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hi if there are any well established web designers out there, i could use ur help. I am thinking of a carreer in web design and am about to sign up to a course with UKIT in tolworth. The cost of the course is £2550. Do you think this cost sounds about right for a professional qualification? Becoming an CIW webmaster. And is the current demand for web designers high or not really needed? thanks for your replies. mr mix
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Tequila Sunset wrote:
If you get up to speed with the powerful
> languages of today (the ones that Tyla mentioned mostly ;D ) starting
> with Java (after HTML, CSS and JavaScript of course - but they're
> easy.)
>
What's this? Branching out into the role of software developer now, are we? Noooooooooo
If you get up to speed with the powerful
> languages of today (the ones that Tyla mentioned mostly ;D ) starting
> with Java (after HTML, CSS and JavaScript of course - but they're
> easy.)
>
What's this? Branching out into the role of software developer now, are we? Noooooooooo
Courses are pointless, really, you have enough resources to teach yourself and save you a fair bit of money.
I'm hoping to do something in web design, I've already got a basic layout for an online CV done and I'm currently mid way through learning Perl, finally getting it up and running online. I've self-learned all of this and haven't had any trouble; while getting stuck can a problem as you normally have no one to ask, if you keep plugging away you'll eventually get an answer.
If you really are stumped there are always forums like this to get minor help, and other websites specifically for help in certain fields of web design.
I'm hoping to do something in web design, I've already got a basic layout for an online CV done and I'm currently mid way through learning Perl, finally getting it up and running online. I've self-learned all of this and haven't had any trouble; while getting stuck can a problem as you normally have no one to ask, if you keep plugging away you'll eventually get an answer.
If you really are stumped there are always forums like this to get minor help, and other websites specifically for help in certain fields of web design.
Yes, the web industry is saturated and yes, it CAN be hard to find work in the sector. It doesn't mean that you have to be discouraged though. To be successful in the marketplace you'll need to get yourself as a valuable freelancer who stands out from the bog standard companies. If you get up to speed with the powerful languages of today (the ones that Tyla mentioned mostly ;D ) starting with Java (after HTML, CSS and JavaScript of course - but they're easy.)
As you do this you'll also need to develop a good graphical style and an exceptional eye for colour (do some colour theory for starters). Start to look at everything around you, from contempory furniture set to a MacDonalds toy and think how you'd change the design or how the colours work together to please your eye. Also talk to other web designers and discuss with them about their ideas on such matters of design, they'll help you to get your own critical eye (www.webdesignforums.net is a good place to start - sorry SR!) or look on www.alistapart.com for articles written by other professionals (my recommendation).
Splash out a little on the tools that you need for the trade, but don't go insane. Dreamweaver, Photoshop and Flash are the essentials on the web. Dreamweaver will cut coding times down with its code hints. Photoshop will allow you to create the fantastic web graphics you'll need and Flash is the 'in' thing at the moment, so it's worth learning well.
You'll need to make an incredibly good portfolio site for yourself, technically it should be better than any site you ever design for any of your clients. It IS you, make it as good as you can. Before you have your first clients this will be your proof of your design skills.
Next you'll need some clients, they are unlikely to come to you in the early days so look closer around you. Do members of your family or your friends have businesses. Do they have websites? If they do or if they need one this is a good start to make. You'll make a little and get some examples in your folio and some good testimonials.
Next you can fill the gap in two ways: Advertisment or Cold-Calling. To advertise the best way in my experience is to advertise in print. Put an ad in the local paper in the beginning and then move up to business papers etc. With cold-calling you look for companies that either don't have a website, or have one that is out of date. If you can get hold of their address send the a letter to the company in an HANDWRITTEN envelope with a post-it note of the person you want it send to on. There are also freelance sites you can visit for work, but they're very hit and miss.
Some advice also for working with clients. Always draw up a contract and dress smartly when meeting with them. The first is to stop you working on a dead project that will leave you open mouthed when they deny involvement with the project. Dressign smartly makes you look professional makes you look more important and gains you respect on at least one level. This helps your reputation by word of mouth and at your consultation.
Also don't be surprised in the early days if you have little work or a low profit from the business. My advice would be to take an Oracle Database course, it would help you with your database skills and earn you a lot of money on the side (companies will pay up to £500 a day for qualified Oracle engineers!)
