Creative & Media

Web Designer

Plan and build the look of websites, choosing layouts, colors, and pictures that work on phones and computers

Open interactive guide

What does a Web Designer do?

Web designers work at agencies, in company marketing teams, or on their own for small business clients. They lay out pages, write basic code, and make sure sites load fast and fit any screen size. It suits people who like both art and puzzles and enjoy seeing their work go live.

A day in the life

8:30 AMCheck the small-business site you launched yesterday for errors
9:30 AMSketch a homepage layout that puts the phone number at the top
11:00 AMTurn the sketch into a working page using code
1:00 PMTest the page on a phone, a tablet, and a laptop
3:00 PMShrink big photos so the page loads quickly
4:30 PMSend the client a link and note their edit requests

What's great

  • See your work live on the internet in days
  • Freelance clients can come from anywhere
  • A blend of art and a little coding
  • Skills are useful in many industries

The hard parts

  • Site builders make basic jobs cheaper
  • Clients may ask for last-minute changes
  • You must keep learning as web tools change
  • Freelance income can rise and fall

What is a Web Designer's salary and outlook?

$39k – $98k
Salary Range
Bachelor's degree
Typical Education
Growing

Typical pay in this guide runs from about $39,000 to $97,500 a year, with a midpoint around $65,000. These are planning figures for students, not a job offer or an official wage.

CareerLens rates the outlook as Growing.

For the official national outlook, see BLS Occupational Data.

How do you become a Web Designer?

A common path is Bachelor's degree in web design, graphic design, or computer science. The ladder often runs from Junior Web Designer to Web Designer, then Senior Web Designer, and Director of Digital Design. Other routes: Two-year associate degree in web design; Coding bootcamp or online courses; Build free sites for local groups to grow a portfolio; Start in graphic design and add web skills.

  • Two-year associate degree in web design
  • Coding bootcamp or online courses
  • Build free sites for local groups to grow a portfolio
  • Start in graphic design and add web skills

Career path

Entry level
Junior Web Designer
Mid career
Web Designer
Senior
Senior Web Designer
Executive
Director of Digital Design

Will AI replace a Web Designer?

How much will AI change this job?

A lot

AI will change many everyday tasks in this job. The work shifts toward judgment, checking, and people.

AI will handle many design tasks, so your role shifts to guiding.

AI tools can now build layouts, write code snippets, and suggest color schemes quickly. This means web designers spend less time on repetitive tasks and more time deciding what looks good and works well for real people. Your taste, creativity, and understanding of users become even more valuable.

AI can help with

  • Generating quick website layout options
  • Writing basic code for buttons and menus
  • Suggesting color palettes and font pairings

What stays human

  • Deciding what feels right for a brand's personality
  • Understanding how real users think and click
  • Talking with clients to figure out their true needs

Skills to build now

  • Practice sketching layouts by hand or on a tablet
  • Learn basic HTML and CSS through free online tutorials
  • Study how people react to different app or website designs

Based on public research from Anthropic and OpenAI, drafted with AI, checked automatically, and read by a person. How we know

This describes how the work may change. It is not a prediction that the job will disappear.