Misconceptions about Web Designers
When I’m asked what I do, I wouldn’t always say the same thing to everyone. Often because I’m often not sure how to best describe it myself to those that are asking. I have always maintained I am a bit like Chandler Bing from Friends… my friends don’t fully understand what I can do. But there are reasons why I wouldn’t always just say “Web Designer”. This article will explain some of my thoughts.
On here I would denote that I am a “Web & Graphic Designer”, because that does pretty much communicate what I am. But if someone in the street asked me I would sometimes say just “Graphic Designer”. It really depends on who it is asking. Different people have varying viewpoints on what the roles mean. Some seem to think that “Web Designers” are like IT wizards and know everything about computers – clearly this is not the case.
There are people who believe that a Web Designer simply builds a website like assembling a garden shed or piece of furniture from IKEA.
This viewpoint makes me feel that there is no real appreciation of the creativity that a good Web Designer possesses. I think it is more a lack of knowledge than sheer ignorance, so I guess people can’t know what a Web Designer actually does unless they are enlightened by one.
Some print designers can have quite a negative view on Web Designers too (in my opinion). I have been in a situation before where I felt that because I was more technical than some of my print design peers, that I was being looked on as less creative than them, as if any strength I have technically can deducts from creativity! Before anyone jumps down my throat on this one, don’t forget that I still do, and always have done both design for web and print.
Logo design was always a passion of mine, and one of the disciplines that I always excelled at most. However, some people would have you believe that a Web Designer wouldn’t be as good a logo designer as a print designer. Pardon? Yes, believe it or not these opinions are out there floating about. So… it might make sense to brand ones self as a “Graphic Designer”? But that can potentially leave yourself open to another batch of misconceptions.
If you are branding yourself as a “Graphic Designer” in this day and age, then you do run the risk of being labelled as someone who can’t code, as discussed in a previous article. So, realistically if you do a mixture of design for web and print, then “Web & Graphic Designer” sounds like the ideal title to brand yourself with. Or, you could just settle for “Web Designer”, and accept that people may not fully appreciate the full scope of what you can do.
I know I’m not alone with my views on this subject, because a lot of Designers must feel the same.
What are your thoughts? Do you understand where I’m coming from?
Related articles:
- Web Designers who can’t code anything?
- Design should be traumatic
- Do you really need a degree to work as a Designer?
- Trust thy Designer
- My Favourite Design Blogs
How about designer who brand themselves as designer and front-end developer? Either the designer know some basic coding or he/she outsource the work to others.
I would think if you are a designer, it would be best to state down your specialty, whether you are print, motion graphic, UI, etc to avoid confusion to your client.
NIce article, I’ve always had the same problem when people ask you what you do, stuck between developer/designer/front-end developer/UI designer/UX evangelist…. the list goes on and on… Maybe we should all just make up our own titles from now on, I’m a fan of “painters of the interweb 3.0″
– but on a serious note I think you are right to mention both web and graphics as that is the simplest way to get across what you do, it really does depend on who you are talking to…
@Aidan: Although that may help some people, it could also mean you may be excluded from some options because you would then be labeled in one specific niche. So there is that downside to consider…
@Hugh: Good to hear from you, Hugh! I think it’s easier if you have identified a specific niche, and are only talking to other professionals. A lot of areas of design intersect, as you know, so although it is better to target a niche… I would still be uneasy about being tied to one side more than the other because I enjoy doing a variety of design projects.
A t’internet worker of sorts, you know!
I totally agree with you on the misconceptions but I don’t worry to much about them. Sometimes I say I’m a web designer, mult meda designer, graphic designer etc. etc. I don’t mind. When people know what I’m talking about it’s nice, if not.. don’t really care! It would be awesome just to say: “I create nice things that fit your needs” and say nothing more.
Nice article (:
Cheers Guido. It’s just one of those many frustrations of being a Designer… and can be a bit of a pain at times!
How about “Gwebphic Designer”?
btw…You have the most beautiful code! Like that you’re using CSS3 easing.
I often call myself a “Web Producer.” Pretty generic but with the laundry list of stuff I can do, it works for me
@Catherine: That’s like an interesting title, fo sho!
@Minna: I never heard that title before, but it sounds like one that could work well for someone that does a wide variety of web work.
Great article, I know exactly where you are coming from. I call myself a Grapic Designer but I am comfortable with that as I think it’s fairly straight forward. I’m comfortable in print.
I can design for web from front end, but that’s where it gets tricky, and so I wouldn’t pass myself off as a web designer as I would get stuck should I end up in a conversation with a coder and I’d look incompetent. I’m about to retrain myself in 3D modelling. I don’t know what i’d call myself then.
Then there is my hubby, who is a coding genius. He *thinks* he is a web designer. We disagree entirely. He’s a great developer, but a designer… no.
And I mean “Graphic Designer” (Sorry half asleep this morning!)
