Perhaps you should do these things… and perhaps not.

Today, we explore specific ways to further educate yourself as a designer, and apply what you learn immediately to becoming better at what you do, as well as being more desirable to clients.

Marketing and The Unhappy Freelancer

Let me start off with a story about a person I know. This person is a freelance designer who really wanted to get more quality business. His work was quite good, and he worked hard for his clients, but he was struggling with attracting the kinds of people he really wanted to work with. His clients were the lower-end type, always giving him problems when it came to payment and deciding exactly what they wanted him to design for them.

This designer could have benefited greatly from learning how to properly market his services. There is definitely a right way to reach out to top clients, and there is a wrong way, and making an effort to learn the difference can make an enormous difference in your success as a freelancer.

Market yourself and your work the wrong way enough times and you can do real damage to your potential to earn more and attract better clients.

Learning your niche – knowing the ins and outs of your client base as well as the customers they serve – is the best way to tailor your marketing efforts for maximum effectiveness.

Get A Design Mentor

Mentors can teach you a lot about design, and can help you greatly improve your craft. But they can also provide a critical look into the industry from a veteran’s perspective, something you’re not likely to have if you’ve been working for less than a certain number of years.

Personally, I believe every designer should seek out a mentor – there are tons of experienced designers out there who would love the chance to help guide and foster a future industry rock star. Making time to reach out to people who can help you often costs nothing, yet it’s one of the most important things you can do to grow your career.

The problem is that younger designers often don’t ask to be mentored, believing that more experienced designers are too busy to help them. Nothing could be further from the truth. First of all, you need to know one thing about designers who have reached a certain level of renown: they love it when people give them compliments and ask them stimulating questions about their craft. Especially younger designers.

Try it – email 10 of your favorite design “celebrities” and think of a few short but intriguing questions to ask them. The worst that can happen is that they say no, but if your questions are good enough, they almost certainly won’t.

Test, Then Invest

Sometimes you might have to invest a lot more money, time, or resources into learning something than you initially thought.

If you hate networking, for example, and know you will have to expend a lot of time, money, and energy going to networking events and building relationships with people in the design industry, you may question whether or not you genuinely need to make that investment and expand your network.

Sometimes, you don’t need to make a significant investment to achieve a goal. If you honestly feel that you can get by without making a particular investment, then test this assumption before going any further. This is an excellent way to learn what works and what doesn’t, both in your design work and in the promoting of your freelance business.

In fact, this is my absolute favorite way to learn anything related to my own design career. Research and mentors are great, but in the end, you must test each and every piece of advice you get from your sources. If it doesn’t work on a practical level, there’s no reason to keep playing the guessing game.

In Conclusion

Your design education doesn’t end with college or university. It starts there.

The acquisition of knowledge to further your career is a lifelong pursuit, if you’re doing it correctly. Remember that education, in whatever form it comes, is never a waste of time, money, or effort. When you don’t invest in your own education, you are losing a game you may not even realize you’re playing.

Your competition is certainly busy investing in themselves, and will come out ahead if you aren’t right there with them, putting in the time, money, and energy to improve your edge and win over clients.

The post Why You Should Further Educate Yourself as a Designer appeared first on Speckyboy Design Magazine.

Why am I talking about pie on a design website? Well, because I think that designers, of any kind, can learn a lot from bakers who skip over the fancy trimmings to give people what they want most – an uncomplicated plate of minimalist goodness.

Apple pie has endured through the years because it’s something people easily understand. In the same way, a simple, classic design that doesn’t require your audience to think too hard to understand the message will still be relevant after years of fancy fluff and bad trends have come and gone.

Apple pie is something you can’t really mess up – unless you start adding things that don’t really need to be there. It might not be easy to create the perfect design, but simplifying your “recipe” of features and information is one of the most important steps toward creating the best user experience possible.

“Pare” Necessities

The best recipes for apple pie, in my opinion, are the ones that keep things basic. In culinary terms, this allows the flavor of the main ingredient – apples, in this case – to shine. The apples are the “selling point,” so to speak. When you sit down to design a website, flyer, or brochure, make sure your audience knows exactly what they’re looking at.

In America and most of Europe (with a few exceptions), apple pies are covered with a crust. This crust is traditionally either flat or plaited into a lattice, and it sends a signal to hungry folks that the fruit they’ll find inside is probably going to be apples.

Make sure your selling point in a design is as clear as the apples in a pie. Determine exactly what your users are looking for and what they want. Ask them, if you can. The more testing you can conduct before publication, the higher your probability of creating a design that speaks to your users’ specific needs.

