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Is it possible to learn web design on your own. Web design lessons from scratch

Before starting a career as a designer, almost every beginner has a lot of questions that have no answers due to lack of experience. What knowledge a web designer should have, what programs need to be mastered, how much time to devote to training, how to acquire professional skills, where and how to look for a customer, how to hand over a finished work - I tried to answer these and some other pressing questions in this article.

1. What knowledge does a web designer need
In general, for a start, I would advise you to read some sensible one. To begin with, you just need to scroll diagonally, stopping at those points that are understandable. At the initial stage, it is important to understand “what is on which shelf”, what is the general theoretical structure. And only later gradually turn to her for more detailed explanations on a specific issue with a deeper study and understanding of the material. That is, in fact, it should be such a working textbook, which should always be at hand.

In particular, basic knowledge of and web design is required,. Special attention should be given to such a concept as "website", its and the principles of existence on the Internet. By the way, on my website you will find a lot of theoretical material that will help you get the necessary initial knowledge.

Another area to be aware of is. Even if you are not going to do the layout yourself, you still need to understand how the site is made up. This will help you not to make mistakes at the stage of creation. The basics of programming are optional. And it would also be good to understand, since it is on this platform that most sites work.

2. What programs need to be mastered
In this matter, I adhere to minimalism. I sincerely believe that in order to make a normal design, it is enough to know. However, this program should not be mastered at the beginner's level. And so you have to spend time studying it. All other programs are optional. For layout, a standard Notepad is enough.

3. How much time to devote to training
In general, in this matter, everything is very individual. I had it in two stages. At first I learned to use Photoshop and I started to get advanced. In time it took well, maybe three or four months. After that, the thought arose that everything, now I am a designer and I can make websites. I tried to design a website and nothing worked at all. Everything looked very mediocre and clumsy.

Then I gave up trying to do anything and just started studying the work of other designers. I literally looked with a magnifying glass at how the sites I liked were made, took them apart. Along the way, I continued to study the tutorials, but not really straining. And after a month of looking, I really had a qualitative leap and I somehow easily made two simple sites, one of which was immediately bought.

So, we can say that after about 4-5 months of training, sufficiently strong design skills and an adequate understanding of the design process itself appear. But, of course, provided that during all this time you really do your self-education, train, study theory, try.

4. How to best acquire practical skills
I definitely advise you to start by copying the sites you like. But only as a workout! Don't reinvent the wheel. Just try to do the same. I assure you, it will turn out in a completely different way, not like on the original. And the next step, I would advise you to take some quality free theme or template and thoroughly understand the code. In order to try to manipulate design elements. This parsed code can then be used as a basis for future designs.

5. What you need to take care of in advance
There are two things you should definitely take care of. First, you should definitely get an online account to accept funds for paying for your services. Now this is not a problem - there are tons of online wallets and accounts. And secondly, you should definitely place your own somewhere. Well, and accordingly. If not finished works, do the work for yourself and put it in your portfolio.

6. How to determine the prices
My advice to you, be sure to decide on your rates before communicating with customers. There is nothing worse when a customer knocks at you, and you are forced to answer something vague, to the question of how much it costs. Better yet, have a page with prices for your various services. Convenient for both you and the customer. Also, never overcharge, at least at first. While you are a beginner, it is better that the price be ten percent lower than similar generally accepted rates.

7. How to look for a customer
To begin with, do not neglect the traditional search methods by the customer. You can register in all kinds of popular freelance exchanges and create your own page there with a description of services and examples of work. Basically, there is a chance that you will find a customer there. Although, it seems to me that you can wait a long time. Because first of all they turn to top freelancers. But I will not argue.

But there is, it seems to me, and more effective ways... Pay your attention to SEO forums. They are mobile guys and they always need some kind of landing pages, splogs or pps feeds. Therefore, they are highly interested in design services. Almost every major forum has a Design section. Carefully study this section, see what works are being sold there, at what prices. Do something similar and put it up for sale there. I did so in due time.

In principle, if you strain yourself and show your imagination, then looking for a customer is not so difficult. For example, at one time I had the idea of doing redesigns of working sites on the Internet with a completely useless design. And then offer the owners to buy new design, if you like it, of course. The main thing is not to sit and wait for the customer to line up to you. At first, you will have to work hard in your search.

