4 ms·

Ask HN: I want to learn graphics design. Where should I go?

11 points by kristiandupont 16y ago

Programming is a great skill to have - also because it allows you to communicate better with other programmers (and evaluate code they have written for you). I would like to learn some basic design skills to have that same advantage there. Pointers to books, tutorials and websites are most welcome.

sahillavingia 16y ago
Work, work and work. I sucked at design for years (though I thought I was good), and now I think I'm better (though I may not actually be very good). Find someone honest about your designs and ask him. It's hard to be objective about your own designs, even if you want to be. Visit CSS galleries. Emulate specific elements. Combine them. Create your first site (when I started I pretended I was hired to do the marketing page for Dropbox). Then another. One day you'll be good. Just keep at it. Good luck! Also, email me if you want more info and my old designs (they suck so it shows how far I've come).
dirktheman 16y ago
Pick up a copy of Photoshop and work your way through http://psd.tutsplus.com/ http://psd.tutsplus.com/. Be warned though: Photoshop can be quite addictive!
gallerytungsten 16y ago
Good design is a combination of several different skills. The most important are: composition and typography. Composition is the arrangement elements on the page, while typography is self-explanatory. There is also the matter of illustration, which often comes into play, and can include drawing, technical illustration, and photoshopping. Start by getting some pro design software: Quark, (or Indesign) Illustrator, and Photoshop, if you don't have them already. Initial exercises: Try to re-create a page from a book or a magazine in Quark; try to re-create a logo or illustration in Illustrator; and try editing some photos in Photoshop. There is no shortcut: all of this is hard work and will take years to learn. If you want ONE book that has the absolute highest ratio of useful information to page length, the book you need is "Logo, Font, and Lettering Bible" by Leslie Cabarga. If you get that book, you will also want a copy of Fontographer.
Aetius 16y ago
Smashing Magazine.
jeffclark 16y ago
There's a huge difference between learning "design" and learning "how to create graphics/how to use Photoshop". If you're wanting to learn how to design, find as many design books as you can in the library. Not the Photoshop manual, but books like "108 essays on design". Find as many design mags as you can and read every article: Communication Arts, Print magazine, whatever. (Communication Arts puts out a few annuals every year: advertising annual (my favorite), photography annual, interactive annual, etc.) Consume as much design as you can and write down what you like about what you like. Consume, consume, consume. Then, just DO IT. Do, do, do. But without a computer. Take out a piece of paper and design a landing page for your current project. Layout where your titles will go, where your form will go, etc. Photoshop won't help if you don't know what you want in the first place. Explain to someone why the form is on the left instead of the right. Explain why the title is so big and why you chose that much content. Then rip it apart and make another. And another. And another. And just keep doing it and talking about it with people smarter than you and people dumber than you. Find online communities like Behance or Forrst or Dribbble and review/preview others' work. Consume, consume, consume. Do, do, do. Talk, talk, talk. It's the exact same way you learned to program!
Ernestas 16y ago
The Non-Designer's Design Book: Design and Typographic Principles for the Visual Novice
ryanteo 16y ago
Hi, I'm also new to this, but I found the following useful (apologies for the weird formatting): Books Web design Steve Krugman - Don't Make Me Think (and the sequel) Presenting information Edward Tuftes - http://www.edwardtufte.com/tufte/books_vdqi Highly useful books about presenting statistics and information visually Websites Personally, I find Smashing Magazine good for articles that give you a lot of examples e.g. "50 examples of dark websites.. " I guess it's more for picking up tips and tricks. I find that the articles on these websites focus more on the basics. A List Apart - http://www.alistapart.com/ Design Shack - http://designshack.co.uk/ Resources You might find these useful for generating ideas http://architectures.danlockton.co.uk/2010/04/10/design-with-intent-toolkit-1-0-now-online/ http://architectures.danlockton.co.uk/2010/04/10/design-with... Photography It would be good to pick up some photography (even with a point and shoot), if only for the simple reason to provide some photos in your blog/marketing materials. Inspiration Carbonmade.com Deviantart Flickr http://dribbble.com/ http://dribbble.com/ http://forrst.com/ http://forrst.com/ http://lookslikegooddesign.com/ http://lookslikegooddesign.com/ Other related topics You might also read up on User Interface Design (UX, UI..). This quote might be useful A designer knows he has achieved perfection not when there is nothing left to add, but when there is nothing left to take away. ~Antoine de Saint-Exupery
gte910h 16y ago
SmashingMagazine.com is great to start with. They have great tutorials as well as a plethora of other things useful in learning graphic design.

