Top 12 Senior Web Designer Skills to Put on Your Resume

In today’s crowded digital arena, standing out as a senior web designer means blending sharp technical judgment with a restless creative streak. A resume that telegraphs both—clearly, confidently—can lift you out of the stack, fast.

Senior Web Designer Skills

1. HTML5
2. CSS3
3. JavaScript
4. React
5. Adobe Photoshop
6. Sketch
7. Figma
8. UX/UI Design
9. Bootstrap
10. WordPress
11. SEO Principles
12. Git

1. HTML5

HTML5 is the backbone of modern web interfaces—semantic elements, native media, powerful APIs—built to travel across devices and browsers without drama.

Why It's Important

Clean, meaningful markup lifts accessibility, search visibility, and resilience. It’s the scaffolding that keeps designs sturdy when CSS or JavaScript hiccup.

How to Improve HTML5 Skills

Sharpen the fundamentals and push into modern features:

1. Semantic structure first – Use real landmarks and headings: header, nav, main, article, section, aside, footer. Skip div soup.

2. Accessibility baked-in – Labels for inputs, alt text with intent, language attributes, logical focus order. Reach for ARIA only when the native element can’t do the job.

3. Responsive by default – Viewport meta, flexible layouts, picture/srcset/sizes, and width/height attributes to calm layout shifts. Lazy-load noncritical media.

4. Performance-minded HTML – Defer and async scripts, preload what’s critical, prefer modern image formats (AVIF/WebP), streamline DOM depth.

5. Progressive enhancement – Core tasks should work even if CSS or JS don’t. Then layer on delight.

6. Modern elements – Lean on dialog, details/summary, native form validation, and input types to reduce custom JS.

7. SEO-friendly markup – Great titles, descriptive meta, structured content and meaningful links. The basics still matter.

Small HTML choices ripple into faster, friendlier interfaces.

How to Display HTML5 Skills on Your Resume

2. CSS3

CSS3 (read: modern CSS) unlocks layout superpowers, fluid type scales, motion, theming, and responsive finesse—without leaning on heavy frameworks.

Why It's Important

It’s how you turn structure into feel. Thoughtful CSS yields interfaces that look sharp, behave predictably, and adapt across screens with grace.

How to Improve CSS3 Skills

Level up with today’s capabilities, not yesterday’s habits:

1. Grid and Flexbox mastery – Robust layouts with fewer hacks. Subgrid when nested control gets messy.

2. Container queries and :has() – Components that respond to their space, not just the viewport. Smarter, more modular systems.

3. Design tokens via custom properties – Theming, dark mode, and consistency tied to variables, not copy/paste.

4. Nesting and cascade layers – Tame specificity and keep styles predictable as projects scale.

5. Fluid scales – clamp(), min(), max() for type and spacing that flex without breakpoints everywhere.

6. Modern color – Move toward perceptual color spaces (like OKLCH) with progressive enhancement and contrast checks.

7. Performance and motion – Hardware-friendly animations, prefers-reduced-motion respect, content-visibility for large DOMs.

8. Accessibility in the cascade – :focus-visible, readable contrast, visible states. Cosmetic doesn’t trump clarity.

Use CSS to express intent, not to wrestle the browser.

How to Display CSS3 Skills on Your Resume

3. JavaScript

JavaScript stitches behavior into the page: interactivity, state, data, nuance. Used well, it amplifies the design. Used poorly, it slows everything to a crawl.

Why It's Important

Modern experiences expect dynamic interfaces—without JavaScript, you’ll hit a ceiling fast. With it, you can sculpt delightful, responsive flows.

How to Improve JavaScript Skills

Sharper, smaller, smarter:

1. Own the fundamentals – Scope, closures, prototypes, modules, events. No fluff, just fluency.

2. Modern syntax and modules – ES2015+ features, native ESM, and clean imports. Cut dead weight, embrace tree-shaking.

3. Asynchronous calm – Promises, async/await, race and settle patterns. Fetch with timeouts and retries instead of wishful thinking.

4. Performance habits – Debounce, throttle, requestAnimationFrame, requestIdleCallback, workers for heavy lifting.

5. Type safety where it counts – A dash of TypeScript or JSDoc to make refactors less nerve-wracking.

6. Testing and reliability – Unit tests for logic, component tests for UI, smoke tests for critical paths.

7. Security basics – Escape, sanitize, respect CSP, avoid injecting raw HTML like it’s harmless.

Less code, clearer intent, faster pages—that’s the recipe.

How to Display JavaScript Skills on Your Resume

4. React

React is a library for building interface components—reusable, composable, stateful. It thrives on predictable data flow and a declarative mindset.

Why It's Important

It speeds complex UI work, makes state less slippery, and scales from tiny widgets to sprawling apps without turning into spaghetti.

