I want to be a "REAL" designer
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- mtthwsms
Help. I'm lost. I want to be a designer. A REAL ONE. Whatever that means. I hate myself for what I do. I use square space which is a great product but I want to make something that is 100% designed (maybe even developed) by me.
I live in a rural town and really don't know where to start. Any advice? I have a MacBook Pro retina. I have the tools. I have more than enough time but everything is overwhelming and all these sites say they can teach me but I don't know a trusted source. Where can I start? Thank you.
- yurimon6
what is your skill level of using the tools? but first stop putting yourself down. gaining skills and learning is a process.. those that make it learn and analyze their mistakes and improve without self deprecation.
Any schooling? age? art background? Also find a successful designer to model yourself after. this is a process that alot of successful people do.
- I use photoshop on an intermediate level. I'm old. (28) No background. The most advanced tech classes we had in my school was "Typing 101" that's it.mtthwsms
- Intermediate is fine. 28 isn't old. It's a bit of a late start, but if you want to do it you just have to work hard.jtb26
- I don't always agree with Yurimons posts,
but when I do,
I don't.moldero - your subconscious mind agrees but thats why its called subconscious, dont want to face it... lol :)yurimon
- lol moldysea_sea
- monospaced2
Sounds like you want to be a WEB designer (whatever that means).
- Good questine. What does it mean?reanimate
- Just that web design is one corner of design in general. A small corner considering the other more impactful areas of design.monospaced
- formed1
You don't need "tools" to learn how to design. They help express and execute, but if you can't sketch it out it'll never get too far.
School is the most obvious way to learn to design. Better the school, better chances you'll get "good". Plenty of not-so-good designers making a living out there, though, so you can be "real" w/o necessarily being great.
Buy some books and read about design. There's some good ones out there.
Start building a library of examples of what "good" is. You cannot, imho, get "good" w/o knowing what "good" is and why.
School, again, is the best/fastest way to get good. But you need a good school, otherwise you'll just be learning technical skills you can learn on Lynda.com or YouTube.
Lastly, you've got a long ways to go before you can call yourself "old". You'll understand later, trust me.
- +++++monospaced
- Would love book recommendations. Thanks.mtthwsms
- People like to start with the analog designers as they defined modern design along with the world of advertising at the turn of the century.monospaced
- Take a look at summer programs, too. I went to RISD for a summer class, it was just amazing. Better doing that than some random community collegeformed
- On the other hand, you can go to the best design school on earth, and still be mediocre, so that doesn't guarantee anything.Miguex
- True. I believe good design partly stems from some sort of natural talent. That was clear in school, especially.monospaced
- yurimon2
You have to investigate to exactly what type designer you want to become. pick a role model and study them. Keep designing as much as you can. consume good books as much as possible and keep the practice toward the goal. experiment. not sure if this is vague but this i feel is pretty much how it is if you already have a base. If you want more training maybe find a good workshop that would boost your skills maybe. sometimes these are good for next level. plus you meet other people like yourself.
- inteliboy4
What feels overwhelming now, will feel small in the future as you learn more and more.
Also beyond the tools, maybe it's more of finding your own style and voice. Get out of template world and website world. Tutorials are good and all. But do something weird and push your brain. Question the whys and hows. Read books. Study the odd people and places and stories in your rural town. Pick up a camera or a brush or raw materials to integrate into your work, or maybe get hardcore into full on programming. Give yourself odd assignments to create a bulk of new personal work. Out of that you'll probably find a spark, and end up with a kick ass folio that is unlike anyone else.
- jtb260
I Agree with Yurimon. Stop putting yourself down. You care about the intersection of style and function. You want your stuff to work, accomplish goals and look good. You're now a designer. Congratulations. Now, time to get good at it, right?
Here's some places to start. Most importantly you'll want to start honing those design sensibilities. If you have a strong aesthetic you just need to fill that out with understanding of design principles and typography. Here's some reading:
Gestalt Principles: http://graphicdesign.spokanefall…
Drawing: http://www.amazon.com/gp/product…
Visual Story Teling: http://www.amazon.com/gp/product…
Various Design Tutorials: http://design.tutsplus.com/artic…
Some Basic Typography Rules: http://fontfeed.com/archives/eri…You'll want to know Photoshop and Illustrator. Google will serve you well here if you don't know it already. Even still never hurts to sharpen those production skills a little.
Want to learn to code? Not a bad idea. I recommend Treehouse, Code Academy or Lynda.
Also, get out there and meet other designers. Even in a small town there's bound to be one or two others somewhere in driving distance. Ask one if you can buy them a cup of coffee or a beer and let you pick their brain. You might find a mentor, and when your just starting out that can be incredibly useful.
Always be building your portfolio. If you don't have client work find your own projects to practice your craft. Your book is your livelihood.
Good luck mate.
