Hi Everyone...

 

I am Yachika and new to this forum. I would like to know how many of you have good design sense. Is there any tip that you would like to give to a beginner who is into web designing.

practice practice practice.

 

some things will come with skill, others come with knowledge but pretty much everything comes with trial and error. Just experiment and don't be afraid of making huge design mistakes, its all part of the learning experience.

 

Also if you are wanting to be a web designer you will have to learn, learn and keep learning even when you have been doing it for 10 years you will not know it all and you have to keep up to date with the daily changes in all aspects from coding to accessibility to browsers...there is so much that changes on a daily basis so you need to stay on top of everything. So part of being a good web designer is knowing that you are always going to be a student of the industry.

 

 

Don't rely on WYSIWYG editors, if you are really interested in web design you must know how to code in at the very least CSS and HTML. These are great starting points and its always easier to fix problems when you know what you are doing

 

 

Most of all to be a good designer you must love doing it and have fun with it :D

Welcome to WDF!

 

Base your designs around the needs of the content and the people who will be using the site

study other sites - learn from what other have produced - css zen garden is a good place to look for inspiration

Hi Yachi!

 

Welcome to the forums!

 

I highly recommend the book, The Principles of Beautifil Web Design, from Sitepoint. It goes over all of the main design theory and techniques required to build websites.

 

Good luck

 

Rob

I hear The ZEN of CSS Design is a great book for inspiration!

Look at nature - before the rest of the designers came along with aesthetics, there was a simple rule that always worked - 'structure to function'.

 

I know it may sound a little purist, but in the realm where psychology plays a an enormous unstated (read undefined) role, I have to keep asking myself what does any graphic element add to the psychological function of the web project?

Look at nature - before the rest of the designers came along with aesthetics, there was a simple rule that always worked - 'structure to function'.

 

I know it may sound a little purist, but in the realm where psychology plays a an enormous unstated (read undefined) role, I have to keep asking myself what does any graphic element add to the psychological function of the web project?

Thanks for that Franglix. Now I have something to chew on while I design my next layout

Look at nature - before the rest of the designers came along with aesthetics, there was a simple rule that always worked - 'structure to function'.

 

I know it may sound a little purist, but in the realm where psychology plays a an enormous unstated (read undefined) role, I have to keep asking myself what does any graphic element add to the psychological function of the web project?

 

Nature great suggestion, nature is full of aesthetics me thinks. The world is much bootiful.

Structure to function and function to structure.

 

The book Rob suggested is very good. Also find a good graphics book covering a style of graphic design you like, try and find one that includes colour codes and layout principles.

 

And as Dreamweaver suggests take account of your content. Build around the content - structure wise, try and match the look to the content, a website for an insurance brokers is going to look different to a rock bands. A website for textual content is going to look different to one for photos or movies, a website for online sales will be different to one for academia.

 

Look at lots of websites, what do you like, what don't you like. What's currently fashionable, what would you like to be fashionable?

 

Find your own style, what music do you like, what clothes do you wear. What colours would you paint your walls.

 

What book and LP / CD covers do you like.

 

What shop frontages do you like.

 

And on.

 

Take snaps, keep an ideas book.

 

Above all, find your style and be yourself, don't be afraid to break rules, but learn the rules first.

 

Blimey I've gone all evangelist ;-)

 

 

Wdit: the "Web Design Index" books are also ones I find hugely useful for ideas and inspiration.

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.

Thanks for that Franglix. Now I have something to chew on while I design my next layout.

You can't go too far wrong being inspired by nature.

Nature great suggestion, nature is full of aesthetics me thinks. The world is much bootiful.

Structure to function and function to structure.

I think nature just 'is', what we read into it becomes aesthetics.

 

Again returning to judgement as to what you design in, I think sometimes it helps to let people know what your site pages are about with clear stimulating imagery (you explicitly provide the gaps and the spark between), especially on top level and landing pages.

 

However on occasions, especially when you get near to going for the conversion of a visitor, it sometimes works to provide just the gap in an implicit manner that inspires them to consciously create a spark that results in them enacting what you want them to enact. What I mean by this is that it is always better that a visitor feels that they own the idea to buy, email, call, bookmark, link, recommend etc. This is tough and subtle thing to pull off as a designer though.

You can't go too far wrong being inspired by nature.

 

I think nature just 'is', what we read into it becomes aesthetics.

 

Again returning to judgement as to what you design in, I think sometimes it helps to let people know what your site pages are about with clear stimulating imagery (you explicitly provide the gaps and the spark between), especially on top level and landing pages.

 

However on occasions, especially when you get near to going for the conversion of a visitor, it sometimes works to provide just the gap in an implicit manner that inspires them to consciously create a spark that results in them enacting what you want them to enact. What I mean by this is that it is always better that a visitor feels that they own the idea to buy, email, call, bookmark, link, recommend etc. This is tough and subtle thing to pull off as a designer though.

