Becoming a web designer 🥇 Germany 2024 guide

Web designer is a profession for which Germany lacks many workers. Is web design an opportunity for you? Find out here in our guide!

How much does a web designer earn in Germany?

A web designer is a professional who takes care of the design of websites. In doing so, he determines the design by properly using programs and software and is well versed in the WordPress program, for example.

A web designer must make sure that the site is suitable for search engine optimization (SEO). SEO is a complex procedure through which websites have certain features so that they are listed high on Google.

A web designer must also be able to communicate well with customers. Thus, the expectation from a web designer is very high. Customers assume that he will meet their requirements perfectly and fulfill their goals completely.

The earning potential as a web designer varies greatly. They range from about 2,500 euros per month to over 8,000 euros – depending on the position, experience, responsibilities, industry and company.

Are web designers in demand in Germany?

In many professions, there are currently more vacancies than applicants in Germany. Currently, more than 2,000 vacancies for web designers are regularly reported via the Federal Employment Agency. This is a very high figure. So if you are regionally somewhat mobile, you will have no problems finding a job as a web designer.

A huge advantage are German skills (German skills at around B1 is good enough for the beginning). However the demand is still so high that German companies are very happy to hire foreign personnel, even if they have only limited German language skills. So you have excellent chances as a web designer, both as a German and as a foreigner.

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Where can I do a webdesigner apprenticeship?

You can do an apprenticeship as a web designer online via different training institutes. You can also visit training institutions in Germany that offer classroom training.

What does a web designer do?

A web designer is the one who is responsible for the design of internet presences. A good web designer should have a portion of creativity and a lot of up-to-date know-how. In fact, the range of tasks of a web designer is very wide and includes tasks such as the creation or adaptation of graphics to programming work.

The important thing in all these tasks is to meet the customer’s requirements to a great extent. This means that a web designer can draw on a wide variety of sources of information and still always keep the customer’s benefit in mind. This requires a lot of communication skills and the willingness to follow the customer’s wishes closely wherever possible – but also to advise him.

A web designer is a specialist in the field of Internet design. He designs the graphic and content design output of the respective web offer. The main task is the graphic design of the offer, where often not only the layout has to be created, but also all graphics, images and other elements.

Often the web designer has to create or edit the content of the website or web page. This may also include implementing the following elements:

• Connection to social media, especially Facebook, Instagram and Youtube,
• Implementation of different language versions,
• Implementing responsive / mobile-friendly websites.

For these tasks, you must have knowledge of website architecture and design. At the end of the day, it’s his job to bring everything together and coordinate it so that the client likes the result.

Where do I work as a web designer in Germany?

The largest number of web designers can be found in internet agencies, advertising agencies and media companies. Here you are mostly employed as a web designer and the company mainly deals with the creation of content/design on the web. The advantage of being employed here is that you get the most up-to-date knowledge very quickly.

Another area of employment are the communication and IT departments of companies. It doesn’t matter if it’s a car manufacturer, a machine manufacturer, a consumer goods producer or a retail group: every larger company operates Internet and Intranet presences and needs web designers for this.

Finally, the third area: Very many web designers also work freelance. Partly from home / remotely or partly on site at customers, they take on temporary assignments in companies – either for special completed projects or on an hourly basis with long-term cooperation.

What software and programming languages should I know as a web designer?

HTML, CSS, PHP and JavaScript are still the basics for web design. Today, however, it is often no longer necessary to develop complete program code yourself from scratch.

There are frameworks and tools that make it much easier and more automated for you to develop and maintain websites using these programming languages. Your task is rather to put existing parts together and to make a system functionally run from different building blocks.

Other software you should be proficient in are in particular:

• WordPress, Joomla, Typo3 and other content management systems (CMS)
• Adobe Creative Suite (for image and video editing)
• DigiKam (for photo editing)
• Blender (for 3D modeling)
• Gimp (for smaller graphics work)
• Inkscape (for characters and logos)
• Audacity (for editing audio files)
• VirtualBox (for virtualization)
• Zoom Player (as multimedia player)
• Gwibber & Pidgin + Skype (for instant messenger and phone calls).

Beyond that, there are many more tools and programs you’ll be working with. You also need to be pretty familiar with databases, for example MongoDB or MySQL. To know Microsoft Word and Microsoft Excel well can make your life much easier in case you have many texts and data to process.

