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You Are Not A Designer And I Am Not A Musician
Going through the Drawar Gallery, a majority of the sites are portfolios for design studios and freelancers. When I come across these sites I like to look at the other work done by the designer to see if there are other sites I can draw inspiration from and include in the gallery. Rarely do I find any. This can't just be a case of clients ruining the work of a designer, this seems more like a case of one hit wonders.
Then it hit me. What if the majority of designers out on the web, aren't really designers at all?
Design Observer does a wonderful job of taking a very low level approach to design. You have to know your stuff to really gain an appreciation for what the authors of the site talk about. How many of you out there read everything that comes from them? There was a discussion on QBN not too long ago that included one of my articles and one of the points brought up is that the print design and web design communities are separated because web designers aren't really designers at all. That struck me as pretty strange because immediately I started calling out names in my head of web designers that I knew with print backgrounds and ones that could definitely go toe-to-toe with the great print designers. Beyond that you have an over-abundance of people selling services as a designer, when they know almost nothing of design.
Call them armchair designers if you want. Call them people that see a trend on the web and make sure to follow it on their next design no matter what the requirements are. Call them people who hit the galleries for inspiration and leave with a little too much inspiration if you catch my drift.
When Khoi Vinh and Mark Boulton talk about designing with a grid it is a wonderful thing, but does anyone else find it shocking that so many people treat the grid as if it were something new? For example, here is a comment I found while reading another designer's blog.
Can you go into detail on "the grid"? I don’t think I’ve ever heard a designer mention that before… and now I’m interested. How can I use it to my benefit my designs? I’ve always made my designs by color and just what I feel looks right… never with a grid system.
I find it hard to believe that someone in this profession doesn't know what a grid is or how to use it. I didn't go to school for design, but when I thought I might get paid for some design work I made sure to dive head deep into the many great books on design out there. I became a student of design. How many designers know about kerning and the psychology behind colors? How many designers understand the principles of typography and white space? You ever wonder why articles on these subjects are so popular? It's because 90% of the web design community don't know about these subjects.
Back in 2007, Greg Storey, wrote a cry for help asking for more qualified designers. There are plenty of people who can chop up a design in XHTML/CSS. Hell you can outsource that for a couple hundred dollars. There are plenty of people who can AJAX-ify your interface to increase the user experience. There are plenty of people who can create a design that looks nice.
The problem is, how many people can design solutions to fix the problems a site has? How many people can take the ideas of their client and translate them properly to the screen? How many designers can look past their own style and design a site that fits the current project?
There aren't many. There aren't many people that treat design as an art and passion that must constantly be improved. There aren't many people that understand design is a craft that should be studied and poured over until you get tired of it and then you get up and do it again. There aren't many people that understand what design is and yet wish to call themselves designers.
I am by no means a designer. If someone were to come up to me and I knew they needed a graphically rich website with vibrant colors, there is no way I could produce that for them. I do my own sites because I only have one style and work with limited colors and keep myself constrained to the graphical properties of CSS. I am no designer. To be honest, most of the people out there are no better than me and yet they want the big bucks. They want the glory. They want to know why their site didn't make it into the gallery (do galleries even reject sites anymore?).
No, you are not a designer. You are someone that can piece together some stuff in Photoshop or add the right pieces of code in XHTML/CSS. You aren't the person that creates experiences. You aren't the translator of ideas that people never thought could be produced visually. You aren't the person that can toss their own style to the curb and come up with something even greater because of it.
But you could be. Maybe. Just take the time to study like the greats before you. Push your limits. Test your boundaries. Designers like to work within their comfort zone because they know what they will like. Make something ugly to help you come up with some ideas on how to make something beautiful. When you need inspiration create your own.
A great point was made by Tyme White in the forums.
Ever walk into an art museum and you see the pretty paintings, then you come across one that looks like a kid threw a wet paintbrush at the canvas? You stand there wondering why that painting is there...you could have done it. Then some art enthusiast walks by and mentions how the painting is actually millions of dots made to look like splashed paint. You might wonder why someone would create a piece of art like that but you understand WHY the painting is there.
