I found this article a couple of months back from an old web design forum and saved it because I knew how golden it was for people looking for a career in the web design and development world. Ever since I’ve been showing it to as many related people as possible, here goes;

Dear You.

I have been around the block a few times here in this great big world wide web of design and website creation. Over the years I see the same mistakes over and over again. I really wanted to let everybody in on some things that might help you in the future. I am not going to lecture you on the nit picky things, but more a broad overview that might help you in your career if you chose to pursue web design as a field.

=======================
Design Vs. Coding
=======================

One of the biggest things I see people doing wrong, mainly kids coming out of school and lots of freelancers, is that they think to be a web designer they need to know everything: Programming, CSS, PHP, How to Design, Flash etc.

If you are going to design, design. If you are going to code, code. Don’t try and do both unless you are freelancing. Even if you are freelancing it is a good thing to get a partner to code if you design and visa versa.

Most all agencies now days have designers that design in photoshop and illustrator and do layouts, and coders that then take these “layouts” / Interactive Storyboards and create the site.

I see way to many kids start in dreamweaver to try and build their site. DON’T DON’T DON’T. Sketch out your site, start in photoshop and end in photoshop. NEVER start in dreamweaver or code. Always start on paper with rough sketches or at the very least photoshop. Plan out if you want to use illustration styles, photography 3d etc. Then bring that into photoshop and create a sweet layout with all these elements. Then take your final layout, story board pages of your layouts that indicate multiple pages and motion, and have somebody else code it up.

I started out doing both design and code, and I suffered from it. I thought that to be a great web designer I needed to learn EVERYTHING. This is a huge down falling of people and can lead to very frustrating times. Usually what happens is a person will have good design skills and not the greatest coding skills and end up floundering in both or Visa Versa progressing very very slow in both.

I have been designing and art directing sites for many years now in agencies, and I have yet again to code one up in flash or html/php etc.

Design if you want to design, code if you want to code. Do both if you really need to, but if you can, try not to. Some people out there are geniuses and can do both very well, but for 95% of us you will find when you concentrate on design you will progress much faster in your design skills than if you do both. Same with coding. Also if you do one or the other, this will save your sanity. I hated designing a site, then by the time it was approved, I had to start coding it all up. It was all I could do to look at it over and over.

When you just design, you get to skip the coding part and get some new fresh design projects on your fingers much sooner and your sanity will stay intact.

=======================
Ideas vs. Design Ideas.
=======================
Many designers and web designers starting out see these great sites out there such as that Vodofone site that everybody loves or the Phillips Body Grooming site. They have great design, but is that really why they succeeds? No.

The problem with new designers is they think everything starts out in photoshop. They think that every time a client wants a site it is a design challenge. Yes sometimes sites are just redesigning a look and feel. But even then a designer needs to think about the architecture and interface design of a site before even toughing the design.

The thing is, these great sites out there never start with design.

They start with ideas.

Most of these great huge sites out there never even see design time until the later stages. When agencies and people pitch sites such as the vodofone site or subservient chicken, or the Phillips body grooming site, They pretty much show drawn boards and pitch an idea, not design. Sometimes agencies pitch ideas with design, but honestly, the only reason you show design up front is to get the client excited. But this is a risk. Why? Because many great ideas have been killed because an agency has pitched and idea with design, and the client gets hung up on the design and the way things are going to look and completely miss the big idea. Presenting Design up front can help you win a project if the client likes your design, but it can also kill you. It is a risky thing to do.

Ideally a person should be able sell a site with only your words coming out of your mouth and a simple paragraph leave behind if need be.

I encourage you new designers or floundering designer to pick up on when a client wants a simple design or wants something more. Don’t always assume that if a client wants a site, it is just a redesign. Many times you can up sell them on an experience if their needs dictate it.

Yes, many sites are simply design challenges, but even these design challenges deserve to have thought and idea up front.

Many young designers think that they are going to become Creative Director in 2 years because they design well, this is far from the truth youngin. Many Creative Directors, infact most all suck at design, A creative director and art director etc are about presenting ideas, thinking up ideas and leading. Many interactive art directors now days are good designers, but even these guys start out with Ideas, Boards, and presentation before they wow the client with design.

If you want to advance in your design career, the best thing you can do is:

• Learn how to present

• Think up good ideas

• Lead

Sure you can design and become a good designer, but you won’t get far in your career if you want to get more money and a higher position and security. Think about it. How many older designers do you know?

=======================
Your Work and Portfolio
=======================

For everybody here. You need to worry more about what is in your portfolio than your portfolio.

When you create a site to show your work, and it is better than your work, that is a very bad thing. When you create a bad site for some mediocre work, that is bad. When you create a bad site for some good work, that is bad.

Coming from somebody that looks at portfolios everyday for hiring purposes, the best sites I see that show work is something clean and simple and I can see your work with 1 click or less.

Rule of thumb. You should be able to get a job by showing jpegs of your work on a clean white page of nothingness if need be with an email link.

If your work can’t stand up by itself you have failed.

Spend more time making your work better than designing portfolio after portfolio site. I see way to many kids out there spend months on sites when they could have created a few Band posters, some band sites or get a freelance gig for a local company. Not only will this give you better experience, but you will now have more portfolio pieces for your site rather that diddling around with a stupid portfolio website that only distracts the user from your work.

Honestly, I would rather receive an email with 10 jpegs attached of great work than have to navigate and click 50 times to see a piece of work, see another portfolio where the user makes their portfolio images the size of a stamp or look at another mediocre site with mediocre work because the creator decided to waste his time away on a portfolio site for months.

=======================
Getting a Job
=======================
Right now the industry is hot, there are plenty of jobs out there, but there is a catch.

Clients (some clients) today are savy and are becoming more knowledgeable about the internet and what is good and bad. The sites people are making today are amazing and require some of the top guns out there to do them.

The catch is most of these jobs require people with good experience and proven ability.

So how do you land a job then? Well you gotta start out as a Jr. Designer and prove your self.

To land a job as a Jr. Interactive Designer you need to show good design skill and the ability to apply them to the web. Personally I think the best web designers are graphic designers that turned web.

What we look for in a Jr. Designer is very good design skills such as good print and photoshop skills and some or lots of experience in web. We would rather hire a person with good design skills and less web, than a person with tons of web and crappy design.

Also one pet peeve during the interview. When you go in to the interview and they ask you what you like doing and your passions are or what you can contribute to our company, let them know you like to design if its a design job. What I hateeee is people that say …

“Well I like to design, but I would love to try motion and flash and aftereffects, I think it is what I really love, and I really want to learn to code too, and maybe even project manage!”

GAH! If you are coming in for a design job, you better say “I love to design and my life revolves around it!”

It is ok to say you also would like to try things that are related to design down the road, like Motion or 3D. But for petes sake, if I ask you what you like doing the best or what you want to do in the company, you better tell me you love the job you are applying for.

When we look for candidates we look for the following.

1. Design skills or the potential for good skills
2. That you are not insane and mix well with people and can at least complete a sentence and speak somewhat well.

thats pretty much it. honestly, in the design and web programing world, we could care less if you went to Harvard or to Madam Skanks Web Design Class.

We only care about how awesome your portfolio is and that you are not insane and will mesh ok with us.

Submit your resume and online portfolio to multiple agencies. If you don’t here back from anybody, you should keep trying but also get feedback from other people and see if your work is any good.

A good place to find jobs is at http://www.newstoday.com , 2nd column at the top.

Hope this helps

Cheers