20 web designer skills for 2024

Design isn’t what it used to be—in a good way.

Thanks to the emergence of sophisticated digital tools, deeper knowledge of user preferences and ever-changing design trends, it seems like there are endless ways to transform your skills.

Basically, we can’t think of a more exciting time to be a web designer. On top of mastering the technical side of website creation, being a web designer today means having your finger on the pulse of the latest strategies as they continue to shape our industry.

Read on to see the skills you need to stay savvy as a web designer today. Then, check out Wix Studio to make your web design dreams a reality.

20 web designer skills to up your game

01. User experience

While user experience and UX writing are design professions in their own right, web designers should have an understanding of UX principles. When you create a website, applying the knowledge of user experience helps facilitate user-centric designs that are creative and intuitive.

“Every web designer should have basic UX knowledge,” says Eliran Vahdi, brand and web designer at Wix. “It’s one of the most important skills that a lot of designers don’t pay enough attention to, but it’s really important for your portfolio.”

But don't be intimidated because Vahdi says you can learn as you go. "It’s intuitive and you understand more with experience and feedback.”

02. Mobile interface design

When you design a website for your client, it goes without saying that you’ll adapt it for mobile devices. Most programs have built-in responsive or adaptive elements that web designers today use to make changes for small screens. But Vahdi emphasizes that this skill set goes beyond just knowing how to use platforms like Wix Studio's design tools—it’s important to have a mobile mindset from the start.

“Sometimes, certain design principles change when you design for mobile,” he says. “Some effects and interactions that we have on desktop we don’t have on mobile—so you need to come up with solutions in advance.”

Consider hover interactions and mouse parallax. “They aren’t available on mobile devices," Vahdi says. "Also, mobile CTAs are on the bottom of the screen, because that’s where the finger usually is.”

03. Web accessibility

Web accessibility ensures that all visitors, especially those with disabilities, can access and enjoy a website’s content. Removing barriers that keep individuals with disabilities from using your client’s services is a necessary part of inclusivity, giving a broader audience the capacity to interact with our websites.

“Always making sure a website is accessible is a big issue, and having a platform that offers web accessible sites and knowing the rules is very important,” says Vahdi. “You should at least be familiar with WCAG guidelines to ensure the site is inclusive for all users.”

There are legal issues to think about, too. “In some parts of the world, you can get sued for not having an accessible website.”

04. Foundational SEO

Many times, a web designer will work with SEO specialists to develop strategic content for Google.

But that doesn’t mean web designers shouldn’t be aware of SEO. If you’re leading a design project, you’ll want to provide guidelines that give foundation optimization practices for your clients to rank on search engines.

“SEO doesn't necessarily have to be your expertise, but you should know what SEO is and take it into consideration in your design,” Vahdi says. "You need to design with SEO in mind.”

05. Animation and motion design

Many businesses want animated assets for their brand to tell their story in a more engaging way. With trends like web gamification taking stage in 2024, there’s an increased client demand for web designs that provide more interactive and immersive experiences.

Instead of hiring an outside animation or motion designer, knowing animation and motion design can make your own web design practice more appealing to clients.

"Not all web designers have these skills,” says Vahdi, who happens to specialize in animation design himself. “Making websites come to life is a really important skill to have.”

06. 3D design

Having 3D design skills is another valuable asset in today’s web designer world. 3D graphics have shifted from stylish to standard, says Vahdi. “I wouldn’t even call it trendy anymore because it's everywhere.”

Clients appreciate the dynamic and visually appealing interfaces that 3D graphics offer, adding depth and dimension to differentiate designs from others. “3D design is something that a lot of people look for and it's a standard in web design now, so if you can provide these skills without depending on collaborating with other designers, that’s a real benefit for yourself and for the client.”

07. Basic coding

Should you code as a designer? It’s an age old question in the industry, so it's worth diving into the benefits. According to Vahdi, while you don’t need to be a coding expert or full-stack developer to design for the web, having some knowledge of coding can be a benefit. Working knowledge of HTML and CSS, for example, can go a long way in making a freelancer’s web design practice more effective by improving flexibility and control over the final product.

“You can be a one-person agency and deliver the entire website yourself,” adds Vahdi. “It doesn’t have to be crazy coding knowledge, just some basic CSS or HTML—little bits of code that you can incorporate into your work and take it to the next level.”

Even if you team up with a developer for this, which will happen at some point in your web design career, this design skill can facilitate more effective communication. Having coding knowledge that bridges the gap between design and development will, without a doubt, result in a smoother collaborative process.

