Help, recently completed web design degree

mamaRochel

Mon, May 09 2011, 6:13 pm

I studied for four years for a degree in web design and I should have created a portfolio to show people the work I can do or look for work experience but I have no confidence or motivation in doing this. This is because I found programming difficult and I would watch the other students (although much younger than me and teens as opposed to me - married with a number of children who almost never touched a computer until I started studying) doing much better than me. Also, now that I've completed and should know all there is to know I look at websites and don’t know how they were created. I feel that I should! Is there anyone out there who is a web designer who could give me some advice as to what is actually done in the working world so I can put the theory I have learned into practice?

be good

Mon, May 09 2011, 10:44 pm

I would reccomend working as a junior web designer for some time to get comfortable. it doesnt pay so well, but its extremely valuable. once you feel comfortable and confidet in your work, you can move on and find something more respectable and better-paying.

YTYoungMother

Mon, May 09 2011, 11:35 pm

I agree with be good.
Also you can try to do a website (start with just one) of something you totally make up - it can be something you enjoy, like a bakery or a hotel website. As you work on it, you will learn so many hands-on tricks. If you want to do something and you don't know how, just google it.
I did that after I took a quick course and it helped me alot. It was actually fun! (Of course a 6-week course doesn't compare to 4 years of school, but I think no matter what education you get, practice makes perfect.)

mamaRochel

Wed, May 18 2011, 4:14 pm

Op here. Thanks all of you for your kind advice. I live in Europe and I'm nervous to apply for a position in a non Jewish company as their interviewing procedures are more formal than in a Jewish company. The problem is that a lot of web design companies are small and aren’t looking for a lot of staff. Anyway, I have read 2 books which have given me a lot of inspiration. Can you believe after four years of studying web design I only designed a minimal amount of sites and all of them are not particularly aesthetically pleasing as I was concentrating on the programming aspect... so I'm reading up about CSS design.

e1234

Thu, May 19 2011, 1:30 am

why don't you do design and leave the html to the programmer
I'm a web programmer and I do that for a lot of designers who don't like even html.

They do the design (and I do give them advice when necessary as web design is different then regular graphic design) and I do the coding.

PM if you have any specific questions but it sounds like a set up like that would work.
(the above is if you do freelance - if you work in an office you can take on just the graphics if they are big enough)

this is all assuming you are confident and can do good graphics.

quickchef

Thu, May 19 2011, 1:32 am

You can also work with "turnkey" platforms (that provide the "programming" side/backend) while you do the design. For example - lighcms.

mamaRochel

Mon, May 30 2011, 5:14 pm

e123 I'm ok with html and ok ish with CSS although I need to learn more. I'm my course we were taught more programming than graphics like php asp java etc. so I'm not confident in graphics and I didn’t do well in the programming either.... I'm trying to understand CSS well (and html) so that at least I will do well in The design aspect because I am more creative than a programmer. So my problem is that I'm not good ate either, not programming cause my mind doesn’t think that way and not design cause I never learned it! (Although I can use flash and director)

Quickchef, I have used what we call templates but after studying for 4 years I should be able to design from scratch no? Besides I get frustrated that they can’t do what I want them to do....