Career as graphic/web designer

[Amunti]

Hi,
Let's say someone (me) wants to start a career as a graphic artist/web designer ... I want to create my own websites, put up video and audio podcasts, maybe some of my writing, etc.

What programs should I know to do all this stuff? I am a complete rookie when it comes to this. HTML?? Photoshop? And how hard is it to learn this stuff?
I have the new MacBook Pro and want to utilize it to the best of my abilities.

I am looking forward to your advice.

[dor]

Originally Posted by Amunti

Hi,
Let's say someone (me) wants to start a career as a graphic artist/web designer ... I want to create my own websites, put up video and audio podcasts, maybe some of my writing, etc.

What programs should I know to do all this stuff? I am a complete rookie when it comes to this. HTML?? Photoshop? And how hard is it to learn this stuff?
I have the new MacBook Pro and want to utilize it to the best of my abilities.

I am looking forward to your advice.

i would start by creating a website/blog with those things - or things YOU want on it and learning as you go. technologies are constantly changing and if you just study how to use programs by the time you master them abstractly chances are a lot of it will be obsolete.
but it depends if you wanted to do rich media sites - like for movies - flash, photoshop, quicktime, php, would all be good, straight blogs php - photoshop. html.
you have a great start with a macbook though

[andrew]

If you want a CAREER, you're pretty late in the game, but it's not impossible. To be successful as one, it's going to take a LONG time. Everyone 'thinks' they're a designer, because they can export a jpeg in Photoshop. It's very degrading to the title. It's very artistic and takes a lot of time to learn and develop. There's no shortcuts in this, it's an art.

If you want to just design things like logos, pictures, graphics, posters, etc, then you will want to start in photoshop. If you want to head more to the web design, I would start off in xhtml/css, xml, ajax, ror, Flash etc asap. They're the newest best things, so instead of learning something from 1997, you're up to date. Though you may not have the foundation from such far away, it'll fast forward you to relevent technologies.

The biggest thing is to get involved in design forums. Good ones, not crappy ones with 50 users on some fake domain. Look over some award sites, real ones, not ones like coolwebtop10 etc. Recognized award sites have great communities and examples of stuff you want to aim for. They also just get you into the winning mind set. But realize starting off, you're not going to make anything nice if you have no previous experience. Sorry to be blatent, but quality standards are really high this day in age. Everybody starts off bad, just learning and getting the feel for it. But over time, you'll get much better, you just have to stick with it and keep learning.

[dor]

Good point Andrew...think about photoshop like a word processor - it's a tool, it's not going to make you a great writer....

[quin]

It seems that what you've described as starting a "career" in Graphic Design - whilst still valid - is not my idea of a "career" in Graphic Design.

If you just want to make websites for yourself, then learning Photoshop and HTML will be sufficient. If you want to be a Graphic Designer, then take up art, illustration learning design elements and principals, typography and constantly feed yourself with good sources of inspiration.

Http://www.australianinfront.com.au has a great forum for designers.

Digitalthread : Web design companies, professional web design pages, web site design firms, graphic design links and typography. Just the best web design links and design resources, all the time. is a great resource for well designed websites.

[Amunti]

Well, just wanted to get a gist of what that would include ... so is it difficult to learn these programs?
Let's say not really a graphic designer ... just want to learn the basics of web design, set up a podcast, maybe some video, etc ... Photoshop and HTML are what I should learn?
I'm sorry for sounding so green, but I really have no clue & I'm itching to do something creative on the 'net.

Ok, so I am not an illustrator ... so maybe web design is just a hobby ... but these are the programs to learn?
Thanks for the advice!!

[cylon]

I struggle with what to focus on as well. I am a graphic designer, but there are so many avenues to explore. I think many of the skills are related. But if you try to master them all, you will not master any of them.

I design magazines, so the things I love are typography, telling a story that flows from page to page... lately I'm interested in web design, and illustration. I plan on getting to grips with css, and hopefully applying that knowledge to flash, which I can't afford right now.

All these media are combining, and there are new tools coming out that make things easier. But it's also easy to get overwhelmed by the technology. New versions of these products are coming out all the damn time, but you are most likely not going to use all the features in any program.

It's not so much being the ace photoshop user. I think much of it is, what can you do with what you know? Because everyone has a unique way of expressing themselves, these tools are just a means to help you do that.