08. Branding

Gaining a sense of branding and its importance will make you a more competent web designer for a number of reasons. Most importantly, web design is branding, because websites are one of the most important ways businesses represent themselves online. “Every website has its own brand—demonstrated by their typography choices, color palettes and the like—so branding knowledge is important,” says Vahdi.

It’s a web designer’s job to make sure they’re in-line with the entire package of a client’s branding language. “Your clients' branding assets all need to talk to each other, so it’s all about the ecosystem of branding,” says Vahdi.

He also points out that designers should hone in on industry-specific branding choices. “It's really important to be in touch with and find common practices that you see right now in certain industries, because each one has its own language that’s used to communicate what the website is.” For example, “eCommerce has a certain look that you can move from—but you still need to know how an eCommerce website usually looks to make yours special.”

09. Presentation and pitching

Successfully presenting and pitching your work is a mature sign of professionalism in the design world. Vahdi points out that this interpersonal web design skill can ultimately help you secure trusting relationships with clients, stakeholders and team members—and practically speaking, results in making design choices with a bigger impact.

“A lot of young designers without experience, even if their work is great, don’t know how to present in a way that allows for feedback that’s smooth and constructive,” says Vahdi.

These moments, although potentially daunting, offer opportunities to explain the reasoning behind your choices during presentations. This clarity helps manage client expectations, while facilitating a space for constructive feedback and a productive environment for approval.

“Sometimes, things are obvious for us as web designers—we can imagine how something will look," Vahdi. "But the client isn’t a designer. They need to visualize it to understand the concept.”

10. Prototyping

Once your design concept is fully realized, creating a prototype allows you and your clients to get a preview of the user's journey and engage with a model of the website interface. This helps ensure the effectiveness and usability of the final product, giving you a chance to identify and address issues early on. In web design, prototyping acts as a testing ground for various elements, encompassing aesthetics, visual consistency, functionality and user interaction.

“This is a skill of its own,” says Vahdi. “It also relates to how to present your work. If you can prototype your website before you build it will give the clients a sense of how it will look and behave before you spend time building it in the editor.”

The tools you use don’t have to be sophisticated, and many prototyping tools are incredibly accessible today to a wide range of web design skills. “Most designers use Figma, where you can prototype the website before you build it,” adds Vahdi. (Note: You can export your Figma designs to Wix Studio.)

11. Principles of design

Web designers can create more user-centric designs and aesthetically pleasing products by mastering design principles such as balance, hierarchy and contrast. These principles serve as fundamental guidelines for aesthetic decisions made during the design process, and can ultimately help satisfy your clients, improve user experience and contribute to the success of your websites.

Especially when a client wants to do something that’s outside of traditional web design, such as gamifying their website or tapping into trends, paying attention to seamless navigation to hierarchical content structures and consistency and performance is important. Understanding these golden rules and their importance will allow you to balance our creative genius with a seamless user experience.

12. Art direction

Confident artistic direction is a skill that comes in handy when providing web design clients with cohesive and visually appealing results. This practice elevates the creative aspect of a website, ensuring that design communicates a brand’s message clearly. The result? More high quality, innovative work, allowing for greater autonomy in delivering specific brand assets.

“Art direction is a nice skill to have,” says Vahdi. “This relates to the more basic skills of design knowledge, like where to put an image or what type of typography you need.”

Artistic direction might also extend to helping your clients produce other branded elements for their website. Say a client comes to you, and they don’t have all the images they need for their website. "If you can give them guidance from start to finish, they might not need to go to another freelancer for their photography,” says Vahdi.

13. Design research

Knowing how to conduct thorough design research will support the strategic approach of your creation process. From user research and competitor analysis to market research and A/B testing, gathering quality insights and references has become an integral part of the art of web design. This is essential for understanding your target audience, improving user experience and making informed decisions from start to finish to materialize your client’s vision.

“Research is really important,” says Vahdi. “I do inspiration research at the beginning of every project.”

14. Knowledge of design trends

Knowing what direction web design trends are going is essential for staying ahead of the competition. As a designer, you want to keep your work relevant in the ever-evolving industry.

Many clients want modern websites based on popular trends that they see and inspire them. Whether that’s visual trends, social trends or trends in typography and imagery, it will help show that you’re an expert, informed and allowed to create things that satisfy clients and help them stand out.

“I look out for the latest design trends all the time to keep my designs fresh, and to be on top of what users want,” says Vahdi. “Trends are often driven by new technologies, like 3D, AI and animation, so staying informed allows you to leverage design tools effectively to deliver modern, relevant and innovative solutions that will amplify the user experience and meet the client’s needs,” he adds. Not only that, but it keeps things interesting and strengthens your creative muscles.