Individuality, Functionality, Aesthetics, Ergonomics, Anthropmetrics - The keys to being successful in the web today. Follow these steps and you'll find yourself in an exciting and lucrative career.
As you do this you'll also need to develop a good graphical style and an exceptional eye for colour (do some colour theory for starters). Start to look at everything around you, from contempory furniture set to a MacDonalds toy and think how you'd change the design or how the colours work together to please your eye. Also talk to other web designers and discuss with them about their ideas on such matters of design, they'll help you to get your own critical eye (www.webdesignforums.net is a good place to start - sorry SR!) or look on www.alistapart.com for articles written by other professionals (my recommendation).
Splash out a little on the tools that you need for the trade, but don't go insane. Dreamweaver, Photoshop and Flash are the essentials on the web. Dreamweaver will cut coding times down with its code hints. Photoshop will allow you to create the fantastic web graphics you'll need and Flash is the 'in' thing at the moment, so it's worth learning well.
You'll need to make an incredibly good portfolio site for yourself, technically it should be better than any site you ever design for any of your clients. It IS you, make it as good as you can. Before you have your first clients this will be your proof of your design skills.
Next you'll need some clients, they are unlikely to come to you in the early days so look closer around you. Do members of your family or your friends have businesses. Do they have websites? If they do or if they need one this is a good start to make. You'll make a little and get some examples in your folio and some good testimonials.
Next you can fill the gap in two ways: Advertisment or Cold-Calling. To advertise the best way in my experience is to advertise in print. Put an ad in the local paper in the beginning and then move up to business papers etc. With cold-calling you look for companies that either don't have a website, or have one that is out of date. If you can get hold of their address send the a letter to the company in an HANDWRITTEN envelope with a post-it note of the person you want it send to on. There are also freelance sites you can visit for work, but they're very hit and miss.
Some advice also for working with clients. Always draw up a contract and dress smartly when meeting with them. The first is to stop you working on a dead project that will leave you open mouthed when they deny involvement with the project. Dressign smartly makes you look professional makes you look more important and gains you respect on at least one level. This helps your reputation by word of mouth and at your consultation.
Also don't be surprised in the early days if you have little work or a low profit from the business. My advice would be to take an Oracle Database course, it would help you with your database skills and earn you a lot of money on the side (companies will pay up to £500 a day for qualified Oracle engineers!)
Individuality, Functionality, Aesthetics, Ergonomics, Anthropmetrics - The keys to being successful in the web today. Follow these steps and you'll find yourself in an exciting and lucrative career.
Like I said: if we bump off Tyla ...
Heh. Seriously, though, there's a hell of a lot more to this web thing than I ever imagined when I did my first site using Compuserve's HomePage.
Nowadays I have the luxury of being retired and doing the odd site for family or friends - the most I've ever charged is £200 and even then I said "£50", but the guy gave me more for tax reasons!
Heh. Seriously, though, there's a hell of a lot more to this web thing than I ever imagined when I did my first site using Compuserve's HomePage.
Nowadays I have the luxury of being retired and doing the odd site for family or friends - the most I've ever charged is £200 and even then I said "£50", but the guy gave me more for tax reasons!
*takes shelter*
Firstly, we make money as we have a "captive audience". We provide publishing solutions for academics, societies and universities. Online publishing is huge at the moment and there's plenty of money there, especially for custom CMS systems and content delivery.
Getting into the industry is a lot more difficult these days. I was lucky, I got in just before the .com crash and survived it by going into publishing. I have firend who work for one of the biggest agencies in the UK who have't been paid for months due to the current state of the industry!
It's very rare to find a "design" specific role these day. More and more firms want a "jack of all trades". Though this is slowly dropping as there is now more need for standards coiompliant coders and specialits in GUI design, HCI and Accessibility (ME!)
I'd reccomend taking up .NET and C# (as well as PFP, CFML, ASP, JSP and XML/xSLT) to improve you availablity and studying the world of standards compliancy and Accessibility as this is the way forward atm. Pure CSS and symantic markup is huge too. HAND CODING is equally improtant too as WYSIWYG is becoming a thing of the past.
