I’ve been trying to become proficient in HTML/CSS for a few years now. Time and frustration usually got in the way, but I’ve made strides in my adventure to learn these languages in the past few months. I’ve done tutorials, analyzed sites I like with Firebug and offered to take on pro bono web design and development projects to further my knowledge. What spurred this quest? Quotes like this:

“A designer who does not write markup and css is not designing for the web, but drawing pictures.”

— Andy Rutledge (2011)

I’ve been hearing this for years. A person who considers themselves a web designer should be able to code their designs. I started learning code because I heard this everywhere. Look at the postings for graphic designers on chances are they will be expected to have expert knowledge in InDesign, Illustrator, Photoshop, Flash, Dreamweaver, HTML, CSS, Javascript, PHP, C#…the list goes on (maybe I exaggerated, but you get the idea). News flash employers, this isn’t the a job posting for a graphic designer or even a developer. Why not seek out employees that are experts in their chosen fields of development and graphic design, instead of one person who is mediocre at all the qualifications you seek? I thought to myself, ‘well, I can’t just be a good designer, I have to learn code in order to eat too!’ This isn’t the case. The current company I’m contracting for has a team of developers and a smaller team of graphic designers and they understand that the project will fail if they don’t have people working in positions that fit their skill set.  Companies looking for graphic design “ninja” with a working knowledge of a million coding languages is either cutting corners or out of the loop about how a design TEAM should function.

I’m ranting a little but my point is a graphic designer/web designer might benefit themselves from being at least knowledgeable of html/css, but we shouldn’t be expected to be able to code a 40 screen e-commerce site. That being said, since I’ve started learning how to code, I’ve found that I really enjoy it and being able to code will help make my transition away from print and into web design. That’s just me, it’s not for everyone. If you’re happy and making a living not relying on HTML/CSS knowledge, more power to you! Partner with a developer you trust and the sky is the limit.

Conclusion

My point here is to not get discouraged if you pride yourself on being strictly a graphic designer. There are still companies out there that are looking for graphic/web designers to just design. However it never hurts to learn something new. Never limit yourself.

Check out these articles/the inspiration for this post/rant:

http://ignorethecode.net/blog/2009/03/10/designers-are-not-programmers/
http://intenseminimalism.com/2011/designers-shouldnt-code-the-digital-duo/