Look at the designs that inspire you and even the ones that don't and try to understand what part of them appeals to you. To simply say you like the colors doesn't help you as a designer. Question why that particular color combination works for that design. Figure out if the fonts used were the best choice. Even when you know design, you are always learning design.
You can become a true web designer if you work at it, just not many people out there really have that desire. I know you do though.
Next week I will be going over the Top 5 (gasp, a useful list) Website Designs that I found this year and when I say "going over" I mean actually looking at them and discussing why I like them. So be sure to subscribe to our feed or follow us on Twitter because you won't want to miss it.
I wrote this entry two years ago on another site and have revised it to match my current opinions. Here are some of the comments from that original entry.
Designers do so much more than put objects on a page. A true designer solves design problems on a form v. function continuum. They create problems to be solved. They break through boundaries never even perceived before they broke through.
I am not a designer. Not yet anyway. I can put together a decent website, and I can answer to my clients needs. I can make my client’s cheezy and all together cliché ideas and turn them into something pleasing for their customers to browse, but I am not a designer. I have a long way to go before I solve any problems, before I create something truly unique, before I move the design world in any one direction.
I don’t think a title should be used unless the experience, employed position or education is there to back it up. If that isn’t the case, then I am a painter. I am an illustrator. I am a writer. I am a print specialist. I am a computer technician. I am an accountant. Really. I am a nutritionist. I am a novelist. I am a journalist. All true
Stevie
“Designer” isn’t just a word, its a concept. “Plumber” is a word that inspires confidence that the individual posesses the expertise needed to successfully install and troubleshoot the plumbing in a building or structure. This isn’t simply knowing how to lock pipes together with putty and a wrench. In this same vein, “Designer” inspires a certain confidence that the individual has spent time not just perfecting the technical aspects of web creation but additionally has the ability to envision an entire solution that addresses both aesthetic and functional concerns. This simply doesn’t happen (not as often as the webdesign awards would have us think) without some education (formal is my preference, critique is so important) of practical design elements.
Kate
On one hand you’ve got the group that can play an instrument with technical perfection, but not know anything about music other than how to read which note they need to play. In fact, there’s a lot of people that play in bands and have no idea how to even read music. These would be the people that can execute a design without creating something new (or tailored to the situation/site.)
Then there’s the other group that understands the how and the why of the music. These are the ones who can hear a piece and come up with the harmony line, or a counterpoint to the melody. They can immediately play a complimentary riff over a chord progression, or find a substitution in that progression that creates more interest. These are the true designers.
Invaluable Books
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23 Comments
AnonymousIt's was true two years ago and it's true now. The biggest reason for this is the focus, by the design community when it comes to web, ux, interaction, etc. on tools and building a broad skill set.
CSS is not design and it never has been, so what the heck is a CSS gallery? It's not about the design, it's about the tool.
We hear over and over that web designers must code. I stopped coding a few years back and what happened? I became a much better designer. I agree you need to understand the medium, but to be a really good designer you need to focus on design. I'd say the same goes if you're a developer.
I was following the An Event Apart feed the other day and if you were to be a young designer looking for career advice you would have thought you'd want to be a strategist, IA, developer, writer, etc. to get ahead as a web designer. No wonder we still see these unrealistic jack-of-all-trades job descriptions out there.
There are a few people who can excel in multiple disciplines, but, my advice would be to become t-shaped. Have a solid broad base, but at some point specialize in what you want to do. For me that's design, for others it might be hardcore development or whatever. The people who do the best work are almost always specialized in some way.
I fell lucky to have a solid grasp on code, some deep experience in interaction design and lots of visual design chops as well. Don't ask me to learn how to do PHP. I know very successful IA/UX folks who cant code at all and have no grasp on visual design concepts. In most cases I'd rather those folks working with me on a project than a hybrid devigner.
