Becoming a web design nerd is usually a gradual process. At first, you slowly start to show the signs, but eventually you end up becoming consumed by your work, and taking great pride in your ability to wax poetic about any topic related to web design. This is a badge you should wear with pride! Of course, it may come at the expense of some friends who don’t quite understand your obsession, but you can’t help it – it’s your life!
In this article we’ll cover what exactly makes you a web design nerd. Think of these as warning signs to change your behavior or as achievements you can wear with pride – the decision is yours. Take a look at our ten signs that you’re becoming a web design nerd:
1. Eating Food Becomes Secondary
When you’re wrapped up in a project the last thing you want to do is take a break. When you find yourself screening phone calls or skipping meals just so you can get the padding on your navigation bar correct you might be well on your way.
2. You REdesign When You’re Done With All Your Design Projects
You find yourself getting nervous as you near the end of a project and find you have nothing else in the pipeline. When this happens you may find yourself redesigning old sites, starting new side projects, or building websites for friends before they even ask.
3. You Try to Pick Out Fonts in Your Day-to-Day Life
When taking a casual stroll around town you find yourself trying to pick out the fonts of every single street sign you pass. You may even do a double-take of that sign on the coffee shop, just to make sure you got the font right.
4. You Begin to Judge People By the Fonts They Use
Besides just naming fonts, you begin to see people differently according to the fonts they use. You begin to think the idea of having a friend who uses Comic Sans is unacceptable. When a person’s value is determined by the fonts they choose, you’re well on your way to becoming a web design nerd.
5. Lorem Ipsum is Your Second Language
When people ask if you speak a second language, you reply, “Why yes, I do – Lorem Ipsum”. This language has a special place in your heart and you have most of it memorized. In fact, you might even hold this language to a higher standard than your native tongue.
6. The First Thing You Check on a Web Site is It’s Source Code
Whenever you visit a new site, the first thing you do is scope out the HTML and see if you can figure out how the site was built. Plus, it’s a thrill for you to guess and see if you can figure out the structure before you peer into the source.
7. You Build Color Pallets for Fun
Every day you discover a color you love and you automatically add it to your color collection. In fact, there’s never a day when you don’t add at least ten more colors to your library. After all, you wouldn’t want to miss out on the color palette of a lifetime.
8. Your Idea of Problem Solving is Using Firebug to Change CSS
Aside from the problems of day-to-day life, most of your brain power goes towards troubleshooting design issues in Firebug. Most of your time is spent tweaking and testing, and finally perfecting your design.
9. Your Font Collection is Larger Than Your Library
Every day you’re browsing fonts and wouldn’t hesitate to purchase a $100 dollar font because the letter ‘h’ is simply perfect. Each day your library grows, while your library of actual books continues to sit, neglected.
10. You Look at Photos as Possible Stock Photos
Instead of enjoying the process of taking photos, you begin to see taking photos through the lens of increasing your stock photo collection. Snapshots of friends and landscapes slowly become material for your websites and designs.
I hope this article has been insightful and you now have a deep understanding of where your place is on the web design geekiness curve. The curve is steep, but your level of nerdiness may also make or break your career. Your obsession may simply illustrate your love and passion for your work, which is always a good thing.
Zane Schwarzlose is an SEO at Fahrenheit Marketing, an Austin web design company. Zane thinks that he’s close to being a nerd.