If, for example, you’re designing a clothing website, do your users want to search based on the types of clothing (shirts, dresses, shoes, etc.) or the types of materials (silk, cotton, leather, vinyl)? The only way you’ll know the answer for sure is if you ask.

Getting feedback from friends and acquaintances is a time-honored way of gathering “market” research in the initial stages of a design. Ask them specific questions about their experience – is something missing that they’d like to see? Can they digest the information they need clearly and without any assistance? If you’re bound by confidentiality agreements (or you have no friends), it’s perfectly acceptable to ask your client to produce this research for you or enable you to do it yourself.

This will probably be a terrible pun/cliche combo for both this article and this topic (forgive me), but Apple is the leader in the area of simple design and streamlined user experience. The Apple website and store are specifically designed to lead you, the user, through the buying experience with as little hassle and stress as possible.

The product images are big; the text is short and obvious. Additional information is available at the click of a mouse, but if you don’t click the links, you never need to worry about it. You’d better believe that the web design department at Apple spent hundreds of hours figuring out the things their users wanted – and needed – to see in order to complete the sale. And well, cliches just mean that something is extra-extra true!

Sweet Reduction

There are plenty of things you can put on top of a pie: ice cream, sugar, whipped cream, syrup, cookies, cherries – the list goes on and on. Some people might think this makes the pie taste better, but in my opinion, if you have to add that many extra things to your pie to improve the taste, you’re starting from the wrong end of the plate.

Similarly, extra bells and whistles usually only serve to clutter up a design and obscure the fact that it wasn’t very good to begin with.

I’m not saying you should never add, say, an extra column, widget, or typographic treatment if you really need to, or even just really want to. But it’s important to start with a good “base.” Make sure the fundamental message of your design gets through loud and clear. Don’t give your users extra options they don’t need or aren’t looking for.

Don’t make it harder for them to get to where they need to go. Make your users’ main goal your top priority, and add in the “toppings” only once you’re sure the main event is a treat. And hey, toppings can be delicious. My favorite is apple pie à-la mode!

Ask Grandma

You know what they say: if your Grandma can’t figure out how to navigate through your design, it’s too complicated. Elderly people tend to have less patience, ability, or desire to sift through tons of unnecessary information. That makes them perfect starting points for determining exactly what’s needed for your design and what’s simply taking up space.

Let’s say, for example, that you’re testing a design for a web template store. Is your objective clear (instant download of PSD files)? Will it be easy for your customers to find exactly what they’re looking for? Is the font size large enough for most people to read? Is there too much text? Too many ads? Is the shopping cart/payment method simple to find and navigate through?

Simply put: is there anything standing in the way of your user getting exactly what they want? If so, Grandma might just get up and head down to the record store. (Assuming there still is one in her neighborhood!)

Remember to run your design past your grandmother (or your uncle, your great aunt Matilda, or anyone who’s not so “tech-savvy”) and see if she gets it. If so, perhaps she’ll bake you a nice apple pie!

The post How Simple, Classic Design Should Work appeared first on Speckyboy Design Magazine.

Sigh.

I’m sorry, what were we talking about? Oh, right. Regardless of whether you bake or not, you can use a lot of the same knowledge pastry chefs, and bakers draw upon every day to improve your design work. How can you do this, you ask? Well, sit back, dear reader, and I’ll tell you!

Thing №1: Use your hands

The most important tool of any pastry chef is their hands. They’re what allow him or her to mold and shape dough, fruit, sugar, whipped cream, and other ingredients into scrumptious confections enjoyed by customers and appreciative friends.

I’m going to go out on a limb here and assume that you, as a designer, have a pair of hands of your own. Step away from the computer screen from time to time, and put those babies to use! I find that when I’m stuck on a design challenge that requires a lot of Photoshop or Illustrator hours, the best solution is to get up, step back, and hit the craft supplies.

That’s right – break out the colored paper, scissors, glue, and have at it. Recreate your design idea as a crude arts and crafts project, similar to what you might have done in elementary school. Go back to your sketches if you have any. If you don’t have any sketches… well, now’s the time to make some!

If you’re not the cut-and-paste type, try other methods. Clay, sewing or needlework, or hey – even baking! You’d be surprised how inspiring a freshly baked plate of cookies can be. Or maybe you already know this and aren’t surprised at all.

Thing №2: Create, test, and evaluate

Do you know how many times I had to bake my famous lemon scones before I finally perfected the recipe? Let’s just say my friends were eating a lot of lemon scones at one point.

In an industry that relies on creating that perfect, flavorful bite over and over and over again, it’s vital to “lather, rinse, and repeat,” testing and evaluating your work with a critical eye and narrowing the entire process down to an exact science.

