In today’s marketplace, businesses and organizations are increasingly relying on their web presence's strength. In fact, many businesses and organizations are forgoing physical locations entirely in favor of digital storefronts. Thus, across virtually every field and industry, there is increased demand for professionals who can design and build webpages that drive internet traffic and leave impressions upon audiences. No matter what kind of work you are hoping to do in the future, if you are interested in blending creative and technical skills, learning web design can be a solid long-term choice. Approximately three websites are created every second, and learning how to build and maintain these webpages can help you find work in virtually every industry or build your own online presence.
Many high school students and younger children have been around the internet for their entire lives. They may be interested in learning more about how complex webpages and other digital applications function. These students may want to consider enrolling in summer training programs to learn the basics of web design and development. In most of these courses, students will learn some combination of the creative aspects of creating evocative web designs and the technical programming aspects of the process that turn those designs into a reality. Students may learn design tools like Figma and Adobe XD, Photoshop, and Illustrator. They may also learn how to program webpages using programming languages like HTML/CSS, JavaScript, and its associated libraries. Every summer training program will be different, but since web design is such a massive field, almost every student can find a course to fit their needs.
What Will Students Learn in a Summer Web Design Class?
When you sign up for a summer web design class, you will learn the skills you need to plan and create websites. You can choose a class that will teach you how to make your own using design principles and web design tools. If you want to change to a career as a Web Designer, a certificate course will also teach you coding languages, content management systems, and search engine optimization.
Design Principles
Web Designers need to understand the underlying principles of good visual design. These include layout, typography, and color theory. You will also learn how to conduct research on user behavior to create the most successful website design possible.
Web Design Tools
A class will also cover the most popular web design tools you can use to plan, layout, and build webpages. Figma allows you to creat responsive web designs that are optimized for multiple platforms and devices, and lets you create clickable prototypes for testing designs. Flexbox, Grid, and Bootstrap are tools used for webpage layout.
Coding Languages
While programming skills are not necessary to create a website, people who want to become Web Designers will benefit from learning website coding languages like HTML, CSS, and JavaScript.
Content Management Systems
Familiarity with content management systems (CMS) like WordPress is another important skill for Web Designers. You can use WordPress to build websites or blogs. Choose attractive themes and plugins to increase functionality.
Search Engine Optimization
Another important skill for Web Designers is search engine optimization (SEO), a collection of techniques to increase a website's ranking on search pages like Google and Bing. SEO uses content, technical optimization, keyword research, and link building to increase organic ranking.
What Industries Hire People with Web Design Skills?
As more and more businesses build a digital presence, they hire people with web design skills to create websites for marketing products and services. Web Designers can work in many different industries but the ones that hire the most people with web design skills include computer system design, marketing and advertising, finance, retail, healthcare, and education.
Computer System Design
Many companies design computer systems for clients and website design is part of those services. Web Designers are employed to create websites, mobile applications, and software programs for clients. They also perform website audits, maintenance, and updates.
Marketing and Advertising
Web Designers also work for marketing and advertising agencies to create websites for clients. Digital marketing continues to grow and companies need an attractive and efficient website to create an online presence.
Finance
Banks, insurance companies, and brokerage firms also need websites for advertising, processing transactions, and providing customer service. Online banking is so popular that some banks don't even have a brick-and-mortar location. Web Developers create and maintain these websites.
Retail
The retail industry needs websites so customers can order items, stores can order inventory, and employees can access their schedules and payroll information. Web Designers use their skills to create easy to use websites, as well as content for social media platforms.
Hospitality
Hotels, airlines, restaurants, and bars use websites to take reservations, advertise prices, and post menus. Many customers order take out food or sign up for a table online thanks to Web Developers.
Healthcare
The healthcare industry uses websites for numerous activities, like scheduling appointments, recordkeeping, personnel files, and patient education. Web Designers create applications to help patients manage prescriptions, learn about treatment options, and watch videos on medical conditions.
Education
Web Designers work in the education industry designing learning platforms for schools, websites with school information, and educational materials. Many students access websites to watch videos, take quizzes, and complete activities.
Web Design Job Titles
People with web design skills can find jobs as Web Designers, Visual Designers, Digital Designers, or Graphic Designers. Jobs in these fields are plentiful and pay well. The job market is expected to remain strong.
Web Designer
Web Designers use an understanding of visual and technical design principles to create websites that are functional and efficient. Some work in agencies or in-house for companies, while others work as freelancers, some from home. Web Designers earn about $60,000 a year.
