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dumb question about learning "design"
Calica
Registered User regular
Registered User regular
"Design" is in quotes because it covers a ton of different fields and disciplines, but I didn't know what other word to use.
There are many different kinds of writing, but they all require mastery of grammar, vocabulary, and sentence structure, as well as a working understanding of things like style and tone.
Math and logic are abstract skills in themselves, but they are required for damn near everything.
I learned how to write by reading everything I could get my hands on when I was growing up.* I learned math in school, though I don't know why it came so much more easily to me than to my classmates. I learned programming (and, along the way, logical and algorithmic thinking) by studying really hard, until the underlying structure started to emerge from the languages (which was amazing, incidentally. I felt exhilarated every time a new piece I'd been struggling with abruptly rotated and clicked into place).
I love good design (who doesn't?) wherever it shows up - in art, in clothing, in architecture and decorating, in packaging and consumer products, etc. I'm absolutely fascinated by what Disney does to manipulate people with every aspect of design in their parks. I'm particularly interested in the art/science of making spaces that people find easy and pleasant to inhabit - which I realize is a whole different animal from visual design.
I want to learn the fundamentals... which I assume includes things like color theory and composition, but also presumably there's some applied psychology in there somewhere? I really have no idea. I feel like visual design in general is a language I don't speak, and I want to learn it. I want to eventually acquire the same kind of effortless, intuitive understanding that I have of writing, logic, and pre-calculus math. I just don't know where to start or what to look for. (I'm not saying I want to become a master of multiple disciplines or anything; that would be insane. It's just that right now I don't know what I don't know, as Rumsfeld would say.)
I'm pretty sure I need a teacher. I have some books, but books don't give feedback. In college I took a design elective course geared toward non-designers, but the instructor was completely phoning it in: we learned some design terminology, but not how to apply it. Assignments that involved actually designing something (a logo, say, or a small website) were given no guidance or useful feedback. Theoretically we did group critiques in class, but since none of us were design students, all we could really say was that something looked good to us or didn't.
My ultimate goal is to be able to generate design that I like. Failing that, I want to be able to look at a design and be able to articulate why it works or doesn't. Right now I'm flying blind and it's frustrating.
Should I be looking for beginner's drawing classes to start with, or something else? More importantly, how do I make sure a teacher will actually teach before I put down money for tuition? Am I being naive in even thinking that all design shares a fundamental basic skillset?
*Which pretty much means any typos in this post are going to be pointed out and mocked, I know
There are many different kinds of writing, but they all require mastery of grammar, vocabulary, and sentence structure, as well as a working understanding of things like style and tone.
Math and logic are abstract skills in themselves, but they are required for damn near everything.
I learned how to write by reading everything I could get my hands on when I was growing up.* I learned math in school, though I don't know why it came so much more easily to me than to my classmates. I learned programming (and, along the way, logical and algorithmic thinking) by studying really hard, until the underlying structure started to emerge from the languages (which was amazing, incidentally. I felt exhilarated every time a new piece I'd been struggling with abruptly rotated and clicked into place).
I love good design (who doesn't?) wherever it shows up - in art, in clothing, in architecture and decorating, in packaging and consumer products, etc. I'm absolutely fascinated by what Disney does to manipulate people with every aspect of design in their parks. I'm particularly interested in the art/science of making spaces that people find easy and pleasant to inhabit - which I realize is a whole different animal from visual design.
I want to learn the fundamentals... which I assume includes things like color theory and composition, but also presumably there's some applied psychology in there somewhere? I really have no idea. I feel like visual design in general is a language I don't speak, and I want to learn it. I want to eventually acquire the same kind of effortless, intuitive understanding that I have of writing, logic, and pre-calculus math. I just don't know where to start or what to look for. (I'm not saying I want to become a master of multiple disciplines or anything; that would be insane. It's just that right now I don't know what I don't know, as Rumsfeld would say.)
I'm pretty sure I need a teacher. I have some books, but books don't give feedback. In college I took a design elective course geared toward non-designers, but the instructor was completely phoning it in: we learned some design terminology, but not how to apply it. Assignments that involved actually designing something (a logo, say, or a small website) were given no guidance or useful feedback. Theoretically we did group critiques in class, but since none of us were design students, all we could really say was that something looked good to us or didn't.
My ultimate goal is to be able to generate design that I like. Failing that, I want to be able to look at a design and be able to articulate why it works or doesn't. Right now I'm flying blind and it's frustrating.
Should I be looking for beginner's drawing classes to start with, or something else? More importantly, how do I make sure a teacher will actually teach before I put down money for tuition? Am I being naive in even thinking that all design shares a fundamental basic skillset?
*Which pretty much means any typos in this post are going to be pointed out and mocked, I know
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As for colors, take the test below. It will tell you right away how good your eye is at spotting color differences. I used to think so many people sucked at colors, but I've since realized that they just have some level of color blindness, either due to genetics or due to never training their eye to see the differences.
http://www.xrite.com/online-color-test-challenge
I wouldn't say there is a source knowledge to gain information on good design, just how you look at making that good design. Design starts with intent, and depending on your intent you will want to study different things. While the generalized rules between designing a logo or a skyscraper are, at their most simplistic, not that much different the ways you apply those rules can be extremely so. Add in marketing knowledge, massing knowledge, psychology, and more and you have a wide range of applications that can be theorized differently.