You probably don’t want to get too narrow and caged in with the creative part of your work as a designer, but there’s a lot of your process that can, over time, be improved and executed without error, like that perfect dollop of frosting on top of a cupcake.

Thing №3: Get the good stuff

The very best and most innovative pastry chefs (and home bakers) procure the freshest and finest ingredients they can afford from local vendors such as farmers’ markets and local growers’ co-ops.

If you’re serious about your career as a designer, particularly a freelance designer, there’s no excuse for you not to have the best tools and resources at your disposal. Everything from your software and hardware to your printer should be hand-selected to help you work at your 100% best all the time.

Anything less is just…unsavory.

Thing №4: Impart your knowledge

Many chefs in the professional culinary arena have at least a couple of students to whom they’ve given lessons, tips, advice, or criticism in some way, shape, or form.

Teaching is the best way to continue learning – it keeps you on your toes and allows you to have a vital connection with the up-and-coming world of creative professionals. And before you ask: no, you certainly don’t have to be an established professor at a college or university to teach.

There’s no reason you can’t take a student or two under your wing while you’re still learning your craft. As I said, teaching is the best way to keep learning, and I personally have never learned so much as when I’ve taught others.

Give back to the community and gain more than you ever dreamed you could have in knowledge, connections, and good karma.

Thing №5: Cross-pollinate ideas

In a professional fine-dining kitchen, chefs in all the different departments (hot foods, cold foods, pastries, etc.) must work together to create a culinary experience that will make customers want to come back again and again.

They must discuss meal plans and recipe combinations with the head chef and/or the restaurant management and rely on their wits and creativity to make sure the meal breaks the mold of “normal” or “boring.”

As a freelance designer, you may not have the opportunity to consort and collaborate with other designers on too many of your projects. Nevertheless, it’s important to get at least occasional feedback and input from others that you can use to adjust your creative process and stay on top of the heap.

Of course, you should make friends with designers if you haven’t already, but don’t leave out other creative professionals in adjacent industries.

Do you use a lot of photography or illustration in your assignments? Find a photographer or illustrator and talk shop to learn the finer points of how they produce their work. Printers are especially great people to have in your social network, even if you’re not a print designer.

I could write a whole article on why there needs to be more communication between web and print designers (and I probably will), but for now, I’ll just say: it’s much more important than you think.

Thing №6: Keep it clean

Neat freaks, feel free to skip over this one. But if you’re one of “those” designers (you know. The ones with candy bar wrappers and empty Red Bull cans littering their desks and floors of their offices), then you should probably listen up. Being a chef in a professional environment comes with its own built-in motivation for cleanliness: sanitation laws.

You just can’t be a slob in the kitchen and expect to stay in business for long. Sooner or later, those bad habits are going to catch up with you and people will find out what a Messy Bessie you are. And then you’ll get fined and possibly sued, which, from what I hear, isn’t much fun at all.

Designers can technically “get away” with being more lax about their cleaning habits because the end product is generally unrelated to the surrounding environment in which it’s produced.

But it’s a well-known fact that artists, designers, and even corporate office workers are significantly more creative when they work in cleaner surroundings.

So, clean up that mess. Your right brain will thank you.

Thing №7: An assistant from the audience

Obviously, the most successful and highest-paid chefs have assistants to help them prepare ingredients and handle the tedious jobs of doing things that don’t require a lot of skill (like, say, coring apples or dicing peaches), but you may be surprised to learn that even lower-level chefs and cooks outsource a lot of their prep work to other cooks, assistants, and even different departments.

In a larger restaurant, for example, there may be an entire department devoted to removing the skins and pits of fruits and vegetables.

As a freelance designer working today, it’s easier than ever to outsource necessary but time-consuming tasks that you may not have the interest or skill level to do yourself. I’ll tell you that the first time I outsourced a difficult bit of coding work to a professional programmer, I was completely hooked.

Yes, there’s a certain sense of pride and accomplishment that comes with doing something yourself, but if you’re feeling pressured to meet deadlines on your own and your client base is swelling to higher numbers than you can handle alone, there’s definitely no shame in hiring someone to share the load. Besides, you’ll free up more time to focus on whichever aspect of your work is the most interesting to you. Sweet!

Thing №8: Learning is hard work

Obviously, since you’re here reading this article, I don’t need to tell you that educating yourself is a vital part of your development not just as a working designer but as a creative person in general. But you shouldn’t just be learning things in your off-hours.

Pastry chefs are constantly discovering new ingredients and flavor combinations on the job. If something accidental turns out to be a success, it may just become the new house specialty in the kitchen.

Learn from your mistakes, and see if you can’t turn them from outright failures to “happy accidents.” Learn the art of repurposing things you think won’t work; examine them from different angles and find the kernel of brilliance hidden just under the surface.