- Wow, what a wealth of information. Thanks a ton!mtthwsms
- jtb264
I'll probably get a few down votes or slams for this but check out if there is an AIGA chapter near you (again rural may be tough, so you might have to travel for it). It's a good way to meet other designers and get exposure to design talks and workshops. Don't worry about joining, just start going out to their events. You stand a good chance of learning something and you're guaranteed to meet people.
- Ben990
Browse B3hance.com everyday and get inspired. Try to reproduce what you like for yourself at first and then try to make your own stuff.
- georgesIII0
I'm by far the best and most decorated designer in my field,
purple, red, orange, even green, I use them all,
I've been part of at least 10 PSBs,
I currently own 5 macbooks, but I'm not a fan boy,ask me anything
- red, gold and green... red gold and green. karma chameleonmonospaced
- utopian2
Hey Matthew,
Don't sweat the small stuff i.e. (design, web design, art direction, etc....) It's all a fraud anyway. A vast majority of websites today are based on a web themes, templates and or are ripped off from other websites. Most logo identities are inspired by clip art or some logo inspirational website and such. Most clients do not want to pay designers for innovation and or creativity, clients want something fast that looks decent and is dirt cheap. Just do what makes you happy...fuck everyone and their horse shit opinions like this one.
Just think...you too can become a UX/UX Designer/Developer in a one weekend of creating wireframes using shareware software.
- <Maaku
- You really hate UX don't you? You do realize UX does not equal wireframes. Anyone can create a wireframe just like anyone can create a comp. Shut up.studderine
- Where did you get your UX Degree?utopian
- Where did you get your design degree? There are programs in HCI, Applied Psychology, Cognitive Science, etc. that have been around decades.studderine
- utopian doesn't understand what UX is, bless him.set
- God bless.studderine
- mtthwsms2
Thanks so hard to all of you. This thread will be put in my bookmarks for all the resources.
- mekk0
Don't overset your targets.
Get a project you can work on, maybe a website for your sports club or something like that. Or maybe you have special knowledge about something, then make a website or a canvas art about it.
Gather information, or a message and select a medium to transport that. Then go on, if you are stuck with your tools just ask.
Happy learning :)
- I would recommend starting with something smaller, like a poster.monospaced
- cannonball19780
You ARE a real designer. You just aren't a professional (or are you?).
- detritus0
No, you don't.
- Milan0
just like any other skill in life. you gotta put in the work.
- monNom0
There are really only two things you need to learn to be a designer.
Taste. You need to develop your taste. This is going to be really tough if you're not already the sort of person that eats up inspiration constantly, but just like any connoisseur, you need to spend a lot of time making distinctions about what is good, what isn't, and over time, you'll be better able to articulate 'why'. Art/Design history is a good place to start. Contemporary styles and trends from websites like be-hance are another avenue.
Tricks. You need to build a library of technical skills that you can draw on in your design projects. The best way to do this is to work on ambitious projects for yourself that you're not quite sure how you might get them done. Work until you hit a road-block, study and solve that problem, come at it another way, etc. Evenutally (like over a few years), you'll have a decent library of know-how that you can draw on and sell to clients, or use as a stepping stone to even more ambitious work.
So that's it -- easy. You can learn all this stuff on your own online, or you can go to school for it. You'll probably get there a bit faster through school, but you might end up with a broader and less differentiated skillset coming out. Plus a load of debt. Learning on your own you will learn how to learn and to break down and solve design problems, and you will earn the tacit knowledge of how to get things done, but you may spin your wheels conceptually without a mentor to push your work.
No matter what, develop a network of other designers you can bounce ideas off.. either online on a forum or twitter, or IRL.
- Irafis0
I suggest to follow some courses at skillshare.com
Here some good ones:http://www.skillshare.com/classe…
- omg0
The way I see it, a real designer designs something he/she has passion and love for. Whether its the content, product, or service, etc. If you do not care or give a shit about what you are designing, then you're just faking it. Fake people pretend. It doesn't matter how talented you are, or how much Photoshop, HTML, typographic layout, or style you've put into something. If you have no care about that social construct that you are designing for, then you're faking it and, more and more people do it everyday. They've taken the road of being a fake designer because it will pay the bills. They do not give a shit about the industry that they work for. For example, a designer who find themselves working for pharmaceutical, finance companies and have no fucks about that industry. They've sold out, you can too, god bless.
You can be a good, or great, or even a bad designer which may come from your skills in design. But many times, even client based designers can find themselves prostituting themselves simply for the money. They don't have enough good clients, and they just want to be paid for something they are good at. Doesn't matter who or what it is, they are paid professionals who are good at what they do, which is making you look and feel good.
But if you are trying to be "real", you have to avoid everything there is in being "fake" and design for what you love. Your heart will help you navigate within the darkness. Hopefully it lands you in the right spot. I could end here for a possible happy ending that drifts into a beautiful mist of opportunity. But not all stories have happy endings. If you've already found yourself a prostitute, doing it for the money. Your boss and anyone he allows to drop their load on you has made you a public toilet for design work. It's not too late, even if you're nearing age 40....you should know that when it comes to prostitution, they like 'em young. Be REAL and start designing for what you love.