Vinh Le

I think you abused the gradients a bit. What is the shark suppose to be for? I don't think the keyboard works in the design. Btw, awesome picture in the gallery. Did you draw that?

The biggest question that this template leaves me with is "What is this site about?" It is important to answer this as fast as possible with your site so people don't have to try and figure it out themselves or leave because they got no clue what is going on.

Why don't you just go to your local library and borrow a book? Most libraries have a system where they share books with other libraries so if they don't have what you need, then you can search other libraries for it. They will send the books to your local library so you can pick up. All you really need is a good 30 days or so with the book to master it in my opinion. If you are looking for more suggestions though, I suggest taking a look at my blog, where I just recently spent quite a few days to put a couple articles on finding the best books and a list of books I found useful.

Pretty much what everyone has said here is good sound advice. Here is my opinion on the matter. 1. It all boils down to finding out what you need to learn in order to get a good design sense. 2. Then tracking down good books about design. 3. Next track down good online resources about design to supplement your knowledge. 4. Watch what the best do and learn form them. 5. Then it is all about experimenting and trial/error at this point. Practice alone won't get you good at design, perfect practice will though. Perfect practice is basically practicing with a lot of concentration and focus so you pick up on things you never seen before and continually learn from your experience rather than just do A, B, and C over and over again without thinking or reflecting on it. Good luck, it is a very rewarding experience.

I personally think that following a vertical rhythm takes a lot of the guess work of feeling out whether the design looks good or not. I have read that article form 24 ways and it is excellent.