The Future Of Webdesign

[gisellebebegirl 0]

Ive been thinking of making my ultimate major be Graphic Design/Web, along with some other sort of Media design.. but as i think about it, i get worried, because the future of the Internets overall aperance is so uncertain at this point,,, ive seen some beta versions of "new internet projects" and to me at least it looks like another world..i see internet leading more into a javascrip movie like sort of enviroment lookwhich looks hard as f*** to codeand even if you can catch up to it..will you be able to manage, design & set up the "the next big thing"

[inverse_bloom 0]

Could you post a couple of links of examples?. I can absolutely relate to you being a bit apprehensive about the industry. I did a few years of Multimedia/Graphic design at school a while back and the lecturers were like, nothing but the best will do (where striving for international standards). There was a constant need to adapt and meet the changing needs/load (for even the course in this case). After finishing schooling i had achieved good results but never followed up on it. I attribute my reasons for this due to having being lectured the realities/standards of the industry to the point where they unnecessarily discouraged a lot of students from going any further after finishing the course (much like myself). But the point is, i now regret 'not' giving things a go after the course. Its now 7 years later and it comes at total surprise that my skills are still very strong, even after being dormant for so long (bit of a shame). So im gonna try. Hope this is some small help.

[k_nitin_r 8]

@giselleHi!I totally get what you mean. There are so many websites out there that have amazingly insane Flash animation. Some developers even give away free templates!!! That makes you realise how effortless it must be for them to make.The Javascript websites are easier to catch up with though. There is just the logic and sequence that you need to figure out and you're there. Building it takes perhaps a day or two.Regards,Nitin Reddy

[juandelacruz 0]

Well, you better start to learn more about the **** coding thing because I think that will be the future of web design!

[webishqiptar 0]

web design is a good but difficult thing..I say learn css and javascript well and you will be fine..

[arjupun 0]

web design is a good but difficult thing..I say learn css and javascript well and you will be fine..

Ya I think it is true cause it is very easy than others such as php and so on.
So, I think you should learn css and javascript well and make your website great.

[juandelacruz 0]

Besides CSS and Java Script mix it with an AJAX and you'll have a flash like website but it wouldn't take much time to load the page.

[networker 0]

Unfortunately the future of web design will become more and moretemplate based,and more and more based around "drupal' and "joomla'type environments. Only because people won't put in the effortto learn the basics themselves. This will mean that sites will be less unique and individual and more genericthan ever. The paint by numbers approach will prevail unfortunately.

[k_nitin_r 8]

Ya I think it is true cause it is very easy than others such as php and so on.So, I think you should learn css and javascript well and make your website great.

@arjupun

Hi!

I find the comparison between CSS + Javascript and PHP a bit like comparing apples and oranges, since CSS & Javascript are client-side technologies while PHP is a server side technology.

With newer browsers supporting more of the CSS 3 standard, I find myself having to do less work with JavaScript - doing anything with CSS is so much easier!

Regards

[sonesay 7]

It is OK to be worried about an industry that is changing constantly with new technology emerging everyday but don't forgot that you do not have to know everything to succeed in the industry. If you are highly skilled in one area that should be enough for you to get a job. Some jobs will require you to know more than one area if you are working on a project by your self but in most cases with a team based project tasks are allocated to the right people.I have worked in a team of so called programmers and to be honest none of them have any design skills at all. They will require a expert designer if they wish to have a working program that looks good. There are so many people who want to jump on the band wagon and work in the IT area be it management, desgin or programming side but if you are not good at what you do then you will probably not get as many jobs as talented people.Sure there are premade solutions for most common things like joomla, wordpress or what ever but there is always going to be a demand for customized sites that use these pre-made CMS or one that is written from scratch from the start. This is where people with the right skills come in so if you are good then you will need to not worry. For example the past few days I have been customizing a osCommerce website for a friend. He got the initial job but has no clue on how to code in PHP so he gets me to do it. I have never used osCommerce before so it was new to me but because I knew enough about PHP I was able to do all of the task he required. There are jobs out there for the right people you just have to go out and find it. It is not going to come to you if you aren't good at what you do then work on that. Once you have proven you can deliver solutions then I'm sure the jobs will just keep rolling in. Then you can charge as much as you like.