Visual Designer
Visual Designers use their skills to design website elements like banners, graphics, images, navigation, and menus. They focus on designing the most attractive digital elements using tools like Figma, XD, Photoshop, and Sketch. Visual Designers make around $80,000 annually.
Digital Designer
Digital Designers create digital elements like graphics, animations, and visual effects for websites and mobile applications. They often work as part of a team and can earn around $85,000 a year.
Graphic Designer
Some people with web design skills work as Graphic Designers. They work with both print and digital designs using text, graphics, colors, and images for companies, agencies, or as freelancers. Graphic Designers make about $62,000 annually.
Classes For Adults & College Students
While they won’t have extended breaks over the summer, adults and college students can use the summer months to take advantage of web design training programs. These courses will provide students with the necessary training to start building their own webpages and designing digital interfaces professionally. Noble Desktop provides interested students with their Classes Near Me tool to help them find and compare their summer web design course options.
1. Noble Desktop: Web Design Certificate
Students interested in a comprehensive, career-focused web design education should consider enrolling in Noble Desktop’s Web Design Certificate program. In this course, students will learn how to use Figma to build working prototypes of digital applications and webpages. These prototypes can then be tested and iterated upon until students are ready to start programming their designs using coding languages like HTML/CSS and JavaScript. Students will learn the basics of computer programming and leave the course equipped with the skills to start designing and building webpages in a professional environment. The course also provides students with career mentorship and professional development training to prepare graduates for entry into the job market.
2. Noble Desktop: UX & UI Design Certificate
Another comprehensive web design training option is Noble’s UX & UI Design Certificate program. User Interface (UI) and User Experience (UX) design is an important subfield of web design that focuses on how an interface looks and feels. UI design training emphasizes the use of tools like Figma, Photoshop, and Illustrator to create interfaces and webpages that are visually appealing, evocative and memorable. User Experience design emphasizes how a digital application feels when it is in a user’s hands. UX design is a more research-oriented approach and involves testing and iterating on a webpage until it is accessible, user-friendly, and responsive to the behaviors of real-world users. This course is ideal for students who are interested in web design but aren’t particularly interested in computer programming or are invested in web design's consumer research aspect. Like their Web Design Certificate program, this course provides students one-on-one mentorship and professional development training.
3. Noble Desktop: Figma Bootcamp
Some students may be interested in learning more about web design but are hesitant to enroll in a month-long, career-focused training program. Students looking to get a taste of the field may want to consider a shorter skills development course, such as Noble’s Figma Bootcamp. In this class, students will receive hands-on instruction in Figma, the most popular user interface design tool currently available. Students will learn how to build prototype web designs and populate them with interactive elements mirroring how they will function when programmed. This tool is invaluable for anyone looking to build webpages or user interfaces, and this course will set students up for future success in their web design or UX/UI design training.
4. The Web Design Academy: Web Design Essentials
The Web Design Academy is a UK-based training center that offers brief online courses covering important web design skills. Their Web Design Essentials course covers the uses of HTML and CSS for basic and intermediate programming. In this class, students will learn how to write clean, effective HTML/CSS code and build upon that framework to add multimedia and interactive elements to their webpages. This is an ideal course for students looking to learn the basics of computer programming for webpages and hoping to start working on practical web design projects in the near future. The course is taught out of the UK, so students should be cognizant of time zone differences when enrolling in the online program.
5. The Web Design Academy: Responsive Web Design
Responsive Web Design is an accelerated training program that teaches students how to use CSS3 and other programming languages to build web applications that are optimized for display on a wide variety of different devices and screens. The ability for a webpage to be viewed on a desktop, a mobile device, or a tablet is an important accessibility concern. Students will want to understand the tools at their disposal to ensure that their web designs are built with this accessibility concern in mind. By the end of the course, students will have trained in the process of building responsive, easy-to-use web applications and they will be ready to apply that knowledge to later web design projects.
6. The Web Design Academy: Website Usability Essentials
This one-day program emphasizes the importance of factoring in usability and accessibility when designing a web application. Students will learn about the important concerns that they should consider in every project, including response time, concerns for language, links, and other navigation concerns. This course provides students with an overview of the things that they should be considering when designing web applications, because even the most evocative and impactful web design project is going to fail if users can’t easily understand and navigate that page.
