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Hello. My name is Oleh Kovalchuke. I am a web designer.
Lately when I introduce myself as a web designer I often hear, "half of my friends are web designers". How is this possible? Perhaps the reason is a simple misnomer.
I have met people who said if only they knew PhotoShop, they would be able to produce dozens of web designs a day. The truth is knowledge of image editors such as PhotoShop or CorelDraw does not make one a designer. One also needs to know general layout concepts, contrasts created by line, curve, shape and texture; color theories (yes there are several), typography etc. and then, maybe, one would qualify as a designer for print media.
| "While print design is about showing off, web design needs to show in - to direct visitor to his destination with minimal effort." |
Print media is obviously different from internet. Perhaps that is why I have met a few individuals who believed that as long as they read a book or two about HTML (in worse case scenarios they would only master DreamWeaver or FrontPage), perhaps a book or two about JavaScript, CSS, DHTML, now THAT would make them web designers. Not so - that would make them level one HTML coders. There are many browser, platform compatibility issues which change too often to be captured in a book. They would also need to learn general graphic design concepts, image editing software and a bit more.
What does make one a web designer is knowledge of all of the above combined with an understanding of dynamic website architecture and other web usability issues. While print design is about showing off, web design needs to show in - to direct visitor to his destination with minimal effort. The information flow on the web is multidimensional. Web users scan pages not only top-left to bottom-right, but also homepage to content pages, one screenshot to another screenshot. The web designer needs to account for the web behavior to construct an accessible information environment.
I like to think about web design as somewhat similar to building design. A comfortable building (useful website) is the result of the symbiosis of art, clever engineering and an understanding of human behavior. If one has experience in all three areas, then he may call himself a web designer. There is also a matter of talent, but I will not dwell on it here.
Now, how many web designers do you know?
Regards, Oleh K.
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