- Hey everybody, this is Roberto Blake
of RobertoBlake.com
helping you create something awesome today.
So today, we're gonna talk about
career expectations for web designers in 2016.
A lot of you are new web designers,
or you're thinking of moving in to this field,
or are using this to expand your overall design career,
and what you can offer an employer.
So I'm gonna walk you through some of
the new expectations that you can expect
in the marketplace if you're thinking about
becoming a web designer,
or if you're already a web designer who feels like
you're struggling to get job opportunities,
or new clients and some things that might
actually help you in your career going forward.
Mobile design and using responsive design workflows,
so that you can have websites that are consistent,
as far as their visual branding,
and the way that they communicate across multiple devices,
has never been more valuable,
and more important to people in the marketplace
because a lot of times the first experience
that consumers have of a website
is on a mobile device now because
everyone has a smart phone.
As a web designer, it's important to show
clients and employers that you understand this,
and so what I would recommend is that
you build some mobile first,
or some responsive designs,
and have those in your portfolio.
And again, make this super easy on people.
Do a couple of different things.
One, consider doing mock ups,
and doing a visual portfolio with case studies,
and some very easy to consume information
around how you approach mobile and responsive design.
Do this using tools like Adobe Illustrator to
actually build these things out,
almost in like an infographics style
and present that in a portfolio.
Also, consider linking these PDF examples
to an actual live demo of a website that you built
that's either mobile or responsive.
This gonna help provide much needed context
for an employer or for a client,
and it's actually gonna show them that
you can execute on these things,
but also that you can communicate them
in an intelligent way that they will understand,
without having to be a technical person.
That's one of the other things I want to
address in this video.
You need to understand that
you can't attack these situations with jargon.
You can't attack people in the marketplace
by trying to show them just how smart
and clever you are.
I know that sometimes to validate yourself,
and to feel comfortable,
that's something that people get in the habit of doing,
but I think it's important to have
clarity of communication,
and so you have to simplify things for people.
You have to also understand that
they're not going to be nearly as impressed with
the long array of coding languages that you know.
I know a lot of you are probably not going to
like that answer.
You know, it's the reality.
The reality is that the people who are in the hiring chair,
most of the time,
unless you're going to work at a web development,
or IT company,
if you're gonna go work at a in house design position,
an actual brick and mortar business,
or a company that is not IT specialized,
they're not interested in that.
They want to see well designed things for consumers.
Something that their customer understands,
and so you still need to speak in layman's terms,
and communicate as simply as possible.
I actually talk about this in my video for
talking to non-designers.
Definitely make sure you check out that video here in
the graphic design playlist.
With that in mind,
visually appealing websites matter.
If you can code, that's great if you want to be
a programmer and developer,
but you still need to understand typography and layout,
and things like white space,
and how to utilize these things to make visually pleasing,
aesthetically beautiful web designs for all devices,
and that's gonna really matter to employers because
they're selling a polished product.
They're not selling your code.
I know that we talk about form following function
but in talking about sales and marketing,
and what the bottom line is for a CEO,
or a small business, or a start up,
the presentation, the form,
the appearance of the website,
the appearance of the product,
is part of the function of making money.
If it doesn't look good,
no one is gonna figure out that it's broken
because they're gonna move on to the next thing
because it's unattractive.
This is just how human beings think,
and as web designers,
sometimes we're resistant to this idea because
it affects our sensibilities,
or we're being romantic about the value that we create.
When really we have to remember that
it's only valuable if end users and consumers can use it
in an intelligent and intuitive way without
a lot of expertise,
or without an instruction manual before hand.
Speaking of breaking into the marketplace,
you really do need to have a strong body
and portfolio of work.
Sometimes this might mean that you have to
actually do mock ups and demos,
which means working for yourself for free,
or even possibly working for other people for free.
But if you're turned off by that prospect,
consider instead making website templates,
and selling them in marketplaces like
ThemeForest through Envato.
This also does another interesting thing for you.
It gives you the opportunity to make passive income,
while also selling a product,
and you can also upsell the service
of supporting that product.
So those things are also very valuable,
and they'll actually show that
you know what you're doing,
and you'll have actual demos of live websites
in your portfolio.
So this could be very advantageous for you,
and will actually impress both clients and employers.
In terms of career expectations for getting hired,
understand that you do still need to invest in
visual design skills beyond your coding.
You still have to really show that you have
strong typography skills,
and that you can combine those with
the functionality for web,
and that you understand how all that works,
and that you can communicate with an art team,
or with other designers.
You're not gonna often find yourself working in a silo.
You're going to have to be part of a team.
So showing that you can empathize,
and understand what the skills sets that
other people have,
and that you can integrate that is important.
You also need to be understanding the
content management systems that make sense
for the industry that you want to work in.
In some cases that might be WordPress.
In other cases it might be some type of
e-commerce platform.
Just make sure that you're not completely
relying on your skills,
your familiarity with a specific coding language,
or what have you because
you don't want to leave an opportunity on the table.
I know that focus sounds really good,
but being well rounded is very attractive to employers
because the expectation now is to wear multiple hats.
Specialists are not nearly as attractive in the marketplace
as they used to be,
and that's just an economic reality that
we have to live with as creative professionals.
It's unfortunate,
a lot of you don't like it,
but if you understand that and you prepare for it,
then you have a better chance of getting hired,
and being able to make a living.
Well I hope this gives you some more perspective
on the career expectations for web designers going forward
in 2016 and just remember,
that it's not about what we think
as the creatives in the industry.
It's about what people in the hiring chair are thinking.
As someone who has had the opportunity
to hire people to bring on the larger projects,
and collaborate,
and work as an art director,
or hire and vet people on the behalf of clients,
or someone who has actually worked and sat in
the hiring chair in an agency,
I can tell you that the priorities that we set as creatives
are not necessarily always in alignment with the priorities
to a business person,
and that if you have employer empathy,
it will be a lot easier for you to get new clients,
or to get a job opportunity if you want to be
an in house designer in any capacity.
Much in the same way that you should be
putting yourself in the shoes of the person that
has to use the thing that you're building.
Anyway, I hope you found this video helpful.
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As always you guys,
thanks so very much for watching,
and don't forget,
create something awesome today.