Critique and Advice

[Joe]

I am quite the beginner in the design part of web building. I can build anything from a picture but my design skills are lacking. I could really use some advice on how to get better since I’m completely self-taught. I have a blog set up to keep track of my development progress and what’s going on in my head at the time. The address (only if you’re interested) is http://www.joelage2007.wordpress.com. Thanks in Advance.

[chrisburton]

I think it’s important to educate yourself on fundamental things. Typography (readability, legibility, pairing, true webfonts, etc) and color theory is what I’d start off with.

I don’t think looking at other peoples work (themes) will benefit you. You may find yourself copying and implementing things because it “looks good”.

[Alen]

RE Copying @James

I strongly disagree with this premise. If you copy, you will:

• Be limited to what your frame of reference is: the thing you’re trying to copy
• You will never like it, and most likely will change design gazillion times and will never be satisfied.
• Our brains solve problems by identifying previous patterns we encountered and if you enforce this behavior, you will never improve or come up with something original. Every time you try to come up with new idea, you’ll be frustrated and will default to copying.
• You’ll learn the pattern and adopt it, you will never break out of. It will be you’re comfort zone.
• You will always be behind the ball!

Copying! to be able to learn and experiment. Sure.
Copying! for the sake of copying. Don’t.

One thing I’ll agree with @James is to draw inspiration from other fields. Basically ignore all the noise from Web Design/Development world and try to understand design in isolation, then try to draw parallels between what you’ve learned and what the project is about.

Design === Communication. It’s that simple.

…“Flat” trending…issue in terms of accessibility for the end user

Not sure how two are related.

[Alen]

You may find yourself copying and implementing things because it “looks good”.

+1 @chrisburton

Whenever you look at someone else’s work, it’s not apparent what problems designer/developer faced, and what kind of solutions they came up with. You may face different problems that require different set of solutions, so the question is what would Joe do then?

@Joe Lage:

Books –
http://www.amazon.com/Universal-Principles-Design-William-Lidwell/dp/1592530079
http://www.amazon.com/Design-Everyday-Things-Donald-Norman/dp/0465067107
http://www.amazon.com/Things-Designer-People-Voices-Matter/dp/0321767535
http://www.amazon.com/Elements-Typographic-Style-Version-Anniversary/dp/0881792128
http://www.amazon.com/The-Laws-Simplicity-Technology-Business/dp/0262134721

Video –
https://tutsplus.com/course/design-fundamentals/

Alen.

[Joe]

First off, thank you all for the advice it does help out in the long run and I’ll definitely take it in stride. All of you in one form or another are correct in where to gather resources and information on designing. Now I just need to get some paid projects.

I’ve been quite busy lately learning some new things. Someone asked me on LinkedIn if I used Bootstrap and I told them no and it made me mad so I learned it in about 2 hours. I actually kind of like it, makes scratch-work designing so much simpler and quicker. Anyways, Thanks again, much obliged.

[Author]

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