 

Definition of aesthetics

 

1. (used with a sing. verb)

1. The branch of philosophy that deals with the nature and expression of beauty, as in the fine arts.

2. In Kantian philosophy, the branch of metaphysics concerned with the laws of perception.

2. (used with a sing. verb) The study of the psychological responses to beauty and artistic experiences.

3. (used with a sing. or pl. verb) A conception of what is artistically valid or beautiful: minimalist aesthetics.

4. (used with a sing. or pl. verb) An artistically beautiful or pleasing appearance: "They're looking for quality construction, not aesthetics" (Ron Schram).

 

Not sure what we read into it, perhaps just what we 'see' as nature just 'is'.

 

There's design and there's selling, the two are different things but design can be used to *sell*.

 

Hence design can be concerned with pure aesthetics.

I still have yet to figure it out either I look at cssheaven.com

Definition of aesthetics

 

1. (used with a sing. verb)

1. The branch of philosophy that deals with the nature and expression of beauty, as in the fine arts.

2. In Kantian philosophy, the branch of metaphysics concerned with the laws of perception.

2. (used with a sing. verb) The study of the psychological responses to beauty and artistic experiences.

3. (used with a sing. or pl. verb) A conception of what is artistically valid or beautiful: minimalist aesthetics.

4. (used with a sing. or pl. verb) An artistically beautiful or pleasing appearance: "They're looking for quality construction, not aesthetics" (Ron Schram).

 

Not sure what we read into it, perhaps just what we 'see' as nature just 'is'.

 

There's design and there's selling, the two are different things but design can be used to *sell*.

 

Hence design can be concerned with pure aesthetics.

 

You lost me there I am afraid - all these definitions are great and more or less refer to our perception - so are you citing me because you agree with my last post or challenging what I said about aesthetics?

You lost me there I am afraid - all these definitions are great and more or less refer to our perception - so are you citing me because you agree with my last post or challenging what I said about aesthetics?

 

*before the rest of the designers came along with aesthetics*

 

was suggesting that designers didn't come along with or invent aesthetics and instead aesthetics are (to borrow your zen analogy) in fact 'there' or 'is' or 'to be seen'.

 

still i suppose your right to say 'what we read into' nature is aesthetics, but was trying to make the point it's not really reading into it but more just 'seeing'.

 

thinking it through some more, nature is actually rather chaotic and undesigned (which i think was your original point) i.e. structure to function. there's a nice looseness one can take from this when 'designing'.

 

agree or challenge -neither really just speculating.

 

*before the rest of the designers came along with aesthetics*

Aha! Perhaps I was being too clever and my reference was missed. The rest of the designers I refer to are humans and their endeavour to create tools that function; my first reference was to the possibility of The Original Designer of nature - an existential(!?) question perhaps not to be answered in the scope of this forum!

 

Aesthetics are only there because we construct, experience and impose (read) our own perceptions - which are layers of value and meaning - on nature (and what we and our ancestors have designed). We choose what is pleasing to us, what web pages move us to act. I don't think the competitive survival instincts of animals are configured to make them sit around and be moved or be pleased - they just get on with what they have to do in the niche they are born into.

 

Oh, and I can't take credit for the 'zen analogy' I think, perhaps ironically that a certain Duck was responsible for that!

Aha! Perhaps I was being too clever and my reference was missed. The rest of the designers I refer to are humans and their endeavour to create tools that function; my first reference was to the possibility of The Original Designer of nature - an existential(!?) question perhaps not to be answered in the scope of this forum!

 

Aesthetics are only there because we construct, experience and impose (read) our own perceptions - which are layers of value and meaning - on nature (and what we and our ancestors have designed). We choose what is pleasing to us, what web pages move us to act. I don't think the competitive survival instincts of animals are configured to make them sit around and be moved or be pleased - they just get on with what they have to do in the niche they are born into.

 

Oh, and I can't take credit for the 'zen analogy' I think, perhaps ironically that a certain Duck was responsible for that!

 

ah i see.

 

would disagree with the bit about competitive survival instincts if you were referencing them to humans? - i don't see humans in such a reductionist/darwinian way, we are both a product of genetics/sceince and culture and environment - ever changing and changeable.

 

'Competitive survival instincts' was in respect of animals, not humans.

'Competitive survival instincts' was in respect of animals, not humans.

 

thought so. interesting stuff mate enjoy reading your posts.

 

i think first thing first about designing a good design is knowing the element of the web design

 

its just like learning the language..if language has the element such as :

1. verb

2. adjective

3. etc etc etc....

 

and in the web design you should know the element such as :

 

1. web design layout.

2. color

3. typography

4. picture

5. Idea, imagination, creativity.

6. how to combine it all...

 

you must learn that step by step....and as a robh said...i recommend the "The Principles of Beautiful Web Design" too...its good from starting point...

 

after that you can learn about javascript, jquery, mootools or even flash to make your website look better...or even the best...