7. headTrix, Inc.: Web Design Certificate
headTrix, Inc. offers students an immersive Web Design Certificate program that teaches them the basics of visual design for web applications. In this course, students will learn how to use Photoshop, Dreamweaver, and WordPress to create functional webpages with minimal coding knowledge. This course will then teach students the basics of HTML/CSS so that they can begin coding webpages and building more advanced WordPress webpages using their own programming knowledge. The course also has students selecting an elective course that can cover more advanced programming skills, SEO training, or digital marketing instruction.
8. Ledet: WordPress 101
WordPress is one of the most commonly used tools for building webpages. As of today, more than 40% of all active webpages use some WordPress infrastructure, and that number is only set to grow. As such, anyone looking to build their own professional webpage but isn’t confident in their programming abilities may want to learn how to use WordPress. Ledet training offers WordPress courses that kick off with their Fundamentals for Professionals introduction. In this class, students will learn the basics of creating and managing WordPress pages and lay the foundation for more advanced WordPress training as they build more complex and unique webpages using this service.
Classes For High School Students & Teenagers
There are a ton of reasons that a high school student may want to learn how to build and design a webpage. They may be interested in a future career in web design, have a business idea that they want to get off the ground, or just be interested in creating unique webpages for their personal use. Regardless of why a student wants to learn web design, there are a wide array of different high school summer web design programs to choose from.
9. NextGen Bootcamp: UX & UI Design Summer Program Online
NextGen Bootcamp offers a comprehensive summer UX & UI Design Summer Program for high school students looking to learn the fundamentals of visual web design. In this course, students will learn the basics of using Figma and Adobe XD to design webpages' visual and interactive elements, with an attention to the practical concerns of accessibility and ease of use. Students will build designs, share those designs for testing and iterate upon them with user feedback. This is a great course for students interested in web design but not in computer programming since this course covers the artistic and practical elements of the design process.
10. NextGen Bootcamp: Full Stack Web Developer Summer Program
High school students who are interested in the technical aspect of building webpages may want to enroll in NextGen Bootcamp’s Full Stack Web Developer Summer Program. This course will teach students the programming aspects of building a functional, interactive webpage, including HTML/CSS, JavaScript and the JavaScript libraries required to handle back-end functions. This is a comprehensive class that will take students with no prior programming experience and prepares them for college-level programming and computer science classes. This is an ideal course for any student looking to learn how to program their own web applications or who is looking to continue their education in a computer science-related field.
11. NextGen Bootcamp: Graphic Design Summer Program Live Online
Many web design projects directly overlap with graphic design projects since Graphic Designers will be responsible for building the visual assets that populate web applications and interfaces. In NextGen’s Graphic Design Summer Program, students will learn to use the most common graphic design tools, Adobe Photoshop, InDesign, and Illustrator, to build these digital assets. Students will receive hands-on instruction and feedback on their work, and by the end of the course, they will have built a portfolio of designs they can bring to their future web design projects and training. Students will need more targeted training to apply many of these skills to the field of web design, but for creative students looking to start down a design career path, this course is an ideal entry point.
12. NextGen Bootcamp: UX & UI Design Summer Program NYC
Some students may find that they prefer an in-person educational experience to an online one. These students may want to consider enrolling in one of NextGen’s many in-person training programs, such as their UX & UI Summer Program NYC. Students in the Manhattan area can enroll in these courses and commute to NextGen’s campus to learn from live instructors in their state-of-the-art computer science lab. Students will have access to all of the important web design software applications, and they will be able to collaborate directly with a cohort of like-minded students. Many of NextGen’s classes are available through live, in-person instruction and students are encouraged to consider whether classroom or remote instruction is the best fit for them.
13. Columbia School of Engineering: Coding Bootcamp
The Columbia School of Engineering offers students the opportunity to learn important computer programming skills in immersive full-time or part-time bootcamps. These courses are an ideal place for aspiring Web Designers to pick up the skills necessary to program their own webpages using HTML/CSS, JavaScript, and its important full stack libraries. In this class, students will learn how to program front and back end aspects of a web application and they will be able to apply these skills to practical web design projects.
14. Education Unlimited: Web Design Summer Course
Education Unlimited offers a summer programming bootcamp that emphasizes the programming languages and skills commonly associated with web design. Students will learn the basics of programming webpages using HTML/CSS and they will learn how to populate those webpages with interactive elements using JavaScript. This course aims to provide students with the skills they need to build their own simple web applications right away and to follow through with further training in JavaScript libraries and other more complex web design programming languages. This course is a good entrypoint to the world of computer programming for students who are wanting to learn how to build impressive web applications.
