20 Things a Modern Designer Should Rock At

// February 9th, 2010 // Design, Tips, Trends

More and more designers have come to understand that to be successful and to be meaningful, you need to do more than a website. You need to connect it with the offline world. Paid media is no longer enough to drive traffic for any online project. And, also a creative website doesn’t make a campaign successful if you don’t build an integrated action around it. Each client is looking for different things in his search for the right graphic/web designer. So, to become a cool designer that clients want, you need to fill up a “few” requirements to fit the job.

Enjoy my list of things that a modern designer should know and rock at:

1. Has to understand design principals.
2. Has to know really well a major design software like the entire Adobe Creative Suite.
3. Also XHTML, CSS, and JavaScript.
4 Has to be SEO expert.
5. Must be a good communicator.
6. Know about servers, hosting, domain registrants, DNS, etc. Setting it up, and fixing it when it breaks.
7. Are good photographers.
8. Has to rock at working in RAW.
9. Are good typographers.
10. It’s a “must” for a stunning online portfolio.
11. Has to quickly adapt to new software and new technologies.
12. Are up to date on social media.
13. Are good at logic and deduction.
14. Are good at user experience and user testing.
15. Have some basic video editing skills.
16. Understand copyright laws.
17. Can debug cross-browser problems and older browser bugs.
18. Bring eCommerce solutions.
19. Own expensive computers full of expensive software.
20. Collage degree in design or related.

Some might say the list covers only half of the things a designer these days should really be good at, but I consider it as a starting point. Knowing all that sometimes is not enough as a freelancer, there is always best you know more, like programming, which is really not a thrill for me, but I could give it a try learning AutoCAD.

Anyway, of course, the list of things a modern web designer should know is long, and each skill feels like it could take you a while to check it. And if you care to join the group, good luck with learning all that in a 4 years, or 2 years (if you want become a coffee connoisseur). However you can always niche yourself, for example to web design, or mobile device design, logos or business cards design, and so on. But in the end, being a modern designer it’s a continuous challenge. You have to really like it to stick with it!

Don’t forget to socialize a lot!

photo credentials: lumaxart

Design Tip: What's that font?

Petronela's Blog