Then again, sometimes things just plain…um…suck, and it’s good to know when to stop working on something as well. Refer back to #5 and get feedback from your friends and colleagues to help you figure out where the line should be drawn.

Thing №9: Support the local industry

The culinary industry isn’t just chefs and cooks slicing and dicing it up in a restaurant. It’s also the farmers who grow the produce and raise the livestock; it’s the vendors who sell it fresh at wholesale prices; it’s the food critics and bloggers who rave about the newest delectable creations coming out of the kitchen.

Support for the local surrounding industry is something that’s beaten into the heads of aspiring cooks in culinary school, and it’s an important thing for designers to consider as well.

Find out who’s working in the printing, manufacturing, bookbinding, and other industries in your immediate area. If you need to outsource some part of your design project, consider looking locally first and building relationships with small business professionals in your area.

Also, this might be sacrilegious to some more financially driven designers, but try to find ways to support your clients as well. If you’re lucky to get a job from an awesome small business or individual, don’t be afraid to spread the word.

Try out the product or service they’re offering – if you like it, let people know (in, you know, a non-obnoxious way, of course).

In today’s economy, we all need to help one another to succeed. For designers, that means building up the industry around you and doing what you can to nurture it.

Thing №10: Be awesome!

I probably don’t have to tell you this, but I will anyway. Everyone, no matter what industry they’re in, should strive to produce the best work they possibly can – every single day. I say this a lot, but if you don’t put your best foot forward for the little things, you’ll never be truly successful at the big things.

It’s one thing to get lazy for Aunt Millie’s dog grooming website; quite another to drop the ball on a branding assignment for a multinational corporation or a celebrity client.

If you get into the habit of slacking off, you’ll have a harder time keeping up the pace when your clients get more and more significant.

The post 10 Things Designers Can Learn From Pastry Chefs appeared first on Speckyboy Design Magazine.

Either way, you’ve been informed that you will not be getting the full amount agreed upon in your contract, and the client is asking you to be “flexible” on the exact amount they initially agreed to. You’re already several dozen hours into the project – to back out now would cost you more than it would to simply accept the lesser amount being offered.

What do you do? Do you simply agree to take what you are offered? Do you keep this client as a repeat client in hopes that things will improve with the next project?

Why do clients think they can rack up charges with designers and attempt to weasel their way out of paying the full amount? More importantly, why do designers let them? Even more importantly, how do you, as a designer, identify trends common to this type of client behavior, so that you can avoid them completely in the future?

Culture of Service

The key to avoiding situations where you might be called upon to be “flexible” with your fees is educating your clients about the true value of your services as a designer.

If your client falls asleep in a taxi and the taxi driver drives past their house and up the street for five more miles, he’s going to charge your client for those five miles, despite the fact that he or she didn’t “mean” to fall asleep. And your client would expect to pay it, as well.

Design is a service, just like being shuttled about in a taxi cab is a service. I’m always surprised – not at the number of clients who don’t understand this, but at the number of designers who also fail to make this connection.

You aren’t creating some esoteric work of art that is completely subjective in value and which your clients should feel apprehensive about paying you for. You are providing a service that will help them improve the functionality of their brand, whether that’s through a website, an identity system, a brochure, poster, CD cover, flyer, or anything else you design.

Yes, it’s creative work, but ‘creative’ doesn’t equal ‘exempt from standard pay agreements.’ The only way clients will get this thought out of their heads is if designers get it out of their heads first.

No With the Flow

This is going to come off sounding a bit like a rant, but the frequency with which clients avoid paying designers the fees they initially agreed upon is very unsettling to me. Some people simply “go with the flow,” accepting that some clients are going to be unreasonable about things and that there’s nothing you, as a designer, can do about it.

But why is that? Why should designers simply be expected to be ‘flexible’ when it comes to payment? I’m just going to come out and say it: there’s something really wrong with the nature of this industry that people can get away with thinking this kind of thing is normal. It’s not normal; in any other industry, it would be called theft, and making a fuss about it could be construed as attempted extortion, if you mess with the wrong kind of litigious service provider. You get a service, you pay your money.

If a client is unhappy with the service you’ve provided, that’s another issue. Designers should always be willing to work with a client if something isn’t right and do their best to make the client happy. But clients trying to get out of paying altogether, or trying to sweep hours, days, weeks, months of work under the rug with some absurd plea about ‘flexibility’ is just wrong, and it has got to stop.

The only way freelance designers are ever going to earn any kind of respect for themselves in the industry at large is if they collectively start educating clients about the true value of their services.

