Web Designer

Hours

You would normally work 37 to 40 hours a week, Monday to Friday. You may have to work extra hours to meet deadlines or when problems occur with a website. You would arrange your own working hours if self-employed.
You would work indoors in an office or in your own home at a computer. You may spend some of your time travelling to meet clients.

Income

• Starting salaries can be between £15,000 and £20,000 a year.
• Experienced designers can earn up to £30,000.
• Senior designers, and those with specialist skills, can earn over £40,000.

Opportunities

You could work for web design companies, in the IT departments of large public and private organisations, or as a freelance designer.
If you work for a company, you could progress in your career by moving into design team management, or by expanding your skills to become a web content manager. See the related job profiles below for more details about these roles.
With experience, you could set up your own web design business.
You may find the following useful for job vacancies and general reading.

Entry Requirements

You do not usually need qualifications to become a web designer. However, most designers have experience in other design fields, or have taken training in web design, either through college or by teaching themselves.
You will need a good working knowledge of HTML, and experience in writing web pages in a combination of codes. Having a working knowledge of the following could be useful:

• Dreamweaver
• Photoshop
• Flash and Fireworks
• CSS
• Javascript
• .Net

The Work

Web designers use both creative and technical skills to build or revamp websites. They must be able to picture how a site will look (at the 'front end'), and also understand how it will work (at the 'back end').
As a web designer, you could work on anything from an interactive educational resource, to an online shopping site. Your main duties would include:

• meeting the client to discuss what they want their site to do and who it is aimed at
• preparing a design plan, showing the site structure and how the different parts link together
• deciding which text, colours and backgrounds to use
• laying out pages, positioning buttons, links and pictures, using design software
• adding multimedia features like sound, animation and video
• testing and refining the design and site features until everything works as planned
• uploading the site to a server for publication online.

Depending on the project, you may be contracted to maintain your client's website once it is up and running.

Skills and Knowledge

• an understanding of internet programming and scripting languages
• a good working knowledge of the main web design applications
• strong creative skills
• good problem-solving skills, together with a logical approach to work
• the ability to explain technical matters clearly to people who may have little knowledge of IT
• an ability to work to deadlines
• an understanding of legislation and guidelines for website accessibility
• a willingness to keep up to date with changes in technology and software
• a working knowledge of equipment such as scanners, and digital photo, video and audio equipment.