You learn design by doing, being criticised and then thinking about it. The learning pace will be very variable depending on your background and time investment

You learn design by doing, being criticised and then thinking about it. The learning pace will be very variable depending on your background and time investment. Learning design seems easy because the barriers to entry are almost unexistent: no matter how bad it is, most designs will somehow do the job. By the other hand, to get design skills that can land you a job might not be an easy task. The scale changes the best way to approach design. It matters if it's small scale (web/graphic/product), medium scale (architecture) or large scale (urban) but - with different weights - usability, proportions, trends, psychology/sociology and economics are always relevant. Anyway a good designer will adapt to a different scale within a short time: design is design.