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Ask HN: Independently learning design?

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Re: Ask HN: Independently learning design?

#11

Post by jwarren »

artursapek wrote: post #8

Go to art school, like I did. Hahahah. No, I'm kidding, don't. But do become educated about the past. Buy some books. I recommend starting with Paul Rand http://www.amazon.com/Paul-Rand-Steven-Heller/dp/0714839949 I love that book. I'll never let go of my copy. The most important thing is not to focus too much on current trends. They're mostly bullshit that will be forgotten fast. The reason I say study the past is b…

Brilliant advice here. I often see similar questions about photography, and the advice given always centres around learning technical things about your camera or photoshop. Nobody ever mentions looking at photographs, visiting exhibitions, talking to artists, finding peer groups, learning about history, etc etc etc.

You do need to combine this broadening and growing education of taste with a technical understanding of simplicity and communication. Understand that design is essentially just communication. Realise that you may have to start doing extra, even "wasteful" work, in order to prioritise ease and pleasure of use. This seems to be an upsetting idea to many developers, but I adore it. What's better feedback of your interface/design/object than someone saying "of course that's how it works"?

Re: Ask HN: Independently learning design?

#14

Post by zengr »

I have started out with Graphics Design course[1] at Berkeley Extension in SF downtown (good for people who work in the bay area).

It's once a week, I enjoy learning the very basic elements of design like understanding and using shapes.

Other than that, keep reading books and ux.stackexchange.

In my day job, I work as a software engineer.

[1]: http://extension.berkeley.edu/spos/graphicps.html

Re: Ask HN: Independently learning design?

#15

Post by nicholjs »

canibanoglu wrote: post #13
sk2code wrote: post #10

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Here you go: http://javascriptissexy.com/how-to-learn-javascript-properly...

Thank you very much! :)

That post was amazing. Even the related ones he wrote on Backbone.js and Node.js are worth going through.

Re: Ask HN: Independently learning design?

#16

Post by nicholjs »

breckinloggins wrote: post #4

I'm in the same boat. I'm not very good but I'm starting to get better at design. Here are some tips, which might be useful. None of these are affiliate links and I'm not associated with any of them, if that matters. - It's cliche, but read "The Design of Everyday Things" by Donald Norman [1]. It gives you a good sense of design's place in the greater world. The best design principles are as at home in a product deve…

Amazing tips. Thanks a lot. And I can totally sympathize with having a project to learn. That's how I learned to code, and that's how I teach students. Good to hear that design can be done in the same philosophy.

Re: Ask HN: Independently learning design?

#17

Post by nicholjs »

artursapek wrote: post #8

Go to art school, like I did. Hahahah. No, I'm kidding, don't. But do become educated about the past. Buy some books. I recommend starting with Paul Rand http://www.amazon.com/Paul-Rand-Steven-Heller/dp/0714839949 I love that book. I'll never let go of my copy. The most important thing is not to focus too much on current trends. They're mostly bullshit that will be forgotten fast. The reason I say study the past is b…

Thanks for the advice.

On Stack Overflow: I understand that design is a different ballgame than code. However, a Q&A site geared towards helping with the tools of the trade (photoshop, illustrator) might be useful, right?

Re: Ask HN: Independently learning design?

#18

Post by seanMeverett »

Subscribe to dribbble's popular RSS feed. You'd be surprised how good your taste becomes just by being surrounded by it. Also, you'll start to pick up details about how they do it. You just study it at the pixel level and try to replicate in photoshop. That's the best way I've found...

Re: Ask HN: Independently learning design?

#19

Post by nicholjs »

vickytnz wrote: post #2

http://hackdesign.org/ is trying to cover this exact niche (I'm following along as a designer just out of curiosity, and it's pretty cool). Mark Boulton's A Practical Guide to Designing for the Web (Five Simple Steps) http://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/0956174019/ref=cm_sw_r_tw_dp_f-cg... is also a good start. There are the usual suspects such as Nettuts, Smashing Mag, Core77, Creative Review, Design Observer (though that's…

HackDesign looks awesome!

Re: Ask HN: Independently learning design?

#20

Post by rikacomet »

step 1: Go through lot of tutorials in Photoshop, replicate different type of effects, patterns, actions.

step 2a: move on to Illustrator, once you start needed quality images.

or/and

step 2b: start using your html/css knowledge with your new found design skills, to start making websites

after that you are pretty much done.

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