Duh! (Score 1)

For being so smart, you programmers are a dumb lot. Learning to design is like learning to ski - all the fancy equipment in the world and a few tips won't successfully get you down a diamond run. You must learn the fundamentals and then practice a lot. I can't believe how much bad advice is being offered in these posts. Here is some advice that doesn't suck: 1. Disregard anything that sounds easy. A bunch of stupid "tips" will only help you to make ugly things, without helping you to understand what you're doing. As a corollary... Software does not make design. Photoshop masters are usually shitty designers. You could receive a very good graphic design education at an art school without every touching a computer. If you can program Java you can learn what you need in Photoshop in about a week of average use. 2. Programming is for machines, design is for people. That being said, people rarely agree on what constitutes "good" design - so err on the side of simplicity until you develop your own informed value system. 3. Study and really try to understand these fundamental aspects of design: a. Composition - how to scale and position different elements of your design b. Color - how to use colors in combination c. Type - how to select a good, appropriate type face 4. Respect Hierarchy. The most important bit of info in your design should have the most prominence. Work your way down from there. 5. Keep it simple. Begin with the least amount of design, at the smallest size necessary to convey your message. Then modify the hierarchy. Then make a pleasing composition. Then color it in. Decorate after that to add flair. Iterate repeatedly until it's not ugly. Once you're happy with it, walk away for a day. Then return, realize that it's ugly, strip it back down to its essentials and start again (this time, as a slightly better designer). 6. Every design decision is important and the process is iterative. This is why the design process takes so long but shows little for it. Even the simplest design can involve hundreds of small decisions, each of which should have some sort of justification (one pixel this way or one pixel that way?) 7. It's very difficult to pre-plan your design process. 8. Experiment a LOT. 9. Develop a personal value-system for design. Do this by being constantly critical of the world around you. Actively decide for yourself if you think the NBC Peacock's tail feathers are the right length, if the lines of the IBM logo are the right thickness, if the space around the holes of your laptop's speakers is wide enough, if the color combinations of those movie theater seats are good, etc. Somebody had to make those decisions, but just because they're out there in the world doesn't make them right. 10. Your design can always be better. Trust the very true fact that your first iterations are almost always ugly. Even if you look at them and think that they are the most beautiful thing ever, hold on to the belief that they are very probably ugly. It's OK, nobody nails it the first time - if they think that they do, they are ignorant and unsubstantial. These are just some points of advice, they certainly are not rules and they certainly do not assume to be a complete education in art. All this stuff about stealing art is worthless. If you see something that you think is good, look at it and figure out why it's good. Maybe it's only good in context. Maybe it's just the color is good, but the design sucks. Maybe it's just the type face, or the relationship of the size of the face to the leading (distance between each line of type). Figure out what is good, then add that to your design toolbox. That's why designers are so obsessed with looking at design - they're constantly stealing ideas and methods - little ones - then recombining them for different uses. Finally, the purpose of the act of design is to make beautiful things. Anyone who disagrees with that statement is a horrible person.