Hoping to improve my design skills/intuition

Dave!

Hey folks,

I'm hoping some of ye more experienced fellas might take a look at some websites I've been doing over the last couple of days, and then maybe tell me what I could improve on, what to look at next, etc.

I had been struggling greatly with CSS layouts, so I've been focusing on those mainly.

This first one was my first attempt to customize the CSS Zen Garden website (for those unaware, csszengarden.com is a kind of project for encouraging CSS design... You download the sample html and css files, and then edit only the CSS file to make the page look good). I'm aware that it looks horrible Especially the graphics. But I was more interested in whether I could actually manage it technically

http://d1038167-2.blacknight.com/css_tests/zen1/zengarden-sample.html


The second one is the same deal (css zen garden), but I spent a bit more time looking at this from a design POV, and trying to make it look a little more tasteful than the previous one. I wanted to see if I could split the nav bars up and put them on either side, rather than just floating it to the other side.

http://d1038167-2.blacknight.com/css_tests/zen2/zengarden-sample.html

The last one I spent a bit more time thinking about the graphics and trying to make them look decent. I wanted to see how easily I could create a decent layout from scratch.

http://d1038167-2.blacknight.com/css_tests/layout/zengarden-sample.html


Any pointers would be appreciated! I'm starting to get quite comfortable with CSS, and I think that I know what I'm doing pretty much. But now I'm starting to realise that my artistic eye is not as honed as I had hoped

Thanks!

Pixelcraft

They're getting better, but remember knowing css & photoshop is not design. Learn the theory and principles of design from some books this is excellent and on sale I think this month. Best of luck!

p

Agree 100% with the above poster. Technical skills & design skills are separate. To work on your CSS layout buy some good books on CSS or web building as well as subscribe to some good blogs about web site building.

To work on your design skills, the ideal situation is to go study visual communicartions/graphic design and then apply those skills to the web. The core design skills are layout, typography, grid layouts, colour theory, drawing, illustration, composition as well as the interactive parts which are use of contrast, usabilty, UI design, affordance etc....

To work on the former read these books:
http://www.amazon.com/Non-Designers-Design-Book-Typographic-Principles/dp/1566091594
http://www.papress.com/other/thinkingwithtype/index.htm
http://www.amazon.com/Think-Like-Great-Graphic-Designer/dp/1581154968
http://www.amazon.com/Graphic-Designer-Without-Losing-Your/dp/1568985592

and for the latter, these might help
http://www.sensible.com/buythebook.html
http://www.amazon.com/MTIV-Process-Inspiration-Practice-Designer/dp/0735711658
http://www.lukew.com/resources/web_form_design.asp


Also, taking some kind of painting or sketching class would be good to get your brain into thinking visually. Always try start designing a site on paper first, then design in photoshop, and then implement in CSS. Creating CSS & HTML is production, you should generally have most of the creative stuff done at that point, sketching ideas on paper (even if you're not good at drawing) helps you think visually.

Another good thing is to check out sites like Cssbauty.com and cssgala.com and look at good sites. If you can develop a good, critical eye for good design, then that's half the battle. Check out typesites.com, it's a good site that critiques an devaluates sites based on their typography, it's a good way to develop and eye for good type.

Hope some of that helps, good luck with everything, and as you're just starting just follow your interest and do what you enjoy!