8. How to communicate with the customer
And finally, you have a potential customer who is interested in your services. At this stage, try to find out in as much detail as possible what the customer wants to see as a result. I always ask the client to show sites on the Internet that they like. And also ask about what he would definitely not like to see. And yet, never underestimate the lead time, no matter how much you would like it! It is better to throw in a couple of days for insurance and turn in the work before annoying the customer by stretching the deadlines.

9. What is the order fulfillment mechanism
My interaction with customers was as follows. First, I receive the terms of reference (TOR) from the customer. Then, for some time (usually from three days and more, depending on the complexity), I do the work and provide the customer with a site layout in jpeg. This is usually the home page, post page, and sub page. Sometimes enough home page, but this must be agreed with the client in advance.

If the client has approved the layout, then I start the layout. At this stage, you can take an advance payment, but I usually don't. I prefer that the work is paid upon completion. If only because it is very stimulating to complete the order. After the site is designed and tested, I give the client an archive of the finished site with installation instructions (if it is wordpress). After that, the client pays for the work performed.

Sometimes they ask if it is necessary to somehow insure against the fact that you will be thrown for money. In principle, no one is immune from this. Therefore, first, look at the history of your client's existence on the Internet. What are his sites, where he lives, what is his reputation, how accessible he is. If the client is questionable, then refuse and do not take risks. If you are still thrown for money, then try to take it easier. At least, you only hit the cost of one order, but now you know for sure that you will no longer work with this client.

10. How to keep yourself in good shape
Once you have some basic design skills, try to gradually expand your technical arsenal. Try to follow all the innovations in the web design industry and quickly introduce new chips into your designs. Now there are a lot of manuals and tutorials, with the help of which it is very easy to master all the innovations. This, firstly, contributes to your professional growth, and secondly, it will make your designs modern and more competitive.

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Web design training from scratch - step by step guide for beginners (ten steps)

Many young people want to associate their future profession with website development. Naturally, not everyone wants to be programmers, some of them are quite happy with web design.

Learning this profession from scratch is not an easy task, because in addition to working skills, you need to be a creative person, at least a little bit of code (know CSS and), be able to communicate with the customer in the same language, etc.

Before starting acquaintance with the basics of the profession, a number of questions arise, and you have to look for the answers yourself. It is not easy to do this due to lack of experience, materials from the Internet do not always become useful, and sometimes vice versa, they only add new questions, and not everyone has an experienced friend.

Let's figure out where to start learning web design, what knowledge is needed for creativity, where and in what order to get it, how much time to devote to practical training, how to get the first experience and order ... and with a lot of related questions.

Content:

Step one - find out why you want to do this

On the one hand, this is a simple question, because most people want to do web design because of the good wages.

Site building is a very profitable business, and you cannot always find an experienced, and most importantly, intelligent developer in the daytime with fire.

Although there are many cases when a person wants to do it, and without the knowledge of creating a graphic engine for the site, programming it is not easy.

And the third common case why people start to get interested in web design is the craving for the visual arts.

And this area can serve as an excellent vehicle for putting your talents into practice and financially benefiting from it.

Important! For whatever purpose you are familiar with web design, remember that both learning and work should be interesting, performed with desire and be enjoyable, but not become a routine.

Due to the fact that a graphic artist - young profession, her precise definition does not exist yet, and many experts interpret the concept in their own way.

If earlier this person had to make the pages beautiful and pleasing to the eye, now it is necessary to have the skills of a coder, to understand marketing, and to have a concept in SEO-promotion.

No unique solutions original ideas and the individual creative approach does not solve the problem.

Website designer Is a technical artist working on appearance and optimizing the loading of the site and web applications.

The tasks of these people include:

work on the logical structure of the page- so that any novice user could understand everything, he could find what he was looking for the first time, all important links should be in sight;
developing the most rational way to present content- the ability to interest the visitor, make him stay longer on the resource, flip through the pages of the site;
graphic design- where what elements will be placed, what will be the buttons and labels after clicking, how the interaction with the client is carried out, how and what will change during the visitor's work, zooming, etc.

