Can anyone become good at web design?

Thanks for the ask: Yes. With a strong, personal propensity, anyon...

I have two main points in my answer Innate talent is only a small part of being good at something - hard work and practising is more important. There are different ways of doing web design and being good at it. For the first point, anybody can learn to be good at web design, if they are willing to learn. The biggest obstacle against good web design is human stubbornness. :) There are many people who do not wish to learn a new way of doing things for the web, but wish to continue creating websites in the same way as before. Or who do not wish to take any trouble with usability. Or who think they know everything already, and everybody else is just wrong. Anybody actually willing to learn, should be able to learn basic good design. Another question is greatness... That usually needs some innate talent. But see my next point for that as well - your innate talent might not be strong for visual design, but there are other areas of design as well. BTW, are you sure you were not born with an eye for (visual) design? Even if you weren't that person constantly drawing something spectacular in school, it might just be that you are not driven to create drawings as a child, not that you don't have an eye for good visual composition. :) People tend to be rather bad at evaluating their strengths and weaknesses, putting too much weight on something that somebody once told them when they were children, etc. For my second point, the area of web design is quite broad. You can be a good designer without strong visual design skills. Good web design needs people who can code, who are willing to learn the newest best practices, who are strong on usability, who are good at getting at the user's real needs, who are good at controlling requirements, who are good at stopping feature bloat, who are interested in finding out more about how the site is used by real visitors and why, who are good at usability and user research, who are good at layouting, who are good at icon design, who are good at visual design and who are good at understanding the different user journeys through the web site and the flows of actions, who can do motion and sound design, etc. Not everybody can be great at everything, but you can be a great designer by being great at one or two of those points and learning something about the rest. The best visual designer's have that eye for finish that other's just don't have. They can do all sorts of magic to the visuals causing them to just look polished and perfect, instead of good enough, or OK. I don't have that skill, I actually struggle to create even passable layouts. What I do think I am good (or great) at, is putting myself in the user's shoes and mapping out needs and solutions. I can understand also the implementation side of things, and the product management side. So in general the whole thing of figuring out what the site should do and how. But I am not able to draw out very good layouts or any visuals. I just can't find the right balance. So I need to work with a partner to make the designs actually fly - happily I am also quite good at collaborating, giving feedback, and doing my share of the work. :)

My answer is a huge YES! I started design not longer than 3 years ago, and I already work for a big international development agency, with projects for top companies. I was 23 when I started ( a little late one might say - take for example Jackie Tran, who's  20 or so, and is already worldwide known, working for big agencies ) and I realised that all the knowledge I've gathered till that point was more than useful. The main quality you have to have when designing web or digital interfaces is not drawing or something else related to arts - it's LOGIC. You have to be a logical person, you have to think rational and clear. That's the hardest thing to acquire. Once you go that route, at some point you'll realise how the "looks" of a digital product is by far less important than its usability. Sure, it may enhance the overall experience, but it'll be much more annoying for your potential user if the interface looks good, but it's hard to use. And all these things also apply not only in digital products - they also apply in graphic/identity design as well. Sure, the art student will have some steps ahead, but it won't help them if the product does not speak for the user it's ment to speak to. Just look at the Lufthansa logo - it was designed by the company's marketing director - Otto Firle, almost a hundred years ago ( it has suffered some small changes ), and it looks just great even nowadays, doing a great job in representing this huge airline company. On the other hand, don't think this is going to be easy. You'll have to spend a lot of time practising and studying. Try to also sign for an internship, as the agency experience will for sure help you grow your skills. Good luck!

Yes, of course! I was into Chemical Engineering when i was in college, & i got some interest in Web designing. I started with TheNewBoston Channel on youtube, it was the best source i guess to learn the overall basics of Web Designing. Then i learned some photoshop, learning to match pixel by pixel to make website was a good Idea for me. Then i learned some JS, other effects using CSS3, Made a few ecommere website designs, Made a website simillar to Fb(it was fun to know how fb manages its beauty). In learning about webdesigning it becomes really important that how creative one can get! I mean Fb buttons(signup/login) were really creative. I don't have the entire work with me now but i can share a screen shot of one of my work. It was simple, basic and one of the first type of designs that i made. This was easy, plus there are other option to design a website like wordpress, Joomla, Magento, etc. They are easy and quick. Learning webdesigning is easy, but mastering it with Creativity takes a lot of effort! These are the beautiful fb buttons i was talking about! This took me less than a month to learn! There are a lot of video tutorials available on Internet that makes learning webdesigning fun.

People can learn design trends and techniques, sure. That is what education, and all those articles, is for. What cannot be so easily learned is creativity. Regurgitating styles is not creativity. Problem-solving, re-envisioning, pushing limits, pulling out of thin air is creativity. This is the deep skill that a successful designer should possess. Without it, you are limited. You can make a living, of course. But the substantial positions require creativity.

Reading about the latest trends will probably hold you back. Learn about designing on a grid and about typography. Once you're done with that (never) learn about color theory and the basic laws of HCI (Hick's law, Fitt's law). You'll not be done but you'll be building on a very solid theoretical foundation.

Can anyone be good at web design? Can anyone be good at football, brain surgery or public speaking? A lot comes down to natural talent and how much work you want to put in -- just like any other skill. Being "good" at something can be very subjective. Find people who will give you constructive criticism on your work and always seek to improve and learn. Try getting on to a site like http://Dribbble.com (although beware some of the elitism there) -- also connect with other designers via http://Twitter.com, design forums etc. You might find your "OK" at web design but actually you're really good at web development or something else related. I myself moved from more traditional design into interaction / user experience design as I actually found that far more interesting (and challenging) -- and I also realised that while I perhaps was good at web design, I wasn't great -- so there was probably a better calling for me elsewhere.

Of course any one can become good at web design, But you have to be passionate for web design only then you can produce great design & you should enhance your skills with time & use new techniques. I found one article on facebook that will help a lot. check this one. http://think360studio.com/7-ways-will-make-simply-best-web-designer/

Well given time and patience to learn i’d say anyone can become quite adept at anything. It all depends on how bad do you want it? If you really have the passion and drive, then go for it!But definitely, following trends might not be the best start. I’d recommend to learn color schemes and how colors work and typography to begin with. And make sure not be those who put high value on the looks rather than usability… Websites are a tool to sell and generate business so always design in mind of the user experience (UX).Best of luck!