Classes For Kids & Preteens
Most younger children have spent their entire lives around computers and digital applications and they might be interested in learning more about how computers work. Summer web design training programs are a great way to introduce students to the world of computer science and instill in them a life-long passion for STEM work. These classes are a great way to get students hands-on training in creative and technical skills.
15. Lavner Education: Virtual Web Design Camp with WordPress, HTML & JavaScript
Lavner Education offers a live, online training camp for students aged 10-14 looking to learn the basics of HTML/CSS and JavaScript. This course is an ideal entrypoint to the world of computer programming for young students interested in learning how webpages are built and designed. This course will provide students with live instruction on the practical aspects of web design and students will be able to work alongside a cohort of like-minded students on collaborative web design projects. By the end of the course, students will have enough skills to design their own working webpages and they will be prepared to carry those skills forward into more advanced computer programming training.
16. Udemy: Web Design for Students (ages 5-18): On Demand
Another option parents have for helping their children learn web design is on-demand coursework. These classes, which are recorded video lessons, can be taken at any time and give students greater control over how and when they study. This course, Udemy’s Web Design for Students course, offers a brief video tutorial that will introduce students to the basics of launching a webpage, adding text and graphics to that webpage using HTML/CSS and building interactive elements into those web applications. There are a great many different options available for parents to choose from, so parents may want to consider exploring their options for on-demand summer programming courses.
17. iD Tech: Private Web Development Tutoring: On Demand
Students as young as ten can be enrolled in iD Tech’s private web development tutoring sessions and receive one-on-one personalized instruction in the basics of web development, HTML/CSS, and JavaScript. Each tutoring track is broken down into twelve one-hour sessions and parents can opt to enroll their children in a single session, four sessions, eight sessions, or all twelve sessions. Students enrolled in these courses will begin by learning the basics of computer programming and by the end of the course, they will be able to build and develop their own personal webpages.
Why Summer is the Perfect Time to Learn Web Design
Summer is an ideal time to learn a new skill, regardless of age or experience. Learning web design can be daunting, especially for students without a coding background. Enrolling in a professional training program is a great way to ease students into the challenges of learning web design skills.
For K-12 students, summer training is the most viable option for learning web design since the long summer break lets students dedicate themselves to learning a new skill. Focused training programs are available during the summer break, and will provide students with the guided assistance they need to make learning basic programming skills easier and more accessible.
Adults and college students are less likely to have a great deal of free time available but still may find that summer training programs are ideal for meeting their needs. Training providers tend to run more part-time courses during the summer months because there is a higher demand for classes, and there are more instructors available to teach these courses. In addition, most adults find that they have more mental energy to dedicate to extra work during the summer months since the weather and the longer days make them feel less exhausted at the end of the day. This extra mental energy can go a long way to helping aspiring Web Designers complete their training.
How to Choose the Right Summer Web Design Course
Choosing the right summer web design course can be difficult, especially for parents looking to enroll their children in a summer program. Adults looking to enroll in a summer program will need to consider their long-term goals, and anyone looking to enroll a K-12 student in a summer course will want to consider how productive that training may be.
Parents looking to enroll younger children in a summer web design program will want to consider what aspect of the web design process will interest their child the most. Since these are very introductory courses, students are unlikely to learn incredibly practical skills. Rather, they will gain an understanding of the fundamentals of web design to carry with them through more advanced training as they age. Thus, parents should consider what they think will spark their child’s interest the most. For some children, this may be graphic design training and other means of flexing their creative muscles. For others, this will involve learning a programming language and seeing a webpage come to life in front of their eyes.
High school students are more likely to have a clearer idea of why they want to learn web design skills. Students looking to pursue computer programming and web design in college may want to consider a course designed specifically with advanced web design training in mind. These courses tend to teach students the skills they will need to learn more advanced skills rather than aiming to teach students the practical aspects of building webpages. Students who want to develop their own web presence will want to enroll in a more practical skills-focused course, such as a course that emphasizes WordPress web design.
Adults and college students looking to learn web design will be more attentive to their immediate career goals and needs. Students looking for a career-centered training program will want to enroll in a course such as Noble Desktop’s Web Design Certificate program. In courses like this, students will receive training in web design skills like using Figma and HTML/CSS and JavaScript. They will receive one-on-one professional mentorship services to help them transition into a new career in web design. Students interested in web design but not prepared to make a new career out of that interest might want to consider enrolling in a course like Noble’s Figma Bootcamp. These courses focus more on single web design skills (ranging from Figma to UX design to HTML/CSS). While students looking for a new career may find that they need additional training, these courses are ideal places to learn the basics of web design and set themselves up for long-term success.