

Ask HN: Where can I improve my graphic design skills? - Banekin

All the logos and designs I'm able to produce look like they're from 2007, are heavily gradiented, and lack subtlety. I would like to be able to make more modern logos and designs. Are there any good websites or books for learning how to design elegant graphics and landing pages? I'm working in Photoshop CS5 by the way.
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komlenic
<http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/1592532616/>

This is a general design book, but one that is _packed_ full of information
and examples that you might find helpful. It's not a how-to book, but if you
feel like you can recognize "good/great" design, but can't really produce it
yourself: this is your book. You won't look at anything visually creative the
same way again.

Otherwise, consider: "when all you have is hammer, you treat everything like a
nail". People, myself included, tend to stick with what they know and are
comfortable with. It's no surprise that all your designs end up looking
similar: you're probably using the same tools in Photoshop and the same
techniques. No tutorial is going to directly help you create "elegant
graphics" in any meaningful way, but there are certainly great tutorials out
there that will expose you to new techniques and skills which will broaden
your personal toolbox.

Having a broader toolbox or skill-set makes new things possible that
previously you might have not considered.

~~~
Banekin
I just got this and it's phenomenal. This is exactly what I needed, thank you
so much.

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mariust
Hi, a good resource can be found on <http://psd.tutsplus.com/> but you need to
practice practice and more practice, and by the way logos are usually created
in a vector program like Adobe Illustrator in order for them to be 'print
ready'

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thesash
<http://www.dribbble.com> is my favorite source right now for inspiration.
Tons of extremely talented designers.

Some of my other favorite resource: <http://www.smashingmagazine.com> \--
great showcases <http://vandelaydesign.com/blog/> \-- inspiration and
tutorials <http://twitter.com/#!/TheSash/designers> \-- a list of awesome
designers on twitter

~~~
dsawler
I think the more someone looks at Dribbble, the more their work shows they've
been viewing Dribbble too often. Sure, there are trends, and then there is
good design, and the line is blurry in most. But, a lot of stuff on Dribbble
is the same texture, pattern, noise, over and over. In short, I think looking
outside of the web for inspiration can help designers not rehash the same
design techniques over and over.

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Rhodee
I use all if not most of the sites folks mentioned. But I took your question
of learning to mean interacting with others (forgive me if I am wrong). I came
across P2PU 'School of Webcraft' that might be worth a look-classes pick up
again in April.

Here is the link to the school: <http://www.drumbeat.org/p2pu-webcraft>

and to courses: <http://p2pu.org/webcraft> \-- good luck!

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bo_Olean
good to know you got PS CS5 to play with. i suggest you google few hours for
web2.0 design theories and concepts, like - how to create web2.0 effects with
photoshop, glossy text/image effects, reflections effects, how to create nice
gradients. watch videos, listen podcasts, go through listapart articles if you
have time <http://www.alistapart.com/topics/design/> tune up your design
concepts first.

you can practice with vandelaydesign photoshop tutorials list.
<http://vandelaydesign.com/blog/photoshop-tutorials/> choose the one easy for
you to begin with.

and once you master these basic skills, you can then search for "design
inspiration" around the web to see how other designers are making web
beautiful. when you understand the design principles, design tool becomes just
a matter of choice. all the best.

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dsawler
Is your problem not knowing what it is you want to create (or, what an
"updated" version of that design would be), or do you not have the skill set
to develop what it is you want to create? Or both?

~~~
Banekin
Both. For instance, on a lot of the YC and newer startups (I can't really cite
them from memory) you see these really nice background patterns on landing
pages, however, I have no idea how they are made. I have very little formal
training as far as graphic design is concerned, so while I might be able to
make a pretty logo following a tutorial I'm afraid the fundamental structure
of the page will be bad.

Someone on this thread recommended a book called Design Elements, and it's
great and just what I needed actually.

~~~
dsawler
So, I think reading about design is a great way for you to learn the basics
and principles (I highly recommend The Non Designers Design Book).

Once you read that, then I would suggest to start reading some well known web
magazines, maybe like Smashing or VecTuts/PSDTuts to go through some tutorials
and help you understand just how people use noise on a button, or a drop
shadow on a button, etc. Then again, I think these things are sometimes over
the top and used because it's trendy. But, you can make your own decisions.

A lot of people just use Photoshop patterns made by someone else for those
background images ([http://patterns.ava7.com/tag-
beige.php,http://designm.ag/res...](http://patterns.ava7.com/tag-
beige.php,http://designm.ag/resources/650-free-photoshop-patterns/)). Find a
pattern, fill > pattern, tada!

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naithemilkman
Try this site for inspiration: <http://www.webdesignerdepot.com>

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farout
there are tons of awesome books on amazon - look for the bestsellers and
highest reviews.

One that helped me with logos is: Logo Design Love

I also liked the Classical Effects in Photoshop. Foe websites: I liked CSS
Mastery and on the cssgarden as well as reading alistpart.

~~~
farout
edits:For creating awesome websites: I liked CSS Mastery and I like reading
cssgarden.com and alistpart.com for ideas.

I also like to take existing websites and redo them to make them better just
for my own pleasure. And if I really am pleased, I send them to the company in
case they can use it.

