Graphic Design - where should I start to learn?

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baboon2004

Darned cockwombles.
I've always been fascinated by what makes a good design (particularly where the printed media is concerned), but I have no natural aptitude for the subject. I would love to learn however. This is partly motivated by appreciation for good design and a wish to unlock its 'secrets', and partly because my professional work (in a charity) leaves me stunned by the amounts that are paid to so-called 'designers' for abominably unimaginative jobs (when we have to outsource for newsletter/advertising design etc).

So, any books you can recommend?

Also (only half-joking), if anyone knows a good designer in London, might be able to put a few 3rd sector jobs his/her way....

PS Zhao, looked at your website, and liked an awful lot of the stuff you've done... :)
 
Z

zhao

there are no accidents
thanks babs. really nice of you to notice. that site will be updated before the year is over or i will... or i will... do it next year. no!!! :mad: or i will flagellate myself until my back is covered in bruises and blisters.

the secret:

graphic design is the meeting point between how something looks and what it means.

so everything must work on 2 levels simultaneously: as pure abstract form, and as information/communication.

all art is abstract. even, or especially, the classical paintings of people and landscapes. the master pieces all work as ingenious distribution of shapes and colors, an interlocking puzzle which never bores, but continually intrigues and satisfies.

and in the same way, good typography is never just type - it is an abstract image, which incidentally is made up of words which mean something.

i believe this is the essence of graphic design.



the only way to learn how to do it is by doing it. start any where... if you see a logo which you think looks fucking wicked, get out a pencil and draw that motherfucker. by doing that you gain an understanding of its lines and shapes and space and negative space that can not be had by looking.

but looking is good too. go to a good art book shop and just spend the day looking at shit.

an interesting read on the subject of design, which has nothing to do with the practical side of it, is that book by Jon Wozencroft called... shit i forget. but you know the dude, runs Touch and Swim and Ash labels with Collin Newman. book talks about the origin of propaganda among other things.

ok im a bit smashed... sorry to ramble... off to bed with me.
 
Dusty

Dusty

Tone deaf
Composition, use of space, colour balance, typography, I suppose you can read about them but I would agree with getting stuck in and learn through doing.

I hate to say it but natural talent goes a long way. I personally don't think that someone with no eye for any of the above can learn them out of a book and apply them in a professional environment. I've been a designer in a professional capacity for 7 years now, and I'm still on a steep learning curve to refine what I do.
 
B

baboon2004

Darned cockwombles.
Dusty said:
Composition, use of space, colour balance, typography, I suppose you can read about them but I would agree with getting stuck in and learn through doing.

I hate to say it but natural talent goes a long way. I personally don't think that someone with no eye for any of the above can learn them out of a book and apply them in a professional environment. I've been a designer in a professional capacity for 7 years now, and I'm still on a steep learning curve to refine what I do.
Click to expand...

Absolutely, wasn't trying to insinuate that designing is not a skill/job that requires a lot of talent; more that there are a lot of charlatans around as well (and I've had the misfortune to come into professional contact with a few of them).
 
B

baboon2004

Darned cockwombles.
zhao said:
and in the same way, good typography is never just type - it is an abstract image, which incidentally is made up of words which mean something.
Click to expand...

The evolution of written language is fascinating for precisely this reason - how did someone make the huge conceptual leap from pictorial representations first to the idea of a purely symbolic alphabet, containing letters which could be endlessly combined to suggest simple to highly complex meanings for the cognoscenti?
 
Z

zhao

there are no accidents
yes really important and fascinating topic... the rise of written language and its evolution. full of unanswered questions... i think probably the most important piece of the puzzle because it has everything to do with the advent of civilization and centralized power and all that stuff.
 
Z

zhao

there are no accidents
i've been meaning to read this one for ages. have heard excellent things about it: don't let the overt feminist slant fool you, the book is about much more than and interesting beyond that.
 
mixed_biscuits

mixed_biscuits

_________________________
The last few years every single British hotel/pub/bar etc. has been visually rebranded in a two-colour minimalist style with the process finishing just in time for it to all look hackneyed and stale and so time to change everything back again; this graphic design lark is a racket.
 
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