Here we briefly found out why people want to engage in the graphic part of the sites.

For future programmers, it is enough to get acquainted with the basics of visual design of web resources, at least superficially master graphic editors, layout according to a template.

Those who are eager to devote many years of their lives to creating the interface of Internet pages and to get the appropriate profession will first have to work hard, and this article is devoted to them.

Stage two - choose the direction of web design in which you want to try yourself

Internet technologies are developing rapidly, and along with them, the requirements for developers are increasing. At first, a beautiful, aesthetic and bright page was the task of the artist.

Today they distinguish as many as seven directions in their design, and these are only the main ones.

Hard

Old as sitebuilding itself type of page design effortless, perfect for beginners.

The bottom line is that all elements of the resource are placed in virtual table cells with fixed sizes, which are set by the designer.

Such a page will look exactly the same on all devices, regardless of platform and screen size.

And this does not mean that such a resource is backward, because an experienced developer using a rigid design can create a beautifully designed website, and adjusting something in this case takes a matter of minutes.

Flexible

See also tabular design, but the width of the cells of the virtual table is not strictly specified, but depends on the screen size (aspect ratio, resolution). Objects will try to fill the entire space of the cell by resizing it. main feature such a decision- increasing the convenience of visual perception of data due to dynamically changing display parameters. There are no empty, content-free places on such pages.

The complexities of this design are:

no guarantee that on old "square" and huge large-format displays the resource will display correctly without stretching or shrinking the content;
not all browsers cope well with the processing of the so-called flexible cells, and Internet browsers created on various engines do it each in their own way;
it takes a lot of time to fit and bring the project to perfection.

Combined

Combining the two previous methods: if the dimensions of the monitor (its aspect ratio) are very different from the display parameters that were used when creating the site, a flexible design is used, otherwise both cells are used, depending on the availability of free space in them.

Text

It is used in the design of one-page resources and sites that represent small businesses and companies in the global digital network. A feature of this design is the practical absence of graphic elements, which has a positive effect on the page loading speed. Playing with fonts, text colors, and well-placed text will help make the project attractive.

Polygraphic

Most in demand when developing corporate and marketing resources where emotional content comes first. The designer must be as creative as possible and creatively choose pixelated images for the page layout.

The disadvantage of print design is that it slows down the loading speed of the site. due to the presence, as a rule, of an abundant number of bitmaps, and even in high resolution.

Interface

Mostly experienced craftsmen turn to him. Their task is to please all user requests, usually by minimizing program code, optimization of graphic elements and creation of user-friendly navigation system with the menu location at the top of the page. Such resources are loaded quickly, it is easy to work with them both from a computer and from mobile devices.

Dynamic

The most time consuming, complex web page design options. This type of design consists in placing dynamic content on the page (animation, scripts, moving and changing elements, wide-format videos).

To implement the ideas, you will have to sweat a lot, and in order for the visitor to be satisfied and everything worked as planned, you need not only mastery of ownership graphic editors but also optimization skills, who wants to wait a long time for the appearance of any colorful three-dimensional button. But a well-developed resource always attracts with its beauty, originality and artistic solutions, regardless of the content.

Stage Three - Find Out Which Web Design Programs Are Trending Now

Before downloading books on a particular graphic editor, you need to clearly understand the elements that are used in the graphic design of sites: shapes, colors, shapes, the play of light and shadow, lines - these are the basic elements from which the entire composition is created.

Anyway, knowledge of cascading tables and hypertext markup is needed almost first of all.

The designer will also need knowledge in the field of computer animation, popular, SEO, and maybe three-dimensional modeling.

Attention! In addition to the difficulty in mastering, the application will also have to be purchased for full-fledged operation, although for training purposes it is possible to cheat by bypassing the program's protection.

The latter is overgrown with functionality that is in demand in dozens of areas, and the guys pay little attention to increasing the possibilities for web design.

Sketch is another matter - sharpened for drawing graphical interfaces from scratch, does not have a single extra element, is easier to learn and easily outperforms Photoshop in the main indicators.

Be sure to choose the most convenient, supporting syntax and highlighting: Sublime, Axure RP.