When All Else Fails, Become a Psychic

So, after saying all this, you might be wondering whether I’m to going answer my own question. Should you, in fact, stand your ground when re-negotiating the terms of your prior agreement with a client?

It’s easy to stand back from a distance and proclaim “of course you should! It’s only right, after all.” But the reality of the situation is not always so simple. Perhaps it’s a huge client who’s causing you trouble – the biggest client of your career so far. Is it worth it to argue and possibly get yourself blacklisted by other clients in the same industry?

Ideally, you’d be armed with an iron-clad contract and a lawyer at all times, but we all know that sometimes things are less than ideal. Sometimes your client will force you to reword your contract before they agree to work with you, and you have no choice but to comply if you wish to get paid at all. And well, lawyers can get expensive.

So what do you do? I won’t pretend that I know the answer to this very old, very persistent problem. What I will say is that it’s entirely possible to drastically reduce your likelihood of finding yourself in these types of situations in the future, by positioning yourself in a more high-level position within your niche industry.

Knowing what makes your clients tick, and how best to serve the markets they serve will make you a much more highly valued service provider, which in turn will drastically reduce your chances of being taken advantage of.

There’s something very strange that happens when people are confronted with a designer who can seemingly read their minds – they show you a level of respect and trust that you would have thought they’d have shown only to their spouses, friends, or cat. It’s a very fascinating thing to watch.

Designers aren’t too keen on most clients assuming that they’re mind-readers, but if you make it part of your job to study the habits of your client base, as well as your clients’ customers, users, audience, or other markets, you can arm yourself with this near-psychic ability relatively easily.

The post How to Educate Clients About the True Value of Your Services as a Designer appeared first on Speckyboy Design Magazine.

The evolution of tools such as WordPress has made publishing this content easier. Writing up a tutorial or sharing a code snippet is within everyone’s reach.

In addition, the recent explosion of Learning Management Systems (LMS) means that just about anyone can create and sell online courses. As a result, there are an untold number of offerings that focus on web design and development.

This is both a positive and negative. On the plus side, it’s wonderful to see others sharing what they know. But the downside is that there’s no guarantee when it comes to quality.

If you’re going to spend your time and (possibly) money, you want to make sure that the experience is worthwhile. But how can you be sure that a course is right for you? It starts with a bit of research.

The following are some key considerations for choosing an online web development course.

Look Closely at Course Content

Online courses often make promises – but they’re not always clear. For example, one may claim that you’ll “learn JavaScript.” But what are they really offering?

A reputable educator will provide more than just marketing-speak. Their course description should give you a close look at what to expect, including:

• Any prerequisites or helpful skills (CSS, HTML, etc.);
• A listing of specific skills covered;
• A table of contents that summarizes each lesson;
• When the course was published or last updated;
• A clear definition of what you’ll achieve upon completion;

This should give you a sense of how appropriate a course is for your needs. You may find that it’s a perfect fit, or perhaps it covers things you already know. Either way, this is valuable information to have.

If a provider doesn’t list these details, you may want to ask them to do so. This will help you and others make the right decision.

Does the Course Presentation Match Your Learning Style?

We all have different learning styles. That’s why how a course is presented and reinforces its teachings mean a lot.

As such, course presentation should be a major consideration. If it’s not in a format that you’re comfortable with, you may not get as much value from the experience.

This is especially important for a subject like web development. For some, watching someone else write code in a video won’t be effective. Likewise, a course that requires reading long chapters of text could also be a turnoff.

Content organization also plays a role. Information is often easier to digest when broken down into bite-sized pieces rather than marathon learning sessions. There’s something to be said about learning one step at a time.

Finally, the ability to retain what you’ve learned is key. Features such as transcripts, quizzes, and note-taking functionality can help.

However, these details aren’t always easy to find. Some courses do offer a sample lesson for free. Short of that, you’ll likely have to get in touch with the provider.

The Educator’s Qualifications and Reputation

Just because someone has created a course doesn’t mean they’re eminently qualified. And qualifications don’t necessarily make someone a great teacher.

Still, it does matter. Educators should have a mastery of whatever subject they’re teaching. Someone who has demonstrated skill in PHP is more likely to have valuable advice than a novice coder.

Reputation is another factor, although it can be misinterpreted. It’s not necessarily about the size of their audience. For instance, the fact that an instructor has a large Twitter following isn’t an accurate indicator in terms of how well-respected they are in their field.

Rather, it’s about what they’ve accomplished and what others have to say about their experiences. Social media can be of some use in that area. It’s worth taking a look at how others view both the provider and their courses.

This can also vary based on the type of provider. Some larger organizations might employ several instructors, while others are completely run by a solo entrepreneur. Adjust your research accordingly.

