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Design

Posted by Josh Hicks
Josh Hicks
14,146 Points

Stuff Web Designers do in Photoshop.

Hello all,

I realize this might be a very simple question, but I'm honestly not sure of the answer anymore. So here goes: What do web designers use Photoshop for nowadays?

I know that Photoshop WAS used for creating mockups and designing different items on the page which was sliced up for developers, but that's not as common now I hear. Designing in the browser has become very possible, and CSS has come a long way. However, I still see on EVERY SINGLE job posting that Photoshop is absolutely essential for getting a job. So that brings me back to my question. If I want to get a job in the modern era of web design, what should I be able to do with Photoshop? Should I create icons? Should I make a custom web banner? Should I still be making mockups?

Thanks in advance guys and gals!

4 Answers

jonathankavalos
jonathankavalos
3,523 Points
jonathankavalos
jonathankavalos
3,523 Points

Most people are not asking you to make a PSD mockup in Photoshop anymore, but they're likely checking to see if you have the ability to create assets for the pages you create. Logos, photos, icons and other visuals need to output through some graphics editor at some point. If you recall the "Smells Like Bakin'" project, you'll notice that the logo, photos of cupcakes, and even the textured background all required some kind of software to create them. Many things can be created using CSS, but not all.

Employers want results and look for people that fit into their culture. If Photoshop is something they use, be sure to ask what level they require. Some employers want basic cropping skills, color & light correction, and a photo "spruce up". Others will want you to have the ability to turn a horrible photo into a magazine-ready picture. Each job requires a different level of photo editing mastery.

The best answer I can give you is that it depends on the job and where within the company it lies. For example, a front-end developer in a marketing department will likely have more design related tasks than same role within an IT department. Also, the size of the company may also affect how often Photoshop is used. Smaller agencies will likely require more knowledge per employee ("jack of all trades") than a large corporation.

Pablo Litardo
Pablo Litardo
6,241 Points
Pablo Litardo
Pablo Litardo
6,241 Points

^^^ Has great points, I've also realized that most Job requires you to have knowledge in Photoshop and it's most likely for creating, icons or assets or editing images ect.. Overall I'll say Photoshop is still a good skill to have, and it's even enjoyable, and as for building mockups, it's great when your trying to build a very detailed mockup, and I even do it for fun :) , so I would say to just take the time to get familiar with it.

Josh Hicks
Josh Hicks
14,146 Points
Josh Hicks
Josh Hicks
14,146 Points

Do you guys know any good resources for learning how to create assets for the web in Ps, other than the Treehouse course?

Mike Baxter
Mike Baxter
4,442 Points
Mike Baxter
Mike Baxter
4,442 Points

Do you have a Mac? If so, Sketch and Pixelmator are some great (and cheaper) alternatives to Photoshop. I personally highly prefer them to Photoshop, though I've used Photoshop informally for about 10 years. There's a good Treehouse course on how to make wireframes and design docs in Sketch.

I think you'll find a lot of companies still using Photoshop, even if there are better alternatives out there. I know I couldn't convince my old design colleague to use Sketch over Fireworks because he was so used to it, even though it would save the company money and make content creation go faster. My guess is there's still a lot of friction across the industry, and so they want to make sure whomever they hire has experience with Photoshop even if you wind up doing work in a different program. (Maybe even if you barely touch pixel/vector editor.) In Sarah's Treehouse course (taught in Sketch) mentions that she's even used things like PowerPoint/Keynote to create design documents.

To answer your question with a specific case, all the designers at my old job used Fireworks. I'm not sure they ever opened Photoshop. They're such different products anyway—one was developed by Adobe, the other was merely bought out by Adobe (as far as I understand). The hotkeys are all different, and it's not very easy to switch between one and the other. I have a hunch though, that if you're an outstanding designer in Sketch, and you've toyed around with Photoshop occasionally, no company is going to care that much. They want results. They might ask you to switch to Photoshop, but I have a hard time imagining a company not hiring a stand-out designer just because he or she prefers to work in something other than Photoshop.