Today I took part in day one of a two day long critique in one of my web design classes. An interesting question was posed to me by my professor. He asked, “I know you probably take this for granted, but for the rest of the class explain how do you feel about web presence? Why is it important?”. He was definitely correct in assuming that I took web presence for granted. For years I have been reading design blogs, keeping tabs on my favorite designers, and within the last six months or so tweeting with them. It surprised me to find out that a VERY small amount of my classmates do this kind of thing. With all of us within a year of graduation I decided to give them my opinion and urge them for their own sake, to try and develop a web presence.


As graphic designers, being involved in the design community, especially where you’re looking to get a job is unbelievably important. Let’s say you were an employer scouting for fresh talent in the area. You have the choice between two types of applicants: one, who you only have a resume for, or two, one that you have a resume for, you’re familiar with them via Twitter, LinkedIn, blogging, and their website. It doesn’t take a rocket scientist to deduce who the employer would gravitate to.


So why aren’t more people getting involved? (insert long list of lame excuses from people too lazy to do the work). Truth is, there is no excuse, aside from something like laziness or not being passionate about the field. But if they have either of those two qualities, they’re not going to make it in this business anyway. In this day in age, in this field, it is almost impossible not to have access to these things. With smartphones iPods, iPads, laptops, and computers in class, it almost sounds harder to avoid these things rather than not.


They’re only hurting themselves. With so many resources at their fingertips, it blows my mind how people don’t utilize them. So just to make this easy here is a short list of websites and people to follow:
Dribbble
Michael Heald
Brian Hoff
James Barry
Hoefler & Frere-Jones
Chris Coyier
Experimental Jetset
and David DeSandro.
All of these people have twitter accounts, so go make one of your own, follow them, and pick their brains.


There are so many mediums to help you build that ever-important web presence. Twitter and blogging are my two weapons of choice, but there are many, many other ways to get out there meet and learn from people without ever having to leave the comfort of your computer or smartphone. There are fantastic art communities that let you submit work and get critiqued by your fellow designers. Here are a few:
Behance
Depthcore
Intrinsic Nature
DeviantArt
Go there, be inspired, and put the design pedal to the metal. Take it upon yourself to explore these design avenues. It will only make you a better designer.