Make an Educated Choice for Online Learning

Regardless of what you want to learn, you’ll likely have several compelling educational options to choose from. Finding the one that matches your goals is vital.

The steps outlined above can help. If you find a web development course that interests you, study up on the details. Make note of what’s included and what you can expect to learn. Ensure that the course is presented in a way that matches your preferred style of learning.

From there, take time to do a little research on the people behind the course. Look at their qualifications and see what others have to say. Reading positive reviews from your peers can be reassuring.

There are so many opportunities for leveling up your web design skills. Here’s hoping you find that perfect course to help you along the way!

The post How to Choose the Right Online Web Development Course appeared first on Speckyboy Design Magazine.

The whole thing can lead a designer to feel left out, or worse, left behind. This is a natural reaction, as all of us want to believe that we know what we’re doing and can deliver top-notch results for our clients. Seeing all of these headlines can paint a picture of an imaginary person in our heads – one who has in-depth knowledge of everything.

But the reality is that the super-developer we see in our minds doesn’t exist. Even the most dedicated and brilliant web professionals don’t know it all. And, even if they did, when would they possibly find the time to implement this vast knowledge? So, let’s erase that image from our memories.

To that end, let’s also ignore the lure of buzzwords when it comes to the skills we need to learn. Instead, we’ll need to take a good hard look in the mirror. It’s there that we’ll find the right path to take.

Discover Your Pain Points

The first step in figuring out where to spend your limited educational resources (time and/or money) is through some self-discovery. The good news is that it won’t require any sort of deep analysis from you or a professional.

To start, take a few minutes to think about some projects you’ve worked on recently. How did they turn out? Did you find yourself struggling with any particular aspect? Were there any features you would like to have added, but couldn’t?

If you look at a number of past experiences, you may notice a pattern. Perhaps you really struggled with writing some custom JavaScript or in getting your CSS layout just right. If you see these things happening repeatedly over time, that’s a pain point – and something you can ease through learning.

By taking steps to improve these skills, you’re making an investment in your own efficiency. If, by mastering CSS layout techniques, you can get things done more quickly and produce better results, it’s wholly worth doing.

The thing is, we all have these pain points in our workflow. It’s just a matter of identifying them and taking action to improve.

Think About Complimentary Skills

As great as many of the latest buzzworthy technologies are, they’re not always the best fit for what we do. For instance, React is quite a powerful JavaScript framework. But if your typical projects don’t require the sorts of features it brings to the table, is learning it really the wisest use of your time?

The exception to this would be if you’re interested in changing your niche or in adding JavaScript interfaces to what you offer clients. In this case, you’re leveling up your skills in order to tap into a new part of the market. It takes commitment, but can be worth the effort if you truly want to take things in this new direction.

The point is to take stock of the skills you use every day. From there, think about which new skills you can add to the mix. In many cases, you’ll want to look at ones that can act as a natural extension of what you already do. There are times when you may want to stray from this path, but overall it makes sense to continue to build upon an established foundation.

Sticking with React as our example, let’s say that you already work extensively with jQuery. It’s a tried-and-true framework and continues to serve you well.

But as you see React being integrated into the likes of WordPress, you see an opportunity to do even more. This new skill would allow you to extend your reach into a growing segment. And since you already know JavaScript, the learning curve may not be quite as steep as it would be for a novice in this area.

When you consider all of these factors, it would seem like a perfect and logical fit. And if learning a new skill makes this much sense, you know you’re on to something good.

It’s About Bettering Yourself and Your Career

There’s a lot of noise out there – often stepping over the boundary into pure overload. But just because something is being hyped and superlatives are being thrown about doesn’t mean it’s a must-learn skill.

As difficult as it can be, it’s important to look past all the flashy headlines and think about substance. Determine which skills out there will make a positive difference in both your career and even your life. Does it make your job easier? Will it help you make more money? Will you be able to better serve your clients?

When looking to upgrade your skill level, these are the things that really matter. By placing the focus on this form of self-improvement, you’ll put yourself on a path to continued success.

The post How to Determine Which Skills You Should Learn appeared first on Speckyboy Design Magazine.

With an increasing barrage of conferences, bootcamps, meetups, and mentoring, it became easier than ever for new designers to learn the trade. Prominent designers pushed for inclusivity, not just in our products but in the organizations that design them.

These advances are worth celebrating. The more mainstream and inclusive experience design becomes, the better experiences we’ll produce.

But as a design leader, a Springboard mentor, and a teacher of several Skillshare classes, I’ve seen firsthand that UX education isn’t doing enough to prepare new designers for their first jobs.