How to Improve React Skills

Design sensibility meets component craft:

1. Hooks fluency – useState, useEffect, useMemo, useCallback, useReducer. Think in data flow, not lifecycle guesswork.

2. Server-aware React – Suspense, streaming, and server components where appropriate. Faster perceived loads, simpler data fetching.

3. State strategy – Local vs context vs external stores. Pick the smallest hammer that works.

4. Styling approaches – CSS Modules, utility-first, or CSS-in-JS. Consistency over dogma, tokens over magic numbers.

5. Performance tuning – Memoization with intent, list virtualization, code-splitting, critical path focus.

6. Accessibility – Semantic markup, keyboard flows, roles only when needed. Headless patterns help.

7. Testing for stability – Component tests that reflect user behavior, not just implementation details.

Lean components. Clear boundaries. Smooth interactions.

How to Display React Skills on Your Resume

5. Adobe Photoshop

Photoshop is the workhorse for raster graphics—retouching, compositing, asset prep, and crisp exports for the web.

Why It's Important

When images carry the story, Photoshop gives you surgical control over quality, mood, and polish. It’s the difference between “fine” and “that pops.”

How to Improve Adobe Photoshop Skills

Work non-destructively and move faster:

1. Smart workflows – Smart Objects, adjustment layers, layer comps. Flexibility without starting over.

2. Generative tools and neural filters – Speed up cleanup, removal, and compositing while keeping a human eye on realism.

3. Asset pipelines – Export sets, compression tuned for the web, color profiles (sRGB) consistent across devices.

4. Automation – Actions, batch processing, and scripts for repetitive prep work.

5. Vector awareness – For logos and icons, hand off to Illustrator or import vectors as smart objects to avoid fuzzy edges.

6. 3D done right – Photoshop’s legacy 3D features have been retired; for true 3D, lean on dedicated tools (e.g., Substance 3D, Blender) and bring renders back for finishing.

7. Team-friendly libraries – Shared brushes, colors, and components so your visuals stay consistent across projects.

Edit with intent, export with restraint.

How to Display Adobe Photoshop Skills on Your Resume

6. Sketch

Sketch is a vector-first design tool purpose-built for interfaces—fast iteration, tidy components, clear exports.

Why It's Important

It shines for UI work with reusable systems, making handoff cleaner and revisions less painful.

How to Improve Sketch Skills

Dial in structure and speed:

1. Symbols and shared styles – Build once, reuse widely. Edits ripple instead of repeating.

2. Libraries at scale – Centralize components and tokens so teams stay in sync.

3. Plugins that pull their weight – Automate naming, exports, content population, and audits.

4. Prototyping and interactions – Clickable flows with just enough motion to validate ideas early.

5. Handoff discipline – Proper naming, constraints, and organized pages. Devs will thank you.

Consistency isn’t glamorous, but it’s gold.

How to Display Sketch Skills on Your Resume

7. Figma

Figma brings collaborative interface design to the browser—components, prototyping, variables, and Dev Mode in one place.

Why It's Important

Real-time collaboration shortens feedback loops. Design systems become living, shared sources of truth rather than stale documentation.

How to Improve Figma Skills

Make the tool bend to you, not the other way around:

1. Auto Layout fluency – Components that stretch, wrap, and breathe with content. Goodbye manual nudge-fests.

2. Components, variants, and interactive bits – One system, many states. Swap, toggle, animate—without chaos.

3. Variables and styles – Tokens for color, type, spacing, and modes. Flip themes without rewiring files.

4. Plugins and widgets – Accessibility checks, content generators, linters, batch ops. Cut repetitive grind.

5. Dev Mode and handoff – Clean layers, clear names, purposeful constraints, documented intent. Inspect-ready files.

6. File hygiene – Structure pages, frames, and naming like a pro. Future you will be grateful.

Figma rewards tidiness with speed.

How to Display Figma Skills on Your Resume

8. UX/UI Design

UX/UI is the craft of making digital products useful, understandable, and inviting. Form and function, arm in arm.

Why It's Important

Good UX/UI reduces friction and boosts trust. Users get what they came for—and want to come back.

How to Improve UX/UI Design Skills

Work with evidence, iterate with purpose:

1. Research with range – Interviews, surveys, analytics, and quick usability tests. Triangulate, don’t guess.

2. Information architecture – Navigations that scale, labels that read like plain language, content that maps to user goals.

3. Interaction clarity – Clear affordances, helpful microcopy, obvious states. Don’t make people think for basic tasks.

4. Accessibility first – WCAG 2.2-level considerations: color contrast, focus order, target sizes, error recovery.

5. Prototypes that breathe – Clickable flows with realistic data, tested early and often. Tighten the loop.

6. Design systems – Tokens, components, and usage guidance. Scale without reinventing patterns.

7. Measure outcomes – A/B where it matters, watch funnels, listen to support. Let data nudge decisions.

Empathy plus rigor wins.

