What is the prototype for a great web designer? What are the symptoms of a bad web designer? In this article I will take a look at the different types of web designer…

The ‘Fresh out of College’ Designer
These are generally new designers who have little industry experience and therefore are heavily influenced by more experienced designers of whoms work they will often mimic. In the infancy of your career this isn’t necessarily a bad trait as long as the designer in question is learning lessons and changing elements of the design in order to make them grow as a designer. The opposite of this is to rip off a design in its entirety and learn nothing. In the early stages of a junior role with pressure to impress this is a tempting route to take…but then the wrong choices are often easy to take.

The Comfort Zone Designer
This web designer is one whom is influenced again by top designs but has a larger pool of resources to call upon and is also maybe over reliant upon these sources. The sources in question are often web based and mainstream e.g. web design gallery sites, dated web design sample books etc. This type of designer typically has a fair degree of experience, knows what his clients like and therefore supplies similar looking brochure type sites; essentially he is sitting in a comfort zone. This is not necessarily a bad thing as the designers tried and tested methods may be very effective, but if he is to develop further some level of innovation must be taken.

The Pioneering Designer
This third variety of designer is someone who is influenced by a variety of unusual sources in which he encounters in everyday life. His sources will often exist outside of the web; anything from the stained beer mat from whence last nights pint was vanquished to the patterns which comprise a blue bottles wing. This type of designer is always pushing the envelope in terms of design and will achieve his unique designs by challenging convention, becoming bored with it and asking questions to those whom oppose him.

This type of designer often possesses the following traits:

• Realises the importance of being influenced by a variety of sources
• Steeped in graphic design principles/ well versed in graphic design history
• On the cusp of new technologies,
• Having learnt rules knows when to break them.

The Pioneering designer doesn’t necessarily need to have accumulated years of experience (although this is often the case.) but can instead be a gifted someone with a strong personality; prepared to take a stance.

Which type of Designer are you?
In conclusion these 3 types of designer are largely defined by the amount of experience they have accumulated. But as a professional web designer we need to take action to be as close to the pioneering designer as possible; remember even small changes can make a substantial difference. Take a stance and offer your clients something slightly different to what is already out there at present.

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