5 Ways to Improve Your Skills as a Web Designer

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December 12, 2021 Career

Do you often have a feeling that you stopped learning new things as a designer at some point? Do you even have an imposter syndrome as a result? This is quite a widespread self-reflection in the professional field. Thus, this article will show what it means to be up to date and how you can make a plan so that you don’t feel like you are missing out.

Being aware of what’s new in the industry (whether it’s new tools, methodologies, or trends) will allow you to offer innovative ideas and more advanced solutions and thus, stand out, whether you are a web, UX/UX, or graphic designer.

However, just spontaneously reading or watching some random things won’t be really helpful. To make your continued learning beneficial, answer the following two questions.

Where do you want to grow?

First, you need to analyze what your strong sides as a web designer are right now and what skills you need to improve. These can be responsive design, skills with separate tools like Sketch or Figma, etc.

What does the project you’re working on right now require?

This is even a more effective approach as it might require new skills right now and thus, pushes you to learn fast. For instance, you work on a big e-commerce website and need to make all these sorts of categorization and filtering efficient for users. This requires you to improve UX skills, and so on.

How to improve your skills?

1. Set your goals and break them into understandable tasks

The answers to the above questions will help you find a balance between the future (where you want to grow) and the present (what the current project requires). So, set up a realistic goal; this can be learning UX practices or prototyping with increased user interaction, etc. Then break this goal into doable tasks you will be completing. Another part of setting a goal is to define a period in which you need to gain a new skill. For instance, in two months, you need to finish a new project which includes the defined tasks related to your new skill.

2. Focus on one skill at a time

It is better to learn a little but well than trying to cover everything but not being able to really improve any skill. Thus, focus on one or two skills at a time (which can have subcategories so you would better dive dipper not wider). Start with theoretical basics and then, apply them to hands-on tasks. The best option is when you can utilize the newly learned skill at your work.

3. Select your sources

To start your effective learning path, you need to figure out trustworthy sources to use and experts to follow. Do your research and select them according to how you best perceive information (by reading, by listening, by watching). A good idea to combine a few.

You can use the following channels for learning:

Books, you can start by searching the list by focus filed (like this focused on UX books)
Offline or online events, which will allow you to meet other designers and do some networking
Online courses like Coursera (but first, check out some in-depth Coursera review to choose among many courses on web design, graphic design, or UX/UI design that this company offers)
YouTube tutorials
LinkedIn or Twitter where you can follow new trends, find experts or useful references to articles, books or other sources
Podcasts by designers that tell about your field of interest (check this list)
Online communities where you can find an answer to your problem or ask others for a solution.

4. Practice what you learn

Just consuming content and then doing nothing with it doesn’t usually do much good. To be able to recall the information later, you need to practice what you have read or watched. The best way to memorize concepts is to try doing some related tasks, face issues, and find a workable solution.

For instance, you are learning how to use Figma. To memorize all the key features of this tool, find the task to perform with Figma. For instance, you set yourself a task to create a product page for a specific company in Figma. Then, try to find a person or people you can share your design with to get feedback.

5. Find a mentor

If you are working as an in-house junior designer, there would probably be a middle or senior designer who checks your work and provide you with feedback. Moreover, such a teammate or team lead can share insights or sources for getting new information.

However, things are harder when you work as a freelancer or as only one in-house designer. In this case, you should find a person who can help you grow professionally.

For this, you can search for an experienced designer via LinkedIn, especially if you are interested in the company this person works for. Alternatively, check out Behance for a portfolio you like or just go through online communities. Then, create a list of people you are interested in and reach out to them.

Final thoughts

So, as you see, there are many ways how to stay on track with the recent trends in design and continue your learning even despite having decent professional experience. You need to define your goals and come up with a doable plan. Then, it’s all up to you, your motivation and your dedication to become a better designer.