How to Display UX/UI Design Skills on Your Resume

9. Bootstrap

Bootstrap is a front‑end toolkit with a responsive grid, utilities, and ready-to-use components that speed up interface assembly.

Why It's Important

It stomps out boilerplate and offers consistency across pages and devices, especially handy for dashboards, marketing sites, and MVPs.

How to Improve Bootstrap Skills

Make it yours, not generic:

1. Customize via Sass and CSS variables – Adjust spacing, colors, radii, and more so it feels branded, not stock.

2. Import selectively – Pull in only the components you actually ship. Smaller bundles, snappier loads.

3. Grid and utilities fluency – Compose layouts with utilities instead of one-off CSS where practical. Keep overrides light.

4. Purge unused CSS – Trim the fat during builds to avoid shipping styles you never use.

5. Accessibility checks – Audit component states, labels, and focus management; fix gaps before they harden.

6. Layer in custom components – Extend patterns without fighting the framework. Know when to step outside it.

Frameworks are helpers, not crutches.

How to Display Bootstrap Skills on Your Resume

10. WordPress

WordPress is a flexible CMS powering everything from lean blogs to complex, content-heavy sites—with themes, plugins, and a thriving ecosystem.

Why It's Important

Rapid iteration, deep customization, and a vast plugin library make it a reliable choice for teams that ship content often.

How to Improve WordPress Skills

Build faster sites with safer defaults:

1. Block-based theming – Embrace the Site Editor, block themes, patterns, and global styles for consistent, maintainable design.

2. Performance – Page caching, object caching (e.g., Redis), CDN, modern image formats, and lazy loading. Minimize plugins that overlap.

3. Security posture – Principle of least privilege, 2FA, backups, vetted plugins, and timely updates for core, themes, and plugins. HTTPS everywhere.

4. Clean development – Child themes, proper asset enqueueing, custom blocks with block.json, configuration in code, and disciplined version control.

5. SEO hygiene – Logical permalinks, structured content, sitemaps (built in), and thoughtful metadata.

6. Modern stack support – Host on PHP 8.x, HTTP/2 or HTTP/3, and keep database and PHP extensions tuned.

A tidy WordPress build is shockingly fast.

How to Display WordPress Skills on Your Resume

11. SEO Principles

SEO-aware design ensures your site is discoverable, crawlable, fast, and helpful. It’s structure, speed, and substance working together.

Why It's Important

Search visibility drives qualified traffic. Better UX keeps it. Conversion follows.

How to Improve SEO Principles Skills

Think technical and editorial at the same time:

1. Core Web Vitals – Optimize LCP, CLS, and INP. Prioritize render path, reduce layout shifts, and keep input latency low.

2. Mobile-first – Responsive layouts, touch-friendly targets, and crisp images sized for device and DPR.

3. Semantic HTML – Meaningful element choices and headings that reflect content hierarchy.

4. Structured data – JSON-LD markup for relevant entities (articles, products, breadcrumbs). Help crawlers understand context.

5. Information architecture – Clear navigation and internal linking that spreads equity and guides users naturally.

6. Content quality – Helpful, current, readable content with natural keywords, not stuffing. Real answers win.

7. Media optimization – Compressed images, lazy loading, descriptive alt text, and next-gen formats.

8. Technical basics – Clean URLs, canonical tags, sitemap.xml, sensible robots.txt, correct status codes for redirects and errors.

9. Internationalization (if relevant) – hreflang and localized content that respects region and language.

10. Security and trust – HTTPS, no mixed content, and a safe site that search engines want to recommend.

Fast, clear, and useful tends to rank—and retain.

How to Display SEO Principles Skills on Your Resume

12. Git

Git tracks changes, coordinates teams, and makes rollback a non-event. Without it, collaboration frays quickly.

Why It's Important

Version control protects your work, clarifies history, and sets a foundation for safe experimentation.

How to Improve Git Skills

Clarity beats cleverness:

1. Branch with intent – Trunk-based with short-lived branches or a leaner flow that fits your team. Keep it simple to keep it fast.

2. Commit hygiene – Small, focused commits and conventional messages. History that tells a story.

3. Rebase when appropriate – Clean up local history, avoid rewriting shared history. Know the difference.

4. Hooks and checks – Lint, test, and type-check before code lands. Automation keeps standards honest.

5. Protected branches and reviews – Required checks, code owners, and thoughtful PRs. Fewer regressions, better knowledge sharing.

6. Tags and releases – Semantic versioning and changelogs for traceability.

7. Git LFS for big assets – Version large binaries (design files, media) without ballooning the repo.

8. .gitignore and .gitattributes – Keep noise out, normalize line endings, avoid accidental churn.

9. Bisect like a detective – Find the offending commit fast when bugs sneak through.

Good Git habits make teams hum.

How to Display Git Skills on Your Resume