Step Four - Explore Useful Books for Beginning Web Designers

The Internet is so good that it allows you to acquire books for free that you would have had to acquire or look for in like-minded people a decade ago.

With the popularization of the web design profession, the number of books on the topic has increased. Without a mentor and teacher, a book - The best way Gain knowledge.

Teaching web design from scratch should start with the literature where basic concepts, theory and small practical tasks are given:

The main elements are:

Logo- occupies, as a rule, the central part of the page and distinguishes the resource from others;

Navigation elements- is placed at the top of the page horizontally, less often - vertically and contains links to the main sections;

The main block where the content is posted- occupies the main part of the screen, the text is always accompanied by pictures, tables, diagrams, animation, etc.

Modular grid

Before developing a project diagram, you need to understand the concept of a modular grid for yourself. It is a way of distributing information in columns; it is a skeleton of the future site.

Using a modular grid will greatly simplify further layout, take the time to get to know her.

Stage six - online trainings

attending seminars and trainings;
participation in training over the network (remotely).

Choose the appropriate activities based on your knowledge, experience and direction in which you realize your creative potential. When taking courses, it is charming to consolidate theory in practice.

1 Web design lessons for beginners

More experienced developers owning English language, be sure to familiarize yourself with the courses of Western colleagues. As in the case of books, Western technical artists used to practice new technologies and solutions in the field, and secondly, the concept of work among foreign designers can be quite different, and it is always useful to adopt someone else's experience. People get more value from courses than from dozens of books they have read. with regard to practical skills.

Stage seven - find like-minded people

In working life, it is important to communicate with people who are doing what you are.

So not only can you make friends, but also share experience, knowledge, advice, provide assistance and evaluate projects one for one.

Sound competition- the engine of progress, it allows you to develop, striving to do better than your friend's, to bring something new to the project. And when teaching web design from scratch, be sure to interact with more experienced developers.

Stage Eight - Follow Trends and Trends

To be ready for anything when working with a customer in an area where not a day goes by without new products, you need to constantly monitor new developments, solutions and technologies.

They both change for the better, and optimize the loading of the resource, and increase the emotional attractiveness of the page.

The easiest way is to visit the resources where experienced and not-so-skilled designers showcase their work:

Stage nine - try your hand at a freelance exchange

You can work as a technical artist both on your own and for any company. Novice users are better off gaining experience on freelance exchanges:

We work at first for a cheap price: we take inexpensive orders and work long and hard on their implementation until the customer is satisfied.

Successful projects are experience not only in design, but also in communicating with various clients, replenishing an empty portfolio with works.

Pay more attention to filling out the profile and rates for the work.

Uncomplicated, but fine-tuned layouts can be sold, taking as a basis similar projects for sale.

Important! Do not hesitate to ask questions, ask what sites the customer likes the most, so that there is something to focus on. You should not rush and do the work with flaws or underestimate the deadlines, and then make the customer wait and get nervous.

Stage ten - turn web design from a hobby into a profession

Website design is usually started by students and young people, for whom this occupation becomes a hobby.

They devote weekends and evenings to their favorite business, and when they gain a little experience and the hobby brings the first income, they seriously think about changing their occupation.

Just quit your job and switch to free bread or replace your current place of work with a comfortable chair in the office at the computer many are afraid.

Here and the lack of experience affects, and low chances of finding a customer or acquiring regular customers, and stable earnings in the case of work and the corresponding forums, no one guarantees.

Rice. 15 - Over time, web design should become a profession

And yet, if the lesson in the development of graphical interfaces of sites attracts, turning it into a main profession is definitely worth it, and it is not necessary to delay it.

Over time, knowledge will appear, and experience, and constant orders.

And if you want more stability, pay attention to working in the office among like-minded people with the ability to periodically work remotely.

The main thing is to strive to become better, constantly develop and enjoy what you are doing!

Hello dear readers. My name is Artem and I am the author of this blog. Today we are going to talk about how to become a web designer. I'll start with the good news. A web designer is a very prestigious and highly paid profession. Representatives of this specialty have few competitors and many prestigious places to work.

Now about the difficulties. Basic technical skills are not enough to become an in-demand web designer. You need to have a developed sense of taste, be able to correctly identify the needs of the client, work quickly and continuously improve your level.

