Web designers have creative talent but they may not have the strong artistic ability of a graphics designer. This doesn’t mean that you cannot incorporate some of their skills into your website work. Start with improving your information gathering skills. Like any other web site development project, you need to know what your customer is looking for and find a way to present it. Understand the customer’s market (such as electronics, fashion or travel) and what type of audience they are targeting.
Familiarize yourself with graphic design software like Adobe Illustrator or CorelDRAW. Even if don’t know how to draw, you can use their tools to create basic shapes and designs. Know what vector graphics are and creating images with text. Learn how to use photo editing software like Photoshop, Corel PaintShop Pro, PhotoSuite or GIMP to manipulate images in a creative way to help design great logos or icons. Read tutorials about image layering, masks and channels. Keep in mind that the logo/icon/banner you design should look well in color and in black in white, since it may be used for printing purposes. Develop an eye for color theme consistency. Any graphics created need to match with the design of a website.
Typography is another skill useful in graphic design. Knowing the various types of fonts can help determine what is appropriate for the web as well as what is professional looking and its readability. Obtain a font reference guide and use it as a resource when creating your designs.
