How a Student Can Become a Web Design Genius

Despite the popular belief that “Geniuses are not born, geniuses are made,” most people still believe that genius is an innate quality. To become a genius, you need to have a talent, at least a predisposition for something, that can be subsequently developed by hard work and persistence. In our article, we will tell exactly what qualities should have a web designer and what you can do to become a genius in this field. 

• How Can a Student Start Earning Money with Good Web Design Skills?

Answers to questions about web design

Before we discuss your web designer development plan, we suggest you explore the answers to the most popular questions about web design. Perhaps the answers to some of them will help you gain confidence and focus your energy in the right direction.

Who can become a web designer?

In general terms, anyone with a creative mind. You do not have to be an artist by birth. However, an important trait of a good web designer is the ability to find non-standard solutions to problems. The study of web design from scratch, in this case, will be much more effective.

In our subjective opinion, cool designers become those who easily balance between humanities and technical sciences. Web design – it’s not just a pretty picture. It is also a mountain of analytical data, understanding the psychology of the user and sometimes – the ability to work with code.

In general terms, anyone with a creative mind. You do not have to be an artist by birth. However, an important trait of a good web designer is the ability to find non-standard solutions to problems. The study of web design from scratch, in this case, will be much more effective.

In our subjective opinion, cool designers become those who easily balance between humanities and technical sciences. Web design – it’s not just a pretty picture. It is also a mountain of analytical data, understanding the psychology of the user and sometimes – the ability to work with code.

What do you need to become a web designer?

In short: a device for work, special software (you can do it for free), and a head on your shoulders. Everything else develops in the process of studying web design and practice. And now in a little more detail:

• Computer. The working machine on which you will be able to study and practice, as well as to work in the future. Everything is simple here – the cooler the device, the faster and more enjoyable it will be to work. Some of the most important criteria when choosing are:
• A monitor with high resolution and realistic color reproduction;
• Fast processor (the more cores the better);
• A built-in video card (the one on the processor; discrete is not necessary, but will be useful);
• Ideally, an SSD drive, but you can start without one.
• Software. Everything depends on your preferences. Typically, the starter kit web designer includes two editors: for bitmap graphics (usually Photoshop) and to work on sites (Adobe XD, Sketch, or Figma).

The head on your shoulders is either there or not. It is checked only by practical experience.

Is it possible to become a web designer without education?

Definitely, yes, if the word “education” means a diploma from a university. Without an education, you can become almost any person today. The only exceptions are the professions of engineer and doctor. Most of today’s specialties such as design, development, or marketing can be learned on your own if you put the right amount of persistence and effort in. And many students, even in another specialty are already trying to learn the basics of web design. Still, let’s say that education has a lot of its own advantages. Yes, studying is not easy, and even encountering difficulties, but it’s worth it.

Is it possible to become the world’s best designer without a degree?

This is a little more complicated. At a minimum, you need to be engaged in self-education all your life to reach the heights and advance in your chosen specialty. This is true for absolutely any profession.

Is it possible to become a web designer without knowing how to draw?

As in the previous answer – definitely, yes. This time even more confidently. Almost all web design is, first of all, about working with your head, logic, and analytics and then – about art, pixels, layers, and colors.

Of course, you will have to learn how to correctly combine colors, draw figures in a graphic editor, and select fonts. But this has nothing to do with the skill of drawing flowers and rainbows, which you forgot to master in childhood.

I want to become a web designer, where do I start?

That’s a great question. If it regularly sounds in your head, then you are on the right track. For beginners, we suggest dividing the whole process of mastering the web design profession into 5 steps: introduction, theory, practice, development of insights, and soft skills. This format has long been tested on hundreds of students – it really works and helps to put everything into place.

1. Mastering the tools

The first thing worth getting to grips with are the tools. It’s trivial to open and play with the graphical editor, learn the layout of the panels and buttons. There are hundreds of free YouTube videos for each application.

At this point, you need to understand the basic principles of the graphic editor (they’re all very similar) and learn the tools so that as you master the theory, you can put your knowledge into practice.

2. Studying web design theory

Beginning web designers often underestimate the importance of this step. Although without understanding the basic laws and universal rules (applicable to any type of design), it will be hard to achieve a nice picture. We also recommend to break down this step into parts and master them in the following sequence:

• Composition. This section includes everything about the grid, modules, layout (not to be confused with HTML/CSS). Students learn how to correctly arrange elements on the page in general and concerning each other in particular.
• Typography. The next step in mastering the theory is working with text: the design of text blocks, heading hierarchy, working with lists and pages in isolation from colors and illustrations. Who would have thought that a simple black and white text could be so complicated?
• Color. Everything is simple here – color theory, associative rows, shades, and gradients. An extremely important point – color contrast, many beginners make a lot of mistakes in this point.
• Elements of the interface. Mankind has long invented universal elements for interface design: buttons, fields, drop-down lists, and thousands of other controls. It is important to learn how to create them from scratch, based on the objectives of a particular interface.

3. Practice

After mastering the theoretical part, you can move on to working with your hands. At the initial stage, you can forget about big orders, rich clients, and gold bars. Most likely, the first orders you will have to make either at a minimum cost or even for free. But do not take this stage as a problem.

4. Web design experience and insight

You learned the theory, put it into practice, what’s next? If you are guided solely by your previous experience, sooner or later you will find yourself at your point. To go beyond the framework, you need to study the work and solutions from other designers every day.

It’s not just about web design. Painting, architecture, landscape design, and interiors can all help you broaden your horizons and make your work richer, different from one another. Broad knowledge in the field of art will help you easily “hit” the wishes of the customer, offering him exactly the style he expects to see. Insight is an invaluable skill, a must for every cool designer.

5. Soft skills for web designer

In parallel with the study of web design, you should also not forget about the development of soft skills. They usually include everything that is not related to the direct responsibilities of a specialist but helps to work effectively and achieve good results.

For example, the skill of coordinated work in a team is one of the key skills for a designer who plans to become part of a studio or startup. The ability to resolve conflicts or “tastefully” present a product is also useful to develop for successful interaction with customers.

Where to learn web design?

• YouTube channels about web design. The world’s most popular video hosting site contains dozens of useful videos and lectures. Learning web design from scratch from YouTube videos is one of the easiest and most accessible ways.
• Books and articles. Useful educational materials on web design topics are much more often published in text form than in video format. That’s why we recommend that you subscribe to the best web design blogs to stay on top of current trends. 
• Free web design courses. These are available on the aforementioned YouTube as well as other equally well-known sites. 
• Professional courses. This category of educational courses and programs is full training, covering all the necessary knowledge in the field of web design. 
• We’ve described just a few popular ways to learn web design from scratch. Thanks to the ubiquity of the Internet, you can learn just about anything today. Remember, the most important thing is desire.