Is Web Design A Dying Career? - 2022 (2023)

Last Updated: October 3, 2022

Is web design a dying career? This question pops all the time. With an abundance of tools that do all the heavy lifting for the people and the rise of artificial intelligence systems, it has become quite a burning issue these days. In our fast-moving world, we cannot afford to spend weeks and months on prototyping, designing, and coding. We need solutions right here right now, and we have them thanks to marketplaces that provide off-the-shelf products.

So, do we need web design agency and web developers to do stuff that we can do by ourselves? Let us hear both sides to get to the bone of this dilemma.

There are several valid reasons why people seriously doubt the feasibility of a web design career.

Website Builders

From desktop versions provided by Webflow to online multifunctional tools like Wix or Squarespace, website builders have changed the way digital entrepreneurs run their business online. They give them an opportunity to bring ideas to life without web agencies or website companies. Apart from saving time and money, website builders allow them to experiment with various strategies to define the most effective tactics quite quickly.

Huge Marketplace

Themeforest and numerous startups websites around the Globe offer a sheer diversity of off-the-shelf templates at affordable prices. They come from various categories; therefore, you can find the solution to any problem. Just add some minor improvements and adjust it to fit your brand, and you are ready to go.

High-quality Graphical Assets

Ramotion web design agency and other creatives fill the market with high-quality up-to-date graphics, mockups, and stocks. You can create killing presentations, attention-grabbing ads or artworks without any design skills.

Professional Software like Adobe Photoshop, Sketch, InDesign

Although these are instruments for web designers, however, numerous plugins let regular people imitate various effects without going into detail. To say nothing about a bunch of video tutorials that guide you set by step in achieving your goal.

Overabundance of Time-proven Web Design Patterns

Adapting to ever-changing World is in our nature; however, we are all creatures of habit. When it comes to web designs, people fall for conventions. Existent design patterns are enough to create a comfortable place for users. Therefore, until we do not need another ingenious hamburger button, web designers do not have some extraordinary work to do.

GPT-3

GPT-3 is the latest machine-learning system developed by OpenAI. Its main goal is to do work that humans currently do. Although we are far from Isaac Azimov's realities, still GPT-3 is highly promising. It already can generate code and write poetry. One day it will be able to create beautiful web designs and make a web designer an obsolete career.

Here's a sentence describing what Google's home page should look and here's GPT-3 generating the code for it nearly perfectly. pic.twitter.com/m49hoKiEpR

— Sharif Shameem (@sharifshameem) July 15, 2020

CMS

WordPress turned 17 this year, proving everyone that content management systems are not going anywhere anytime soon. It already has a thousand of templates and extensions that non-tech-savvy people can freely use. If you do not like WordPress, you can always try some other frameworks like Drupal, Joomla, Shopify, etc.

Ironically, every point on the previous list has a counterfactual. For instance, marketplaces that boast of providing users with a ton of high-quality graphical material to create a true masterpiece heavily rely on web designers who are standing behind each and every product. If the web designer career end, the marketplace will tame and impoverish.

The same goes to website builders, CMS, and even the AI that is controlled by humans for the time being. While we can live with some old-time solutions and come to terms that our web designs will look outdated, we still cannot ignore such important things like security and maintenance. Each year millions of dollars are thrown on cybersecurity. After all, we are talking about bank transfers and payments that are serious things. In addition, if something goes wrong with your website, you will need a web developer or web designer to fix it.

Let us consider some more valid arguments that secure web design as a career.

Custom Web Design

The main disadvantage of ready-made templates lies in the lack of diversity. Although you can change colors, typography, background, and graphics, still the web design will feel typical. To look unique, you need to give it a face and, most importantly, heart. Only web designer knows how to transfer your soul into the cold digital environment.

Killing Brand identity

Without a web designer, there will not be a killing brand identity. Again, if you do not have any web design skills, you will not be able to transfer your idea into digital paper. Due to unique vision inherent to artists, they can reveal the hidden possibilities of your concept that you even might not know, and give your brand new edge. On top of that, they will help to deliver a message of your brand to the visitors quite efficiently.

User Experience

This is another huge thing. You may not even notice that, but good user experience plays a significant role in the success of the venture. If people feel uncomfortable on your website, they will leave and never come back. You are not the only one in the market. Therefore, everything should be perfect. Without a web designer who will create a solid base for a good user experience, your brand will not have a chance to stand the competition.

Entertaiment

People like to be entertained. Therefore, occasionally they crave for some extravaganzas that will give them a much-needed inspiration to move forward and steadfastly face everyday challenges. Without creative minds, we will be doomed to live in a banality.

Will Web Development Become Obsolete?

The answer is No. Despite all the big promises about the bright future of the automatized World waiting right at the corner, the reality is harsh: no one can replace human beings when creating web applications oriented at other human beings.

Website builders, marketplaces, and even GPT-3 are not even close to understanding people. Yes, they provide a solid foundation to build a banal project and tools to do a boring routine, but nothing more. Whatever clever and potent they could be, only humans can understand other humans' desires, reading between the lines and building interactions and effects that resonate with the audience and establish a much-needed emotional connection between the clients and brands.

On top of that, we are entering the era of feelings and emotions. AI-powered solutions like cold, faceless chatbots or website builders with bland solutions force more and more people to choose warm human touch and unique concepts.

Qualities like creativity, empathy, and critical thinking never get old, to say nothing about soft skills crucial to creating close and productive liaisons with the clients. These skills, which computers are terrible at replicating, help developers create products that communicate with the target audience on an emotional level and build long-lasting relationships that accomplish primary goals.

Is Web Development Dying?

Will web development die? The answer is also No. Web development moves pretty fast, and even the most powerful website builders quickly become obsolete. To meet new standards, they should see constant enhancements. Or, put another way, web developers should constantly upgrade their cores and add new features and functionalities.

The same problem is with trends and mainstreams that come and go. People change their minds constantly. Automatized systems cannot adapt to people's desires and wants right away because they are unpredictable and often illogical. To be relevant, they need humans to help them understand new requirements and adapt to new realms.

Last but not least, with automatized systems performing tedious tasks, web developers get plenty of free time to let their imagination run wild and evolve. It means that this profession sees inexorable progress towards new heights and standards, becoming even more intricate and sophisticated and making people unlock their creative potential to come up with unique solutions and ideas that facilitate the World's progress.

So, is web design a dying career? Well, of course not. Although people have tools to address their issues single-handed, however, we still need web designers. They are creators of the digital world.

Let us be honest if all the tools like WordPress, Webflow, and GPT-3 suddenly disappear, will the world stop? No, web designers will push it forward. Their unique vision, imagination, inventiveness, resourcefulness, and commitment to the cause is an engine of progress.

Without a doubt, with the advancement of automated tools, this profession will change to adapt to present realities, but it will not go extinct. So, is web design a dying career? The answer is no.