You are not a Web Designer IF…
Since the term Designer is pretty generic these days, I will try to limit the topic of this article to web designers. So these next lines should define better the qualities and knowledge a web designer should have. This is just my opinion, if you think differently please share your thoughts.
You are not a Web Designer IF:
1. you don’t know what a PIXEL is
2. you don’t know what a mockup is
3. you don’t know what RGB or CMYK is and stands for
4. you don’t know what screen real estate is
5. you only design and never code
6. you don’t know the difference between vector and raster
7. you have only heard about Photoshop
8. you can’t name an alternative to Photoshop
9. you know some cool Photoshop filters
10. you know only a way of selection in Photoshop
11. you don’t know what DPI stands for
12. you don’t know what image formats are
13. you know only JPG and GIF
14. you know some cool effects in Front Page
15. you don’t know what a DTD is
16. you use only HTML Transitional DTD
17. you don’t know the difference between HTML and XHTML
18. you don’t know what CSS is
19. you are inclined of using inline CSS
20. you don’t know anything about typography
21. you don’t know what a serif is
22. you’ve never heard about W3C
23. you know to code only in Dreamweaver
24. you test your web pages only in Internet Explorer
25. you don’t read web design blogs
26. you don’t use wireframes
27. you have a Mac. ( you are not necessarily a designer if you own a mac )
28. you have no knowledge of design history ( although this is something that can be learned between projects 
)
Are you?
My reason for this post was to better define the thin line between a web designer wannabe (newbie) and a mature web designer. Please share your ideas, things that I forgot to put on this list.
Cheers!
http://www.flickr.com/photos/mickbis/3438351579/sizes/o/
29: you don’t know what Wordpress is
I would add: “You don’t know what the colour wheel” is! “You don’t know what FTP is!”
I know a lot of people who think they are designers because they can convert a MS word doc to HTML and then can upload via http://FTP... sad, sad, sad!
Poor designers sometimes hide behind their Mac to give the impression that they are a hip designer!
Maybe these are true because I live in Africa… who knows!
Thanks for the post
nice post!
Indeed an interesting list in my opinion. While me and probably most web designers would do very well according to it, it could be a nice small hint for beginners seeking for advice how to start and what to learn and get used to essentially before they are really on a good way to become a web designer.
woohoooo… i’m safe
Nice list.. I like the Mac one. So true.
Saying that you don’t need a mac to be a designer is fine. But your statement is “You are not a Web Designer IF… you have a Mac.”
Whichever platform you, doesn’t make you more or less of designer. It really doesn’t matter what platform you are. It sounds like more Mac bashing.
Good progress…
But still… you first learn from softwares
So it’s just a matter of time… When people have the passion to learn and work well, so from creating becoming a person who trusted by people/clients to work on projects…
xx. if you don’t know what AJAX stand for.
If they do then they clearly do not care about how there code is not only structured but also written.
Front Page is a horrible piece of software to utilize, DW is a much much better route to talk, although I press for anyone looking to learn to code to write code by hand.
As far as php I highly recommend using phpdesigner2007 it checks syntax nicely and it also is great for hand coding xhtml and css…. its what I use in place of DW, although I do find myself using it from time to time
Well I would like to add a point there.
You are not a designer if you stop to design and start pin pointing why you are not a designer? LOL … just kidding … nice one dude … keep em up!!
http://abhi.com.np/blog/
Also you are not a designer if you are at this page trying to figure out “YOU ARE NOT A DESIGNER IF”… LOL
Title should read “You are not a Web Designer just because…”
Great, great post! Totally agree with this. Really helps separate the wheat from the chaff. We need more of these.
The comment about one layered PSDs cracked me up.
I love this list and I feel fortunate that my school taught us to code in Notepad way before we used DW. I think a lot of people blur the lines between developers and designers with ignorance and that is why a few people got offended by this list. I consider myself a designer for more than one reason; I have more experience in the field of design (graphic, web, fashion, etc.) and I believe that one can truly call themselves a designer/developer when the nature of their tasks is instinctive.
the list if good and i know its a must must
Woop, I passed the test with flying colours. Go me!
You should add somethig about not knowing what Flash is.
What’s wrong to code in Dreamweaver, it’s actually a really good text editor if you turn of the preview window with built in support for HTML tagging, CSS attributes and etc..
Yay!
I’m only 16 but I’m officially a ‘mature web designer’
Great post… a lot of those points made me laugh!
Thanks
You are not a designer if you cannot draw with pencil !
Yeah !
I agree with many of these, but disagree with some. I consider myself an intermediate web designer, but I didn’t know a couple of these things. I believe you have to understand what you NEED to understand and be WILLING to learn and expand and become better.
Just my two cents
I have heard about serif but I don’t know this exactly. So I’m not x)
Awesome – I passed all! Like Oliver Treed up there, I am young but “mature”
Thanks for the quick post – I love the comments suggesting about AJAX, ActionScript, one layer PSD’s, and FTP’s…great ideas.
Lotta people crying a river because you called them out with this list. *lol* Kinda glorious. TOO many people think of themselves as designers and developers nowadays. Everyone and their mom thinks they can make websites, charge for it, and they call themselves “freelance.” The titles are abused, and I’d say more than half of the so called web site creators out there today are just hacks.
Like some individuals here I appreciate your intent, but I highly disagree with many of the items on this list. Your opinion regarding what constitutes a designer and a wannabe are highly subjective, and you don’t seem to understand the “fine line” between a designer and a programmer. Seems like you have a little bit to learn yourself.
I’m an attorney with no formal education about design or arts and passed all the questions above, scoring . I used to say I’m intermediate web designer, can I call myself mature designer?
Well,I got a long way to go…
Coda ftw on my… Mac!
Just one question: how to add your blog into my rrs reader, thanks so much.