I’ve had many a conversation with other designers, online marketers, and other people in the marketing world, and so far the concensus is that print designers will never be able to do web design because they do not have the knowledge to design web sites. Generally, those who focus on graphic design for print lack the foundation to know server-side/client-side development, online marketing techniques, functionality, and other online techniques for effective web design and online marketing. Even some web designers are not effective in their designs because they lack the marketing skills to conduct online marketing. Most designers that I know of know are well-versed in functionality and design, but lack call-to-action elements and response methods, metric analysis, SEO/SEM, and other marketing (guerilla and otherwise) to assume a well-designed, fully-marketable website for a company or firm.
Do you have any thoughts on this subject? Please feel free to comment. I would love to know your opinions!
I agree. They are in two different worlds print designers and web designers. This should not be the case however. A good designer should be able to do both, and have the skill set to do both.
With online many of the print design principles still hold true. They just need to learn how to apply that knowledge online. If they don’t, it will be very hard for them to get work in the future.
I think to be a good online designer you need to know more about marketing, than you do for print. It can’t just look good or communicate well, it also needs SEO and metrics like you talked about.
Kevin, I agree. Both print and web designers go by the same design principles, but the target and methods to drive that target are very different. I do know of other designers who know both print and web — and excel in both — but they know marketing inside and out, in online and offline marketing. That’s something that print designers do not necessarily have in place. And as you stated, SEO/SEM needs to be more predominant in the design aspects, as design should be more business and marketing-focused.