Aim- To explore what the role of a Web Designer actually involves

1. What Does A Web Designer Do?

Most Web designers work for a large company or corporation but some web designers do work for small marketing and advertising firms, web design shops while others work as freelancers.


Web designers have to perform tasks on a daily basis such as:


-meeting with clients to determine requirements
- providing cost estimates
- helping the client understand how a website will accomplish their goals
- contract negotiating
- designing the layout, fonts, colour scheme
- creating the graphics
- implementing the mark up and styling
- implementing the functional behaviour
- designing the database
- following up with clients as the design progresses
- sending out invoices, chasing down clients for payment
- coaxing content out of clients
- hosting the website on a server
- debugging problems with the website
- improving the search engine ranking of the website
- integrating with third-party tools (e.g.. content management system)
- re-designing an existing website for a client
- managing and configuring servers
- registering domain names on behalf of clients


according to http://www.itjobswatch.co.uk/jobs/uk/web%20design.do the average income for a Web Designer is around £32,500 but this can vary on many factors for example commission, amount of content needed and what company they work for.


According to an independent article from p://webdesign.about.com/od/jobs/a/working_long_hours.htm most web designers when working either as a Freelancer of part of a company will be working from 60 to 80 hours a week which sometimes includes working 24 hour shifts to be able to meet a deadlines for a customer.

2. What Software and applications do they use?

Web Designers use many applications to create a web page which include Adobe InDesign, Adobe Dreamweaver, Expression Web,  Coffeecup, Kompozer and iWeb.
https://answers.yahoo.com/question/index?qid=20101021003526AA3XKEY

3. What Hardware Do Web Designers use?

Web Designers must use the highest quality of equipment when creating their clients' websites to insure the highest quality of website is available to their client. The Hardware that Web designers use are: iMac 2.8GHz Intel Core i7- This is a high quality mac monitor that is 27 inches wide. A Mac Book Pro 15 Inch- this is important so that Web Designers can still work on their assignment from anywhere in the country so they don't have to be in one specific place to work. A Logitech Wireless Trackball Mouse this is important to web designers as they are able to drag an item into the perfect position on the web page. Other items include an Apple USB keyboard, an IPad2, Security-Hardware Firewall, Dreamweaver.
http://webdesign.about.com/od/softwarereviews/tp/my-hardware-and-software.htm

4. What Environments Do They Work In?

A Web designer can work in many different environments depending on whether they are a free lancer or work for a company. The Web Designers that work for a company are more likely to be working in an office while free lancing Web Designers will be working from home due to the fact that that it is ran by that one person.
http://www.ehow.com/facts_7464109_work-environment-like-graphic-designer_.html

5. What Type of Regulations do they need to follow 

There are many regulations that Web Designers have to abide by otherwise they could be at threat of a law suit. Some of the regulations that will effect Web Designers are:
- Copyright: Web Designers have to avoid copyrighted pictures, colour schemes and styles when creating a web page