Thanks for the comment, Louise! Yeah I know what you mean. I think it is easier to be comfortable with your title when you know exactly what it is that you do.
Lol I am familiar with the type. There are quite a few Web Developers moonlighting as “Web Designers” these days. I’m sure his skills could come in handy though for when you have a design you want to build? Unless he feels he can design better than you too.
Just say you’re a webmaster and that covers everything
Quickly I can think of three things:
1) People are too accustomed to seeing “eye candy” in film, print and the web. Just don’t appreciate the hard work it takes.
2) The web is also cluttered with a lot of bad design, and probably more so on sites that are used by a lot of people. The well-designed sites that are out there are probably seen by fewer people. Therefore people probably think of web designers being the ones creating the poorly designed sites that they are used to seeing.
3) A number of people probably don’t have literacy or exposure to good design, illustration and/or art and therefore don’t recognize it or appreciate it when they see it on the web.
But we keep pressing forward! Happy designing!
Oh man! This is an issue I’m always facing.
I go around calling myself ‘Graphic Designer’ simply because it’s the easiest option. But it depends on the audience, if I know I’m around over designer/developers I’d elaborate a bit more.
I have slight issues with calling myself a ‘Web Designer’, mainly it gives people the assumption that I do only web, but also the age old “Oh! My cousin is a web designer!” – when really they’ve got a copy of Frontpage and once made a website about their dog. I just don’t want to get tied into that crowd, so I make myself a little more obscure with ‘Graphic Designer’.
My own parents still don’t *really* know what I do. They just think I assemble different pre-made parts to make a whole. So there isn’t really much hope for someone I’ve just met.
On a side note, LOVE the CSS3 touches to the comment box
Great article Mark…and excellently designed site by the way! Great job
Like yourself I like to refer to myself as a “Graphic & Web Designer”, simply because I am both a graphic designer and web designer i.e. I design for print and for the web. Notice that I didn’t mention anything about coding, programming or developing. I think that’s where much of the problem lies…most people tend to assume that when you say you’re a “web designer” that you not only design the website (asthetically) but you also develop and code it too. At least that’s my experience so far….
It’s really a tricky one because I find when i tell people that i’m a “Web Designer” they assume that all i do is ‘make’ websites. On the other hand if I tell them i’m a “Graphic Designer” they either ask me what that actually is and what I do, or they assume that I just design adverts and logos and know absolutely nothing about websites.
The situation is often worse when I tell other fellow creatives that im a “Graphic & Web Designer”! They look at me funny, silently thinking to themselves that surely I must be lying as I can’t seriously be good at both disciplines. I have to be really one or the other right? One widely held assumption is that you are either right-brained or left-brained, creatively minded or technicall/logically minded – when in fact you probably really need to be both to do either job significantly well. I reckon I fall somewhere in between the two extremes
I’m lucky in my case I suppose in that I’m equally good at both – designing for web and print. Although I wouldn’t consider myself a web programmer or developer, that doesn’t necessarily mean that I can’t or don’t understand how websites are coded, have an great understanding of XHTML, accessability, W3C, javascript frameworks, browser issues, SEO techniques, hosting, domain names and all other web related topics. I have a degree in Information Technology myself, but that doesn’t necessarily mean i’m not a good “designer”. If i had a design degree from NCAD would that mean that I couldn’t turn out to be a great coder aswell?
So what’s a girl to do?…..mmmmhhhhh I think i’ll follow you Mark and stick to my original title and hope for the best
ha ha
Well I’m going to be calling myself a “Multi-media Visual Architect”, and then dismissively laugh when people question what that is.
That way, I look more intelligent and professional than them.
Thanks for all the comments so far everyone!
The biggest frustration is definitely that everyone think they know a “Web Designer”, or someone who they know who claims to “make websites”. And often these same bandits charge a whopping £49.00 for a website, which ultimately makes it that bit harder for people out there to take real Designers serious.
Good article Mark
I have been messing my head this one for years. The problem is alot of people who are skilled in multimedia can cover quite a number of areas in design and media. For example my day Job and freelance Job is Web Designer and Developer, with Graphic Design. i love building the whole website from scratch, designing it up first then building it then optimising it for ranking and watching it grow the whole way, in fact i hate the thought of me designing a site and handing it over to someone else to “make it work” its mine!!! also the reverse, the designer will have an idea for how the site should work so if someone just gives you an image and says make this work… ok we can do that but the designer holds the vision of the final outcome, its a weird one and im a bit of a freak about it which is sad.
Anyway back to the topic, some of my clients i solely do graphic design work for and some others its all web site design or seo work. Then there is the people i do video editing work for, advertising media, photo retouching, photography etc etc etc. So what does that make me? A Multimedia Web and Graphic Designer / Developer / Video Editor / Coder / Drinker!
I dunno what to call myself, so i’ll just say I’m the man give me the job and that will be it!
ha ha
keep up the good work Mark