An Outline of Criteria Required By a Designer to Work in Any Web Design Firm

Web design firms handle so many aspects of the website design, development and maintenance process. This is why they need a team of professionals working together to achieve the desired results. A web design firm is a great, structured environment that can help designers to develop their strong skills. The following is an outline of criteria required by a designer to work in any web design firm.

Social media abilities

With the extent of the popularity of social media pages for internet users today, it is only wise for businesses to leverage the power of social media on their websites. Businesses can make social media channels work seamlessly with their websites to promote their brand online. Business owners today are looking for web designers who can help them leverage the power of social media.

The web designer should understand the various ways in which a business website and its social media platforms can work together to maximize the users’ online experience. Many small and medium sized businesses, in particular, rely largely on the power of social media for their online successes. The designer should:

• Include visible and up-to-date social media buttons on the business website
• Include share buttons
• Integrate the use of analytics to find out which social media platforms get the most traction and how to use these on the website

Ability to work as part of a team

There are some designers who work well alone while others need the focus and direction provided by a team to keep them on track. These are the best designers to work in web design firms with good management. This characteristic does not make them any less of a designer; in fact, it makes them the ideal candidate for a team. Such individuals understand that they have people depending on them and do not undermine the importance of their role when it comes to delivering for the team.

Not known to many is that design teams are usually tight-knit and often spend many hours working together. If a designer is going to work in a design firm, they shouldn’t mind having friends as work friends. The team works towards a common goal by leveraging the specialty and experience level of each individual in the team.

Working with deadlines

Designers who do not get excited about deadlines are doomed in the industry. Clients have expectations, the other team members also have expectations and deadlines are the guide to these expectations. As a designer working in a design firm, good time management is essential to meet the deadlines because the shortcomings of one member of the team could affect the overall productivity of the entire firm. Tolerance for deadline pressure is a very important quality to have when working in a design firm.

With such deadlines in mind, fitting into the 9-to-5 workday may be difficult for a designer. The creative juices may also not necessarily flow within this time bracket. Unfortunately, very few workplaces accommodate the atypical work hours. Therefore, a lot of focus and self-direction is necessary to work in a firm, as compared to designing freelance.

Ambition and visionary

A web designer should desire to see their work everywhere. This notion opens the mind to creating lasting and engaging designs that will result in as much uptake as possible among the target demographic. Working in a web agency is a great platform that a designer can use to achieve maximum exposure but only if they can meet the requirements for the results. Design firms often have big projects and big clients, and they are looking for designers who can deliver big on their work too.

Can work well touching only a part of the project

Big firms are looking for designers with specific skills to handle various aspects of a project. With the kind of projects taken on by big firms, it is crucial for them to ensure that every part of the puzzle that makes up the entire project is well thought through and executed. It is better to diversify the roles rather than leave the project to one individual who may miss a few things along the way. They are looking for designers who are comfortable with working on only a part of a project and delivering nothing but top-notch quality on this part.

In work environments like firms or agencies, designers work together where each designer is assigned a specific component of the project. Sometimes the designer may not even be involved in the entire product, or see it to the end. Designers may not recognize the final products sometimes. This is a common passage for junior designers but with time, such designers will rise through the ranks to become the person at the end of the line approving the designs.

Professional qualifications and experience

Formal education and experience is not always a requirement by most employers when hiring designers. It is an art as much as it is a learnt skill. There are some employers who are even willing to offer training skills for designers who show a lot of potential in their personal talents. Creativity and experience is of greater value to employers as compared to formal qualifications. Some of the professional training subjects necessary for working in the web design field include: multimedia web design, graphic design, fine art, digital media production, information technology and computer science among others.

When approaching employers, designers should have a portfolio of relevant work such as hard copy documents or using digital platforms to showcase their work. Relevant work experience and a good portfolio may tramp educational background when it comes to working in a design firm. However, knowing the craft is still essential so constantly gaining more practical knowledge about website design and development through training is advisable.

The bottom line

This list is just a general overview of what large firms expect of designers. There are many other requirements to working in such firms. It takes a lot of self-realization and understanding for a designer to choose the best work environment to fit into.

Jack Dawson is a web developer and UI/UX specialist.