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Technology · Creating & Designing

Web designer: what the job actually is

Deciding how a website looks and works for the people using it, then building or specifying it so it can be made.

Published Last reviewed How we research and correct this

Web designer: quick facts

Web designer salary in Ontario: the median pay is $33.65 an hour, according to Job Bank (reference period 2023-2024). Its three-year outlook in Ontario is limited. The job usually needs a university degree.

Median pay in Ontario
$33.65 an hour
Pay range (low to high)
$21.00 to $51.28 an hour
Job outlook, 2025-2027
Limited
People working in it in Ontario
4,300
Usually needs
Usually a university degree

Source: Job Bank wages (updated 19 November 2025) and job prospects (updated 10 December 2025), NOC 21233. Pay varies by region and experience.

The work

What this job actually is

  • Deciding what a website should look like and how it should work, from the layout of the page to the buttons, the type, the colours and the path a visitor takes.
  • It sits between graphic design and web development. A graphic designer thinks about the look of a thing; a web developer writes the code that runs it; a web designer works on how a site looks and behaves for the user, and often builds some or all of it. Where one job stops and another starts depends on the employer.
  • A lot of the work is working to a brief, then adjusting to feedback. Clients and colleagues have opinions, and the design that wins is often the one that survives the most of them.
  • Job Bank lists web designer under NOC 21233 and describes it as not regulated in Canada. Education is a bachelor's degree in computer science or graphic design, or a college program in computer science, graphic arts or web design.
  • Job Bank's Ontario outlook for the group is Limited. It says automated tools may moderate demand for web designers, and that the need for businesses to have websites will continue to create some employment. Read that before you commit.

A Tuesday

What a normal day looks like

Not a good day or a bad one. The ordinary version, which is what you would actually be living.

  1. 9:00 — Open the laptop and read overnight comments on the design you shared yesterday. One is a compliment, two are contradictory.
  2. 9:30 — A call with a client who wants the logo bigger. It is already big. You listen carefully and find out what is actually bothering them.
  3. 10:15 — Work on the homepage layout. Move a button, move it back, try a different grid, check it on a phone-sized screen.
  4. 11:30 — Check the contrast of the text against the background and the size of every tap target, because people use these sites in bright sun with one thumb.
  5. 12:30 — Lunch, looking at other people's sites to see what they have done and what you would change.
  6. 13:30 — Hand a page to a developer and explain what you meant. They tell you one thing cannot be done and suggest something close.
  7. 14:30 — Revise the page for the third time because of a new instruction from someone senior who has just seen it.
  8. 15:45 — Write the text of an error message that does not make the user feel stupid. It is harder than it looks.
  9. 16:45 — Save the files and write down what changed and why, so the next person does not have to guess.

Honestly

Who loves this, and who should not do it

The second list is the useful one. Nearly every careers page leaves it out, which is why nearly every careers page reads like an advert.

You may like this if
  • You notice when something online is awkward to use and you want to fix it.
  • You like combining a visual eye with some technical understanding.
  • You can take feedback without taking it personally, and keep going through five rounds of changes.
  • You can show your work: you like building a portfolio of things people can click on.
  • You are happy to keep learning, because tools and expectations change every year.
You may hate this if
  • You want a field with lots of openings. Job Bank rates Ontario's outlook for this group as Limited and notes that automated tools may reduce demand. Entry is crowded.
  • You dislike client or manager feedback. Design by committee is common, and the final result is often not what you would have chosen.
  • You want to design only and not code, or code only and not design. Many employers expect both from a web designer, and the skills overlap with web developer and graphic designer jobs.
  • You dislike self-promotion. Much of the work is found through a portfolio and your own network, and nearly half of the people in this group are in computer systems design and related services, with self-employment also common according to Job Bank.
  • Sitting at a screen for most of the day is a problem for you. This is a desk job, with a lot of detail on a small area of screen.

The route in

How you actually get there in Ontario

  1. There is no licence

    Job Bank lists web designer as not regulated in Canada. Nobody can stop you building websites, and nothing is handed to you by a certificate. The route is a portfolio plus whatever credential your employer expects.

  2. College, university, or build your way in

    Job Bank says employers typically look for a bachelor's degree in computer science or graphic design, or a college program in computer science, graphic arts or web design. Search ontariocolleges.ca for web design and development programs and read each one's co-op and portfolio details.

  3. Build things that exist

    Three finished sites that someone outside your family uses are worth more than a dozen mock-ups. A site for a club, a team or a small business is real work with a real audience.

  4. Know your neighbours

    Read the pages on this site for web developer and graphic designer, and decide where you want to sit between them. Job Bank says prior experience as a graphic designer is usually expected for some web designer roles.

Where this comes from: Job Bank — Requirements for web designers in Ontario · ontariocolleges.ca — program search

The money

Web designer salary in Ontario

Job Bank's own figures, quoted rather than summarised, with the period they describe — so you can tell how old they are and go and check them.

