Is Web Design a Good Career?

Working in web design is a great way to find reliable work in a growing industry, particularly if you are willing to specialize your skills and have a good grasp on the creative part of the job. Every second, three web pages are launched, and that number is only expected to grow, meaning that Web Designers will continue to be in high demand as companies and organizations become more attuned to the importance of their digital footprint.

What is a Web Designer?

Web Designers are creative professionals who are tasked with designing the layout and assets for web pages and mobile applications. They are creative professionals who are responsible for designing evocative and visually appealing web designs for their clients, and they will work on a diverse range of different projects. They tend to be well-rounded creatives who use both creative software applications and programming knowledge to design and build web applications. Using software applications such as Figma or Adobe XD, web designers will construct the appearance and feel of both the visual and functional elements of a webpage before handing that design off to web developers who will make the design a reality. At smaller firms, a Web Designer may also be expected to work on the programming side of a web design project, so most Web Designers learn the basics of HTML/CSS and JavaScript.

Web designers are most commonly employed by design firms that contract their service to clients, though many work as self-employed freelancers or work in-house for large businesses that are regularly building or updating web applications. They will most frequently work as part of large teams of designers and developers when working on large projects, but they may also find themselves working on individual smaller assignments, particularly if they are working as freelancers. Web Designers may specialize in working on specific elements or aspects of webpages or digital applications, such as building user interfaces or working on the tactile elements of a webpage to build a positive user experience.

Web Designer Salary and Job Outlook

Web design is a varied career field, and they work in a wide range of industries, this means that salaries are going to vary depending on the company you work for and the kinds of projects you are working on. A freelance Web Designer doing odd jobs for local small businesses will make less than a full-time designer employed by Alphabet or Meta. Similarly, a designer working in Syracuse, New York, will make less than someone working in New York City. However, as a general rule, Web Designer salaries average around $65,000 a year.

Given how important a digital presence is for any company or organization, Web Designer jobs are in high demand. They are becoming slightly more competitive as technological advances make it easier to break into the field, but anyone looking for a job with a positive outlook and long-term growth potential should consider working in web design. In addition, since web design covers a broad range of fields, there is also a broad range of jobs available.

What Makes Web Design a Good Career?

There are quite a few reasons that being a Web Designer is an excellent career decision. Since virtually every industry uses the internet to connect with clients and customers, the job outlook for Web Designers is positive. In addition, it is a diverse field, meaning that you can specialize to improve your long-term earning potential (which is already good)

Positive Career Outlooks

According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, the job outlook for Web Designers is very positive. They claim that employment for Web Designers “is projected to grow 23 percent from 2021 to 2031.” As more and more companies and organizations work on building increasingly elaborate digital projects and online marketplaces, the work of Web Designers will become increasingly more important to the daily functioning of huge segments of the economy. As a result of this, the employment outlook for Web Designers is expected to increase across virtually every industry, with the spectator sports, performing arts, and nonstore retail industries seeing the largest increase relative to their current employment. Software design and digital retail look to be increasing as well, and these fields are anticipated to continue to be among the largest employers of Web Designers within the upcoming decade.

In addition to existing markets and industries, Web Designers will almost invariably be involved in any new market developments over the next decade. Any new product, service, or industry will want to build an introductory web presence that puts its best foot forward, particularly for services that rely on things like web or mobile applications to function. In the last decade, the rise of easily accessible internet streaming, ride share applications, cryptocurrency, and live-streaming content, just to name a few, created significant demand for Web Designers who could help create the digital platforms powering these new industries. This is harder to predict, but if you are invested in working on the cutting edge of the tech, financial, or retail sectors, there is a good chance that learning web design skills will set you up for success in these industries. 

Rewards Specialization

Another advantage to becoming a professional Web Designer is that it is such a varied career field that designers will be rewarded immensely for deciding to specialize in specific elements of the process. If you find the graphic design aspect of the process more interesting and empowering than the programming side of the equation, or vice versa, you will be rewarded for improving your design skills and building a career around these specific talents. Whether it is finding work as a User Experience Designer, a Front End Developer, or a User Interface Designer, there are a great many different angles that you can take to shape your career.

These specialists are also rewarded with larger starting salaries and higher lifetime earning potential than generalist designers. While the mean salary for a Web Designer is relatively competitive against the US average ($78,000 for designers vs. $65,836 for the nation), specialist designers will regularly see job offerings that top $100,000. These jobs will require more training and experience, so it is unlikely that you’ll start with a salary this high, but the long-term prospects for specialist Web Designers are excellent. Students interested in learning more about the training options available to them to learn these specializations should consult the web design course offerings provided by Noble Desktop.

Creative Opportunities

Web Design is also an excellent career path for anyone interested in turning their creative passions into a reality. A vital part of the web design process is ensuring that the finished product looks compelling and evocative since it will need to communicate a great deal of information to its audience. This means that designers with a keen creative eye and a knowledge of the intricacies of visual composition will be able to flex their creative muscles as they work on their projects. In addition, as they gain more experience and cache within the industry, they will be able to find jobs that give them increased creative control, including positions in upper management as Creative Directors or even Chief Creative Officers. In these positions, designers will be able to guide the flow of a project and put their own voice directly into the finished work.

In addition, Web Designers aren’t only going to find work in the private sector working on things like commercial webpages or online marketplaces. Web Designers will also find work in the entertainment industry, the field of creative arts, and the nonprofit sector. Advocacy groups and non-profit political organizations also need to build an evocative and persuasive web presence and this is made possible through the work of talented Web Designers. This means that anyone who wants to find creatively rewarding work outside of the private economic sector may find that a career in web design fits their needs. This is especially true for specialist designers who can help construct interactive and persuasive projects like digital documentaries, docu-games, political campaigns, or advocacy campaigns.

