You know the codes, but how can you create something without knowing what you have to? You need creativity for that. If you are creative enough, then you can become a web designer. There are many jobs that require creativity and computer knowledge: web designing and animation (both 2D and 3D) are the most popular ones. If you are creative, then you can choose any of them, but if you know the codes for website designing and not the animation and modelling in animation career, then you should choose web designing, don't you think?