$21.00
Low (hourly)
$33.65
Median (hourly)
$51.28
High (hourly)

Ontario, NOC 21233. Reference period 2023-2024, last updated by Job Bank on 19 November 2025. Wages vary a lot by region inside Ontario and by how long you have been doing it — the low figure is roughly where you start, not what the job is worth.

Source: Job Bank — Web designer wages in Ontario

Where it is heading

The outlook for the next three years

Job Bank publishes a three-year outlook for every job in every province. It is the closest thing to an honest forecast, and it moves, so read it as a weather report rather than a verdict.

Ontario, 2025-2027

Limited2 out of 5 stars

  • Employment decline will lead to the loss of some positions.
  • Not many positions will become available due to retirements.

What that rating means: how many openings Job Bank expects in Ontario for this kind of work against how many people are likely to be looking — not whether it is a good job. A “limited” rating means more competition for each opening; it does not close the door, and it can change before you are ready to walk through it.

What is changing in this work

  • The need for business operations to have a website to market products and services will continue to create employment
  • However, the availability of automated tools may moderate demand for web designers

Who hires for it

  • Various industries, but nearly half employed in computer systems design and related services
  • Self employment is also common
4,300
people work in this job in Ontario
44%
are women (48% across all jobs)
42%
are self-employed (15% across all jobs)

Source: Job Bank — Web designers job prospects in Ontario (NOC 21233). Outlook updated by Job Bank on 10 December 2025; read by us on 5 October 2026.

Before you leave school

Things you can do now

  • Take visual arts, media arts, computer science or communications technology if your school offers them. They are the closest courses to the job.
  • Build a website for a school club or a local team. A real audience teaches more than a tutorial.
  • Collect examples of sites you think are well designed and sites you find confusing, and write down why in one sentence each.
  • Ask your guidance counsellor about co-op placements with a local web, marketing or design company.

Test it

Do this before you decide anything

Reading about a job tells you almost nothing. This is designed to be done alone, this week, for free.

Redesign one page you hate, on paper, in an hour

About 60 minutes
  1. Pick a real page you find annoying: a school page, a local business, a club. Write down the three things a visitor actually wants to find there.
  2. Sketch a phone-sized version of the page on paper, with the three things first, and no more than one main action. Sketch a desktop version beside it.
  3. Show the sketch to one person who has not seen the original, and ask them to point to where they would tap to do the main thing. Watch what they do without explaining.
  4. Change one thing based on what they did, and write down what you learned.

What it tells you. If watching someone use your sketch was the interesting part and you wanted to improve it again, user-focused design may suit you. If you only enjoyed the drawing and not the testing, graphic design may be a better fit. If you disliked both, this is not your field, and it is far cheaper to find out tonight.

Better than any article

Questions for somebody who does this job

Most people say yes to a teenager who asks good questions. These are the ones that get real answers rather than encouragement.

  1. “How much of your day is design and how much is code?”
  2. “What does your portfolio contain, and what got you your first job?”
  3. “How are automated design tools changing your work?”
  4. “How do you deal with feedback from people who are not designers?”
  5. “Would you recommend a college program or building a portfolio on your own?”
  6. “What would you tell someone who is starting today?”

Could you own one of these?

The part other career sites never mention

Yes, and Job Bank notes that self-employment is common in this group. Freelance web designers find clients themselves, quote jobs, and handle contracts and invoicing as well as design. It is a realistic way to start with no capital, but it is also the part where you are competing with many other people and with automated site builders.

Business 101 is free and teaches that part

Quick answers

Questions people ask about this job

How much does a web designer make in Ontario?

The median pay for a web designer in Ontario is $33.65 an hour, according to Job Bank (reference period 2023-2024, updated 19 November 2025). The range Job Bank publishes runs from $21.00 to $51.28 an hour. Pay varies by region, employer and experience.

What is the job outlook for a web designer in Ontario?

Job Bank rates the employment outlook for this work in Ontario as limited for 2025-2027 (updated 10 December 2025). Employment decline will lead to the loss of some positions. Not many positions will become available due to retirements. A lower rating means more competition for each opening, not that no one is hiring.

What do you need to become a web designer in Ontario?

Job Bank says this work usually needs a university degree. The usual route in Ontario, in order: There is no licence; College, university, or build your way in; Build things that exist.

Where does a web designer work in Ontario?

Various industries, but nearly half employed in computer systems design and related services. Self employment is also common. (Job Bank.)

How many people work as a web designer in Ontario, and how many are women?

Job Bank counts about 4,300 people working in this job in Ontario. 44% of them are women, compared with 48% across all jobs. That describes who does the work today, not who can.

Tech and engineering jobs: who is hiring What can you do with your degree?

Not sure this is the right list to be reading

Start from yourself, not from the job.

Future Finder is free, takes about ten minutes, needs no account and stores nothing. It will tell you which kinds of work you lean toward, and which of these pages are worth your time.

Try Future Finder — freeAll jobs

Parent of a teenager weighing this up? Career coaching for teens gets them talking to people who do the work, anywhere in Ontario.

If this appeals, look at these too

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Wages and training requirements change. Every figure on this page is linked to the body that publishes it, and the review date above says when we last checked. If you find something out of date, tell us and we will fix it.