Anyway, I've rambled on, but I agree, it's fine to spread yourself thin when you're starting out, but if you want to be really good at something you'll eventually need to narrow your focus.
I am glad you wrote this. We talked about this before. It's sad to say but, in my opinion, the design community has become like social media experts. Claiming their authority as a designer but unable to back it up. It is almost impossible to learn within the community (as it is now) because the A-Listers in the community dropped the ball interacting within the community (honestly, they might be creating real solutions for their clients but that does not exempt the fact there is a void) and everyone else is copying something cool that was done. One "cool" design does not make someone a designer.
One of the cool things about design is that one doesn't have to go to school to receive the validation of being qualified like lawyers, doctors, some technicians or even in business. However, it takes a disciplined person to continue to gain knowledge and push their limits.
I look forward to reading your series next week. I hoped you do something like this for a long time. It is a serious void in the community - education...outside of "buy my book".
@Colin - They aren't a detriment. The problem is the design community doesn't have "leaders" in the sense that they see something and innovate instead of copy. Talking to many designers over the years they felt like they "had" to adopt the trends the bigger sites were doing to be recognized at all, which is sad.
As far as gallery sites, I doubt they will change much. Someone would have to step up and put a lot more work into it than uploading screenshots. Only leaders continue evolve and right now, there isn't consistent leadership within the design community.
Because, as in any community, you can be an A-Lister and do nothing to contribute to the health and growth of the community.
AnonymousI completely agree with Keith. I studied print design and then moved into web design because I found it more inspiring. But that doesn't mean that I don't use all of the things I learnt about successful print design when I am designing a website.
In my last job I had to learn to code. It meant that I had half the time to focus on the design of a site, and instead I would be thinking of how on earth I would build it. Now I try to just focus on what I want to achieve with the design, and how it can best serve it's users. Then I pass the build over to a really good front-end developer who I know will be able to make it work.
Amen to that. I completely agree, Scrivs.
I think the career arc for the recent Web designer is fairly simple. You learn a bit of CSS/HTML and start throwing some designs together that you culled from a few design galleries. Everything seems to be progressing rapidly until you hit a wall.
When you hit that wall you can either do two things: 1. Keep learning and pushing your boundaries. Or 2: Stay isolated, keep poking around design galleries, and read lists. Too often people in the Web design community choose the second option. Like you said, they can make pretty Web sites that may be eye candy to their clients, but that's where their skills end. They won't be able to craft elegant solutions to problems without pushing themselves further.
I don't agree with @Keith that learning how to "code" CSS/HTML means your spreading yourself too thin. Dan Cederholm is a great designer and excellent coder. And let's be honest, HTML and CSS really are pretty easy to learn. I'd say they are almost as easy to learn as becoming fluent in Photoshop, Illustrator or even an art skill such as oil painting or screen printing.
Obviously designing for the Web is a bit different than designing for print, but there is still a wealth of books that cover both grounds. Jason Santa Maria has a great list of books worth checking out to any designer of any skill level.
One of the reasons I love design is because you never have an excuse to stop learning. You have to keep pushing yourself to stay successful in this field, and that's how it should be. You have to be hungry.
Anonymousprocload - I'd agree HTML/CSS aren't all that hard to learn, and I do think if you're designing for the web you should know how to do that. What I don't agree with is that you also need to implement your own designs. And when I say "spreading too thin" I'm more talking about trying to focus on both design and development than knowing HTML/CSS.
Also, I'm glad you brought up Dan Cederholm as an example. I'd agree with you, but most of us can't be Dan Cederholm. He is a talented designer and an expert developer and those people are rare. That's why he's Dan Cederhom and I'm not. :)
Anonymous"When you need inspiration create your own."
A designer, with the help of his creativity, solves problems. While at that, he solves it in such a way that it never seems to be a problem in the first place.
When you look at a well designed magazine, you don't think of it as a solution to a problem. And when you're unaware of that, you know the designer did his job well.
