50 Things I Learned in Web Design

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Malaysiaku GemilangIt wasn’t easy coming up with a blog entry for this auspicious day. I had several ideas listed down from 50 reasons to start blogging, 50 ways to monetize your blog, 50 tips to improve your website today to 50 things I want to achieve by 50.

There were a couple of other 50s topics but I thought it wouldn’t be suitable for this blog. In the end, after pondering over 5 different topics I decided I should share with everyone the 50 things I learned in web design.

I took web design upon myself at the tender age of 13 years old. I’m not ashamed to share this year; 2007, I’m now 24. The following 11 years of my life through secondary school, college and university have been average. I started freelancing under the brand of Websites Made Simple which coincidentally is my blog today. I’m now managing a small web design and development team with my partner in Simpleet Solutions.

My burning passion for web design these 11 years saw me through a lot of lessons, trial and errors, bad moments and memorable experiences. I’d like to share the 50 things I learned in web design to this date. Maybe it’ll give you a better head start if you’re into the web design industry.

  1. Start with a book.
  2. If you don’t know how, don’t be shy to ask. But don’t bug them.
  3. Find friends who share your passion.
  4. Start Internet surfing more, get exposed.
  5. HTML and XHTML
  6. CSS
  7. Adobe Photoshop
  8. Adobe Illustrator
  9. Macromedia Flash (before Adobe bought them)
  10. Macromedia Dreamweaver
  11. Web standards compliancy by World Wide Consortium (W3C)
  12. MovableType blog publishing system
  13. WordPress blog publishing system
  14. Always have a project agreement or job contract signed.
  15. Microsoft Frontpage (yes, I did use it before Dreamweaver.)
  16. Create an online portfolio (get exposure).
  17. Start blogging about your passion or life.
  18. Keep a mini notebook close at all times to jot down ideas.
  19. Never stop brainstorming.
  20. Web design is not graphic design.
  21. Know everything but specialize in one. Don’t be a jack of all multimedia.
  22. Start freelancing early – school holidays or during college.
  23. Pay attention during lectures.
  24. If you don’t understand a point, ask the lecturer. Don’t be afraid.
  25. Listen and respect your college seniors. They may have a pointer or two.
  26. Don’t be afraid to try something new without affecting the experience entirely.
  27. Recognize Jeffrey Zeldman and Jakob Nielsen. (No harm knowing others as well.)
  28. Buy new books on web design, web development, user experience and etc.
  29. Don’t throw away ALL your previous books. (Some could be used as long time references.)
  30. Buy (or collect) design magazines.
  31. Never stop sketching especially website skeletons before designing.
  32. Get a permanent job (as a Creative Designer or Web Designer) to at least know what the industry feels like.
  33. Never give up. If it’s your passion, you won’t need to worry about this.
  34. Keep a hard copy of your portfolio. Useful if you don’t have a laptop.
  35. Listen, reply, and learn from comments by others. Handle constructive criticism well.
  36. Know who are your competitors; designers or agencies.
  37. Learn more about business and marketing.
  38. A website always has an objective, aim and strategy to get there.
  39. Life is not a job. (Borrowed from Giordano :P)
  40. A returning customer can bring you more business than a new one.
  41. Join a community forum like Low Yat forum. (Design focus or not…doesn’t really matter.)
  42. Subscribe to good content RSS feeds or newsletters.
  43. User experience design is equally as important as web design.
  44. Never be afraid to ask, “Are there any plans to redesign your website?”
  45. Dump Internet Explorer. Use Mozilla Firefox – it is still faster and more reliable!
  46. Monitor real estate is crucial as standard resolutions are migrating to 1024 x 768.
  47. Tell your clients the truth. If you can’t do it, say you can’t but you can work with someone to achieve it.
  48. Always have your business cards with you. Even bloggers have business cards.
  49. Don’t overwork yourself. Tiredness kills your ‘design’ brain cells and leaves keyboard marks on your forehead.
  50. And lastly, get some sun! Don’t be a mole. Don’t force yourself to get glasses.

Question of the day:
Anything additional you’ve learnt besides the list above?

[tags]Malaysia independence day, Malaysia birthday, Malaysia 50 years, web design, tips[/tags]

3 thoughts on “50 Things I Learned in Web Design”

  1. Sorry didn’t respond earlier, connection was slow the day I was loading it. :D

    Anyway here are some other things I learned

    PHP / JSP / ASP
    MySQL / PostgreSQL / Oracle
    Installing Apache / MySQL on Windows and Mac OSX

    as to adding to other things that what you’ve not yet added – it’s difficult as I’ll have to cross reference your 50 items. :D

    Nevertheless, good effort!

  2. Currently work as a web designer… still fresh… the most frustration problem i use to counter is that, majority of my client don’t have content for their website. All the project drag and drag and drag… end of the day, the design is not what i had in mind…

  3. ROFL! Well, the content part is always the case. Plus, they don’t wanna spend additional using the provided copywriter from the company.

    Welcome to one of the common pitfalls in the website design industry. ;)

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