A web designer is a modern profession that cannot be mastered without special education, more - read in the previous article of my blog. Below, we'll look at 15 tips to help you start from scratch and get your first results quickly.

Learn the basics of web design

No matter how you count on fast start, go online learning still have to. Employers don't need newbies. They want to partner with promising employees who own a database and can adjust to the company's goals.

Employers hire an experienced web designer - in the process they raise his level to company standards

If you do not know where to study, pay attention to University Netology... Well - " Web design from scratch to middle».

Courses from the online university Netology: “Web design
from zero to middle "

The value of the proposed course is in practical knowledge that helps to immediately get a job in the specialty.

Key skills after completing the course: "Web design
from zero to middle "

After training, a certificate is issued confirming the qualifications of the student. All students' CVs are passed on to potential employers who are willing to pay high salaries for a good job.

Educate yourself in your free time

Books for web designers.
Instruments .
Famous web designers.
Web Design Forums.
Useful services.

Get into aesthetics

It is not enough for a good web designer to go through, study the literature and learn how to work with graphic editors. To get great results, it is important to love art and develop your own style.

If you don't know where to start, try watching a few new films with a budget of 1 million or more. Think about what is special about them and how they are interesting to a wide audience. After the movies, switch to architecture or painting.

The faster you learn to catch trends, the less boilerplate your designs will be.

Start painting

You don't have to become an artist. It is enough to pump this skill up to the basic level and learn how to make sketches of future projects. Download any free drawing book and set aside 30 minutes a day to practice.

Master graphic design

Here's a rough list of the knowledge you should have:

theory of graphic design and visual communications;
designer software: CorelDRAW, Illustrator, Photoshop;
basics of figurative design, color science and composition;
basic skills in working with fonts;
pre-press preparation of materials;
branding.

Explore graphic design you can use books, free videos or paid courses available both on the Internet and in educational institutions.

Explore copywriting

Become an advanced user of CorelDRAW, Illustrator and Photoshop

For 3-6 months, set aside 2-4 hours a day for in-depth study of the listed programs. Free online lessons or books are suitable for training.

Choose a niche

Think about which of the areas of web design you like more than the rest. Concentrate all your energies on mastering it. After that, you will have two options:

continue training;
become a specialized designer focused on one service.

These are equal ways to pursue a career, so the choice depends solely on your priorities.

Fill your portfolio

The best way to prove your qualifications is to show the work done. Let's say you enjoy designing logos and decide to dive into this topic. Let's look at an example of how to design a job in a portfolio.
Task: to create a logo for a copywriting studio.

We are developing a visual image that will be combined with the name of the studio.

Select elements, add background and title.

We make edits, choose a color and get the final version of the logo, which is available for horizontal and vertical media.

Don't be lazy to design your portfolio correctly. Be sure to indicate what the initial task was, what you did and what the result was.

Get a job in an agency

Even if you have detailed plan of how to become a web designer on your own, you cannot do without practice.

List the companies you would like to work for.
Find out the requirements that they put forward to employees.
Write a short resume, grab a portfolio, and schedule an interview.

In case of failure, find out the reason for the failure. If it is associated with professional qualities, make a note. The specified skill needs to be additionally pumped. If you're lucky with your job, don't stop learning and filling your portfolio.

Don't go over orders

Do not disdain to work. You are in the learning phase, so forget about the big clients with multi-million dollar fees. Do everything that is related to your activity and can move you forward. When small orders accumulate, increase your rates and difficulty level. You are in the profession for a long time, so move gradually and everything will work out.

Study the great

Decide which famous web designers in the world you like. Find and copy their work. So you can feel the author's style and understand their motives during the implementation of the project. Then do your own analysis: think about how you would accomplish the task, being in the place of the author.

Plan your development

When you know what it takes to become a web designer, make a list of tasks and a deadline for their implementation.

It doesn't matter which path you choose. If there is no clear step by step plan, even a minor task can take years to complete.

Be patient

Even if you put in extra effort, it is not possible to become a good web designer in a year. As in any other area, the 10,000 hour rule applies here.