Break the boundaries and let new grounds be discovered.
Just as there was a problem with lists, there is a problem with design education. In a perfect world all of us would have the hunger to go out and learn, but we know that isn't the case. Sometimes people just need a little bit of guidance to direct them the right way. This may mean you talking about the effectiveness of quality kerning or really showing the importance of whitespace beyond "things need to breathe."
For the people out there making money through design, don't let this article get to you or insult you. Just understand that when someone pays you to design something because you call yourself a designer there is a certain expectation that comes with that title.
As for designers needing to know code or not I actually have an article on that in the works.
AnonymousLoved reading this. As a "front-end developer" I am often thought of as a web designer which I try to explain is not my job. Yes I try to beef up on design concept and I love good design but I am not traditionally trained and I do not pretend to be.
There seems to be a lot of confusion about what "web design" is. If you tried to go to college/university to be trained as a web designer you will find that you are actually being trained as a web site builder.
On the flip side many folk training at art school as designers are learning about design with a heavy print focus and being slapped with outdated techniques and a skewed vision of what makes for successful design on the web.
I run into print type who haven't a clue how to design online almost as often as a run into technically savvy website builders who haven't a clue about the basics of design. Both seem to create equally mediocre online experiences.
I also find it surprising at how some design concepts are new to a large part of the community. I guess part of the reason is because it's so much easier to learn to code HTML and CSS.
For my part my first degree was in Computer Science so I was coding long before I knew anything about design. I felt like I owed to myself, and more importantly, to anyone paying me to design a site for them, to go learn and understand more about design, and that's what I did.
Claiming their authority as a designer but unable to back it up.
Who can't back it up? Maybe some people do this, but that's a wide net to cast.
A-Listers in the community dropped the ball interacting within the community (honestly, they might be creating real solutions for their clients but that does not exempt the fact there is a void) and everyone else is copying something cool that was done.
There is a void, but I wouldn't put the blame on designers. The phenomena happens in all industries. Discussion boards and blogs are always flooded and overrun with amateurs.
One of the cool things about design is that one doesn't have to go to school to receive the validation of being qualified like lawyers, doctors, some technicians or even in business.
That's also the worst thing about the industry, especially if you are a client. I hear horror stories too often.
The problem is the design community doesn't have "leaders" in the sense that they see something and innovate instead of copy. Talking to many designers over the years they felt like they "had" to adopt the trends the bigger sites were doing to be recognized at all, which is sad.
Look, good design cannot be recognized from a screenshot, so the "designers" you speak of might need to rethink their role. That's the problem with design galleries. They should call themselves pretty screenshot galleries, not design galleries.
Because, as in any community, you can be an A-Lister and do nothing to contribute to the health and growth of the community.
There are "A-listers" (whatever that means) out there pedal good, solid design fundamentals. Guess what? They aren't popular because people think they need to see pretty screenshots. These guys and gals don't post pretty screenshots because they know of it's uselessness. What they do instead is often take a site design and dissect it to show it's strong points and flaws, but even that comes with caveats that the reader must be understood.
There's just a chasm that individuals seeking to become designers must cross themselves.
I can get behind fellows whose thoughts are interesting and whose delivery is attractive, even when I think they're wrong.
I do believe that there's more to design or music than arranging some text or playing a guitar. Those are the elements that make up a much deeper thing. But I *don't* think much of telling people that they have to do certain things in order to deserve their title.
I'm an amateur theme designer; ten thousand blogs run on themes I've designed, though I really only started getting interested in CSS a year ago. I don't just not *use* grids, but I thought Khoi's new grid-based theme was ugly and cluttered and was rather disgusted by how excited people got over it. So I'm an amateur in every sense. But I've still seen a marvelous reaction from the people who use my themes. A handful of fellows have gotten very excited over something or other that I tried doing. I don't know if I'm stumbling over old ground or if what I'm doing is violating some unwritten design laws, but apparently it gets people going. So I guess in some ways I'm a designer, just as I would call designers certain people who may not be professionals but whose work spoke to me at some level or other.
