Just a bit curious at the moment...

 

I am a developer, I have no problem with admitting that I am rubbish at 'designing' websites and that's why we have designers in our business. Give me a design and I can code it no problem.

 

However, I want to be good at designing websites but don't really know where to start. Whenever I try, it just looks pants.

 

So...for the designers amongst you, can you please give me any tips on where/how to start with my learning to become good at creating a website design?

Im primarily a developer too. The best thing for me is to find some of my favourite sites/ designer sites and really take them to parts with the developer tools to see how it is all put together.

 

I also try to replicate my favourite ones in photoshop/code.

Thanks guys. Well when I was at university I studied Internet Technology and an element of that was about colour theory and UI design, etc so I think I've got the basics. I can tell when colours don't work together, etc.

 

I'm fairly good with photoshop, etc, so it's not so much needing to learn photoshop skills, it's more the 'creativeness' etc that I think lacks in me

I'll take a look at Webzap so thanks for that.

Practice makes perfect I would say. What you have as an advantage is that you are a developer. Therefore it's easier for you to imagine the whole process in your head then it is for a designer I believe. This, sometimes, is half of the battle.

 

"Creativeness" needs hard work, it's not like you can get creative ideas in 5 minutes, we all need to research, think about and spend time on the actual design work.

 

I think books like "Emotional design elements" - https://shop.smashingmagazine.com/smashing-ebook-40-emotional-design-elements.html

"Psychology of web design" - https://shop.smashingmagazine.com/psychology-of-web-design-1.html

and similar will only help.

 

They say it's good to take an existing site (FB for example) and re-design it, try to make it better. See what their designers have done and why and try to improve it.

 

There are million things out there to help you improve your creativity. But why would you want to become a designer? I think dev's work is creative work too - developers have to always find creative ways to solve a problem. Plus design is really subjective, which makes designer's work really hard.

You see I assumed a web developer was based mostly on back end stuff. I generally find coding HTML & CSS easier than the design stage itself. I've always just taken mental notes of things I see that look cool then integrate them with my designs. Rarely am I able to come up with something truly unique.

 

With that in mind I am not sure whether or not to call myself a designer or developer.. especially when applying for a job with an agency - I kinda wanna develop both skillsets.

You see I assumed a web developer was based mostly on back end stuff. I generally find coding HTML & CSS easier than the design stage itself. I've always just taken mental notes of things I see that look cool then integrate them with my designs. Rarely am I able to come up with something truly unique.

 

With that in mind I am not sure whether or not to call myself a designer or developer.. especially when applying for a job with an agency - I kinda wanna develop both skillsets.

 

I'd like to say that the is a striking line between both designer and developer, but these days you need to be versatile and need multiple skills. Most designers these days can code HTML and CSS (not like before) and a lot of developers are developing a creative eye too.

 

I don't really like labels in general but I'm of the designer ilk. Not primarily web design, but that is my focus these days. I usually say I 'do websites' in broad terms, but in comparison to the talent out there, I wouldn't associate myself as a developer despite being able to handle myself in the world of front end work. Don't get me started on databases...

READ THIS BOOK!!!!!!!!! >>>>>>> The Non-Designer's Design Book by Robin Williams.

 

It's the perfect length for quick reading (200 pages) and really explains what it is that makes a good layout look good. The book covers the four principles of design (proximity, alignment, contrast and repetition) as well as using colour and type and the different categories of font (old style, modern, slab serif, sans serif, script and decorative) as well as how to choose a good pairing of these for your headlines and text.

 

It's the perfect start for anyone who wants to find out what makes a good website actually look good. There's no code mentioned and a lot of the examples look quite out-dated (flyers and posters with clip-art style logos rather than websites) BUT don't let that stop you, even the cover looks out-dated!

 

If you want the short and sweet answer, just remember: contrast, repetition, alignment and proximity.

 

Contrast:

There should be some degree of contrast between some elements on your site, it could be colour, size or type style (serif vs sans-serif etc.)

 

Repetition:

Repeat elements across your site. Use the same style for headings, links, hover effects, logos etc etc.

 

Alignment:

Every element on your site should align with at least one other element.

 

Proximity:

Group relevant elements close to each other.

 

 

Hope that helps - There's hundreds of books out there but I found this one especially helpful. My designs still look crap, I just need a decent photoshop book for that.

It's definately a mixture of practice, experience, creativity and a good eye for what works best - get yourself some good design software, photoshop and fireworks are the obvious choices but these are quite difficult to use - photoshop especially.

 

You should checkout Xara Designer Pro, it's the finest graphic design software around in my opinion, and considerably cheaper than Adobe products

 

You can download a 30 day free trial of the software - www.xara.com

 

It's simplicity of use would suit a learner designer, and you can create just about anything with this software.

 

Happy designing

Just to add to the book list, try out Steve Krug's 'Don't Make Me Think'. It won't teach you how to prettify stuff as such but in terms of design, it really helps. I definitely endorse it for your book shelf or iBookstore - whatever you do

Well i'm not gonna recommend you an other book

 

When I need to create a website design, I take some pen and paper and start to draw some boxes for example. I kinda create a mock-up of the website. Just put some blocks together for all the elements you need. You might even add some color.

 

For inspiration and research I use sites like http://pinterest.com/ and http://designspiration.net/. You can see design that are made my others and use there inspiration and thoughts about design for your own projects

 

Good luck!

 

Cheers :B

Try to repeat other peoples' designs - recreating ones from scratch (but do not show it to anybody)))).

Tutorials http://psd.tutsplus.com/category/tutorials/interface-tutorials/ will help you.

And feel free to ask WDF's good people for advices.

Hmm no idea on teaching creativity. One tip is when i'm stuck for inspiration head to the town centre, people watch, drink a coffee and browse magazines and adverts for the industry you're designing for. Many an hour have I spent reading 'Bliss for Brides' whilst supping a latte. It also gives you insight into the clients industry, who's who and what the trends are (outside of websites).

Hmm no idea on teaching creativity. One tip is when i'm stuck for inspiration head to the town centre, people watch, drink a coffee and browse magazines and adverts for the industry you're designing for. Many an hour have I spent reading 'Bliss for Brides' whilst supping a latte. It also gives you insight into the clients industry, who's who and what the trends are (outside of websites).

 

Never thought about really get your mind into the company, I usually know what kind of company it is and what kind of design I want to make and present to them. This actually opened my eyes!

 

This is a good tip of course for everyone!