Awesome! A Complete Self-Study Guide for Designers

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This article is translated from Quora, a high-quality foreign Q&A community. The original author, Karen X. Cheng, was originally a Microsoft Excel project manager, and later transformed herself into a designer through self-study. The self-study process she described is detailed, meticulous and well-organized. After reading it, you will find that it is very different from what you imagined. For those who want to learn design by themselves but don't know where to start, you can follow her steps to learn. In addition to proper planning, you can also have a global understanding of design: )

Before reading, let’s take a look at how an 18-year-old genius boy in China taught himself to build his personal website.

A Complete Self-Study Guide for Designers:

I didn't graduate from a design department, but I got a job as a designer.

I wanted to change jobs and become a designer, but I didn't have four years and $100,000 to go back to school, so I decided to teach myself. At first, I was quite skeptical whether a person could find a related job by self-studying.

The answer is: Yes

I taught myself design for six months while working. Although I didn’t feel ready, I still interviewed with many companies and finally found a job at a great startup Exec.

I know I'm not better than many design students who graduate from professional programs, but I'm good enough to do my job well. I design a lot of things, such as websites, iPhone apps, emails, social media, and print.

1. Learn to observe:

The most common mistake made by beginners is to jump right into Photoshop. You should be aware that learning Photoshop does not make you a designer, just like buying a set of high-quality brushes does not make you an artist. Start with the real basics.

First, learn a little drawing:

1. You don't need to be in a studio with a bunch of artists painting nudes.
2. You don't even need to be very good at drawing, as long as you master the basics, you can draw a sketch
3. You only have one thing to do, which is to learn how to draw. I have read many books about drawing, and here is a famous one: How to Learn to Draw in 30 Days (I can't find the Chinese version, but there is an English version PDF, which can be downloaded from Weipan). Then spend half an hour every day practicing drawing, and stick to it for a month, and you will see amazing results.

Study Graphic Design Theory:

1. Start learning from the book "Picture This". Although this book uses the fairy tale "Little Red Riding Hood" as an example, it can teach you all the basics of graphic design.
2. Learn how to use color, typography, and grids. If there is a graphic design class near you, take it.

• We strongly recommend that you also read the classic color matching article "Beginners Learn Color Matching: Quick Guide to Color Matching Masters" recommended below, which will definitely give you a new understanding of color matching.

Review these awesome tutorials every day → psd.tutsplus. Of course, you can also follow the design section of Youshe every day

Learning the basics of user experience:

There are many books on user experience. I recommend starting with these two: The Design of Everyday Things → Chinese version (Design Psychology) PDF, download from WePan, Don't Make Me Think → Chinese version (Don't Make Me Think) PDF, download from WePan

Learn how to write:

Don't fill up the page with nonsense. As a designer, your job is not just to draw beautiful pictures, you must also be a good communicator. Think about all your past experiences and choose every word carefully. Remember to "speak human language" instead of a bunch of nonsense like in school reports to fill the word count.

1. Read "Made to Stick" → Chinese version of "Stick" PDF, download from Weipan. This is one of the best books I have ever read, and it will teach you how to get your own loyal readers.
2. The Voice and Tone website is filled with great examples of how to communicate with your users.

Learn to give up your own work:

This is the most difficult part. Be prepared to destroy your work at any time, just like killing your own child. The sooner you can prepare yourself, the faster you can get started. So if you feel that the finished product is not good enough, you can always chop it off and start over.

Find another pair of impartial eyes: Ask people who understand design for their opinions on your work. If you don’t have such friends around you, go to designer gatherings or related events to meet a few!

Welcome to join the Youshe QQ group and make progress together with a group of designers. Even if it's just a bunch of designers chatting, what's more fun than finding a team to complain with! See About Us for details

Also ask non-designers what they think of your work. Ask your future users to try out your website or app. Don’t be afraid to ask strangers for their opinions. I once had a flight delay, so I used the opportunity to ask other passengers in the terminal what they thought of the app I was designing. They were mostly happy to help, and I got a lot of great feedback.

Listen:

Really listen to other people's opinions, and don't be defensive. When you ask for someone's opinion and they take the time and effort to answer you, don't respond with defensiveness. Instead, thank them, ask them questions, and then consider whether to adopt their opinion.

