Majoring in Web Design

A friend’s daughter is thinking of pursuing a degree in web design. She reached out to me for my advice. Here’s what I wrote to her.

Dear M,

Web design is an exciting field. I guarantee that you won’t have a hard time finding jobs, especially in the Metro area. Although you can get a two-year degree in web design, I highly recommend getting an BA at a four-year college. With that said, I am not sure if there are specific majors in web design at universities.

George Mason University School of Art offers major in graphic design and minor in web design. Since you’re in Maryland, you might want to check out MICA and its graphic design program.

I have been doing web design for almost twenty years. I studied digital art and multimedia design at La Salle University. I completed my master in graphic design two years ago from George Mason University School of Art. I am currently director of design and web services at George Mason University Scalia Law School. I also take on some freelance projects once in a while. You can see some of my works at donnytruong.com.

Something for you to think about when considering web design. Web technologies changes all the time; therefore, you will have to constantly keep yourself up to date. The good thing is that HTML & CSS will always be the foundation of web design. You will need to master those two; therefore, learn them as soon as you can. You will need to know graphic tools such as Photoshop, Illustrator, and Sketch. Programming languages such as JavaScript and PHP & MySQL are an important part of the web, but they are more on the development side. You can learn them later.

I hope I have provided enough information to help you make your decision. Please do not hesitate to ask me any question.

Wish your all the best,