I've been looking at couses around, especially as I am about to do my MSc in Web Technologies, but there isn't much there that a good book and practice can't teach you!
If you serious about design, there's more to it that slapping something together and making it work... Look at colour theory/psychology, HCI, GUI design and human relationships, Graphic Design, Typography and usability. There's a lot more to it that making images in paintshop and marking up a site in frontpage!
There's aslo more of a need for project management and planning! Gone are the days where designers just created concepts, there's all the admin and paperwork to go with it now!
If you want to know any more, give us a shout... I could prattle on about how difficult it is freelancing these days, but I do have the added bonus of being a print designer too, and there's still a need for that. (I'm also a qualified Mechanical Engineer/Draghtsman)
Buy the buy, this is an awesome industry to get into one you make it and one you'll never get bored with! And the only one where being a "geek" is actually cool!
Firstly, we make money as we have a "captive audience". We provide publishing solutions for academics, societies and universities. Online publishing is huge at the moment and there's plenty of money there, especially for custom CMS systems and content delivery.
Getting into the industry is a lot more difficult these days. I was lucky, I got in just before the .com crash and survived it by going into publishing. I have firend who work for one of the biggest agencies in the UK who have't been paid for months due to the current state of the industry!
It's very rare to find a "design" specific role these day. More and more firms want a "jack of all trades". Though this is slowly dropping as there is now more need for standards coiompliant coders and specialits in GUI design, HCI and Accessibility (ME!)
I'd reccomend taking up .NET and C# (as well as PFP, CFML, ASP, JSP and XML/xSLT) to improve you availablity and studying the world of standards compliancy and Accessibility as this is the way forward atm. Pure CSS and symantic markup is huge too. HAND CODING is equally improtant too as WYSIWYG is becoming a thing of the past.
I've been looking at couses around, especially as I am about to do my MSc in Web Technologies, but there isn't much there that a good book and practice can't teach you!
If you serious about design, there's more to it that slapping something together and making it work... Look at colour theory/psychology, HCI, GUI design and human relationships, Graphic Design, Typography and usability. There's a lot more to it that making images in paintshop and marking up a site in frontpage!
There's aslo more of a need for project management and planning! Gone are the days where designers just created concepts, there's all the admin and paperwork to go with it now!
If you want to know any more, give us a shout... I could prattle on about how difficult it is freelancing these days, but I do have the added bonus of being a print designer too, and there's still a need for that. (I'm also a qualified Mechanical Engineer/Draghtsman)
Buy the buy, this is an awesome industry to get into one you make it and one you'll never get bored with! And the only one where being a "geek" is actually cool!
ok, and the method of this slaughter?
Perhaps just form a linch mob...
*runs out into street with a flaming torch looking for Timmargh*
Perhaps just form a linch mob...
*runs out into street with a flaming torch looking for Timmargh*
Timmargh wrote:
> If we bumped off Tyla and his colleagues then we could put our prices
> up a few quid.
>
> Just a thought ...
theborg wrote:
> hmm, you have got me interested, please elaborate...
>
> the borg
Well, what we'd do first is kill Tyla and his colleagues. Then we'd put our prices up by a few extra pounds.
> If we bumped off Tyla and his colleagues then we could put our prices
> up a few quid.
>
> Just a thought ...
theborg wrote:
> hmm, you have got me interested, please elaborate...
>
> the borg
Well, what we'd do first is kill Tyla and his colleagues. Then we'd put our prices up by a few extra pounds.
Timmargh wrote:
> If we bumped off Tyla and his colleagues then we could put our prices
> up a few quid.
>
> Just a thought ...
hmm, you have got me interested, please elaborate...
the borg
> If we bumped off Tyla and his colleagues then we could put our prices
> up a few quid.
>
> Just a thought ...
hmm, you have got me interested, please elaborate...
the borg
If we bumped off Tyla and his colleagues then we could put our prices up a few quid.
Just a thought ...
Just a thought ...
I am currently doing a City and Guilds HTML course which I am only using as an access for my HND and later to study C ++ and VB. What Phi11ip said is true though, web designers aren't pulling in hhe bucks like they did a couple of years back and thats mainly down to programs like Front Page and perhaps to a lesser extent Dreamweaver.
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