I think if you have a good foundation of technical skills, the best thing to focus on is design theory, color, typography, storytelling. I don't think it's something you ever fully get, because it's subect to bending the rules. But it helps to know what the rules are "supposed to be".

Then you can get all snooty and elitist and stuff.

My latest source of inspiration has been pixelsurgeon.com. It's a nice mix of graphic design, technology, art, music, pop culture, you name it.

[dgorila1]

Check out "Sams Teach Yourself HTML/XHTML in 24 hours" . Its a good book to self teach HTML. Do a search on www.gettextbooks.com or check the library.

[maverickstruth]

Keep an eye on the popular page at del.icio.us, too. Very often CSS/HTML/xHTML/Photoshop/etc. tutorials and whatnot show up there. http://del.icio.us/popular

Other than that, the best advise I can give you is "just start." Pick something you want to make a website for, and then do it. Do an initial design, mock it up, do the xhtml/css, validate it, check it in as many different browsers as you can get your hands on, make sure its accessible and useable, and then ask people to give you feedback (one of the previous members suggested that you use forums -- I completely agree). And then start all over again from the beginning.

No one (other than those who give you feedback) ever have to see the first few sites you do as you pick up skill. No one has to see them until you decide you're ready to show them. So dont let that stop you from "just starting".

[quin]

When I design websites, I design the layout in Adobe Photoshop. Splice up the images in Adobe ImageReady then code in Macromedia Dreamweaver.

You don't need Dreamweaver though. It is very intuitive and easy to use, but I learnt how to code websites using just the text editior that comes with most operating systems.

Good luck!

[Erki]

How do you design the layout in Photoshop? Do you make a 1000x700px document or something and then do stuff on it?

[andrew]

Originally Posted by Erki

How do you design the layout in Photoshop? Do you make a 1000x700px document or something and then do stuff on it?

Yeah pretty much. But I wouldn't start designing layouts in PS until you have a good grasp and xhtml/css first. It's like drawing a picture of a house you want to build, sure it looks great on paper, but if you don't know how to take that design and make a house out of it the right way, your house is going to break. Same thing.

Once you know how webpages are rendered from code and how they are layed out (the framework of the house), then you can make designs in PS that build off of it, instead of making something way out there that's not going to be a good web page.

[Erki]

Yea I know (x)html and css but am struggling with Photoshop because it's somewhat more complicated. More buttons I guess...(Notepad nas none...: )

[andrew]

They're too different things.

One is designing and the other is coding. They use opposite sides of the brain, most people are either good at one or the other. But more recently, web 2.0 is producing people that are really good at both, like myself. The only downside is that you're like 50/50 because you sepnd time on both, where as 90/10 for one or the other and you're really really really amazing at that one thing. But more people are looking for the multi-talented each day, albeit it's either a designer or developer position.

[Lucas]

If you want to design websites, then you want to learn CSS. HTML is really only used for the content, CSS is for form. Really, making most sites these days, use a minimal amount of HTML, at least in my experience. I would learn CSS and HTML at the same time, a book like this would be immensely useful.

[cylon]

That looks like an interesting book Lucas, I have the Head First book on css, I like it but maybe that one is more indepth. I do better when I have tutorials I can follow along with, seems like that book is like that.

So if you have a good grasp of html and css, as well as photoshop, I would think that gives you a good foundation for web design. What is the feeling regarding Flash? Are you "expected" to know Flash? It seems like so many sites are going that way, but it's an expensive program.

[Lucas]

Originally Posted by cylon

That looks like an interesting book Lucas, I have the Head First book on css, I like it but maybe that one is more indepth. I do better when I have tutorials I can follow along with, seems like that book is like that.

So if you have a good grasp of html and css, as well as photoshop, I would think that gives you a good foundation for web design. What is the feeling regarding Flash? Are you "expected" to know Flash? It seems like so many sites are going that way, but it's an expensive program.

Basically it guides you through the building of a fictional website. Its a really good tutorial, but you will probably bump up to something else when you finish. For the basics, I thought it was awesome. All the Sitepoint stuff has been wonderful.

I personally dont think you NEED to know flash, but it is pretty easy and can add a lot to a site. I hate sites built completely using flash though, they usually take a while to load and have lots of unnessesary animations and stuff. The whole point of the web is accessability, imo. Flash isnt all that expensive, especially if you are a student (99 bucks).

