Where to grow as a web designer. And how to feel the moment “it’s time”
Where to grow as a web designer. And how to feel the moment “it’s time”
Everyone comes to and leaves web design in different ways. To leave, in this case, means to evolve. The exit point directly depends on the type of activity: freelance, full-time studio employment, or work in a grocery company.
Freelance
Freelance is the most “brave” type of design activity. Often, this is a complete lack of consistency and regulation. Of course, I agree that the ideal task manager is his own brain, but not in this case. In addition, the legal side of freelancing is rarely looked at. The main plus is direct communication with the client and immersion in his business (well, well). Also, I would like to note close cooperation with programmers, illustrators and authors. And their search.
(no way)
Designer design
Studio
Working in the studio – stability, a minimum of communication with the client side and the prospect of growth to a managerial position. But, in reality, this is often boring, conveyor-based work that kills creativity in the bud due to the strict regulation of actions. Especially when you are in the junior / middle position. And designers are known to have planet-sized egos. The good thing about the studio is that it frees you from looking for clients and makes it possible to separate your work and personal time. In addition, a note in the portfolio about the experience of working in the studio has a positive effect on further employment.
Manager and performers
Product
Working within a product (or product system) teaches you to pay more attention to the planning stage and details. Gives a deep understanding of the principles of working with target audience, ample opportunities for A / B testing and interpretation of analytic data. It is advisable to go into a product when you have experience in implementing completely different projects, both in essence and in style. Because product design implies certain limitations in development that prevent you from developing professional skills in visualization. But, of course, this cannot be called a dogma. Especially if the product needs promotional items.
The Product Designer Thinking
What’s next?
Designers want to be art directors. And the art director wants his own business. But, most forget that the captain knows every frame of his ship. The same situation is with the art director – each decision directly affects the work (efficiency) of the project or a separate function. To grow from a performer
in a leader it is not enough to be a professional in his field, you need to be well acquainted with related areas.
Inside web design, besides designing interfaces
and user interactions (UI / UX), it is possible and necessary to develop in several separate directions:
Content
A designer, in my opinion, must be able to write catchy texts, create content and its architecture on pages. Cool content will be read even if it is written with acidic Comic Sans on a purple background.
Branding
Very often (especially on freelance) a client comes without a single visual image of the company. A natural question arises:
“In what style should you create a site?” To what you get the answer, of course, is very ambiguous. Branding skills will be useful to a web designer for money reasons (yes, this is a Cap) – you can offer it as an additional service to a client, and eventually move into this design plane altogether. They say that they pay more there, but this is not certain.
Graphic arts
Retouching photos and illustrations. Increase the project budget
and hire someone who will draw everything? No, you haven’t heard. And on the internet
it is not always possible to find suitable graphics for a project. An acquaintance of mine who has been engaged in website design for 4 years. Then, he abruptly changed his activity and now works in game development, as a level designer. Sends a selfie from Asia, with a contented and tanned face.
Internet Marketing
A website is simply a platform for transforming traffic into customers. Understanding the principles of attracting visitors and the differences in advertising channels helps to correctly build information
and the semantic architecture of the pages. This means optimizing efficiency.
Project management
Competent management is the key to project efficiency. The ability to clearly assign tasks to performers and keep time under control is a direct path to getting a leadership position.
Reputation is always ahead of you. And the team is more important than the client.
Modern web designer
Is it time?
It is quite simple to understand when it is time to move to the next step – if problems are solved easily and interest in the business gradually disappears, then it has already grown. In this situation, first you need to decide whether you need to go further or you should change your activity.
If you want to stay, you need to increase the value of your time. Require a team and authority to lead projects.
And in practice, justify, first of all, before oneself, changing conditions. The most important thing is to be able to admit your mistakes and correct them.
What if you are tired of everything? Understand where you can make money with your knowledge and experience. Web design provides a unique insight into clients’ business processes. In fact, entrepreneurs voluntarily share their secrets with designers. What to do about it? Everyone has their own answer.
Source: designpub.ru
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