In a world where websites are a necessary part of any marketing and advertising plan, learning web design also becomes a necessity. While there are many tools that can help you design your website, it can really make a big difference when you learn website design. This article will walk you through some of the basic skills and knowledge that you need on how to learn web designing.
What is Web Design?
Some people never grasp the concept that there is a person behind the amazing web design they see on every website they visit. Web design involves both creative and technical skills. Contrary to popular belief, it perfectly combines aesthetics and the coding script. It is not just about how it visually looks or appears. More than the colors, the text, the layout, web design is also about making sure that the website works well. It involves ensuring that all the elements look good together and that all the elements are working to make the user experience of the site the best that it can be. This is one of the primary and most important things you should keep in mind while you learn web design.
10 Tips on How to Learn Web Design
1. Be Ready to Learn and Explore
Image taken from Strikingly User’s Website
Learning web design is not a linear process - much like everything new that you need to learn. There will always be a learning curve. Thus, when you are just starting to learn web design, you should have the mindset of a student and an explorer. Get ready to be surprised by new concepts and ideas you come across. Be ready to have something you know be proven as false and ineffective. Don’t be afraid to make mistakes early in the process because it is one of the ways on how to learn website designing. Understand that you won’t always get things right, but always remember that true learning comes from learning from our mistakes. And in the end, keep in mind that learning web design will be worth all the trouble and stress.
2. Know and Appreciate the Concepts of Visual Design
Visual design is a fundamental element of web design. Some people even think that web design is just the visual design of a website, which is wrong. Nevertheless, learning about visual design indeed will make a big difference in your journey to learn web design. Visual design involves knowing and understanding the different elements that you put together in a design. You should be armed with even the basics of how different shapes, colors, lines, spaces, grids, and textures all work together. While some are born with an innate eye for these things, there are many things you can find online to learn more about visual design that would eventually help you in learning web design.
3. Typography is Key
Image taken from Strikingly User’s Website
Besides the elements of visual design mentioned above, the text is also one of the most important things you should give attention to in learning web design. There is also art in how the text you see on websites is designed and placed. It is important that when you learn web design; you give focus on the font types that will be most appropriate for your website. You should also be mindful of how big or small the font size should be and how you will position them on your website. Don’t just shrug away on how you put typography on your site. The information necessary for websites to be effective and helpful are more or less as text.
4. Understand the Principles of Creating Layouts
Putting all the elements together is no simple task. One of the many things you will realize while learning web design is the fact that creating layouts is one of the most important aspects of web design. Be familiar with the different layouts and patterns that you can use in your web design. Eventually, when you learn web design, you’ll see how important it is that you lay out all the elements that ensure an effective flow of information and elements. Keep in mind that no matter how good your elements and visuals are, it will be overlooked if your layout is not done in a smooth and organized way.
5. Learn About UX (User Experience)
Image taken from Strikingly User’s Website
From this point forward, hold on to your seats because these next tips are about the technical aspects of your journey of learning web design. We start off with a tip to learn about UX or User Experience. When you learn web design, keep in mind that all the visual elements and the layouts are all about ensuring the best user experience. But there are a few other UX principles that you need to learn in order to do your job better. This involves understanding how your layout and elements invoke feelings and engage your audience. Learning about user personas, wireframes, information architecture and other UX principles will help you advance your skills in learning web design.
6. Acquaint Yourself With UI (User Interface)
User Interface and user experience are two related factors. Understanding user interface will help you while you learn web design because it is also an important element on any website. User interface refers to how you prompt elements on your websites to do specific actions. It refers to the systems that you placed on your website that will allow your site visitors to interact with your website. In learning web design, you learn to appreciate how the buttons, systems, and patterns you put enhance the usability, efficiency, and effectiveness of your website. Two primary principles to get you started on UI are intuitive design and simplicity. That is, your design should engage and be interactive, but is not too complex and complicated to navigate through.
7. Be Familiar With HTML and CSS
Image taken from Strikingly User’s Website
HTML and CSS are two web coding languages you must be familiar with. While there are some website builders, like Strikingly, that you can use for learning web design and applying it to your website without learning how to do coding, it is still helpful to know even the basics of it. When you learn web design, you will come across information that might confuse you as it involves coding. It will really help if you know a bit about it just to help you program some parts of your website. Nevertheless, you can also dive deep into it if you’re really interested in it because it will really advance your skills as a web designer. But basic understanding can still really help you on your journey on how to learn web design.
8. Educate Yourself With Some SEO Techniques
Search engine optimization techniques are important because, contrary to popular beliefs, they aren't just applicable in the content of your website. SEO techniques can be used in all the other elements of your website. As you learn web design, keep in mind how you can do it in a way that optimizes your website. Learning web design would enable you to enhance your SEO ranking in many aspects, but conversely, SEO techniques can assist you as well in designing your website. Designing your website with SEO in mind will eventually lead you to design a much better website for you or your clients.
9. Experiment, Experiment, and Learn
As mentioned earlier, learning web design, much like other endeavors, involves a learning curve. That is, you really won’t get it right at first or every single time after that. For one of our last tips on how to learn web designing, we want to tell you to experiment as much as you can. You can customize and edit your website as much as you want before you publish them. It will take up much of your time but it will eventually be worth it. Playing with different elements, systems, patterns, and designs will help you learn about what works best. It will also help you to establish your own particular style. As you learn web design, you would establish how you want things done and how you want your finished products to look.
Image taken from Strikingly User’s Website
10. Ask Questions and Get Some Help
It will never be wrong to ask questions and get some help. Let go of the pride and the notion that you have to do everything on your own. There are many materials that you can use as references if you're confused or having difficulty with anything you encounter while learning web design. There are also a lot of web design specialists and experts that you can reach out to, ask and consult. As you learn web design, you would start to appreciate the community that surrounds you. Be reminded that being part of that community means being open to criticisms, suggestions, and support.
Designing Your Website With Strikingly
- Sign up or log in with Strikingly.
- Browse through hundreds of templates.
- Explore your Site Editor.
Strikingly allows you to add different sections to your website. (Store, Blog, Call to Action, Media, Contact & Forms, Gallery, Image and Video, Text, and other advanced features) as you learn web design and what methods work for what you have in mind. You can change the background and the layout of each of these sections.
Image taken from Strikingly Product
You can also edit and change the font type, font size, and font color of your titles and texts. You can modify the color scheme of your entire website. Edit the width, shape, and alignment of your sections and your buttons. You can also customize the different animations for your background, image links, and your page scroll.
Image taken from Strikingly Product
There are also a lot of other settings that you can edit as you explore and learn web design. You can edit blog posts, look at your audience and order lists, change your promotional tactics, and edit your domain. Strikingly has many features that you can incorporate into your website that would really make your website the best that it can be.
Image taken from Strikingly Product
When you learn web design, you arm yourself with a tool that will help you in your business or in your career for years to come. Websites are a primary source of information and marketing tools today. And so learning web design and applying it to your website can really help you set yourself apart from everyone else in the industry. Website builders, like Strikingly, help you achieve this goal and purpose and you won’t even have to dive deep into the coding and technical aspects of web design. Sign up now and start exploring what you have learned in web designing!
