I have found that the best grounding in aesthetics and design is learning to draw. This teaches you to truly 'see' and gives you basic techniques like appreciat

I have found that the best grounding in aesthetics and design is learning to draw. This teaches you to truly 'see' and gives you basic techniques like appreciating white space and better ability to perceive color/tone values. From there it's much easier to learn and apply principles for creating satisfying compositions and color theory. Once you have the fundamentals in place, the next step is to learn about more specific graphic design topics like typography and grid layouts.