The future of web design

According to our assessment, web design has very good job prospects in the present and also for the next few years. In many industries, digitization is in full swing and it is not to be expected that creating websites will simply stop any time soon.

In the medium term, however, the occupational field will change. This is because there are a whole range of currently maturing developments that are likely to change the nature of web designers’ jobs. Along with this, the number of required web designers will probably change as well.

Modular systems

The first technology that will change the activities of web designers in the future is modular systems. These modular systems will make it much easier in the future to create certain standard solutions that are still done manually by experts today. The automation that will take place here will affect questions of programming as well as design and marketing. Modular systems will significantly reduce the number of staff required.

AI Content

A second development is the use of artificial intelligence: Here, the focus is on the automatic search and insertion of images and the automatic search engine optimized text generation. Even this article you are reading right now has already been written to about one third by an AI algorithm. Another third has been dictated (iOS) and only the remaining third has been written classically in WordPress. Other articles on this website are already more than 85 percent automated.

It can be assumed that AI will therefore lead to a significant change in the activities of web designers (as well as editors). In combination with SEO and AI, as well as more modern content management systems, large parts of websites will probably be written automatically in the future. This changes the occupational field of the web designer. But on the other hand, it also opens up opportunities for new qualitative solutions or outstanding designs. This may be the point where you will still have excellent perspectives as a web designer.

Economic concentration processes

The number of web designers will probably also be limited in the future by upcoming economic concentration processes. In the area of e-commerce as well as in the area of news/media and other areas of the economy there will probably continue to be mergers, which will reduce the number of websites on the one hand.

On the other hand, the past of the Internet has always shown that there were constantly new approaches and even complete newcomers can rise to successful large companies within a few years. I therefore believe that as a web designer you have little to worry about in the future, especially if you are constantly learning new technologies.

Need to catch up

For the time being and for the next few years, we continue to have an overall excellent outlook for this profession. There is still a lot of catching up to do in large parts of the German economy in the area of digitalization and in the area of e-commerce.

So your future as a web designer can look very good in all likelihood. This is true even if you only decide to take up this profession today, and even if you don’t yet live and work in Germany.

Questions and answers

How AI is Changing the Job of Web Designers in Germany

AI is shaking up web design in Germany, but it’s not here to replace web designers. Instead, it’s reshaping their work, automating some of the grunt work and pushing designers to become even more specialized. Fewer designers might be needed in the future, but the ones sticking around will have skills that go beyond the basics. Let’s dive into how AI is making waves in this field.

AI is a Helper, Not a Replacement

AI tools like Wix ADI (Artificial Design Intelligence) and Bookmark’s AIDA are making it easy for anyone to build a basic website. These tools can handle layout creation, choose color schemes, and even suggest images. For small businesses or quick projects, this automation is a game changer. But while AI can handle these basics, it’s not taking away jobs. In fact, web designers are still essential, especially when it comes to customizing designs, aligning with brand identities, and creating unique user experiences.

Web designers in Germany are finding that AI helps free up time to focus on more creative tasks. AI can spit out a layout, but designers still need to make it feel personal and brand-specific. And for those critical areas like UX (user experience) and UI (user interface) design, AI can’t replace human insight and creativity. Tools like Adobe Sensei even offer insights on user behavior, which designers can use to make more strategic design choices, but it’s ultimately the designer who applies that knowledge in a meaningful way.

New Skills for Web Designers in an AI World

As AI steps into web design, designers are being pushed to level up. Basic skills might not cut it anymore, as understanding AI-powered tools and processes becomes more important. Knowing how to work with AI design software or even learning some coding, like Python or JavaScript, can give designers an edge. Data analysis and UX research are becoming central to creating designs that don’t just look good but actually perform.

Specializations in UX/UI design or human-centered AI can also make web designers more valuable. Understanding how to use AI insights to personalize user experiences or adjust designs based on user data is an increasingly valuable skill. Tools like Figma‘s AI-powered plugins or Uizard‘s AI sketch-to-design functionality are just some examples of how designers can streamline workflows but still keep their unique touch at the heart of projects.

As a result, AI isn’t reducing the need for designers—it’s just changing what designers do day-to-day. While fewer hands might be needed on deck for basic design tasks, those who understand AI and can build on it with creative expertise will find themselves even more in demand.

Keyword search: IT, Webdesign, WordPress