Do you need an online degree in web design?

Here are your options if you want to be a web designer

Photo by Zen Chung from Pexels

You want to be a web designer but you’re wondering, do I need an online degree? Is a college degree still necessary today?

I’ll share the pros and cons of a traditional degree in web design as well as alternatives to help you choose the best option for you to become a web designer.

There’s no right or wrong answer but by the end of this article, you’ll know what makes the most sense for you.

Decide if web design is right for you

First, let’s go over a few basics on what a web designer is and what their role and responsibilities are to make sure it aligns with the career path you want to pursue.

There are quite a few different roles within the design community. You may have heard of various titles like graphic designer, UI designer, UX designer, product designer, and web designer. UI, UX, product, and web design are related but what’s the difference between graphic design and web design?

For more information, check out this article: Web design vs graphic design.

Web design is the process of designing the visual look and feel of a website. As a web designer, you’ll focus on planning the user experience of the website, wireframe layouts, organize content and images in a way that tells a story, and design the final UI.

Web designers focus on the user experience first by creating low and high-fidelity wireframes to dictate what content goes where and the flow as a user navigates through the website. You’ll design the navigation, a killer first impression on the homepage, and always consider the mobile and desktop experience. After nailing down the user experience, you’ll focus on designing the user interface. You’ll use color and typography to create supporting graphics and icons and mockup the final UI design. You’ll also consider animations

It’s also important to note that you don’t have to know how to code to be a web designer. Web design and web development are two separate phases when creating a website.

Is a degree required?