Too often, new designers enter the job market bright-eyed and bushy-tailed, only to become disillusioned. Landing their first job is more difficult than they imagined, and once they do, the reality of designing real-life products rarely matches their expectations.

Let’s take a look at 5 opportunities for improving UX education in 2019:

1. Give More Context

Most UX curriculums start with a basic definition of user experience, move on to user-centered design, and sprinkle in a few lessons on UI design and working with stakeholders.

This approach is understandable. UX is, by definition, a cross-disciplinary field. There’s a ton for new designers to learn, and focusing on the user-centered design process provides a framework for the entire curriculum.

But what’s missing from this approach is context.

One of the things I see new designers struggle with repeatedly is the reasoning behind user-centered design. Why is user research so important? Why do we do it this way? What are we trying to solve?

I can’t oversell the benefits of explaining the history of user experience, the various ways companies design and build products today, and the differences between waterfall, agile, lean, and UCD.

When students understand the successes and pitfalls of various approaches to product development, they start to realize why design thinking is so important. They get comfortable with the idea of user research. They stop jumping to solutions before understanding users and their problems.

UX curriculums should start with this context.

2. Focus on Design in the Real World

UX design is a messy field. Users are complex and capricious; their motivations are subtle and varied.

To make matters worse, design isn’t a universally accepted good in most organizations. Executives from other fields often despise user research as a “navel-gazing” exercise. Stakeholders will fixate on particular “solutions” rather than explaining the problems they want solved.

But most ux curriculums fail to convey the reality on the ground.

Following a user-centered design process is a struggle, not a given, because it requires significant evangelization and education. New designers should know this before they land their first job, and we should prepare them for the task of generating buy-in.

The most common question I hear from students is what it’s really like as UX designer. We should provide the answer and prepare them for it.

3. Teach Practical Skills

I can’t count the number of new designers I’ve met—from bootcampers to graduates of prominent design schools—who lack basic practical skills.

Most ux courses emphasize understanding users, but few place any serious emphasis on actually ensuring your designs solve their problems. Yes, students learn basic design principles, but what about product thinking? What about ux analytics and testing?

Most designers are better off begging, borrowing, and stealing from designs solving comparable problems, but we rarely teach that skill anymore. Yesterday’s design leaders created pattern libraries as a means of helping other designers see how others had solved similar problems. While today’s design systems help companies maintain consistency across products, we’ve stopped thinking of pattern libraries as resources for the design community as a whole.

And, while organizations are desperate to hire ux engineers and designers who code, there’s persistent backlash against teaching designers coding skills.

We can do better here.

Increased interest in UX engineering means basic coding skills are now table stakes. The pressure for design to drive product performance means the same for analytics and testing.

This isn’t just a tangential issue for the design community. Designers have a stake in how the entire team collaborates to create prototypes and finished products. The design of the codebase itself can have as fundamental and profound an impact on the end-user experience as the design of the product’s interactions.

The truth is that new designers are hungry for these skills. In 2018 I noticed a subtle shift in the questions new designers asked. Designers were increasingly interested in the data around various design patterns; they found sites like GoodUI particularly fascinating. “Should I learn to code?” became “how and when should I learn to code?”.

UX curriculums should provide more resources and guidance in these areas. Failing to do so means churning out candidates unprepared for the demands the workplace will place on them.

4. Emphasize Results

I’ve written about data-driven design before, but I’ll say it again. The best designers tie their work back to real business results. If design is about solving problems, then data can show how well we’ve solved them.

Too many young designers think ux is about obsessing over interactions and getting every little piece of the product perfect. Too few understand that good designers choose which problems to focus on and which to ignore.

Understanding the business is as important to design as understanding the user.

If we want tomorrow’s design leaders to operate on an equal footing with marketing, sales, and engineering, then we need to teach them these lessons today.

5. Help New Designers Evaluate Jobs

Not all junior design positions are created equal.

It’s especially important for new designers to have the benefits a mature design organization provides. Mentorship from experienced designers, good design process, and at least a modicum of buy-in from the rest of the organization are key elements that help new designers thrive.

New designers have little business working at companies without this support. But even a quick glance at job listings on sites like AngelList or company reviews on Glassdoor makes it clear that many companies aren’t prepared to provide them.

Many of us have seen a poor first job choice scuttle the careers of more than one junior designer. We’ve developed informal advice for the designers we mentor to help them avoid this. It’s time to make that advice part of the curriculum.

The vast majority of companies are bad places for designers to start their careers. We need to teach new designers to recognize the difference.

Conclusion

The progress the design community made in 2018 was a fantastic step in the right direction. It’s time to take the next one.

We should design UX courses the way we design every other product.

Increasing the number and depth of discussions with brand new designers—and those who’ve been in the field for one to two years—will improve the process of learning design for everyone. As a community, we owe it to ourselves and our users to make this investment.

