need help with design layout

[jeretslack]

I am a little new to webdesign i am looking for some help on getting started with designing what would be the thing to do to get started...

[mg33]

First, use other sites as influence rarely. When you look too much at web sites you like, and you consciously use the aspects of those sites in your own design, it's not good.
When that happens, it's not about what you really want to design, rather, it's about how well you can duplicate something else and how well another site can dicate the design of yours.

Since you're new at this stuff, that's a good thing to start out with. Those first few steps you take are important-if you get off on the wrong one, it's much harder to change along the way. You'll fall into bad habits at times.

To get started, find some information on color theory, layout and a few other things.

Here's a link to something that Pope de Flash created as a tutorial on Flashkit. It's pretty good for someone just starting out:

http://www.flashkit.com/tutorials/Ge...40/index.shtml

Take a look at that, and by all means try not to think anything is too overwhelming. There's many important things to learn, and by getting a good grasp of them you'll be moving along.

Finally, the best advice I can give: You can't learn any of this stuff overnight. Getting good at design comes through hours and hours and months and months of learning, trial and error, practice, practice, and a little more practice. It's a fun time. Personally, I was up till 6.30 am last night working on a new image for my new site-I had something laid out and a few drawings done, and then with one little tweak of a graphic in Photoshop, I saw a whole new idea open up. I ditched the previous idea, and spent around 4 hours straight working out a scheme for the new one. And I could hardly go to sleep because I was so excited about what I came up with.

I guess one final note: Don't know what your drawing/art background is, but I suggest getting in a habit of keeping paper and a pencil around beside the computer. Drawing by hand is thought by some (unfortunatly) to be a thing of the past-too many people say, "Why draw by hand? That's what the computer is for."

Well, I'm here to tell you that drawing your ideas out on paper is one of the most beneficial things you can do. They don't have to be good, straight lines-don't even use a straightedge. Just quick 20 second little sketches to get the ideas out of your head quickly and onto paper before you forget them.

I've got college notebooks full of little skecthes or words in the margins from whenever I get an idea. I also always keep a sketchbook with me almost anywhere I am. It's just so much easier to move things around more quickly.

If you have an art store or architecture supply store near you, pick up a roll of trace paper, sometimes called butter paper. You can just tear off sheets and draw, and use other sheets to draw over the top of that.

I was an Architecture major my first 2 1/2 years in college from 96 to mid 98, and drawing hundereds of sketches was a requirement for most projects. I can't stress the benefit of it enough.

Good Luck with everything

mg33

[jeretslack]

would you know any good books to read and I am planing on going small college in riverside ca they have a basic design class there i would like to take do you think it is a good idea... thanks

[squink]

Can't say I agree with not using other sites for inspiration. If I were u I'd head over to http://www.linkdup.com and just check out a lot of the sites...the more you see the better grasp you'll have of different concepts and styles and the cheap overused tecniques that u might want to avoid. Do not ever copy these sites but difinitely make it a point to look at them.

If you keep looking at nice sites you'll start to notice patterns, styles etc. From there you can find your own unique style.

my opinion.

Oh yeah and one thing to avoid, the thing you'll see most new web designers do is try to stick EVERYTHING that they like on to one site, wether it's relevant or looks good or not.
Choose something, and stick to it.

shudder. I remember my first site had like 10 completely unrelated tacky animated gifs. Why? Because they were all cute by themselves and i couldn't choose. So I ended up with a flying pig and a tiger in the bushes with my buttons having little animated flowers. And no, I am not making this up! it is the sad, sad truth! Shudder.

less can difinitely be more.
do not over do it.

good luck and I hope this helps.

[mg33]

Squink-I just was referring to how many people never try and focus on a design of their own, they just use multiple elements from sites they've seen and throw it all into one big pile on their site. And i mean elements that are obvious and kind of unique.

Strangely, a good book I'd reccomend is not even about the Internet.
It is: Looking Good in Print by Roger C. Parker (4th edition-there could be a newer one) Creative Professionals Press/Coriolis.

This is a book I had for a Computer Graphics course a year or so ago, I'm an Advertising major about to graduate in May, and this was a course I took. It's an excellent book, many firm methods/rules in print apply very well to design for the Internet.

mg33

[squink]

Originally posted by mg33
Squink-I just was referring to how many people never try and focus on a design of their own, they just use multiple elements from sites they've seen and throw it all into one big pile on their site. And i mean elements that are obvious and kind of unique.

This is a book I had for a Computer Graphics course a year or so ago, I'm an Advertising major about to graduate in May, and this was a course I took. It's an excellent book, many firm methods/rules in print apply very well to design for the Internet.

mg33

Yeah, that would prbably be my new web designer pet peeve #2.

And I thought u were an architecture major, u changed?

[mg33]

I majored in architecture for my first 2 1/2 years in school, and changed majors to Advertising after getting frustrated with Arch.

I do have a minor in Architecture though now, and I'm graduating with a BA in Advertising.

mg33

[Binky]

As far as looking at sites out there to decide what you should make as an interactive designer, I'd say no...

Instead look at some books about 2D design and see what you can make for the web based on these ideas--Some great books I can suggest are:

Typographie by Emil Ruder
Grid Systems by Josef Mueller-Brockmann
Typography by Wolfgang Weingart
A Designer's Art by Paul Rand


The computer screen is a 2D environment -- You won't regret checking these sources out!

cheers!