42 What Web Designers Think
“
Staying current means pushing yourself into new and
unfamiliar territory on a regular basis to challenge and
enhance your current skillset. Anyone in this industry
must be the type of person who is highly self-motivated
and willing to learn and improve themselves.
”—Curt
Ziegler (Cudazi)The point that all our experts make is that staying current means
constantly learning and staying (critically) aware of ongoing devel-
opments in the industry.I’ve included several graphs from the survey to give you a taste of
what’s going on in the field in 2012. These don’t need a lot of com-
mentary—see what your fellow designers are using and where you
could stand to improve.What skills do you most want to learn or improve right now?
HTML/CSS, markup and
styling knowledge
Cr eativity, conceptualizing,
brainstorming
JavaScript, JQuery or
fr ont end coding skills
PHP or back end
coding skills
Graphics applications
(Photoshop, Illustrator, etc.) usage
Business knowledge, freelancing
practice, dealing with clients
Design principles and
theoretical knowledge
Other media skills (Flash,
animation, video)
Specialized topics (UI/UX
design, typography, etc.)
0% 10% 20% 30% 40% 50% 60% 70%
43.1%17.6%35.0%39.5%33.6%51.3%63.8%42.9%44.1%