[maverickstruth]

Speaking of the popular list on del.icio.us, this site hit today:

Cre8pc on Usability & Holistic SEO An Absolute Goldmine of Web Design Education

Lots of links, including info on Flash, Dreamweaver, Typography, XML, and everything in between.

As for using Flash, it depends. Some companies swear by it. Some say you "gotta have it" because the clients say you "gotta have it." Others loathe it.

Personally, I loathe it. Except when it's used properly (which is almost never) ;-)

But as for learning Flash, see if there's a community college or college/university in your area that's offering a class in Flash as a continuing education type course. That way you don't need to buy the program (or obtain it illegally) since you can use the computer labs on campus. Then if a prospective employer asks, you can say that you know how to use it. Same could be said for Photoshop, I guess, but The Gimp is a good free alternative.

[Erki]

Originally Posted by Lucas

I personally dont think you NEED to know flash, but it is pretty easy and can add a lot to a site. I hate sites built completely using flash though, they usually take a while to load and have lots of unnessesary animations and stuff. The whole point of the web is accessability, imo. Flash isnt all that expensive, especially if you are a student (99 bucks).

Funny, I have always had that impression that Flash is hard as hell. I think I can do some very simple animations on it but not more.

[cylon]

How does imageready play into this? I haven't used that aspect of photoshop that much, aside from some basic animations when I was playing around with it, and at work it is used to make simple animations, nothing too major.

I'm not a student, although the community college class is something to consider. I had a 30 day trial and even bought a book to help me with it, but the trial expired and there you go.
I wonder why there aren't any alternatives to Flash. I've seen some links to opensource software, but they were based on linux, and I wasn't able to even find instructions on how to install the thing (I'm a mac user). Like there are so many programs for osx for making websites, like rapideweaver, iweb, but nothing that can give you a somewhat reasonable alternative to Flash.

[andrew]

Well Flash is a tradmarked and patented software etc by Macromedia, now Adobe. html/css/xml etc are general languages now really owned by anyone. There are a few alternitives to make flash files without using Flash itself, like Swish, but nothing is as powerfull.

Most people hate Flash because they only see sites that use it poorly and/or have bad impressions from the late 90's. Just how people still think macs are so expensive and suck, mostly due to bad impressions early on.

But Flash is what I do, I've been doing it for 6 years and it's wonderful. Anybody who says Flash is easy, probably either has had much experience before using it, or isn't very good at it IMO. Sure it may be easy to make a few animations, but to master it and to be able to make QUALITY stuff isn't easy at first. It has a high learning cure. Sure, once you understand it it's easy, like everything else you learn.

A lot of the bad things people say about flash aren't Flash's problems: they're the designers/developers fault. Really, you can make a accessible fast loading site in Flash as easy as you can make a slow loading horid page in html. It's all dependent on the developer.

Check out The FWA: Favourite Website Awards - Web awards at the cutting edge it's the leading award site for Flash. You can't tell me that any of those sites suck, or they were easy to make.

Now it's also up to the developer to know the right and wrong times to use what tech. Sometimes it's better to use Flash for something, html for others. All of that comes with experience.

[maverickstruth]

The problem I have with Flash sites in general (not saying all are like this, but I'm sure we all know about many which are this way) is that they're very often not accessible (unusable for people with screenreaders, for example), not really all that good for SEO, and they break many web conventions (like not being able to use the "back" button on the browser, for example).

That being said, Flash has some great uses, and many devs and artists have done amazing things with it. The problem I have is when people will use it for anything and everything. Want to use it within a site? Sure, there have been some wonderful things done here. But it's when people try to use it as the site -- where all the nav, all the content, all the everything is in Flash.

Basically, it comes down to exactly what Andrew said...

Originally Posted by andrew

A lot of the bad things people say about flash aren't Flash's problems: they're the designers/developers fault. Really, you can make a accessible fast loading site in Flash as easy as you can make a slow loading horid page in html. It's all dependent on the developer.

...

Now it's also up to the developer to know the right and wrong times to use what tech. Sometimes it's better to use Flash for something, html for others. All of that comes with experience.

[maverickstruth]

I got a real laugh out of this...

How to become a web designer (Zanejamal.co.uk)