“You have to find the right places to look for inspiration,” adds Vahdi. “Online resources like SiteInspire, Awwwards and Site of Sites are great places to look.”

15. Project management

This is a valuable skill when it comes to web design, allowing you to organize, prioritize and execute tasks efficiently to balance deadlines and deliver quality work. Throughout a project lifecycle, management includes executing timelines, resources and client resources to ensure your projects are on schedule and within scope. Effective project management will minimize miscommunication, reduce stress and result in more successful outcomes, giving you a professional and reliable reputation.

16. Writing a design brief

A quality design brief is every web designer’s best friend, supporting you through the design process by providing clear direction, reasoning and motivation to execute each project. It’s not there to take away from your creative inspiration or energy, but rather to make your work as effective as possible, providing a clear vision and focus.

Each design brief is different, but it should generally include details like a project summary, background context, designer goals, target audience, objectives and guidelines.

17. Collaboration

Throughout your career as a web designer, collaborative skills will be an ever-present necessity. Whether it’s brainstorming with fellow designers or collaborating with a developer, having the mindset to embrace different skills and ideas can make the design process smoother and yield expert results.

Collaboration also extends to the work you do with your clients. Actively listening to their vision, ideas and feedback is crucial not only for professionalism but also for achieving optimal results and ensuring client satisfaction.

18. Template creation

An agency or website designer that knows how to create and sell web templates will find themselves with an extra source of revenue while satisfying a broad range of clients. Often, this is a great option for clients like small business owners who don’t have the budget for a customized website design project from start to finish. By providing pre-designed templates, you can not only meet your clients' needs but also empower them to create their own websites while incorporating your distinctive designs.

Offering templates may also be an effective promotional strategy for your business. It showcases your design capabilities while demonstrating your commitment to customer satisfaction and exceptional customer service. If you want to go this route, selling templates can be an excellent source of passive income, with some of them going for $300 a template.

19. AI tools

There’s no getting around it, these days AI web design tools are being used by professionals across a number of industries. While for many creative professionals there is certainly (and understandably) a taboo around using these tools, in some cases they can simply help to improve your process and provide a helpful resource for streamlining certain tasks.

AI can be incredibly useful in lots of ways. Some examples include:

Creating relevant website copy for a prototype
Developing a schedule for project management
Brainstorming ideas (see: AI for creativity)
Doing research
Building responsive websites with Wix Studio's AI tools

20. App creation

While not essential for every web designer, the ability to design and create apps can enhance your skill set and make you more competent in today’s digital landscape. Here's another place where we see that there’s an increasing client demand, especially in a world where mobile-first approaches are becoming more prevalent. It’s not out of the question that one of your small business clients might ask for an app alongside their website design. There are a lot of benefits, assuming it’s a good fit for the business.

Your client can use this to build brand awareness or simply to gain new customers and become more profitable. And if you’re the one taking this task under your wing, this skill set also allows you to have more consistency with the client’s website, which is great for your client’s branding but is also good for promoting your own business. It will allow both assets—both the website and the mobile app—to offer a unified and consistent user interface and brand identity.

How to improve your web design skills

No matter where you are in your career as a web designer, there’s always a benefit to improving your skills. In an ever-changing industry, here are some ways you can keep your skills sharp and your services high in demand.

Brush up on the design tools in your arsenal

From tools that are part of the industry standard to those that will set you apart, below are some tools web designers should be absolutely fluent in, and some that will jack up your credentials:

Figma: Most web designers will work with Figma for wireframing, UI design, prototyping and interaction design. Here, designers can work collaboratively in real-time with other designers, developers and clients.

Adobe: Used for developing visual assets, such as web graphics, layouts and Vector graphics.

Content management systems: Understanding how to use the most popular CMS platforms allows designers to build websites without a developer. For clients, user-friendly platforms also give your clients the ability to maintain their own site providing scalability and efficiency when it comes to content updates.

Accessibility checker: Helps identify gaps in accessibility within your design and provides recommendations for how to fix them.

Color contrast checkers: These tools help designers as they go, allowing them to enter background and text colors to make sure they’re accessible.

Take a course to learn new skills

To become a web designer that really stands out, you should constantly aim to break boundaries and challenge yourself. That might mean learning some of the outstanding skills, like coding or animation design, which we’ve mentioned above. Or, if you want to master a specific product, you can use resources like the Wix Studio Academy to become fluent in specific aspects of the software.

It can also involve getting a certificate that solidifies your expertise and gives you a competitive advantage. For example, Wix Studio offers certifications in skills like SEO, web development and web accessibility.

Sign up for Wix Studio and expand your capabilities today.

20 web designer skills that will set you apart