Wannabe designer
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- verbalchi
Hello, I'm a newcomer. I just bought my first laptop. I would like to minimally design my own cd covers.
What would be the most pertinent strategy for quick and slick results? ie applications, self-education, any general design resource pages... apart from this site, of course.
- airey0
itunes. print. mosaic black and white. anymore minimal and it aint there...
of course i'm figuring you're kidding right. surely. have to be. if not, what's next? buy a stethoscope and work out the quickest doorway to doctorhood? buy a paintbrush and frame your masterpiece by lunch tomorrow?
dude, nthin' comes from nuthin' and presently that's all you got. 'cept intention but the road to hell and all that. a laptop is a calculator that plays mp3's, not a gateway to good design. if you're really neadin' though i heard word clipart rocks and / or rolls...
- fake_it_up0
ahahha i hope this post was a joke too...
- blaw0
i'm occassionally asked by someone who is a junior or senior in high school about graphic design as a career.
one thing i say is for them to read "the elements of graphic design" by alex white, which covers a lot of design concepts at a higher level.
if they read that and don't get excited, graphic design is probably not for them.
so start there.
- Nairn0
Your first mistake was coming to NT on a Saturday, looking for serious advice (damn you, blaw).
If you are serious about designing your own CD covers, the one bit of software you'll benefit from is Illustrator, which can handle the imagery and text suitably for print.
Once you've done that, you should turn off your PC and spend a while dissecting source material you respect (other covers, magazines, etc)
- how are elements positioned?
- how is imagery treated?
- what limitations are imposed?Adobe's Illustrator is, on the one hand a very easy tool to use - on the other - a pig to learn, but there are plenty of books and tutorials out there to assist.
What I will say, however, is that achieving effective miminalist design is truly one of the hardest things to do (for me and many others, anyway), and is more grounded in logic and design rules than other design aspects - especially when dealing with type and information - hell, even simple photography (colour treatments, positioning, etc)
Like most things, I'm not sure that 'design' is something that can be achieved quickly and easily - it's one of those things that you have to be a) interested in b) dedicated to and c) have a slight talent or proclivity for.
If it was do-able straight out of the box, there'd be a heck of a lot less whining and moaning on this site mid-week :)
- e-pill0
smoke more weed, and chew some acid blotter
and in no time you will be disco dancing with the rest of the design community...
- ********0
smoke more weed, and chew some acid blotter
and in no time you will be disco dancing with the rest of the design community...
e-pill
(Sep 23 06, 05:58)that is essentially the short-cut and sort of - more or less - achieves the same results.
- TheBlueOne0
Quick & Slick don't neccessarily go together...
- ********0
now that you're a designer, could you tell me what you think of this logo I'm working on? Actual size is 250 feet--I shrunk it down to fit on a computer screen.
- PonyBoy0
rand... your design is shit...
... but I'm hungry for donuts right now. :)
- ********0
it looks better at full size
- TheBlueOne0
I'd buy that for a dollar...
- kelpie0
*MACE
- indian_pole0
what's a cd?
- fake_it_up0
MO money MO problems
- go_st0
pull your head out of your arse and open your eyes.
- myobie0
i am proposing that logo to my next client...are full size
no really tho, if you want to be a good designer, put up with getting no help from other designers for about 10 years and learn all you can about design...
then you can start your CD cover
or the weed and acid may work too...
- nedword0
should do the trick.
- verbalchi0
Thank you one and all. I wasn't really joking at all.
And I appreciate the honesty from kind people wanting to help as much as comments from the peanut gallery. Every beginner needs some hazing no doubt, even if it reminds me of frat boy circle jerks.
It must be mind-bending for most of you to think that someone would just buy a laptop and start using it.
I don't want to be the person who just writes emails and looks at naked people. (even though this has been terrific!)
I come to you believing that you might have more precious info than I could find on my own. You know, the insider whiz and all.
It took me three months to figure out how to log on to NT. I don't mind sounding stupid. I'm used to it. (being french)
It must get tiring to have one's guard up all the time.I will follow ALL the advice above and follow my little knows and hopefully design something charming out of my naïvété.
Or maybe someone would work for me? Rand, maybe you'd let me use your design for an album about "blue monday people" and "les gens qui creve la genie"
*puts "designer" overalls back in
hope chest and waits for a rainy day.
- ********0
I started the same way, verbalchi, I wish you success!
- myobie0
dude, good luck on it...
but i was serious about designers not helping each other...there is a long history of designers not giving away anything or putting up with people who cannot perform...
if someone helps you out, they are rare
read about design
appreciate design
pick a focus (typography, motion, web, etc) and make sure your are at least really good at one if not two of those...
as far as specifics, to learn to use an application requires you to use it...i'm sorry, but all the books about illy won't tell you how to do a cd cover...only experience and mistakes will add up to anything
look at the Alki1 link over there to the left and if you don't get excited, maybe you should rethink all this
actually, try to emulate some of those works in illy for practice using the app
if you can emulate someone, at least you have the skills to create...
then all you need are the ideas!
(which is the part you cannot learn, but must experience)
try to design using every experience of your life as a catalogue of material to draw from
or again, the weed/acid may do it...