[Web design] [Colours] Question

Hello Darius,

There is a course on design astethics which is pretty good and also handles some basic color principles: https://teamtreehouse.com/library/design-foundations. (if you hadnt already seen this)

I am currently strugling with the same thing.

For me, all this knowledge about color/shape/form/complimentary colors/triadic colors/etc etc doesn't amount to being able to create beautiful things.

The most interesting point I learned from the aforementioned design foundations videos is, that you must first see the problem and then try to solve it. If your colors and compositions are off, it means they arent conveying the message they should convey. Why not? What is a type of color or shape saying in the total of the composition? These may seem very far fetched questions but becoming good at answering this type of questions, I think, is what makes a designer good.

There are several ways to becoming better at this, of which I have heard often. One is, learn how to draw. This will teach you how composition/shade/depth works and you will develop an eye thats sees more than it is currently seeing. A book that I am currently working through is:

https://www.amazon.com/You-Can-Draw-30-Days/dp/0738212415

After this I plan to continue with the books of Jack Hamm, to become more and more proficient at drawing and as a result training my eye in seeing. (On a side note, I feel that, as we grow older, we grow numb of the world around us, and start seeing things not by actually seeing them, but projecting our memories of that certain thing on it.) Learning how to draw is a great way to rekindle this child-like way of seeing the world around us, and hopefully, as a result will allow me to become better at creating nice looking websites, nice logo's and eventually nice animations.

Another thing I have heard mentioned often, is STEAL. Look at websites that you think look awesome, and remake them. Steal color schemes that make your heart beat faster, steal just about anything. But don't steal and resell to your clients :) Just steal to learn from the pro's. It's what a lot of them do and have done, or so i've heard.

Another very important part is, becoming proficient at using typography. Most of the message we convey, is in type, so learning as much as there is to learn about the good and wrong use of type seems very valuable to me. A good starting point for me was:

https://designschool.canva.com/blog/the-ultimate-guide-to-font-pairing/

to learn about font-pairing. Learning what areas of a font work well for certain types of situations, is a valuable trait. Again, stealing is a great way to learn.

Another "ok" book about aestethics, the section on fonts is enlightning, but the designs he makes are so, so..:

https://www.amazon.com/Before-After-Design-Cool-Stuff/dp/0321580125/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1481582984&sr=8-1&keywords=before+and+after+how+to+design+cool+stuff

At the end of the day, we can gather all the theoretical knowledge there is to know, but to guard ourselves from becoming armchair experts, I think we just have to get our hands dirty. Maybe find a mentor who can tutor us or help eachother out by checking eachothers work, and try to critique with what we've learned, and perfect it after that.

Like you, I have gone through a multitude of books, courses, tutorials, only to have become a little bit better. But I think, for mastering this craft, such dedication is required.

For me it would be nice to have a buddy to spar with, if you are interested, you can send me an e-mail @ marijn[at]wijbit.nl.

Would love to hear from you! Either way, I hope you will find a way achieve your goal :) Best of luck!

Best regards,

Marijn The Netherlands

p.s. http://www.karenx.com/blog/how-to-become-a-designer-without-going-to-design-school/ has mostly been my guide for the past half year, she even mentions treehouse, so must be good ;)

The Treehouse course Brand Identity Basics is a good place to start.

Check out this particular video PinkBlush Maternity Case Study to see if it is something you are after.

To add to this: https://themeforest.net/?osr=tn < great resource for awesome looking websites.

https://www.behance.net/search?field=102&content=projects&sort=appreciations&time=week great resource for everything design related and awesome looking.

https://dribbble.com/ > same

More on fonts: https://webflow.com/blog/how-to-pick-the-right-ui-font?utm_campaign=december1&utm_source=newsletter&utm_medium=email