Hi All,

 

My first post so hello! Great site and community you've got here, been viewing the forums for a few weeks now. I've just recently started getting in to web design/development (though have been teaching myself HTML & CSS for a few months) and have to say that this site is a great resource for beginners!

I'm currently doing a distance IT degree through the Open University and my latest module is on web technologies. I've always had an interest in the web and have loved every second of learning how to develop sites. Really is becoming a passion of mine.

 

Now when it comes to development, I'm fairly confident. I'm specialising in software development so the coding side of things is right up my street. Where I'm struggling is the design! To give you some idea, I recently done some redecorating at home.... It took me a good month just to decide what colour to paint my walls and choose the furniture lol I really am that bad!

 

So what I would like to ask of you kind bunch of guys and gals, is any tips for a new guy? Any good books, sites or videos you could recommend for someone artistically challenged?? It would really be appreciated!

 

Sorry for the long post, but thought I'd throw in a quick intro. Thanks in advance, all the best!

Design is not something that you can learn. I would recommend looking for a designer as a partner as you wont see good designers writing code.

Can't agree with the above post at all, design is definitely something you can learn, there are plenty of books out there dedicated to it. It will be harder if you don't have the natural talent for it ( but learning the principles will give you a good boost. 'The Principles of Beautiful Web Design' is a good place to start.

 

Other than that, sit for a while looking at CSS galleries, they'll give you loads of inspiration.

Can't agree with the above post at all, design is definitely something you can learn, there are plenty of books out there dedicated to it. It will be harder if you don't have the natural talent for it ( but learning the principles will give you a good boost. 'The Principles of Beautiful Web Design' is a good place to start.

 

Other than that, sit for a while looking at CSS galleries, they'll give you loads of inspiration.

 

Hi Neji, thanks for the suggestion. Think I've seen that book mentioned in another thread. I know I'm never going to be the best when it comes to design, but I want a solid grounding in the subject at least! Had a quick look at the book on Amazon, will download the trial and give it go. Thanks again dude

 

@c5cloud - Thanks for the reply, don't agree with you 100% but thanks all the same! Probably would like to team up with a designer at a later date, but for now need to get my head wrapped around the (very) basics lol

Design is not something that you can learn.

Boy, those degree courses in design are a rip-off, then! I wish someone had said something sooner.

Edited April 3, 201214 yr by notbanksy

Boy, those degree courses in design are a rip-off, then! I wish someone had said something sooner.

 

Design is not something that you can learn. ...you wont see good designers writing code.

 

This is just idiotic. Ignore this guy.

 

There are plenty of good designers who can code. It's less common to see someone who is amazing at both, but I'd say to be a good designer you have to at least be competent with code (so you know what's possible).

 

 

To the OP: You can certainly learn design, just make sure you focus on the actual principles of design. A lot of newcomers confused learning HTML/CSS with design, and that couldn't be further from the truth.

 

I'm going to be lazy and link to some posts I've made on the subject in the past to save retyping:

 

http://www.webdesignerforum.co.uk/topic/57446-how-to-get-into-web-design/page__p__367632#entry367632

http://www.webdesignerforum.co.uk/topic/53545-making-designs-from-scratch/page__view__findpost__p__341135

http://www.webdesignerforum.co.uk/topic/47346-design-books/page__view__findpost__p__299481

 

 

Also, this book does a good job of introducing you to design basics in the context of web design. Most people attack the design thing from the side of Graphic Design, which is still perfectly transferable but it ignores the constraints and challenges of the web as a medium.

 

http://www.amazon.com/The-Principles-Beautiful-Design-Edition/dp/098057689X/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1333494096&sr=8-1

 

It's not required, but Photoshop and/or Fireworks are probably the two most commonly used web design apps (Illustrator and the non-Adobe knockoffs are fine, too). It's not exactly design, but having a certain level of proficiency with your design tool of choice helps you feel more comfortable and removes constraints from your work, which will help you produce better stuff in the future.

 

http://psd.tutsplus.com/ for Photoshop

http://fwpolice.com/ for Fireworks

http://abduzeedo.com/tutorials has a mix of a bunch of stuff

 

If you need something explained in more detail or there's something you'd like to know that isn't covered feel free to hit me up via PM.

Edited April 3, 201214 yr by porkchops

I've noticed a lot of people recommending Sitepoint's Principles of Beautiful Web Design book, it's not one I've read myself but I've certainly seen it mentioned in plenty of places. It seemed to have a few negative reviews but I think that's to be expected when ordering online, you can't have a proper good flick through the book so it's inevitabnle some people won't get what they were expecting.

 

Just last night I ordered myself The Non-Designers Design Book and Logo Design Love. I'm not sure about that last one but I've been looking at the first for a while now, fingers crossed it does the trick.

