Graphic Design
The elements of good design are not married to any particular medium. Develop
your sense of design and have fun doing it.
Develop a Sense of Design
If you are just getting started, you may concerned whether you can actually produce great designs.
This was my concern when I decided to become a web designer. I recognized and appreciated beautiful design, but did not know if I would be successful producing it myself, on a consistent basis, working with client input and the pressure of deadlines.
I must say I was surprised to find that I
could produce beautiful designs and it has become easier over the years.
Over time, I've developed more of a "design intuition". If something doesn't
look right, it isn't right, and can almost always be improved. Sometimes
I don't quite know what to do to improve it, but that is where the creative
process comes in - trying different approaches until I feel it is up to
standard.
Learn to identify
styles you love. If you hang around great design, this superb design sensibility
will seep into your consciousness by osmosis. I was a computer programmer
for many years, and relied on logic and organization. Now that I'm involved
with design, I rely on a sense of intuition and gut feeling. You can help
develop this sense of intuition by viewing great designs.
Learn Design Basics
It is good to read an organized description of some of the elements of
good design. Although design is an art and not a science, you will discover
that there are many principles of good design that can be classified and
articulated. Learning these elements can immediately improve youre design
skills. A couple of books that are excellent for any designer, new or experienced,
are The
Non-Deisgner's Design Book
Immerse yourself in excellent design
This is pretty easy to do in our modern society. Some of the best talent in the world work for advertising agencies and they pump out endless examples of innovative design for ads in magazines, billboards and television. No matter where you go, you will have the opportunity to examine great design and you can try and determine what elements make it great, and then incorporate these elements in your design.
The Internet is a great resource
The internet is an endless source of examples of great design.. Find sites that laud great design, and look at sites that great designers think are great. Observe the details of the design, as well as the interrelationship between the various design elements. Here are some places to start - styleboost, Cool Home Pages, fcukstar, American Design Awards, Internet Tiny Awards.
Look at fine design from all ages
Look at great art from the past. See if you can identify elements that help make a design beautiful, balanced and pleasing. Visit your local fine arts museum. Additionally, the internet is an endless resource - The Louvre, The National Gallery (London), The National Gallery of Art (Washington, D.C.) among countless others.
Sweat the details
When you are creating a design, sometimes the smallest elements can give the design a sophisticated look that just isn't present in more amateurish work. Sometimes moving an element just one pixel can change the design balance. I'm not sure where I read it, but I once saw a quote that said, in essence, "When designing, the details are the design." I've learned that this is very true, and it has affected the way I refine my work.
A secret formula for great design
When creating your designs, don’t stop until it looks great to you. In the beginning, this may be a daunting task. It can often take many hours in the beginning to come up with something that looks remotely good. But don’t stop. Utilize the sense of design you’ve been developing and keep going until you’re happy with the result. If you’ve truly developed a good sense of design, and you really like what you’ve produced, then it is likely your client will as well.
Build on the shoulders of giants
Everybody needs inspiration. Sometimes I'll troll the web looking for ideas. I can then take a basic concept and adapt it to the project at hand. In most cases the site ends up looking very different from what I thought it would be. Sometimes mistakes are your greatest friend. In the beginning, try many different ideas quickly to come up with a basic look. If you start refining a design and end up hitting a brick wall, sometimes starting on a blank page will help. I save different versions of what I've worked on and then can go back and pull elements I may need in a later version.
Expand your design vocabulary
Learn different styles. Over the course year career, you’ll develop many sites for many different customers. Each site will have the unique purpose and require unique design. A site for an Art Deco hotel on South Beach in Miami will have a completely different look than a web site for an airplane parts manufacturer. For me this is one of the most fun aspects of design learning a new idiom in which to speak the language. To get ideas, examine sites for companies in the same business.
Explore typography
Learn about type. Type is an extremely important element of design. The right type choices can make a powerful statement. Learn the basics of type, and experiment in using it. on the Web, it is important to learn the basics of using type in browsers. It is also important to learn how to use CSS to create type style that are consistent throughout a site.
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