Some people who are about to become web designers may be feeling anxious because they don’t want to make mistakes.　
However, in the beginning, you will experience many failures and improve your skills as you improve.　
I became a web designer with no experience, and I have grown through making many mistakes as a beginner.　
Therefore, in this article, we will introduce examples of common mistakes made by beginner web designers, divided into the following three categories.　
- Mind edition
- Workplace edition
- Skill edition　
table of contents
Common mistakes made by beginner web designers [Mind version]　
If you want to work as a web designer, you need to have at least the skills and the mindset you need.
Here are four typical failures that occur when you neglect this mindset.
- 1. Designed for self-satisfaction
- 2. The design ends up being cool but useless.
- 3. It is said that design cannot be coded
- 4. Once you become a designer, you stop learning.
I’ll explain them in order.
1. Designed for self-satisfaction
There are many cases where creating a design becomes the goal, and the design ends up being for self-satisfaction.
I used all my skills to create the best design! Even though I proposed full of confidence, there were times when I was told that it was different from what I requested and had to rework it.
Designs are created for the customer, not for the designer.
Reconfirm what the purpose of the design is and create it with the purpose in mind.
2. The design ends up being just cool but useless.
When you see design trends and beautiful websites, you probably want to create one yourself.
However, even a cool design is meaningless if it doesn’t function as a website.
- Information is difficult to find
- I don’t know where to start asking questions
- Difficult to read text
If the design of the site makes it difficult for customers to find the information they want, the site will become useless.
Be conscious of a design that functions properly according to the target and purpose.
3. The design becomes difficult to code.
It is very important to differentiate yourself from the competition through design.
However, if you create a design that is difficult to code, such as an unusual layout or unconventional design, the man-hours for the coder will increase.
Please note that this may result in delays to the entire project.
Even if you don’t code it yourself, we recommend that you create a design while imagining how it will be coded.
4. Once you become a designer, you stop learning.
Many people may be so busy with their daily work that they no longer have time to study outside of work.
However, the web industry is rapidly changing, and new technologies are being created every day.
There are many cases where things that were popular until recently are no longer in use, so it is important to constantly collect information.
Also, because the job content differs depending on the workplace, you may only be able to obtain biased knowledge from the workplace.
Don’t feel safe just because you’re a designer; continue to gather information and learn little by little even after you become a designer.
Common mistakes made by beginner web designers [Workplace version]
Communication in the workplace is important for smooth work, not just for web designers.
Here are three examples of failures related to communication in the workplace.
- 1. Leaving the situation unanswered without knowing what questions to ask.
- 2. I can’t keep up with the speed and contact is delayed.
- 3. Neglecting to share information with team members
1. Leaving the situation unanswered without knowing what questions to ask.
If you have little experience and don’t understand the workflow, you may not know what questions to ask.
However, if you don’t ask anything and say, “Everyone seems busy so I don’t feel comfortable asking questions…”, people at work won’t understand your situation.
This can lead to major misunderstandings and lead to major troubles.
It may take some courage to get used to it, but if you don’t understand anything, be sure to tell your superiors at work.
2. I am always late and can’t keep up with the speed.
In the field of web production, multiple projects are progressing at the same time and progressing at extremely fast speeds.
If something you are in charge of is delayed, your schedule may be affected and you may feel anxious.
It is not possible to produce with the same speed as a veteran designer from the beginning.
First of all, make sure to do the work at hand, and if you are not good at something or are not good at it, practice on your own.
3. Neglecting to share information with team members
Web production is often done by teams, so sharing information within the team is extremely important and will affect the quality of the production.
If you skip sharing small corrections and changes with your team because it’s a hassle, your team members won’t be able to understand the situation if a problem occurs due to the change.
Try to share information, even if it’s just by leaving comments and notes.
Common mistakes made by beginner web designers [Skills]
Here are five examples of design mistakes that beginner web designers often make.
- 1. Information is not organized
- 2. There is no sense of unity
- 3. Using too much color
- 4. There is no margin
- 5. Too much processing/decoration
I’ll explain them in order.
1. Information is not organized
Design is not just about visual decoration, but also the function of designing information.
Suppose the design has a large amount of important information and is difficult to understand. In that case, it will be difficult for users to find the information they want, reducing their satisfaction with the site.
Rather than creating a design all at once, consider the priority of the information and organize how to express it before starting production.
2. There is no sense of unity
Each part has a different taste, and when you look at it as a whole, it often ends up with a design that lacks a sense of unity and gives the impression of being disjointed.
This is an example of a mistake that often occurs when creating a design while looking at various reference sites for each part.
Make sure to unify rules such as fonts and color schemes, and design with a sense of unity throughout the site so that people can focus on the information you want to convey.
3. Using too much color
If you use too many colors, it will be difficult to find important information and the overall design will become disorganized.
Limit your color scheme to at most 3 to 4 colors other than white and black.
We recommend that you focus on related colors, such as the logo, brand colors, and colors in the main image photo.
Each color has its characteristics, so please check this article for more information. (Place a link to the article on color characteristics here)
4. There is no margin
White space is a point where design beginners often fail, and it is a very profound concept.
Do you feel restless when there are blank spaces and end up wanting to cram things in, resulting in a cluttered design?
“White space = unnecessary space”, but it is an important element to make content stand out.
A design with no margins makes it difficult to tell which information is important, making it difficult to read.
Arrange the margins appropriately and design in a way that makes it easy to understand the relationships between the information.
5. Too much processing/decoration
A common mistake novice designers make is overdoing it to make an element stand out.
- shadow is too dark
- Excessive image processing
- overuse of borders
- Add too many borders to the text
This kind of design gives the impression of an old and outdated design, and it brings down the image of the site.
Even just a subtle shadow can be effective, and adding a blank space instead of a border may help draw the eye to the content.
Let’s think about ways to guide the eye differently without over-processing or embellishing.