A month from now I'm bringing a guitar up to college and I plan to fiddle with it without taking a single lesson. I want to see what sounds come out and if they're cool I'll write music based on it. Again amateur. Again I'm hoping to call myself a musician based on it.
So the theme of your post, which is that there's a deeper meaning that all these things strive for, I can identify with and side in favor of. But the way you express it, in which you attack people over what's essentially a meaningless label, I could not be more against. I want a hundred million people calling themselves professional designers even if they're all tripe. I want them getting really excited over trivial stuff. Then the people who know more than they do, rather than shitting over the happy feelings of these assorted fellows, can point them to even *more* exciting things and get them really learning. It makes teachers out of experts and students out of ignorant people. All it takes is a little friendliness.
Now, that means that the "design world" is going to have an issue with hacks and cheats, but so what? There shouldn't *be* an official design world. Can't we go back to the model where we rely upon friends in the know, and form organic bonds between ourselves based on what we know rather than what others are telling us? If I know a guy who knows a guy who knows a great designer, then I follow the chain; if that's not good enough for me, I keep looking. But attempting to consolidate and create a world of people who are only in the in is just going to lead to bickering and unhappy feelings, which is a shame, because any and every sort of creation ought to be really, really fun.
I've returned to being an amateur without any ties or strings attached, which gives me a freedom I never had before.
Yusuf Islam
Also, I'd like to point out that you don't have an RSS tag in your header, so visiting here on Safari I was first of the opinion that there was no way of lying in wait for your next post.
I might just visit it manually as-is. You've got a lovely design that'd go to waste in Fever.
AnonymousIs anyone dissecting a site's design and explaining what works and what doesn't. The only thing coming to mind is Andy Rutledge's Redux. That type of site would be so much more useful for amateurs than a gallery. I see others criticizing obviously bad sites, but it's rarely constructive.
Now, that means that the "design world" is going to have an issue with hacks and cheats, but so what? There shouldn't *be* an official design world.
Guess what, Rory, design doesn't exist in a vacuum. There are real people who run real businesses who need real solutions to their real problems. When hacks and cheats parade around as professional designers and con these people, wasting their time and money, it ruins the industry as a whole. It is because of these people that companies hold logo and web site design contests, but never have a plumbing contest, or a contract writing contest, or an architecture contest (except when they pick, say, two top architects and pay them both a fair rate).
"How many designers know about kerning and the psychology behind colors? How many designers understand the principles of typography and white space? You ever wonder why articles on these subjects are so popular? It’s because 90% of the web design community don’t know about these subjects." <~~ love this.
I'm honestly over sites that showcase designs. Like the 20 best site designs. For what reasons are they the best. Additionally, everything that is showcased is the same. There is nothing unique about any of these pieces of work. I mean, kudos to the designers who have their work displayed, but as a designer myself, I'm hardly inspired at all by it. It's too trendy for my taste.
This is a very good post! I find your words are inspiring, and hopefully other to other designers to keep on pushin'on.
"There aren’t many people that understand design is a craft that should be studied and poured over until you get tired of it and then you get up and do it again." <~~ wOrd up!
Guess what, Rory, design doesn't exist in a vacuum.
Anything exists in a vacuum if you choose to let it. I can pick up a brush and start painting without once looking at other people's work, figure things out on my own, and for me painting is a vacuum. Now, I can learn much more quickly if I let myself learn from others, but that's my active choice.
If I'm a designer looking for work, I can create a gallery and start looking for work in the middle of a slew of designers, or I can form personal relationships with people and do their work. If I'm doing that, then I and they are working in a vacuum. Doesn't matter how many charlatans are out there working on their schtick.
When hacks and cheats parade around as professional designers and con these people, wasting their time and money, it ruins the industry as a whole.
"Industry" is a conglomerate of people. There is no industry beyond what people decide exists. If I have a friend who designs web sites, and I pay him for every site I want made, then he is the industry.
