Inspirational Designers, and how to get recognized as a Web Designer

Want to get recognized in the graphic and web design world? Here are some tips on how to get yourself out in the design spotlight and promote your work. We’ll also be looking at some of today’s most inspiring designers, and what makes them famous.

1. Focus on your strengths. Are you better at illustration? Designing web layouts? Creating graphics? Try to pick your strongest skill and use it to your advantage. This will help you stand out and better display yourself. Of course you never want to spend too much time on one thing and leave no time for anything else, but if you can use your strengths to your advantage you’ll be one step ahead of the competition.
2. Eliminate your weaknesses. Surround yourself with people who are good at what you’re not. Have them help you get better in those areas. Ask for resources you can use to get better at those things that have always frustrated you. The worst thing you can do is avoid something simply because it’s challenging.
3. Challenge yourself constantly. Always go a step further to learn a more advanced technique. One new technique may open up thousands of possibilities in your work. If you always take the easy way out, you won’t learn as much, and you’ll never try anything new.
   
4. Broaden your skills. Even if you’re exceptionally good at one thing, if you don’t try to learn new things you’re going to run into a lot of walls down the line. Broadening your design skills can be an easy and fun process if you use the right resources and put your mind to it. Also, being stuck with an obsolete skill will get you nowhere.  Web and graphic design is constantly changing, and if you can’t keep up, you’re going to be left in the dust.
5. Ask yourself “is this good enough?” If you’re not satisfied with your work, how can you expect others to recognize your work? One of the most important things in design is to always do the best that you can, no matter how small the job. You’ll have much more to show for it, and you won’t have any work that you feel is unworthy of being displayed.
6. Make connections. This can be on the web or in person. Tell people what you do, and sell yourself as best as you can. Hand your business card to people or post your website in various places. The best thing you can do to get recognized is to self promote, because you may just be lucky enough to have your website end up in the hands of someone really big.
7. Enhance your portfolio. If your portfolio is lacking in any way, try to make it more presentable. If this means organizing it better, redesigning the website you display it on, or just simply adding to it, the more you have to show off, the more recognition you’re likely to receive. Also, try to find a balance between quantity and quality. You should have a lot of work to show in your portfolio, but it should all be good work (see #5).

Now here are some well recognized designers, who have gotten to where they are today because of the wonderful work they do, and time and effort they put into that work.

Paul Boag

Paul Boag is a web designer who runs a blog where he writes and podcasts about web design. He founded the web design company Headscape with Marcus Lillington.

What makes him famous?
Paul’s podcast is the longest running and most popular web design podcast.

Dan Cederholm

Dan Cederholm is a web designer who founded SimpleBits, a tiny web design studio that focuses on simple, usable, and attractive interfaces. Dan’s focus is simplicity, and accessibility.

What makes him famous?
Dan has written a few well known books on web design, and combines simple techniques with attractive designs.

Jason Santa Maria

Jason is a web and graphic designer living in Brooklyn, New York who has designed websites for a number of big clients including AIGA, Housing Works, Miramax Films, The New York Stock Exchange, PBS, WordPress, and The United Nations.

What makes him famous?
Jason is notable for going outside of the box and experimenting with his website by creating a system for fast design direction based on the needs of the content rather than allowing the content to flow from a content management system into the same page layout every time. This means each page will be different, and some will be a disaster. This it isn’t meant to shatter new depths of graphic design, but to find the voice in the visuals so that they can become an equal partner in the story being told.

Phillip Lovelace

Phillip Lovelace is a web designer who is passionate about designing beautiful, user friendly websites and interfaces. He enjoys taking a very detailed approach to flipping great ideas into clean designs while also focusing on web standards and best practices.

What makes him famous?
Phillip is founder of pixelflips web design studio in Berlin and a co-founder of enstrumental.com, LLC in the USA.

Chris Spooner

Chris Spooner is a UK based Graphic and Web Designer who runs the blog SpoonGraphics. Chris’s site shows a wonderful use of graphic design.

What makes him famous?
Chris has appeared on a range of design related sites and blogs across the net as well as being featured as a designer in popular web design publication; Web Designer Magazine.

Tracy Grady

Tracy Grady is an Australian web designer who also focuses on graphic design and illustration.

What makes her famous?
She has thirteen years’ experience in a variety of media and visual communication fields, including several years working as a Television and Radio Journalist. The desire for a more creative and flexible working life prompted her to turn to Graphic Design. In addition to working for herself, she works as an animator with Blue Rocket Productions.

Mika Tyyskä

Mika is a multimedia and web designer in Finland and founder of Elektrik Pyjamas design studio. Mika has done some very inspiring work and his combination of flash animation and music creates a design style unparalleled by any other designer.

What makes him famous?
Mika’s work for Progressive Rock band Dream Theater is very well known. Mika has done two flash animation videos that Dream Theater play on the screen during certain songs at their concerts. Mika has also done the website for Dream Theater’s keyboardist Jordan Rudess.

Mika is one of my favorite designers because of his amazing use of animation and music. One of my favorite projects of his is GuitarShredShow.com an interactive website that teaches advanced guitar soloing techniques, as well as providing an exciting adventure flash game in which the user holds down keys on their keyboard to trigger guitar licks throughout different stages.

There are many well recognized designers, and you could become one of them if you put your mind to it, follow some of the tips mentioned in this article, and get yourself out into the world wide web of design.

Written by: Jeff Nixon @ Eri Design

Tags: attractive websites, awesome design, design success, enhance your site, famous, famous designer, guide to succcess, inspiration, rock star designer, web advertising, web recognition

2 Comments to Inspirational Designers, and how to get recognized as a Web Designer

1. 

   Jeff this article is awesome thanks!
Erjon on February 13th, 2009
2. 

   Other than that, at rest or not in any sort of situation, he’ll display no abilities. ,
Pol26 on October 22nd, 2009

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