Seeking Advice

Hello folks,

I have been looking to get into web development for quite some time now, and am finally moving forward with it as I can forsee myself doing this for a career in a few years. With that said, I need some advice for you guys/gals in the industry on a direction to head.

The biggest issue I’m having is photoshop. I am by no means artistic and cannot use photoshop to save my life. I’ve tried tutorials for hours and hours these past few days, and I see zero progress. I’m thinking it is just not my cup of tea.

As far as the coding side goes, I am proficient in (X)HTML (always wanting to learn more). I am decent with CSS (again, actively learning more every day). I really want to get into PHP , so that is another direction I want to head as well.

With that said, can anyone provide me some information on a direction to head. Also, info on material to read would be fantastic (magazines, tutorials (tuts plus I read a lot), forums, etc).

Also, before I forget, I’d like to ask how I can go about learning to piece together web graphics when I can’t do graphics to save my life.

Any insight would be fantastic!

Thanks!

< B.U.M.P >

@Tlaude – I find it best to learn web stuff simply by just doing web sites. it shouldn’t matter what back end / framework / cms – just as long as you get your hands dirty and start coding.

as far as artistic abilities – i believe you only really need this if you want to be at that “superstar” level.

you can get away by taking a screenshot of a website that looks good – change the elements / backgrounds / thumbnails – start splicing away

Thank you for the insight. I appreciate it.

Anyone else have some tips?

^{^^}

Just keep trying and no matter what don’t quit and remember we are not artists we are designers adn designing is a skill not a talent. If you keep working hard you can be a “superstar” as well

as far as artistic abilities – i believe you only really need this if you want to be at that “superstar” level. you can get away by taking a screenshot of a website that looks good – change the elements / backgrounds / thumbnails – start splicing away

You know, at first I was almost ready to dispute this, but then I realized that it’s pretty much true. And that’s actually pretty sad, as I feel that good design can make a world of difference in terms of customer purchasing decisions, retention, company image, PR, etc. Yet I notice that there are tons of ‘professional’ web design companies that turn out poorly designed websites (not only graphically, but usability-wise as well), and yet they continue along strong (and charge ridiculous prices for the caliber of work they return). For some reason many people either don’t realize that there are truly high-quality design companies, or worse, they simply don’t care. I for one am confused by it though.

In any event though, to the OP: you don’t have to be an incredible master of design/Photoshop, but I would strongly discourage doing as mks stated above- in my opinion simply slicing up someone else’s website design and altering a few things is at the very least cheap, tacky and unprofessional, and at the worst, in a form theft.

Just keep trying and no matter what don’t quit and remember we are not artists we are designers adn designing is a skill not a talent. If you keep working hard you can be a “superstar” as well

Since when is design not a talent, or design and art not related?

Be careful about just hacking away at what someone else has created, because chances are you don’t know why they did what they did, which is what graphic design is all about. All graphic elements have a purpose to a achieve a goal. Good art and good design have this in common: they use aesthetics and portray the subject in a way that sends a message to the viewer. However, art tends to be more decorative, while web design more informative.

To be a good web designer, you have to learn how to communicate effectively. I strongly encourage learning typography, spacial relationships, and design history to start.

This ebook has some great fundamentals to think about. Highly recommended.

Thanks for all the answers.

However, if you say to not go use a template out there and just learn to piece it together, how would one learn otherwise?