FriendFeed
| Back to Home > Bulletin Board > Designers' Corner > Topic: Graphic Design 101 advice please! |
Topic: Graphic Design 101 advice please!
| Author | Message |
| DeneneWrites | Posted – 10/29/2008 5:06:30 PM | show profile | flag this post I work in marketing/communications for a small non-profit and since we don?t have the budget for an in-house designer, I am often called on to do some layout and other graphics work. I would really like to become more knowledgeable about computer software programs such as InDesign, Illustrator, etc. It frustrates me that I can?t accomplish a lot of things because of my limited knowledge. Two questions: Any good books for someone who isn?t a designer, but wants to be more educated and comfortable in the design world? Also, how can you tell if you have any design talent before sinking a lot of money into design classes? Any advice would be most appreciated! |
| creatrix | Posted – 10/29/2008 7:38:28 PM | show profile | email poster | flag this post Lynda.com courses are excellent. If you want a book, try one of the Classroom in a Book series. Not sure how to tell if you have talent without seeing something you have done.If you post a link to something we can all give our two-cents -- or email a sample PDF and I will be happy to give my humble opinon. |
| anonymousdesigner | Posted – 10/29/2008 9:46:09 PM | show profile | email poster | flag this post http://www.bamagazine.com/ Before and After Magazine is a series of articles in PDF format that are great for people in your shoes. The articles are written for non-designers and have many good ideas for a wide variety of projects as well as basic design principles. You might want to look at www.layers.com, the website for Layers Magazine. They have tutorials in all the Adobe software packages. Also, I'm sure the good folks here would be glad to help out with advice and guidance if you're stumped for a particular project. I know I would so feel free to contact me directly if you'd like. I'm unemployed right now so I have lots of free time! Good luck! |
| ConfidentDesigner | Posted – 10/29/2008 9:49:57 PM | show profile | flag this post globetrotter78--- Yes, you need talent, education, and more talent in order to succeed. Would you ask someone who's not a doctor to perform surgery? Would you ask someone who wasn't a plumber (no, not "Joe, te...") to fix your washer that is leaking all over your floor? Would you want someone other than an architect to design your brand new home? Ask yourself these questions honestly. A good graphic designer has lots of expensive education, TALENT, and skills that you don't have. Hire a good freelance designer. ANYONE can learn the software. Not everyone has the talent and fundamental education. |
| DeneneWrites | Posted – 10/30/2008 4:28:44 PM | show profile | flag this post Thank you all for your advice. I'm seriously considering joining lynda.com. I know that I'm not a designer...I just want to be armed with knowledge so that I can do my job better. We do mostly work with freelancers, but sometimes I'm called on to do some projects that we can't afford a designer for. Anyway, thanks so much!!! |
| creatrix | Posted – 10/30/2008 7:48:39 PM | show profile | flag this post Yes! Before and After is excellent for anyone interested in making better design. The publisher is, dare I say, a genius. |
| rossporter | Posted – 11/10/2008 12:20:57 AM | show profile | flag this post You ought to consider hiring a contracter. It would be cheaper than keeping somebody in-house since you don't have to use them unless you need them. Plus no benefits, or need to provide office space, computers, training. The advantage would be experience. The technical side of design will take you years to learn. For example: knowing the proper way to prepare files for print. Trial and error can be expensive. |
| designerlady | Posted – 11/11/2008 2:26:30 PM | show profile | flag this post confident designer i love your reply. SO awesomely true and very well stated. I can relate it in the workplace too... such a fine line with design critique, mostly because art is subjective. Accountants, editors, and marketing people somehow always get to play a role in the design!??? Yet designers would never dare handle accounts! Let trained and naturally talented designers do their job. amen. |
| DeneneWrites | Posted – 11/11/2008 8:44:04 PM | show profile | flag this post I totally understand that I'm not a designer. But that doesn't mean that I can't understand what a print shop is asking for as far as a file format, etc. I work for a very small non-profit and we just don't have the budget for an on-staff designer or for me to run to a freelancer every single time I have a little question. I hate that the marketing/communications field requires everyone to know design software, etc. I am a writer, but my job prospects are limited and my current job is frustrating if I don't know some of this stuff. So I appreciate the advice, references and YOUR talent, but I'm just trying to do my job with very limited resources! PS. Just because I don't know now doesn't mean I'm totally incapable of learning....I'm sure people come to the design world later in life and until you die, you can still learn! |
| rossporter | Posted – 11/11/2008 9:14:36 PM | show profile | flag this post I think some of the responses were understandably overexuberant. It's all well intentioned. I've seen a lot of nonprofits load marketing people up with design duties with mixed results. It's just that you might end up spending more learning yourself and correcting mistakes and losing time. It's a completely different skill set that can't just be picked up with a few online courses. At least not if you expect the results to turn out well. |
| DeneneWrites | Posted – 11/11/2008 9:41:35 PM | show profile | flag this post Thanks, corpmerger! |
| puls.kristin | Posted – 11/12/2008 3:46:53 PM | show profile | flag this post Hi there globetrotter, I have not used the Before and After series that's been mentioned, but I highly recommend the Visual Quickstart Guide series published by Peachpit Press. I used to teach Adobe Creative Suite to college advertising students, many of whom wanted to be copy writers instead of creative staff, so design did not come naturally to them. We used the Quickstart Guides for these classes, and the vast majority of students found them very intuitive. I still use the Quickstart Guides occasionally to reference forgotten tools, etc. You can find them for cheap on half.com! Hope this helps! Good luck! |
| DeneneWrites | Posted – 11/12/2008 3:53:46 PM | show profile | flag this post Great! Thanks, puls.kristin! |
| creatrix | Posted – 11/12/2008 6:18:07 PM | show profile | flag this post just a note... Before and After is a how-to design magazine -- it is not a series of books about how to use software. It may mention how to accomplish a task in say InDesign or Photoshop, but it's main instruction is how to make functional, attractive designs and is written to be understood by most people -- not just designers. |
