With the development of the commercial sphere on the Internet, many new professions have appeared. And while all these specialties have not begun to be taught at universities, the demand for good specialists is great.
Many people want to know where to start web design, to study its basic topics and terminology. Someone goes to the courses for knowledge, someone tries to master a new profession on their own. Our article will help everyone who wants to understand the basics of web design.
Internet Marketing
This is not to say that web design began only after the development of Internet marketing, since this specialty has been popular for a long time. But precisely from the moment the need arose to improve the resource, this profession became more in demand.
Now Internet marketing depends on several specialists who help to plan a website development strategy, develop it, fill it with content and promote it on the Web.
Web designers play an important role in this challenging process. The success of the promotion and the popularity of the resource depend on them. Knowing this, many want to understand where to start learning web design.
The concept
If the student does not fully understand the tasks of the future specialty, then it will be difficult for him to work in this direction.
Web design is a classic manifestation of design in web development, the task of which is to design user interfaces for sites and applications. What do the specialists do:
- Designing a logical web resource structure.
- The development and implementation of convenient ways of presenting content (usability).
- The design of the site.
Despite the fact that many web designers have nothing to do with an art school or other creative studios, the ability to choose the right colors, shapes and elements is an integral part of their profession.
As mentioned earlier, at universities no one will teach you this specialty. Therefore, you can find both self-taught and those who graduated from the courses and learned from professionals how to start web design.
Terminology
If we take more in depth the term “web design”, then this is graphic design, thanks to which you can develop and design objects of the information environment of the Internet. In addition to visual quality, the specialty also works on the convenience of use.
Such an explanation helps to separate this term from the concept of "web programming", giving the first a creative direction.
In addition to convenience and an aesthetic component, web designers should follow W3C standards, cross-platform, Internet marketing, optimization and advertising.
Although these are not the most important directions in teaching web design, you still need to know about them, since they influence each other.
For example, W3C is an organization that implements technology standards for the Internet. The specialist must monitor and work with the changes.
Cross-platform - this is the ability of the program to work on several platforms, that is, to be universal for any system.
Internet marketing also dictates its rules for the design of the resource, the introduction of elements that would affect the potential buyer.
It is also important to know the basics of SEO optimization and advertising on the Internet.
Process
Where to start web design? From studying what a specialist in this field should do. Unique design usually costs more, because it is a colossal job that requires attention to every detail.
In this case, the customer creates a detailed statement of work, which is spelled out to the smallest detail. The designer is engaged in the development of the concept of a resource, or, having received the requirements, follows them, creating a layout. Only after that the finished template is transferred to the web developer.
Sometimes a web designer based on templates offers his own solutions. This method speeds up the work and is much cheaper.
Some web designers do not work on specific projects, but on developing templates that can later be installed on any resource. There are a large number of sites with similar solutions. Even inexperienced users can buy their favorite template for $ 40-60 and install it on their future site.
Thus, the main task of a web designer is to create a layout. It can be represented by a picture that shows the appearance of the resource page. So that this picture can be finalized, it is made multi-layered. Depending on the needs of the customer, the layout may include not only a picture, but also photographs, complex collages, images, text layers and unique icons.
To make the main page stand out, the web designer deals with a separate layout, in which you can make additions or changes corresponding to the theme or special events.
Web Design: Learning from the Ground Up
The best way to figure out where to start studying this specialty is to go to any course and read the curriculum. The first lesson is usually an introductory one. It says:
- What is web design.
- They explain a person’s perception of visual images.
- They teach the theory of color and the psychology of its perception.
- They talk about the form in graphic design.
- Explain proportions and compositions in web design.
- Learn to distinguish between vector and raster graphics.
- They talk about color models and modern trends.
- Briefly describe the main programs for working with computer graphics.
Usually, several classes are devoted to working with the program Adobe Photoshop. In the first lesson, they study the application interface, toolbar, settings, creating a simple document, types and types of fonts.
Next, students get acquainted with the concept of the resource user interface and its basic elements. They study user interaction. After these lessons, final classes are held with a workshop on the creation of individual elements.