Solid Long-term Earn Potential

Even for non-specialist designers, a career in web design offers solid, long-term career-earning potential. Senior Web Designers and Creative Directors are job titles available for experienced Web Designers who can oversee and manage important aspects of a web design project. They won’t need a great deal of specialized training, though they will need significant on-the-job experience. These are positions reserved for designers who have spent a great deal of time in the industry, and they are paid well for their services. Senior Web Designers make as much as $104,000 a year, and Senior Web Designers who serve significant management roles can make as much as $180,000 a year.

These positions will expect you to perform significant managerial duties, and while these will vary from position to position, you’ll need to learn general project management skills to oversee the human element of any given project. While these are skills that one can pick up on the job, some aspiring designers may want to receive guided instruction on best practices for becoming a team leader or filling a role in a managerial capacity. Noble is here to help these aspiring designers, offering a wide range of project management classes that will teach designers how to handle the human and financial elements of a project to ensure that they are coming in on time and under budget.

Collaborative Work

In most cases, Web Designers work on collaborative projects, especially if they are studio or in-house designers. This can be rewarding for creatives who enjoy working with teams of invested stakeholders to produce a finished project. Not only will you be working with other designers but also other stakeholders like clients or commissioners. This can turn every design project into a creative exercise. It also will help you connect with other like-minded designers with whom you can create a professional network.

In addition, working in web design, particularly as a freelancer, will give you an opportunity to shape your own style and personal creative brand. Eventually, you will be able to find work in a position that lets you emphasize your own creative voice, either by guiding a project or being given more creative autonomy to work on projects that fit your unique style. For career freelancers, you’ll be able to take on clients who seek out your specific creative voice to be lent to their web design projects, which can be incredibly rewarding for designers looking to make their own mark on the digital design world.

Career Paths Related to Web Designer

Most career paths related to Web Designer are career paths that take one of the important skills of being a well-rounded designer and focus far more heavily on specializing in those aspects of the design process. For example, Web Developers are more technically oriented and specialize in the programming of web pages. They will learn more elaborate programming languages and work on the more complex elements of programming a digital design, such as learning how to use Python and SQL for connecting to databases or learning how to build the back end infrastructure that keeps web pages operational.

One common specialization for Web Developers is in user experience design. UX Designers are a special subset of designers who focus on the tactile feel and responsiveness of a digital interface. These experts work to understand user behavior and to understand how a webpage can be designed with prospective user behavior in mind. Since this is a field that concerns human behavior, UX Designers spend far more time researching and interacting with consumers than any other form of Web Designer, so this is an ideal career path if you are interested in a more research-oriented career field. UX Designers will build prototypes of web applications and run them through practical testing sessions to find out how real-life users are reacting to these interfaces. This is an important part of the design process for ensuring that the interactive elements of a web design project are intuitive, accessible, and easy to navigate, which are essential qualities of an essential webpage or interface.

Learn the Skills to Become a Web Designer at Noble Desktop

Students looking to build the technical skills they need to become Web Designers may want to consider the options available to them for professional training and skills development through Noble Desktop. These classes provide students with live training from expert instructors and include hands-on training and practical experience using real-world design samples. These classes are available at Noble’s Manhattan Campus or through live online instruction. No matter the delivery method, class sizes are kept small so students won’t have to compete with one another for their instructor’s attention. As a bonus, every Noble course comes with a free retake option, meaning you can take the class again within a year. This is ideal for students who want to receive more instruction and for students who want more time to gain hands-on experience that they can parlay into better job opportunities.

Students interested in becoming professional Web Designers will need a lot of skills training. For novices, Noble offers a Web Design Certificate program that will teach students how to use common web design software applications, how to code their designs in basic HTML/CSS and JavaScript, and how to use WordPress for more advanced web page design. In addition, students enrolled in this class will receive one-on-one career mentoring assistance and professional development seminars, including portfolio-building exercises. This is an ideal course for any student who wants to start a new career in the field of web design. Noble also offers more targeted programs, such as the UX/UI Design Certificate program, which prepares students to design interactive interfaces for digital applications and products. This focused career-program de-emphasizes the importance of learning to code and emphasizes the importance of tactile user experience design.

Students who have a measure of professional training and are seeking to expand their skills may want to instead consider enrolling in one of Noble’s skills bootcamps. For example, in Noble’s Figma Bootcamp, students will learn how to use Adobe’s Figma software application to build interactive prototypes of web designs in order to test their functionality before beginning the coding process. This is an invaluable tool for any Web Designer to know how to use, and in a bootcamp, you can focus on learning individual skills to improve your own career standing.

Key Takeaways

• Web design careers are excellent paths for anyone who is looking for in-demand, creative work that rewards specialization.
• Jobs in the field of web design are expected to grow nearly 25% in the next decade, with the big winners being sports and entertainment web design and digital retail.
• Specialists working in computer programming or interface design will see their yearly salaries increase greatly.
• Working in web design is also an opportunity for designers to work with like-minded creatives or to build their own personal brand and develop a style that is sought out by clients.
• Students interested in learning more about working as a Web Designer or about how to specialize in specific elements of web design should consider enrolling in one of Noble Desktop’s professional development courses. These courses are available at Noble’s Manhattan campus or in private, live online classrooms.