

Ask HN : Is there an HN for graphic designers (web but mostly print)? - dan_sim

I have a friend who would like to keep herself up-to-date but she doesn't know anything that could look like HN for graphic designers (mostly print). In fact, anything could go : a blog, a forum or whatever.
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manvsmachine
No personal experience there, but I've heard a lot of good things about Forrst
(<http://forrst.com>). As far as blogs go, Smashing Magazine
(<http://smashingmagazine.com>), A List Apart (<http://alistapart.com>), and
Think Vitamin (<http://thinkvitamin.com>) come to mind.

~~~
sudont
Gated Community, Blog, Blog, Blog.

There isn't anything even _close_ to HN for designers, for three reasons. One,
design has traditionally had tenets from on high and views that since there
are actual physiological limits to what the human body can read, there are set
rules. Because of the acceptance of rules, there's acceptance of leaders in
the industry whose trendsetting generally spans the next few years, much like
the fashion world. However fickle design trends are, most clients aren't
interested in novel solutions, they prefer to use whatever's popular. And,
because there's no space for actual innovation, there's no need to discuss how
to be innovative, unlike in programming. Basically, design is less creative
then programming because nobody wants you to be creative.

Two. Since design is a visual science, you end up getting a lot of people
who're in it for the lifestyle to be cool, as opposed to here where people are
into programming because they truly love it. In programming, the weak members
go home and watch tv. In design, they go home and talk about design. These
daytrippers tend to weaken the community, and force gated communities like
Dribble and Forrst which further enable the class mentality in design. If
these communities aren't gated, there's a huge influx of quasi-designers who
wish to pad their marketing. However, this insularity tends to ostracize
anyone outside of the class system.

Three. There's been a traditional, accepted path for "real" designers: some
freelance, then joining up with an agency, and then forming your own agency.
Because this path is already well established in meatspace, there's no reason
to form a board online: all the important stuff is going on in the back rooms
of print shops and studios.

Marxism in my design? It's more likely than you think.

~~~
shalmanese
While this sounds authoritative, this post is so wrong it hurts.

~~~
sudont
How so? Maybe I'm just burned out, but I've found the design world to be
extremely hostile.

~~~
maxbrown
IMO -

 _"you end up getting a lot of people who're in it for the lifestyle to be
cool, as opposed to here where people are into programming because they truly
love it"_

You know the wrong designers, or the _right_ programmers, or both. I know many
designers who love what they do - and to be honest, it's probably just harder
to love what you do when you make less for it.

 _"here where people are into programming because they truly love it"_

You're on HN - these people OPT IN to talking about programming _because_ they
love it. You're not seeing all the people that do it but don't love it. The OP
was looking for the HN of design - the place where designers OPT IN because
they love it.

As for the "hostility," I imagine you can find hostility and contempt in the
top ranks of any discipline. But _certainly_ not from everyone - I know a
number of excellent, passionate designers who are the opposite of hostile. The
most hostility I've ever seen from the design community is around the issue of
spec work, and I understand it - if your wage-earning craft was being
devalued, you would likely be hostile towards the culprits as well.

~~~
sudont
Opting into a lifestyle does not mean that they opt in to the work, it's that
they opt in to the _culture that surrounds the work._ It's like a music fan,
but one who professes to be a musician because he likes the concept of music.
There's a ton of designers who hate the work, but design because it's "cool."
If a programmer's only in it for the money, he doesn't go home and sit on a
forum talking about the profession.

Because of this, most of the places where people care about the abstract
excellence of work in itself have vetting requirements, where the newcomer has
to prove themselves _before_ entering, not in participating on the forum.

------
symptic
Check out <http://www.qbn.com/> and <http://www.behance.net/>.

~~~
zray
QBN is great for industry gossip and trends - lots of high profile designers
and a healthy sense of elitism.

Just don't ask what it stands for...

Another good one is <http://www.typophile.com/>

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redacted
Reddit - several of the subreddits are quite good. Try:

<http://www.reddit.com/r/design/> \- general design

<http://www.reddit.com/r/web_design/> \- web design

Both of these pages have more specialized subreddits linked in the sidebar
(e.g., <http://www.reddit.com/r/designthought>).

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bottlerocket
I left the print design world many moons ago, but here are a few that may or
may not be what you're looking for:

<http://designobserver.com/> <http://www.drawar.com/> <http://www.undrln.com/>

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farlington
UnderConsideration's Quipsologies and For Print Only (FPO) are design
metablogs that regularly feature great print work:

<http://www.underconsideraton.com/quipsologies>
<http://www.underconsideration.com/fpo/>

There's also idsgn: <http://idsgn.org/>

~~~
edupunk
Missing an 'i' in the first link but thanks for posting them nonetheless!

<http://www.underconsideration.com/quipsologies/>

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grayrest
The designers in my office are all <http://dribbble.com/> fans but they're all
web designers and not print.

I personally like <http://notcot.org/> for designy stuff as well, which hasn't
been mentioned in the comments so far.

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edvinasbartkus
It is more like the graphic designers are hooked on inspirational social
networks like <http://ffffound.com> <http://dribbble.com/>
<http://emberapp.com/>

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makethetick
<http://www.webdesignerforum.co.uk/> is another one.

------
iny
<http://www.thedieline.com/>

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fgblanch
There is the domestika.org community but it is in Spanish :S

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Strass
reddits /r/web_design isn't too bad.

