Web Designers are responsible for designing and building the interface, navigation and aesthetic of websites for businesses and clients. Likely working in the IT team of an organisation or for a digital design agency that services clients, Web Designers should possess a range of skills and qualities. A Web Designer job description should ask for candidates that are experts in design best practice, understand user and client needs, and be excellent communicators.

Web Designer duties and responsibilities of the job

Requiring both technical and creative skills, a Web Designer job description typically includes some of these tasks and duties:

• Designing engaging and responsive landing pages
• Integrating client CMS programs and data feeds into websites
• Optimising sites for maximum speed and scalability
• Employing industry and design best practice 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 internal support and external customer service throughout the build and launch process of the website

Web Designer job qualifications and requirements

Certificates, diplomas and degrees can all be cited as ‘preferred’ in a Web Designer job description, and are not essential. It is common for web design candidates to be self-taught, or have completed on-the-job training to develop key skills and gain experience with specialised applications. If a formal qualification is requested, the relevant areas of study are:

• Web Design
• Digital Media
• Information Technology
• Science or Computer Science
• Graphic Design

It is however critical to list the software and programs that candidates need to be proficient in. Some of these are listed below. Requesting a minimum of three years’ experience is also recommended.

• HTML
• CSS
• jQuery
• JavaScript
• Adobe Suite – Photoshop, Illustrator, InDesign
• API web integration
• Experience in User Experience (UX) and User Interface (UI)