[inverse_bloom 0]

I agree with everything sonesay said, you get a lot of people who can make sites look good, or copy and paste so to speak. But can they justify all the design decisions they made in order to enhance the purpose of a website? For instance Sun Microsystem's website has always had a heck of a lot of content on their site. Members of a the development team for this website would disregard concentrating their efforts into doing anything too flashy, as that would be a pointless waste of time and space for the website.Sun's customers/potential customers want to be able to get to the information they need quickly and easily, this requires certain members within a development team to know "What is the best way of categorizing navigation, so a customer is satisfied and not overwhelmed".The information content for the site has to be structured, where should certain information go? If information wasn't structured well, then the site would pretty much fail its purpose. So you would have members on the team for that - information/instruction designers (which apparently is a well paid position). You may have certain designers that look at the best way information should be arranged, they need to look at the optimum balance of white space versus text on screen. It has to be cleanly arranged as part of the overall composition of the page, its no good having the information displayed in such a way that's a messy hindrance rather than conveying information in the best possible way. The graphics should serve to enhance information presented, not to detract attention away. Designers would also have to adhere to the specifics of sun's corporate style guide, or perhaps create one that is complementary to the companies established image. It is very important here that every decision made can be justified and recorded, so there will be huge documents just for this. Of course the balance of interaction vs information and design, would see information as the utmost priority, followed by interaction then finally the visual design for the Sun website. Designers are typically educated to work alongside programmers, information designers, each taking on their area of specialty/talent. Sometimes for instance in my course of study, they emphasized us being able to do a bit of everything, but even as unreal the requirements seemed sometimes, they didn't expect us to have "talent" as programmers.Hope this helps.

Edited May 24, 2009 by inverse_bloom (see edit history)

[CitizenErased 0]

Ive been thinking of making my ultimate major be Graphic Design/Web, along with some other sort of Media design.. but as i think about it, i get worried, because the future of the Internets overall aperance is so uncertain at this point,,, ive seen some beta versions of "new internet projects" and to me at least it looks like another world..

 

i see internet leading more into a javascrip movie like sort of enviroment look

which looks hard as f*** to code

 

and even if you can catch up to it..

will you be able to manage, design & set up the "the next big thing"

You seem to be confused. First of all web design is not web development, therefore a designer wont ever need to worry about coding javascript. Also, the 'next big thing' will more than likely be discovered by someone who would hire you, a web designer is a go between but the project manager is the guy who has the ideas and makes things happen. Personally I wouldn't focus your education on web design, especially as a major because as soon as you leave college how will you compete with guys from India charging $20 for a design?

 

As for the topic at hand, I believe the future of web design is not a good one. It has been run into the ground by the sheer number of people able to design and build what is called 'web 2.0' designs.

 

There has been a large lack of creativity from the web design community as a whole as everyone focuses on using muted colours and crisp lines - how many web designers can create something truly spectacular? I can't remember the last time I saw a design that drew me away from the content, which would be self-defeating but also goes to show how mundane everything currently looks online.

 

That said, I agree entirely with what networker said too.

[kimochitim 0]

It is OK to be worried about an industry that is changing constantly with new technology emerging everyday but don't forgot that you do not have to know everything to succeed in the industry. If you are highly skilled in one area that should be enough for you to get a job. Some jobs will require you to know more than one area if you are working on a project by your self but in most cases with a team based project tasks are allocated to the right people.
I have worked in a team of so called programmers and to be honest none of them have any design skills at all. They will require a expert designer if they wish to have a working program that looks good. There are so many people who want to jump on the band wagon and work in the IT area be it management, desgin or programming side but if you are not good at what you do then you will probably not get as many jobs as talented people.

Sure there are premade solutions for most common things like joomla, wordpress or what ever but there is always going to be a demand for customized sites that use these pre-made CMS or one that is written from scratch from the start. This is where people with the right skills come in so if you are good then you will need to not worry. For example the past few days I have been customizing a osCommerce website for a friend. He got the initial job but has no clue on how to code in PHP so he gets me to do it. I have never used osCommerce before so it was new to me but because I knew enough about PHP I was able to do all of the task he required.

There are jobs out there for the right people you just have to go out and find it. It is not going to come to you if you aren't good at what you do then work on that. Once you have proven you can deliver solutions then I'm sure the jobs will just keep rolling in. Then you can charge as much as you like.

Sonesay has said it all. I think knowing the right code is important but creativity is key. It's the only thing that makes the industry appealing and thats what will put you in the front. That is usually the case with any industry though. lol.

Focus on the idea, and use that as your vehicle. You will learn what you need on the way. That is the FUTURE.