4 Must-have Skills for Becoming a Well-rounded Designer
By Morgan Hartman
Creative Director
If you’re like me, you like to dabble in all things creative. One of the best things about being a designer is that the field is constantly changing, allowing new avenues for creativity to be discovered. Some of the skills I’d like to share with you aren’t even specifically related to design, but I believe branching out to them can help expand your creativity.
1. Motion Graphics & Animation
In Bohlsen Group’s marketing predictions for 2024, I predicted that designers will begin using motion more often. It’s no secret that moving objects tend to attract more eyes, and motion can be implemented into a plethora of media: websites, web applications, video—just to name a few.
If you’ve got access to Adobe After Effects, I encourage you to check out free resources and tutorials on YouTube to get started with animation and motion graphics. These skills will not only make you more well-rounded, they will also set you apart from other designers when it comes to marketing yourself.
2. UI/UX
As we dive deeper into an increasingly digital world, designing user interfaces and experiences will not only continue to be relevant, but necessary. UI/UX design will test your creativity—it’s not enough to create something pretty, it’s got to function, too. You’ll need to prepare yourself for a whole new type of artstyle as well: communicating with non-designers and a team of developers.
Expanding your skillset into this area is definitely worth it. Also, if you decide to make this area your focus, then you can start saying hello to the big bucks!
3. Basic CMS Knowledge
CMS? Not another three-letter acronym! A CMS, or Content Management System, is software that allows an individual to create, modify and manage content on a website. Wordpress is one of the most popular CMSs, and it’s also got a steeper learning curve. Thankfully, there are alternatives like Wix and Squarespace, which are a little more approachable for those of us who prefer friendlier WYSIWYG editors.
You likely already know how to create graphics and content for websites, and you can take it to the next level by actually implementing your work onto the infamous world wide web. Knowing the ins and outs of websites definitely isn’t everyone’s cup of tea, and I’m not saying you need to become a web developer in order to become more well-rounded as a designer. Instead, look to CMS knowledge as another tool that can aid you in understanding exactly how your design will be used.
4. File Organization
I saved the best—but, most boring—for last. Don’t sleep on how you organize your files, especially if you work with a team of other designers. Establishing a file naming convention and hierarchy for your folders is essential for keeping you, and everyone who works on the same server as you, sane. With every new project, I try to keep my file structure predictable and consistent with my other projects; that way, anyone within my team can easily access assets, working files, and finished designs without having to dig too hard.
While we’re at it, let’s combine this with the Basic CMS Knowledge we covered before. File organization can easily extend to the websites you create. If your CMS allows it, start creating folders to keep everything tidy. I like to keep all my website content organized according to its location on the site. Think of your parent/child pages as a foundation for your folder structure.
This probably doesn’t get said enough, but it’s important that we, as visual communicators, can also communicate effectively through our shared organizational systems as well.
Let’s Get Creative
You don’t have to do it all, and you shouldn’t have to. As you continue your journey as a designer, you’ll find which areas you thrive in and which ones give you difficulty. If none of the above skills are for you, that’s totally fine. The important thing is that you find what keeps you creatively satisfied.
