A new year is always an opportunity to look back, reflect on your work over the past year and the trends in the industry and develop a strategy for the future. In web design, with the ever changing developments in new technologies, the future couldn’t be more exciting and the anticipation of what new developments will take place this year is even more exciting!

So, what do you think 2011 will bring to web design and development? If you want to stand out and help shape the direction, our advice is to be fast and flexible in embracing the use of the new technologies.  And, if you are on the design side, to deliver a responsive design, while keeping it both effective and functional.

At CodeMyIMAGE, we believe it is important to understand the close connection between trends in web design and web development, how they interact, and how each is determined and impacted by the other. We are ready for 2011 and want to share our vision of the future of web design:

1. HTML5 and CSS3 will continue to gain in popularity. With the new functionalities of HTML5 and CSS3, more designers and developers will proceed to implement these technologies into their web designs.  This trend will definitely bring the web to a more structured semantic level, and will push other trends to follow suit. For example, major internet browsers will be racing to support new features, and stay compatible with new technologies like HTML5 and CSS3.
2. Responsive web design is also a new major trend. It encourages designers to make their web design more fluid and adjustable to new popular internet devices, such as smartphones. Mobile websites are already gaining competitive advantage for businesses, so web designers will try to keep up by optimizing websites to mobile standards, or creating mobile web design.
3. Speed and simplicity of design remain very important. Looking deeper into this phenomenon, we can see it is a trend that is fed  by the new mobile web design direction– web designers have to get more creative with less in order to deliver a more impactful and  effective design.

However, these trends are not the only directions we have seen gaining recent popularity on the web. We think there is a lot of space in web design to be filled in by technology innovation, improved standards, or new aesthetics.

The question whether web designers should hand code their web designs has certainly stirred controversies between designers and developers everywhere. At the same time, it drummed up some best web design practices, and interesting solutions to the collaboration process between design and development.

What we have learned from the developer’s position is that communication is a critical factor when a web designer chooses to outsource the coding to a PSD to HTML provider; and by communication we mean, not only discussing the design, but also understanding the development. If a web designer wants to deliver the best of their web designs, it is important to know basic front-end coding and to understand the overall bigger picture of the World Wide Web.

However, high quality coding requires a lot of time and a deeper knowledge of issues like validation, semantics, and usability. In this context, a web designer may decide not to hand code, but to outsource this service to a professional PSD to HTML provider. This choice has proved to be not only effective but very efficient for web designers for the following reasons:

1. You have more time to focus on your customers and the up-front design process. As opposed to code which is technical, web design is visual and entails time, inspiration, and creative vision. When you hire a professional to handle your code, you gain valuable time to spend in front of a client or to engage more on your web design efforts.
2. It is important to promote your design work online, to effectively deliver your design message and creativity, and to ultimately gain new customers.
3. While some may find it not too difficult to code with HTML and CSS, it may be a challenge to follow the best practices and achieve the best results. You will find that it is more effective and efficient to work with a highly specialized provider that can turn your web designs into high quality code, quickly, and cost effectively.

At CodeMyIMAGE, we understand these aspects of the web design business and we are supporting our collaboration partners enabling them to further develop their own business.  So they can focus on their creative designs and we provide them high quality code.

As a web designer, how much time do you spend to promote yourself and to get your name recognized on the Internet? Web designers should probably have the strongest presence online, considering there are many opportunities and tools available to showcase their image, promote it consistently, and attract new opportunities which can ultimately result in new projects or clients.

Since we, at CodeMyIMAGE, are constantly working and interacting with web designers, we are going to share our vision of what makes some web designers stand out in the crowd when it comes to promoting their work online.

1. Building a website to showcase your web design portfolio is a must. Keep it simple but make sure you include information with substance such as illustration, design projects, photography or online videos. One page websites can be very effective as well, and they may function as an online business card or a resume for most web designers.

2. Submit your portfolio to quality web design directories. You are most likely familiar with design directories – make sure your work is there too and it is placed in a manner that displays your specific design to your specific target! Depending on the projects you want to showcase, you may choose to submit your design to a gallery website, a freelance directory, or to web design companies’ directories. Here are only a few examples of directories with great design portfolios: Behance, Web Creme, Sortfolio, Carbonmade, Creative Hotlist, or deviantART.

3. Maintain a blog and try to include updates of your web design work including what makes you enthusiastic about your design or what differentiates you from the crowd. This is a very efficient way of staying active and building an online community. And it will definitely improve your appearance in search results. A personal web design blog is an opportunity to introduce case studies or to network with readers or potential clients.

4. Use social networks to promote your blog, recent work, or to start networking with fellow web designers and potential customers. Facebook, Twitter, Digg, or LinkedIn are great social media channels to introduce your web design work, get feedback, and get your name out on the Internet.

5. Stay active on forums – start a thread or post a discussion in professional forums and communities. It is important to state your point of view and it will definitely generate interest from the people who share your views about design.

We hope these tips will prove to be valuable opportunities which will provide exposure to your web design portfolio, share your point of view on design, and finally to attract new projects and clients.