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In my experience, of the best ways to get started in design is to replicate other people's designs as perfectly as you can, just to get the hang of designing so

In my experience, of the best ways to get started in design is to replicate other people's designs as perfectly as you can, just to get the hang of designing something good. For example, the other day I recreated the hat icon here: http://hicksdesign.co.uk http://hicksdesign.co.uk. This is mine: http://cl.ly/GYHw http://cl.ly/GYHw. If you make one thing every day, you'll eventually be pretty good at fleshing out your own ideas. Resources: http://pttrns.com http://pttrns.com; http://teehanlax.com/blog/iphone-4-gui-psd-retina-display http://teehanlax.com/blog/iphone-4-gui-psd-retina-display; http://dribbble.com http://dribbble.com

odddogmedia 14y ago
I actually enjoy your version of the hat icon better! Great job. This is good advice. People learning to become designers get hung up in the creativity portion, then falter with creating anything at all.
MaxGabriel 14y ago
Hey that sounds like a great idea. Could that also be a good way to practice iOS or android development?
- pazimzadeh 14y ago
  If only apps released their source code more often..but you could look at open source apps: http://maniacdev.com/2010/06/35-open-source-iphone-app-store-apps-updated-with-10-new-apps http://maniacdev.com/2010/06/35-open-source-iphone-app-store....
- oscardelben 14y ago
  Yes, absolutely, even if you can't see how they did you'll get experience solving the problems they had to solve.
dorian-graph 14y ago
> In my experience, of the best ways to get started in design is to replicate other people's designs as perfectly as you can, just to get the hang of designing something good. In the movie Finding Forrester and aspiring writer is unsure of what to write and has been sitting in front of a typewriter for what seems a few hours.. An experienced one gives him one of his works and tells him to type it. He says sometimes the simple rhythm of typing can get us from page 1 to page 2. Emulation is wonderful.
- pazimzadeh 14y ago
  Interesting! I got the idea from Hunter S. Thompson, who apparently recopied The Great Gatsby before writing Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hunter_S._Thompson#Early_journalism_career http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hunter_S._Thompson#Early_journa...

odddogmedia 14y ago

I actually enjoy your version of the hat icon better! Great job. This is good advice. People learning to become designers get hung up in the creativity portion, then falter with creating anything at all.

MaxGabriel 14y ago

Hey that sounds like a great idea. Could that also be a good way to practice iOS or android development?

pazimzadeh 14y ago
If only apps released their source code more often..but you could look at open source apps: http://maniacdev.com/2010/06/35-open-source-iphone-app-store-apps-updated-with-10-new-apps http://maniacdev.com/2010/06/35-open-source-iphone-app-store....
oscardelben 14y ago
Yes, absolutely, even if you can't see how they did you'll get experience solving the problems they had to solve.

dorian-graph 14y ago

> In my experience, of the best ways to get started in design is to replicate other people's designs as perfectly as you can, just to get the hang of designing something good. In the movie Finding Forrester and aspiring writer is unsure of what to write and has been sitting in front of a typewriter for what seems a few hours.. An experienced one gives him one of his works and tells him to type it. He says sometimes the simple rhythm of typing can get us from page 1 to page 2. Emulation is wonderful.

pazimzadeh 14y ago
Interesting! I got the idea from Hunter S. Thompson, who apparently recopied The Great Gatsby before writing Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hunter_S._Thompson#Early_journalism_career http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hunter_S._Thompson#Early_journa...