[thelist] Design Help

> never restrict your inspiration to just other web sites (most of them are crap
> anyway :P). look around you. at buildings. at products. at nature. the colours
> and the shapes, and the alignment.

This is great advice. If you really want to give your left brain a workout
(or is it the right? I can never remember) with design, start out with the
3 fundamentals (IMO):

1) Colour -- Colour theory is very important here. Learn how colours mix
and "behave" (ie. primaries vs. tints, pigments and neutrals) in different 
environments (ie. RGB vs. CMYK). In general, the primary colours attract
attention (often used in logos), neutrals add body (white space is the
ultimate neutral). I don't have specific references, but the theory has
been around for centuries -- check out an art textbook from the library.

2) Shapes -- Start out with the basics (circles, squares, triangles) and
learn how they contrast and complement each other. This will often be
included in the same art textbook that you use for colour.

3) Typography -- Probably the most difficult to grasp, but essential. I
recommend "The Elements of Typographic Style" by Robert Brighurst (ISBN
0881791326). This book concentrates mostly on print media and can get
pretty "artsy-fartsy" at times, but he has an extensive bibliography if
you want to study further.


Studying up on the basics will give you an idea of your strengths in the
areas of graphic design and layout, and at the very least it'll give you
the vocabulary to communicate to whoever you contract out to.

Just remember that a pretty picture is no substitute for good website
architecture. I second the recommendations for David Anderson's site
(www.uidesign.net) and Jakob Nielsen's (www.useit.com). I personally love
the fields of Information Achitecture and Interaction Design, which take
up most of my free time. Hope this helps.


.tony