2. Learn to use Photoshop and Illustrator

Yay! Now that you have a pretty solid foundation in visual design and user experience, you can move on to the next step. In fact, I recommend starting with Illustrator and then moving on to Photoshop. Designers often use Illustrator to create logos or illustrations, while InDesign is great for creating printed materials like flyers or business cards.

Learn to use Illustrator:

There are countless books and websites that teach you how to use Illustrator. You can pick the ones you like. Here are some of my favorites:

• Adobe Illustrator Classroom in a Book: This book is boring, but very useful.
• "Vector Basic Training": This book will teach you how to use Illustrator to make really good-looking things.

Now comes the fun part, go to the following free learning websites and see how much you have learned! Here are two of my favorites: logo and scenic landscape.

Learn to use Photoshop:

There are thousands of tutorial sites on the Internet, but many of them are terrible. Fortunately, there are still a lot of high-quality tutorial sites, such as PSDTuts. If you want to learn how to make iPhone apps, there are great tutorials here; if you want to learn how to make web pages, check out this site.

Those who are not good at English can directly come to Youshe to learn → PS tutorial

If you take an hour or two out of your day to review these lessons, you'll make progress at a rate that will amaze you.

3. Learn professional skills

Do you want to design apps, websites, or infographics? I recommend trying them all and then choosing the area that interests you the most.

Learn to design a logo:

1. If you want to learn how to design logos, I recommend reading "Logo Design Love" → Chinese version "Beyond Logo Design" PDF, download from Weipan.
2. If you want to learn how to design websites and business cards as well, I recommend reading "Designing Brand Identity".

Learn to design applications:

1. Start learning about visual design for apps with this tutorial.
2. Read this book about iPhone "Tapworthy" → Chinese version "Touching People's Hearts: Designing Excellent iPhone Applications" PDF, download from Weipan, it can teach you how to make beautiful and practical applications.
3. Take a good look at the apps on your phone. What do you think are great and what do you think are terrible?

Learn to design web pages:

1. Read "Don't Make Me Think" to learn how to make a web page that is easy to read.
2. If you want to make good-looking web pages, read "The Principles of Beautiful Web Design".
3. Make a list of web pages that you think are beautiful and find out what they have in common. There are many good examples on SiteInspire.

Here comes the question: As a designer, do you have to know HTML or CSS? My answer is that it depends on the nature of the job, but knowing these will definitely be a plus for the job. There are many resources on the Internet for learning HTML and CSS:

4. My favorite free website is Web Design Tuts.
5. My favorite paid site is Treehouse (only $25 per month). If you are starting from scratch and want someone to explain everything to you, go to Treehouse's tutorials.

4. Build your portfolio

If you want to be a designer, you don't need to go to school, but you definitely need a portfolio. That being said, if you're just starting to learn design and haven't studied related majors, where can you start with a portfolio? Here's the good news: you don't need to actually handle a project to build a portfolio. You can list the following finished products:

1. The crazy designs you did for the t-shirts.
2. Redesign a really ugly website.
3. Design an iPhone application.
4. Participate in the design competition → Baidu Input Method 3rd Anniversary Skin Competition: Youth is the time!
5. Find local nonprofits that offer free design services.

Also remember:

1. Don't put every piece of work in your portfolio, just the best ones.
2. Find inspiration: Don’t worry about originality first. Just like when you first learn a new instrument, you must first learn how to play other people’s songs before you learn to make your own songs.
3. You can also visit the recommended column of Youshekancool.com to find inspiration for web design.

5. Find a job as a designer

When I first started learning design, I went to a designer workshop that was full of senior designers looking for jobs, several with 5, 10, or even 15 years of experience. The thought of having to compete with them was daunting. Yet a year later, I had successfully found a job as a designer. I think I had one key advantage over other designers: I knew how to work with software developers.

Go learn some interactive design, or basic HTML and CSS syntax! Designers in the tech industry (interactive devices, web pages, and app designers, etc.) are in high demand and earn high salaries. If you don’t have experience working with developers, you can participate in Startup Weekends, Hackathons, etc.

***, tell everyone around you that you want to be a designer! Anyone can be the person who helps you find a job.

Keep learning even after you find a job

I have been working at Exec for a year now and I have learned a lot from this job. I will learn from designers who are more experienced than me, find other design courses, such as TutsPlus and the Udesign Design section, which are good online courses, and even look through design books in bookstores. There are still many things I can learn and improve. Remember to keep honing your skills and keep learning.