After about 2 years of practice, you will reach a good level, after 6 years you will be proud of your work, and after 8-10 years you will become an elite pro, whom all major employers in the region want to see on the staff. The more experience, the more interesting the specialty. Remember this when, in the second month of training, you get tired of the process and want to quit.

Enjoy your work

If you choose web design for money or a nice name, then you won't be able to achieve serious results. You need to love the work and enjoy every stage of it.

You have seen the basic tips to get you started as a web designer from scratch. Time to act. Now it depends only on you how soon you get the first result. Subscribe to my blog and share the article with your friends. Perhaps they will choose a job that will completely change their future.

How to become a web designer from scratch is a topical question for those who dream of building a successful career, earning money on the Internet or creating their own successful business. What are the features of this profession, what are the prospects for earning, where to look for customers, how much you can actually earn - you will find answers to all these questions in this article.

The specialty of a web designer combines the creative abilities of an artist, the skills of an internet marketer, and the technical knowledge of a programmer. A real professional must take into account hundreds of technical requirements and nuances, show creativity, resourcefulness and be well versed in different areas, be able to simultaneously solve several problems. A web designer has to take into account the peculiarities of HTML layout, the nuances of search engine promotion of sites, Internet sales technologies, and find non-standard solutions that can make the site original and memorable.

Features of making money on web design

To make money on web design, you must not only masterfully master Photoshop and other graphic editors, but also be able to profitably present your services, find "fat" clients. The main customers for the "creator" are private webmasters, advertising agencies, web studios.

What does a web designer do?

The day of a web designer is very eventful and scheduled literally by the minute. To achieve significant results in this area, you must have the following skills:

possession of Adobe Illustrator, Photoshop, CorelDraw and other programs;
knowledge of HTML;
knowledge of internet marketing, the basics of usabiliti;
good sense of taste;
spatial and creative thinking;
experience in the field of website promotion.

Web designer salary

How much does a web designer earn and is it worth learning this profession? The salary of specialists depends on experience in this field, the level of skill and professionalism, the ability to find customers and correctly set prices.

The average specialist earns from 50,000 to 200,000 per month of work. The best professionals earn many times more. The minimum cost of one project is from 3000-4000 rubles. The optimal prices are 10-15 thousand rubles for 1 website.

Where to study the profession of a web designer?

High-quality training is the basis for an easy start and a quick exit to a stable income. To become a web designer from scratch, you can take training in one of the following ways:

admission to the University;
registration for online courses and trainings;
self-education (reading books, watching video lessons, tutorials, videos on Youtube).

How to become a web designer in 8 steps?

For beginners to acquire theoretical knowledge, it is necessary to adhere to the following scheme:

Read 1-2 books on the basics of web design.
Master Photoshop to the advanced level. Already at this stage, you can start earning your first money by drawing custom-made banners, logos, infographic elements for websites, pictures for advertising posts in social networks, registration of accounts, intros for videos for channels in YouTube, on photo stocks, photo processing.
Explore HTML basics, CSS, principles of layout, WordPress (it is on this site that most of the web resources in Runet are built), get an initial knowledge of web programming. This knowledge will help you understand the essence of site building, find mutual language with customers and understand their requests, you will help to avoid possible mistakes site even at the stage of development of the layout.
Try to take apart the structure of sites you like and redesign them for educational purposes.
Develop 3-5 website projects and make a detailed portfolio, effectively presenting yourself and your services (for this purpose, you can order a selling text from copywriters). Portfolio is business card for a professional by which customers evaluate you, so it is advisable to include your best work there.
Think over the prices for your services (it is advisable for novice webmasters not to overcharge and set the price tag 10-20% lower than the average market rates).
Create a WebMoney wallet to receive payments from customers.
Submit your resume on all available platforms to receive your first orders (freelance exchanges work-zilla.com, Fl.ru, freelance.ru, kwork.ru, message boards, HR services, social networks). For the first experience, it is important to choose.

In the process of interacting with the customer, do not be afraid to ask questions, after receiving the TK, try to thoroughly find out what your client wants, ask to show those Internet pages that he likes and which he does not.

Where to find vacancies and get the first orders for a web designer?

