What Does a Web Designer Do?

Web designers plan, ideate, create, and build websites and web pages, many of which combine a number of visual elements including text, photos, graphics, and video clips. A Web Designer oversees the design and layout, which can mean working on a brand new website or updating existing pages.

A job description for a Web Designer will typically require both technical and creative skills, and include responsibilities relating both to building attractive, fast, and functional websites and working with clients or stakeholders and incorporating that feedback into your designs.

Web Designers are responsible for designing and building the interface, navigation, and visual esthetic of websites for businesses and clients. Likely working for a digital design agency that services clients, or within the IT team of an organization, Web Designers need to possess a range of hard and soft skills. A Web Designer job description should ask for candidates that have mastered design best practices, understand user experience and client/stakeholder needs, and be excellent communicators and willing collaborators.

A Web Designer job description would typically also include some of these tasks and duties:

• Designing engaging, responsive, and functional homepages
• Integrating client CMS programs and data feeds into websites
• Optimizing sites for maximum speed, ease of use, and scalability
• Employing design best practices through website build process
• Conducting website testing
• Liaising with Back-End Developers to ensure web and app logic is properly integrated
• Ensuring website function and stability across devices i.e. desktop, mobile, tablet
• Working with marketing and research teams to incorporate brand elements and relevant market research findings into website
• Providing external customer service throughout the build and launch process of the website and sharing draft sites for feedback and constructive criticism

Web Designers are employed by many different types of employers, but they typically work on the creative side of the technology industry. The Bureau of Labor Statistics counted 160,500 U.S. web design jobs in May 2018.

• Seventeen percent were at computer systems design firms, while sixteen percent of Web Designers were self-employed, conducting freelance work from their homes.
• Five percent of Web Designers worked for software publishers.
• Five percent excelled in technical consulting services.
• Four percent were employed by advertising and marketing firms.

Web Designers are also frequently employed by hotels, banks, schools, retail organizations, nonprofits, and schools. The majority of Web Designers work full-time for 40 to 50 hours weekly. Popular tech companies for web design jobs include Google, Spotify, Facebook, Zoom, LinkedIn, Adobe, and Microsoft.