- Dan Mall
Learn HTML. If you're producing content for the web, it's going to be presented in HTML. It doesn't matter what's powering it on the back-end, whether it's PHP, .NET, ASP, Java, whatever: all that stuff has to produce HTML. As a coder, writing clean HTML will ensure that your sites don't break. As a designer, a good grasp of HTML allows you to know how your designs can be realized. All in all, knowing the building blocks of your craft are crucial for success in the field.
- David Airey
Pay particular attention to typography. Regardless of whether print products are on the decline, and if the 'paperless office' will ever arrive, logo design will always be needed, so go for it.
- Mike Rundle
I'd tell to learn everything they can about the Web — design, usability, accessibility, programming — because all those disciplines help you at some point. Think up ideas and then build and execute them, from design and programming all the way to promoting it through nontraditional means. The things you learn from creating something from nothing on the Web are limitless.
- Lea Alcantara
Being good is never enough. You have to be able to justify your decisions beyond, "I think it looks good." Specialize.
- Rob Weychert
Guide your users; don't smother them.
- Dan Rubin
Users can always tell the difference (even if subconsciously) between low- and hi-quality design, just as they can between easy to use and difficult, so always put in the extra effort to make your product that much better than it would otherwise have been.
- Mr Roggers
1. Love what you do!
2. Never stop learning.
4. Have a good portfolio.
5. Keep connected.
6. Organize your time.
7. Construct a good reputation.
- Michael Ewing
The web is the best meritocracy you can get. If you think you have the talent, put your stuff out there. Learn as much as you can about the technology - if you think that's not a creative thing to do, you're wrong, the industry desperately needs creative minds who know the technology. It's the best thing you can do.
- Fedor Drobov
Challenge professionals, try to be better. This race for leadership will make you to develop.
- Shannon Darrough
Don't let the technology drive - the idea should inform all aspects of the project.
- Kultar Ruprai
1. Study your craft: put in the time and be patient
2. Don't hold back: do what you want and feel is right. Dream and be as creative as you want to be. Be different and make each piece mind blowing. Also try and take the positives out of each criticism.
3. Pay your dues: not every idea is original and we all need a helping hand sometime, so give respect where it's due.
4. Step your game up: raise the bar a little each time. It's the only way to get better.
- Nathan Heleine
Focus on the details. Focus more. When you can't stand it, focus on them even more. Stay flexible. Software and technology will always change. Creativity comes first.
- Joel Schafer
•Check award sites for inspiration.
•Read as much design magazines as you can.
•Find some good boards that can help you if you get stuck with a project.
•And always make a manuscript before you starting to produce.
- Christian Montoya
Most designers just take whatever popular CSS methods they find online and use them at face value. They do nothing but cut-and-paste. Most designers remove the text from their headings and replace it with background images to use fancy header graphics on their pages and implement rollovers on image-links. This is horrible because the text is gone when images are turned off, but very few people seem to care. If you can challenge yourself to actually learn CSS instead of copying-and-pasting it from other people, then you will understand it too, and you'll know how to use it right.
- Chris J. Davis
Study Fine Art. Learn the rules of balance, color and space. These above all else will set you apart from your competition. Take a website, print it out in toto, place it on the wall and critique it as if it were a painting. Don't be afraid to look into other disciplines to find your inspiration.
- Nick Finck
First, be sure your heart is in it.
Second, the best thing you can do is find yourself a good mentor–someone who can teach you what reading books, articles, and magazines cannot.
Third, don't just listen to and learn from the conversation, get involved in it. Establishing a reputation is a good thing but even more important is establishing a network of colleagues.
Forth, use what you have learned in the past to assist you in your new projects, but don't let it confine your creativity to come up with new ways of solving problems.
- Mark Boulton
A lot of designers are focused on creativity; solving a problem through creative and lateral thinking. When it comes down to actually implementing the solution, designers are generally terrible at it—that's why in the days of print, you had designers and art directors doing the layouts, and 'art workers' making them work.
- Natalie Jost
It's a good idea to broaden your spectrum of design knowledge into areas like print design but also into architecture, furniture design, craft arts, painting, etc. Learning about other areas of design has been invaluable to me when bringing myself back to the web, particularly in terms of style and usability.
- Jonathan Nicol
Don't be afraid to charge what you are worth. Your portfolio site is your business card, make it memorable. Keep regular office hours. And love the fact that you are your own boss!
- Rob Morris
1.Learn to sell yourself.
2.Get the work you like to do – life's too short.
3.Try to approach every new project like a potential portfolio piece no matter how mundane they appear.
4.Under-promise, over-delivered.
5.Keep learning.
- Amy Greiner
A good understanding of basic design always needs to come first. Technology will come and go but the best thing we as designers can bring to any project is our creativity and design sense. It's also important to develop a thick skin and an ability to talk about and often educate clients about design. Also, it sounds boring, but it's all about developing relationships. People like to work with people that they like and know. Part of building relationships is being reliable, meeting deadlines, never rescheduling unless there is no possible alternative. Many clients think designers tend toward flakiness and I get a perverse sense of enjoyment from proving that wrong.