Good design is about being able to practice a wide range of thinking. I really recommend that pdf I linked (buy Don Norman's book, it is a great thing to constantly reference). And then look at wide ranges of different types of design. What makes a good building? What makes a good marketing logo? What makes a well designed machine? What makes good color theory? What makes good composition?
All of these are different answers, but for each one of these answers you find (and can replicate with practice) your other answers will start having greater depth. Practice and practice a lot of different ways on different topics. Keep learning, and keep adapting.
It would probably be useful to learn a bit about the history of design, as that will open up your knowledge of terms while also pointing you at the movements and schools of thought you'd like best to invest heavily in. Most art students actually get a solid amount of art history crammed into their brain, even if they don't really retain all the specifics. Sort of the nature of being visual minded is you look at a lot of stuff and can recall it, but maybe can't remember the names and dates. For instance, the designers I know maybe couldn't rattle off all the important designers that came out of bauhaus, but they are going to familiar with the movement. We underestimate this part of our education because it may not translate into us having encyclopedic knowledge, but it's really important for development.
Before you go investing in classes, you may want to really decide what level you plan to hack at "design" as a hobby, and how. If you want to make a webpage, thats alot of different skills than if you want to design a chair, or a room, or 3d print some electronics, or make some fabric. If you really want to get into principals, courses in history are probably going to be an easier gateway into theory.
There are also, tons of tumblrs and podcasts out there. I don't dig into design like I do painting and such, so I can only lightly recommend the things I follow. 99% invisible, for instance: http://99percentinvisible.org/, one of my favorite design tumblrs: https://ohyesverynice.tumblr.com/, a fun little history site: http://www.theartstory.org/ and http://www.wikiart.org/. Lots of designers post their new stuff to http://dribbble.com/ and https://www.behance.net/, though I prefer having tumblrs filter out the noise for me.
The way to consume design, like reading a bunch of books, is to look at it all the time, everyday, and contemplate it.
doing this at a competent level generally requires a ton of experience, like playing the guitar or speaking a second language
and realistically that means working for a company that does this and being a grunt in a field that tends to yield either low pay, brutal working conditions, or both
but it doesn't sound like you're ready for that either.
here is a book I really like that is unfortunately too expensive but maybe you can get it used. it is the ONLY design related book i keep around at all
http://www.amazon.com/Design-Fundamentals-Media-Gordon-Bennett-ebook/dp/B00B6FBRJQ/ref=mt_kindle?_encoding=UTF8&me=
It was written by the guy who ran the design program that I graduated from
This book addresses directly and exclusively some of the concepts you are talking about, which is applying artistic concepts to influence behavior in an audience, or convey an idea, which is essentially all design is. It details these concepts in extremely dumbed down ways that are easy for a beginner to understand.
It's focused on digital media, which is a much easier medium to work in than "Disney theme park design".
Per the test, I can see colors just fine; I just find using them effectively to be counterintuitive :P
It can be exhausting, but try to think about every object or process in your life and evaluate what you'd change or not change and why. Then start trying it. Though once you start looking at things through that lens, it's impossible to turn off (and bad design will frustrate the shit out of you).
Graphic design: logos, icons, images
Architecture: Buildings
Interior design: Building interiors
Fashion design: Clothes/wearables
Industrial design: 3D stuff
Interaction design: Web, digital interactions
While these probably differ from school to school, class to class, some of the things that you mention would arguably fall under the heading of graphic design, while others are interaction or web design, and others still are industrial design.
To make this a little more concrete, at the school I went to, all design students were required to take the same basic courses in their first year:
- Drawing
- 2D Design
- 3D Design
After that though, things got a lot more specific. For graphic design, you'd have to take Typography, Design Imagery, Interactive Media Design, Web and User Interface Design, Environmental Graphic Design, Design systems and Methodology, and Branding and Identity Design.
In comparison, for industrial design you'd take things like Sketching, 3D Modeling, Materials and Processes, Model Making, Human Factors, Furniture Design, Toy Design, and Exhibit Design.
So for fundamentals, I'd try to find a school that actually offers design degrees and take their first year classes (e.g., something like drawing, 2D and 3D design). It's worth noting that a lot of design schools teach using a master/apprentice model, which means that they're big on "observe and practice" and less strong at actually explaining things. After finishing my design degree, I found that I was pretty frustrated at being unable to explain why some things worked and others didn't. Books that I thought were helpful were:
Visual Thinking
Design Basics Index
The Design of Everyday Things
Feel free to PM me if you have any specific questions.
I didn't take this test immediately when you linked it, because I took it several years ago and got a fairly good score with some trouble distinguishing shades of green. I took it again, just now, and got a perfect score. What changed in the meantime is that at some point I downloaded Blendoku to kill time on my phone. It's fascinating to see concrete improvement from something like that!