It is because of these people that companies hold logo and web site design contests, but never have a plumbing contest, or a contract writing contest, or an architecture contest
Of course they have writing contests and architecture contests. Do you know a thing about either field? When major architectural work is undertaken, architects are often asked to submit drafts of their ideas, and consumers shop until they see a winning design. Similarly, most publishing work is a competition between every writer submitting a piece. Contracts are rare.
I stand by my belief that we could all do with a nice bit of isolationism, in which we're forced to decide things for ourselves rather than trust a hive mind to tell us what's good and what's bad.
@Colin:
In the design community, where should the blame rest but designers? The design community is directly response for their growth or staleness, success or failure. A community is only as strong as its members.
Anyone in any field taking money for their services ought to be able to prove their skill. For example, I don't think the "designer" that resells premade templates is a designer, yet most of the sites that do this are not honest in stating they are resellers. Instead, they boast about how they can find real solutions to real problems. And let's not forget all those sites they say "we" when it is a one person operation trying to make themselves look bigger than they are. If someone were to ask who the "we" people were, what would they say?
Let's talk about a good designer/firm for a minute. One I use as an example is 2Advanced (Warning: The music loop can be annoying (to me) so I'd thought I'd state a warning since it is autoplay). Their site is a demonstration of what they can do (whether the viewer likes it or not). Their portfolio is more than a bunch of screenshots. If you look at their portfolio by date in 1999 they only had two projects. Clicking on the links you will see their steady growth and improvement in jobs/clients. They consistently win awards, they are well known in their niche for the type of work they do, and they are still growing and thriving. The claims they make are backed up.
I use this example because they didn't start that way with only two clients. Those meant to excel in design will grow as they did. I have talked to many designers and I can honestly say I was told hundreds of times that the designer's site was not a good representation of their design style. Why would a designer want to miss the opportunity to make a first good impression? Bad business skills or are they a bad designer?
A-Listers (not my term, one the blogging community deemed fit to use) are people well known in their niche. For example, Engadget and TechCrunch are A-List blogs for technology. Usually everyone will agree (whether they like the blog or not) because of their consistent traffic/subscribers numbers verified by a valid source (they'd still have tons of traffic if all the social sites died overnight).
From your description, designers will not become popular (A-List) unless they post pretty screenshots. Of course, there is a difference between being a designer with a high traffic site and being a designer with a good stream of clients (quality jobs). Both can be considered popular. In any case, I do not agree with that. Good blogs take work and more important TIME to grow. Most people want to create a short cut and skip right to being popular, when in truth most wouldn't be able to handle it if they were given popularity right now. Are there good blogs that go unnoticed? Absolutely...that was one of the specialties of 9rules. Finding good blogs and featuring them in hopes the increased exposure would help them thrive.
Having hired designers, talked with designers, and interacted with them about their sites the community definitely has a void. It is a shame that designers feel the need to copy (and I know this because many told me so) instead of innovating because it wasn't like that before. When I was first introduced to the design community they were pushing the limits of available technologies, having interesting debates and discussions - it was a lot of fun and very educational. I hope the community can get back to that because it's a win/win for everyone.
@Keith:
I agree with your thoughts about CSS galleries. I think my root problem with them (for me) is that they are old. Yes, CSS is still used today but CSS galleries popped up when CSS was NEW. Now that it is old, why revisit the old? Is there not new technologies (coding, whatever), new styles, etc. that can be focused on? And if not, who is creating what designers will be using tomorrow? As an example, Apple could have copied what cell phones were currently available but they pushed the limits (and yes, it was a risk) and came up with the iPhone. Now it's time to push beyond the iPhone style into something else. That's how things evolve.
Using that reasoning (to me) CSS galleries (especially new ones) make no sense to me (other than the person wanting one just to have one). But I question why the community isn't asking for more because one they do, perhaps someone will provide it.