But that’s not all where web design begins. The future specialist should get acquainted with another program - Adobe Illustrator. As with Adobe Photoshop, in this case, you get acquainted with the objectives of the program, the workspace, the creation of documents, artboards, toolbars.
An important activity is to learn the basics of site architecture. It talks about the types and types of sites, page structure, interaction elements, tasks and functions, TK during development, as well as design features. Also affect the theme of HTML and CSS.
Commercial sites
Where to start learning web design? As mentioned earlier, an important role is played by knowledge of Internet marketing. Therefore, sites of a commercial orientation are also considered at courses in this specialty.
In the lessons he tells the specifics of usability for such sites, the development of components and the development of the structure of the main pages. Important in learning web design is practice. Even if you want to independently study this specialty, it is important to periodically conduct practical classes.
If you don’t know where to start self-study in web design, search the Internet for TK. On other people's tasks, you can practice creating the main page of a commercial site, developing a catalog and product cards.
Landing page
Landing page is another form of commercial site. It is called the landing page or landing page. The main objective of this form of displaying content is to collect contact information for the target audience.
Such a page is an amplifier of the effectiveness of advertising and increasing the audience. It contains information about a product or service.
A lesson on this topic begins with the definition of the landing page, structure, and practical design creation. Next, it’s important to have a landing page layout workshop. From an online marketing perspective, a landing page should have a lot of important details.
Analysis
Recent classes are very important because they summarize. For web-design the analysis of the market of offers is important. The specialist needs to understand how to find customers and determine the competitive cost of services. In this lesson, a lot of time is devoted to analyzing prices in the market, as well as segmentation, the formation of the cost of work, the competent preparation of the contract and the rules for the sale of their services.
Self-study at home
In addition to courses, you can study a specialty at home. For example, there is distance learning web design. Although this option is not the most popular. Online courses are not always high-quality and really useful, but their cost is always very high. Sometimes the price is higher than in training courses.
Despite this, many decide to get such a specialty on their own. To make it quite real. It is only important to adhere to discipline and find a really useful training plan.
Not everyone immediately understood where to start web design. But through trial and error, a home curriculum has already been formed.
Color
Since web design is a type of graphic design, it is important to know the basics of this specialty. Therefore, often training begins with color theory. This is due to the fact that the impression of the design consists of many factors. Color is one of the most important.
It is difficult for a beginner to understand what colors are combined with each other. It is the basis of the theory of tones and halftones that will help when choosing a color scheme for website design.
Font
Where to start web design training? Some experts believe that it is important for a beginner to know the basics of fonts. But this question is very complicated. Fonts are a whole science that is taught at the university at the faculty of journalism or typography.
For a beginner, it’s best to use the already optimal font combination solutions. After in-depth study of this topic, you can experiment on your own.
Programs
About the programs that web designers need, we have already mentioned. You need to know everything about them, be able to use them and understand the principle of work. Adobe Photoshop and Illustrator are the main tools for working with raster and vector graphics. You can add Sketch to this list, which experts in this field are talking about.
Special literature
Learning web design from scratch with books can also help familiarize yourself with this work. You won’t be full of articles from the Internet, so it’s important to find useful literature on relevant topics. List of books that may come in handy:
- Jeremy Keith "HTML5 for Web Designers."
- Dan Sideholm "CSS3 for Web Designers".
- Steve Krug "Web Design, or Don't Make Me Think."
- Tim Kiedlek “Responsive Design. We make websites for any devices. ”
There are a lot of similar books. Together with the curriculum, it is important to constantly read and receive additional knowledge.
conclusions
If you set out to learn web design yourself, then you will surely succeed. At the first stage, it is important to carefully consider the curriculum and follow it.
It’s very difficult to say exactly how long self-training can last. Each person perceives information differently, so for a particular topic he will need more or less time.
It will be much easier for those who already know how to use Photoshop, know Internet marketing and the basics of design. They will have no difficulty understanding where to start learning web design. Self-training can take two to three months. But remember, it is important to devote at least a little time every day to studying this specialty.