 

Two other books on the subject that I already own are A Practical Guide to Designing for the Web and Designing for Emotion. Both come highly recommended but if I had to plump for one I'd go for Mark Boulton's Designing for the Web, it's packed full of information (although there's virtually no mention or examples of code whatsoever) and it genuinely feels like a guide to how the professional's do it right from beginning to end.

 

But don't spend all your time stockpiling books and never actually making any websites, that's how you end up like me!!!

 

Hope that helped, cheers.

This is just idiotic. Ignore this guy.

 

There are plenty of good designers who can code. It's less common to see someone who is amazing at both, but I'd say to be a good designer you have to at least be competent with code (so you know what's possible).

 

 

To the OP: You can certainly learn design, just make sure you focus on the actual principles of design. A lot of newcomers confused learning HTML/CSS with design, and that couldn't be further from the truth.

 

I'm going to be lazy and link to some posts I've made on the subject in the past to save retyping:

 

http://www.webdesignerforum.co.uk/topic/57446-how-to-get-into-web-design/page__p__367632#entry367632

http://www.webdesignerforum.co.uk/topic/53545-making-designs-from-scratch/page__view__findpost__p__341135

http://www.webdesignerforum.co.uk/topic/47346-design-books/page__view__findpost__p__299481

 

 

Also, this book does a good job of introducing you to design basics in the context of web design. Most people attack the design thing from the side of Graphic Design, which is still perfectly transferable but it ignores the constraints and challenges of the web as a medium.

 

http://www.amazon.com/The-Principles-Beautiful-Design-Edition/dp/098057689X/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1333494096&sr=8-1

 

It's not required, but Photoshop and/or Fireworks are probably the two most commonly used web design apps (Illustrator and the non-Adobe knockoffs are fine, too). It's not exactly design, but having a certain level of proficiency with your design tool of choice helps you feel more comfortable and removes constraints from your work, which will help you produce better stuff in the future.

 

http://psd.tutsplus.com/ for Photoshop

http://fwpolice.com/ for Fireworks

http://abduzeedo.com/tutorials has a mix of a bunch of stuff

 

If you need something explained in more detail or there's something you'd like to know that isn't covered feel free to hit me up via PM.

 

Hi mate, thanks for this! Really helps. The Fireworks police link is great. Luckily enough I get the student discount on Adobe software so recently purchased Web premium cs5.5. Amazing software suite!

As I said in my previous post, I'm definitely more at home with HTML/CSS/Javasript, but feel I definitely need to understand basic design principles. All the suggestions I've received so far are really helping. Thanks again for taking your time to reply, all the best dude

I've noticed a lot of people recommending Sitepoint's Principles of Beautiful Web Design book, it's not one I've read myself but I've certainly seen it mentioned in plenty of places. It seemed to have a few negative reviews but I think that's to be expected when ordering online, you can't have a proper good flick through the book so it's inevitabnle some people won't get what they were expecting.

 

Just last night I ordered myself The Non-Designers Design Book and Logo Design Love. I'm not sure about that last one but I've been looking at the first for a while now, fingers crossed it does the trick.

 

Two other books on the subject that I already own are A Practical Guide to Designing for the Web and Designing for Emotion. Both come highly recommended but if I had to plump for one I'd go for Mark Boulton's Designing for the Web, it's packed full of information (although there's virtually no mention or examples of code whatsoever) and it genuinely feels like a guide to how the professional's do it right from beginning to end.

 

But don't spend all your time stockpiling books and never actually making any websites, that's how you end up like me!!!

 

Hope that helped, cheers.

 

Ahhh... another stockpiler of books! Glad I'm not alone lol I actually just finished reading through the trial of the non-designer's design book, really liked what I read. Would love to hear what you think of it after your done.

Will check out the books you mentioned a little later on, so thanks for the recommendations! All the best mate

Hadn't seen the Designing for Emotion book- the title alone is enough to drag me in! Going to have a look at that myself.

One thing to remember - design for the sites content

 

It's very tempting to open up an image editor and create some eye candy but you'll end up trying to shoehorn content into a restrictive space and not achieve very much. In todays environment we have to think about how our sites content looks in a multitude of devices, from huge 27" desktop monitors, to laptops, to tablets to mobile phones, so the best way to start with content and work outwards.

In todays environment we have to think about how our sites content looks in a multitude of devices, from huge 27" desktop monitors, to laptops, to tablets to mobile phones, so the best way to start with content and work outwards.

Couldn't agree more.

 

But even if you're designing for a single device with a pre-defined width etc, you should always design from the content and work outwards. A design that doesn't support the content or gets in the way of the content is failing its task. The best designs simply get out of the way of the content, and you often fail to notice them.