AnonymousYou should have entitled the article "You Are Not A Designer... But You Could Be" :)
As a self-taught web designer, I never got the chance to take a design course and it can show in my own web design work. I know my typography is lacking and I don't have much understanding of the psychology of colors. However those areas are only weaknesses for as long as I allow them to be and eventually, with many hours of work and study, they will become strengths. What I have always had a knack for, is keeping things simple and problem solving. It's about time I got the rest of my skills up to speed so I thank you Scrivs again for another wake up call.
The comment by Collin pretty much sums it up. A web designer has a ton of skills and concepts to pick up. Just imagine everything that goes into a good website.
From the Design aspect there's: - Graphic/Print (Color Theory, Typography, Working with Grids etc) - Usability - User Experience - Information Architecture
From the Development aspect there's: - Markup Language (HTML/CSS) - Coding Language (i.e. PHP/C#/VB) - Dynamic Effects (Flash/AJAX) - Frameworks (.NET)
If you want to blog or sell a product than you might be interested in monetization techniques, marketing, improving your writing, knowledge of social media etc.
There is so much ground to cover and so much collaborating that needs to take place. It would take close to a decade, if not longer, to appreciate all of these concepts and schools are barely helping. I've seen some of the work from those who graduate up here in Toronto and I wonder just what they are teaching them. Then these same said graduates go on to get jobs as web people who are expected to know so much for so little. When really the graduate might be decent at a few aspects of design or might be decent at a few aspects of development.
2Advanced was brought up and there President, Eric Jordan, mostly fiddled around with Flash on his own because he thought the animation and interactive elements were the gateway to the future. I remember 2Advanced's v2 website, and seeing how the company has grown over the years is phenomenal.
We all have to start somewhere.
AnonymousThis might be piling on to what Tyme was saying and if you want to get the point, just skip to the end.
Just a quick observation re: galleries. I've never really paid attention to them, ever. Not the CSS variety or the more traditional you'd see in say CA. I don't see them as a useful for learning and they're only marginally inspirational.
I get my inspiration elsewhere; some of it on the web, sure, but most of it comes from things I come across in my every day life. I keep track of these things, sort of creating a gallery of bits and pieces all my own.
I'm not going to begrudge their place, I just wanted to point out that, for me anyway, there are much better ways to learn and grow your design skills. What budding designers need is to do learn the fundamentals of design & then *do more design work.*
So, my #1 bit of advice here is this: If you want to become a better designer (or developer, etc.) what you *need* to do is PRACTICE.
cool, this seems to works with twitter :)
As Í am far more related to the art scene than the design scene that quote rings true to me.
Actually art, and I do not mean illustration or design, has such a big background that you need to know so much more about art to fully gasp most concepts when you walk by. Art has left the visual trail a long time ago, and to really take part in the art world and appreciate these works you have to learn, read and understand what has been done before, just as in the design world.
There are many people that say this is no art, I could do that, why is this in a gallery? Compare this with someone who can use photoshop, he must be a great designer as well. Understanding the process and what lies beneath it takes more than stunning visuals or copying what has been done before. Just look at the simple beauty of the works by concept artists done in the 60s such as Yves Klein, Timm Ulrichs or Daniel Buren, or even better Marcel Duchamps who questioned the whole process of How art is recepted with his fountain. Most people still don't understand why those works are "art". One of my favorite concepts ever is the one behind an oak tree.
Most people just don't see what's behind a concept or a design, how the process works and simply enjoy the beauty of it trying to emulate what someone else has made up.
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Amen.
I'm starting to wonder if gallery sites and the Smashing Magazines of this world are a detriment to new, unschooled designers.
Seems like if you entered this profession casually in the last 4 years you could fall into the trap of following trends. You could become quite good at it and make pretty web sites so you might think you are a designer. Before these "resources" existed, we found ourselves reading books and web sites that offered the kind of value we needed.
This does not make design galleries evil. But, and no offence, in their current forms they aren't very useful for teaching design. You could say that most of them are just pretty to look at, and nothing more.