For designers: picking up additional skills
October 21st, 2008Gary Barber has written an interesting post titled 9 Skills to Supplement Design.
The thought behind this piece is that in order to have a long-term career in the web industry as a web designers, simply having mad Photoshop skills is no longer enough. To succeed, designers need to learn and understand – at least to some level - a number of different disciplines.
Gary lists nine skills that he thinks are important: information architecture, user experience, user testing, JavaScript, interface design, accessibility, usability, backend code, mobile device design. That sounds like a tall order!
So where can designers pick up the kind of information they need to get up to speed in multiple areas? Well, I hate to state the obvious, but conferences are an excellent starting point. Listening to a 50 minute presentation by an expert in a particular field is a great starting point into that topic – it will at least give you some background and insight. While you can’t be an expert in everything, you might find that one or two particular areas really capture your interest, enough to motivate you to seek out more information.
The Edge of the Web conference boasts a lineup of world-class speakers that includes experts in accessibility, JavaScript, mobile design, social media marketing, usability, information architecture, user experience and more. It’s the perfect place to learn how to expand your skills, expand your business and expand your horizons.
Or… how about a half-day in-depth workshop with an industry expert on accessibility, information architecture, rich internet applications on the desktop or JavaScript? At $200 for members and $225 for non-members (and a ridiculously tiny $100 for students), that’s outstanding value.