To search for orders, any methods are suitable:

Own site.
View vacancies on message boards and post your resume.
Freelance exchanges (freelance.ru, Fl.ru, Workzilla, Kwork) and remote work services.
Sending commercial offers to web studios, advertising agencies.
Forums for programmers, SEOs (communication with specialists from related professions will allow you to exchange clients).
Free builders (for example, Insales, Wix and other services where design services may be required).

Its goals and objectives, I received a lot of responses and even more questions - how to become a web designer? How long will it take? What is better - face-to-face off-line classes, or is it the use of online resources?

To clarify the situation for you, today I would like to talk about how you can master this profession and how to get training in web design from scratch in order to become a strong professional.

The paths to becoming a designer can be divided into three main categories:

offline study at institutes, universities,
self-study using free resources and special literature,
study online at paid courses, trainings, seminars.

Each of these areas has its own pros and cons. How to correctly determine where to learn web design from scratch and how to choose the right training program?

The first option is the most familiar and obvious. Various educational institutions now have design departments. There are courses with shorter deadlines - from several months to a year.

Traditional methods have their advantages, but at the same time they have a rather rigid framework. This method is more suitable for those who want to have a higher education degree in design, have enough time or prefer live contact with a teacher.

For those who just want to expand their capabilities or change the type of activity, it is wiser to pay attention to more modern methods of mastering web design, built on a free schedule.

Learning for yourself - pros and cons

You can learn web design on your own and use for this not only books and textbooks, but also a lot of free videos, presentations, lessons posted on the network. There are modules developed by fans of their craft, which include a whole cycle of training materials. This option is good because it does not require special financial investments, the money will only go to pay for traffic.

However, this method has a number of significant disadvantages.

First, self-education does not provide feedback communication from the teacher. You look, do some options for the design of the site without the opportunity to receive criticism and advice.
Secondly, it takes a lot of time to find decent materials. Not all of them are equally good and useful. It takes a lot of time to filter.
Thirdly, this type of education requires strict self-discipline, it is very easy to be distracted from the main line with this approach, because there are no constraining factors.
Fourth, in this case, the law of the Universe "first give, then receive" does not work. You don't value what you get, and the effort you put in is very superficial.

Despite some difficulties, such training is available and used by many people, at least initially. The opportunity to study at a convenient time makes this method attractive for those who are busy with their main work or study.

However, I use such a free approach only as an additional one: to patch up holes in professional activity, to understand any nuance. Comprehensive training is much more effective to take place with specialists.

Learning from a specialist

The second option is paid online courses taught by professional web designers on the net.

Today you can find a lot of such offers on the net. The learning process on them is based on the following principles:

lessons are held immediately for a group of students,
you can watch the lesson in real time or in recording at a convenient time for you,
you do your homework and get feedback afterwards,
the teacher answers all your questions and conducts individual consultations,
as a result, you have a ready-made portfolio of your first works.

The advantage of this method is that you not only have direct contact with the teacher, but are also constantly in touch with classmates. In addition, online training makes such training convenient for you in time: it can be done without interrupting "from production".

You can share examples of work, ask your own questions and answer the questions of others. The productivity of group lessons is always higher, and new acquaintances and connections among future colleagues can always come in handy later.

Choosing a training program

Highlight best offers in the educational market for web design is quite difficult. A large number of trainings presented on the network today offer various programs for different levels training - from classes "from scratch", starting with mastering the basics of Photoshop, to an advanced level, where the various nuances of the profession are already mastered.

Once you start looking for a course, you will come across a lot of offers on the web, the quality of which will not always be easy to understand. Whether it is worth taking web design courses online is an ambiguous question and does not depend at all on the method of study.

In order not to be mistaken in the choice, you should evaluate the options according to several criteria:

cost - cheap is never good. A competent, carefully thought-out product, which takes enough time and effort to create, cannot cost $ 20,
deadline - they won't make you a web designer in a month, especially if you are also busy at your main job or study. Mastering such a profession takes time. Although, the basic points, on which it will already be possible to work remotely, will easily get
the number of students in a group - the less, the better (this applies to full-time education). If the group is more than 10-15 people, the teacher will not be able to devote the necessary time to each student. In the case of learning through personal accounts, the number of students does not play any role at all