sahillavingia 16y ago

Work, work and work. I sucked at design for years (though I thought I was good), and now I think I'm better (though I may not actually be very good). Find someone honest about your designs and ask him. It's hard to be objective about your own designs, even if you want to be. Visit CSS galleries. Emulate specific elements. Combine them. Create your first site (when I started I pretended I was hired to do the marketing page for Dropbox). Then another. One day you'll be good. Just keep at it. Good luck! Also, email me if you want more info and my old designs (they suck so it shows how far I've come).

dirktheman 16y ago

Pick up a copy of Photoshop and work your way through http://psd.tutsplus.com/ http://psd.tutsplus.com/. Be warned though: Photoshop can be quite addictive!

gallerytungsten 16y ago

Good design is a combination of several different skills. The most important are: composition and typography. Composition is the arrangement elements on the page, while typography is self-explanatory. There is also the matter of illustration, which often comes into play, and can include drawing, technical illustration, and photoshopping. Start by getting some pro design software: Quark, (or Indesign) Illustrator, and Photoshop, if you don't have them already. Initial exercises: Try to re-create a page from a book or a magazine in Quark; try to re-create a logo or illustration in Illustrator; and try editing some photos in Photoshop. There is no shortcut: all of this is hard work and will take years to learn. If you want ONE book that has the absolute highest ratio of useful information to page length, the book you need is "Logo, Font, and Lettering Bible" by Leslie Cabarga. If you get that book, you will also want a copy of Fontographer.

Aetius 16y ago

Smashing Magazine.

jeffclark 16y ago

There's a huge difference between learning "design" and learning "how to create graphics/how to use Photoshop". If you're wanting to learn how to design, find as many design books as you can in the library. Not the Photoshop manual, but books like "108 essays on design". Find as many design mags as you can and read every article: Communication Arts, Print magazine, whatever. (Communication Arts puts out a few annuals every year: advertising annual (my favorite), photography annual, interactive annual, etc.) Consume as much design as you can and write down what you like about what you like. Consume, consume, consume. Then, just DO IT. Do, do, do. But without a computer. Take out a piece of paper and design a landing page for your current project. Layout where your titles will go, where your form will go, etc. Photoshop won't help if you don't know what you want in the first place. Explain to someone why the form is on the left instead of the right. Explain why the title is so big and why you chose that much content. Then rip it apart and make another. And another. And another. And just keep doing it and talking about it with people smarter than you and people dumber than you. Find online communities like Behance or Forrst or Dribbble and review/preview others' work. Consume, consume, consume. Do, do, do. Talk, talk, talk. It's the exact same way you learned to program!

Ernestas 16y ago

The Non-Designer's Design Book: Design and Typographic Principles for the Visual Novice

ryanteo 16y ago

Hi, I'm also new to this, but I found the following useful (apologies for the weird formatting): Books Web design Steve Krugman - Don't Make Me Think (and the sequel) Presenting information Edward Tuftes - http://www.edwardtufte.com/tufte/books_vdqi Highly useful books about presenting statistics and information visually Websites Personally, I find Smashing Magazine good for articles that give you a lot of examples e.g. "50 examples of dark websites.. " I guess it's more for picking up tips and tricks. I find that the articles on these websites focus more on the basics. A List Apart - http://www.alistapart.com/ Design Shack - http://designshack.co.uk/ Resources You might find these useful for generating ideas http://architectures.danlockton.co.uk/2010/04/10/design-with-intent-toolkit-1-0-now-online/ http://architectures.danlockton.co.uk/2010/04/10/design-with... Photography It would be good to pick up some photography (even with a point and shoot), if only for the simple reason to provide some photos in your blog/marketing materials. Inspiration Carbonmade.com Deviantart Flickr http://dribbble.com/ http://dribbble.com/ http://forrst.com/ http://forrst.com/ http://lookslikegooddesign.com/ http://lookslikegooddesign.com/ Other related topics You might also read up on User Interface Design (UX, UI..). This quote might be useful A designer knows he has achieved perfection not when there is nothing left to add, but when there is nothing left to take away. ~Antoine de Saint-Exupery

gte910h 16y ago

SmashingMagazine.com is great to start with. They have great tutorials as well as a plethora of other things useful in learning graphic design.