In General Apr 23, 20109

How Did You Get Into Web Design?

As we do every week, we like to offer a question to our readers that has been previously asked on Answers, we love to hear your thoughts and read your comments.
This weeks question is: How did you get into web design?.
You can leave a comment below or you can leave an answer on the original question on Answers.

How did you get into web design?

This question was originally asked on Answers by Tim.

Answer from Chris:

I was working full time, doing some thankless job. At the same time I was starting up a blog, but I could not get past looking at all the WordPress themes available, then installing them, and trying to tweak it just so. Then, I got laid off from work, and now I am taking a web design course. So I am just getting into it, still in school, but, I love it! I am 36 years old, and I can honestly say this is the first time I am going to actually enjoy what I will be doing for a career. Very exciting.

Answer from Just_linda:

I created a fan site for a filmmaker friend of mine and from there he hired me to do his official site which led to more exposure and more paying clients. Other than taking a few Photoshop classes I’m pretty much self-taught. The internet is ripe with information and all I can say is practice as much as you can, follow design blogs to stay current and learn how to utilize social media for optimum networking.

Answer from Audee:

It started when I wasn’t too happy with default Blogger theme. I wanted to create a blog theme that fits my need at that time, so I did few experiments to tweak it and it came to be my first blog (Graphic Identity Blog). I attempted to design another blog themes for friends and have been so interested to CSS. Delivering PSD to CSS-HTML always makes me excited. I love the challenge to discover solutions for any kind of web design project and how to make them look nice in all browser. My main interests at this moment in web designing are jQuery and WordPress.

Answer from Heri Setiawan:

I went to vocational school majoring at Networking and Computer Tech. But i spent most of my time at school doing Need For Speed and Counter Strike. One day i got a flyer entitled Web Design Competition with big prizes. And i was starting to design my first website for the contest… And i was failed. But that’s what gave me a passion on website design.

Answer from Abhinav Sood:

A couple of years ago, I used to write at my “Inspirit Blog” where I wrote Free Blog Reviews ( www.inspiritblog.com ) and guided my readers on how to lay out their websites, and play with the design elements to generate maximum traffic and revenue and beautify their websites and blogs..

About an year after I started Inspirit, I was inducted into CSSJockey where Mohit Aneja ( web designer ) was about to start his freelance web design n development business.. So I helped him get started with CSSJockey and he got me deeper into xHTML / CSS.. Later, I learned to develop WordPress themes… Currently, I serve as the Lead Developer, Designer and Social Media Expert at CSSJockey ( www.cssjockey.com ) ..

I haven’t had any formal training in web design and development ever.. But I do wish to go to a school for web design and polish my skills further, after I finish my under-grad school in about 3 semesters from now..

Answer from Dan:

I’ve started it as a hobby – same as Darren but much earlier I guess. My first steps I made where in MS Paint, And then my teacher showed me Corel Draw and Paint Shop Pro. I was amazed by its possibilities. It was about 18 years ago. Now I’ve got pretty good skills in Photoshop/Dreamweaver. I can do stuff in Flash and Illustrator as well.

What about you, how did you get started in web design?
You can leave a comment below, or leave an answer here: How did you get into web design?

Thanks again, firstly to everyone who asked a question, but most importantly thanks to everyone that took the time to offer always helpful and useful answers.

9 Comments

  • Robin
    Apr 23, 2010
    I was learning Graphic Design and decided I preferred working in the final medium (the screen) more than endlessly printing out on paper to see how it looked. I had previously been both an art and a pre-med major so I had finally found something the appealed to both my left and my right brain.
  • Lee Harding
    Apr 23, 2010
    I was studying Law at University and a friend of mine was studying animation & he showed me some of his work and I thought that Flash looked pretty cool so began teaching myself basic Flash animation, I then discovered Photoshop tutorials and became interested in Web Design after discovering all the web design blogs and pretty much forgot about Flash after that! Got pretty lucky that I managed to land a job in IT support and was the only one interested in design so the web designer position became mine!
  • Henrik
    Apr 23, 2010
    It started as a hobby – just playing around in photoshop at school, until I became more involved with the school system admins, the yearbook design clubs, etc. I became fascinated with interactive design, which naturally led me to the web. I just loved seeing what I make being enjoyed.

    The more I was satisfied, the more I wanted to explore the field (and computers in general). Leading me to programming, and at the time, I dreaded the idea of programming. But 10 years later, I’ve become more of a programmer than I’ve ever been a designer.

    The two skill-sets allow me to be responsible for most, if not the entire process of building a website and its incredibly satisfying to develop something from scratch to finish. I was hooked, and I’ve never regretted a single minute of it.

  • Cameron Baney
    Apr 23, 2010
    I got into web design when a buddy of mine and I played Starcraft. We were into making maps, and we wanted to create a site that we could put our maps up for people to download. The site got pretty big, especially for 2 13 year olds running it. We had a big map making contest with a lot of community submissions. Anyone remember Mapmaker’s Starcraft Domain, or Mapmaker’s Blizzard Domain (when Warcraft III came out)?
  • HD ?zle
    Apr 23, 2010
    super article.

    thanks for sharing..

  • Sam Bathe
    Apr 26, 2010
    I started my own magazine project, and a website was crucial to that as we’ve always only been digital. From there’s it’s been self-taught but I’m pretty happy with where we’re at now today.
  • Craig
    Apr 27, 2010
    Was working as an Account Manager in an IT reseller, left there started working for the Web Design company I am now.
    Guess I didnt really have much of a choice from then on… ha.
  • David Puerto
    Apr 28, 2010
    This is extremely embarrassing but a group of guys jumped me when I was 16 and broke my arm to which I still suffer psychologically, albeit I trudge on with a smile, from a visible deformity. I am just coming to grips with what happened and why I am not fully satisfied with my life, having acquired everything money can buy. After this happened I ran away and found myself living at a residential highschool for troubled young people. Unable to work in the factory which drew cheap labor from the campus I was allowed to work in the marketing department. Within a month I had taught myself Photoshop and HTML and was doing all of their design for web and print. I should have gone to school for medicine but I took this hobby and made it into a career. Having lived in 7 cities by the time I was 18 I was using the internet to keep in touch with all of my friends and had a large following. When MySpace and all that came out I sort of stopped wanting anything to do with it as it took the esoteric value out of having my own website. Today I am working on selling my half a million dollar house and my plethora of fancy vehicles in an attempt to move to Miami, Florida and begin the fulfilling road to becoming a doctor. I’ve been volunteering at a Children’s Hospital working in the orthopedics center and have found much satisfaction in serving others as opposed to my own and others’ financial interests. I will always love the internet and web design for what it has meant to me as a hobby, but my life is calling me to do something else now.
  • Mohammed Ismail
    Oct 11, 2010
    I started an online magazine back in January 2009. The site was initially flash but as you know this limits what the visitor can do. We decided to move to a wordpress based site and the readers prefer it as it allows them to access each article seperately or they could read the issue in glorious flash :)

    There are still many areas we can improve on, but we are slowly getting there.

Leave a Comment

Ask a Question on Design Reviver Answers