The post How We Can Improve UX Education in 2019 appeared first on Speckyboy Design Magazine.

Beyond that, there are a plethora of languages that we use to bring form and function together. Think of the many JavaScript frameworks we’re using, ever-evolving CSS or even PHP. Sometimes it feels like this is the career equivalent of hitting a moving target.

Keeping up with it all isn’t easy. For one, learning takes time – which is often difficult to find. Plus, there are simply too many things to know. It can be hard to determine which skills to pick up and which to save for a later date.

Frankly, the whole thing can feel a bit overwhelming. But it doesn’t have to be. Here are some things to keep in mind when it comes to learning and sharpening your skills.

Learning is What You Make of it

When you’ve been at this for awhile, it’s easy to get comfortable with what you know and how you do things. That’s a completely natural philosophy, though. You’re simply leaning on your existing knowledge and calling on your past experience – all in the name of getting things done.

But, with the rapid pace of change in this industry, sitting in your easy chair means falling behind. Do that for too long and, before you know it, things have passed you by.

For me, motivation has always been a bit difficult to find when it comes to learning. I was never one to enjoy traditional schooling. Most of the skills I’ve picked up have been a result of tinkering with projects and learning only when I needed to.

Part of the challenge is that we often tell ourselves that we don’t have the time or energy to make the commitment. Between work and the rest of life’s duties, it’s quite understandable. That said, you can do it with the right approach.

It’s imperative that you make time to further your skills. The good news is that it doesn’t mean you have to quit your job to attend classes. Because of the sheer number of learning options (many of them available online and for free), you have the ability to learn on your own schedule and at your own pace.

The happy truth is that you don’t have to commit an enormous amount of time. Even if you can only squeeze in a 20 minute learning session a few times per week, you’re making progress. Once you realize that you can do this in bite-size portions, it starts to feel like much less of a burden.

Choosing a Skill

Another dilemma we face is figuring out just what it is that we should commit to learning. Again, the choices can feel overwhelming.

There are so many “next big thing” types of languages and techniques being hyped. It almost feels like you’re obliged to learn them, even if they’re not particularly exciting or relevant to you.

The great thing here is that you really can choose anything you want. Perhaps you’re struggling with a particular aspect of your job and see an opportunity to improve. Or maybe there’s just something out there that really interests you. There really is no right or wrong answer.

In my own path, I’ve realized that I’m a bit over my head when it comes to certain tasks in PHP. So I decided to do something about it by taking an online course. I’m getting up early and putting in a few hours per week. It’s nothing earth-shattering, and I may never become a full-on expert. But I actually feel better building upon the skills I already had.

The point is that you get to make a personal decision on what is worth your time and effort. Regardless of what anyone else says is worthwhile; it’s ultimately up to you to decide.

Improve Yourself and Your Career

Another benefit of learning is that it can be great for your self-confidence. The first time you get to use what you’ve learned makes you feel on top of the world. Plus, having that new or improved skill in hand may just convince you to bid on a project that you wouldn’t have before.

It’s really cool to see the snowball effect this all has. You can go from being a bit timid about your ability to accomplish something to actually accomplishing it. And, once you start seeing the real-world benefits of self-improvement, you’ll want to keep on rolling. That can lead you to bigger and better places.

Continuing to educate yourself and improving your skills as a web designer is very much a worthwhile endeavor. And we’re fortunate that our particular industry is full of resources to help us along the way.

Take advantage of the opportunity to learn. You might be amazed at what it can do for you and your career.

The post A Web Designer’s Education Never Stops appeared first on Speckyboy Design Magazine.

Today, any homegrown creative with talent and a big desire to learn is able to grow themselves into a top level web designer, whose works are admired, and whose expertise is sought and valued among the most demanding of clients. And all this is possible without overly expensive schooling and lengthy, several-year courses.

In this article, we will give a number of tip, aimed towards novice and junior web designers, on the use of some well-known practices of effective and efficient self-education, which come completely free of charge, and require nothing more than patience, hard work, and a strong will.

Practice #1. Daily Designs

Have you ever wondered how many sites there are on the web today? By latest estimations, nearly 4.76 billion, and not less than two are launched every second. While not all of these websites may have the greatest design, many of them will – and those are your learning tool right there.

Make it a habit to start your day (or end it) with picking three websites of the best design to your judgement. Start a pinboard (Evernote or Pinterest are a good choice for this purpose, as they lets you use tags for handy categorization) where you’d collect links to these websites, and – preferably – screenshots of the design solutions which you found notable. Screenshots are good to have in addition to the links, because even the best of websites get redesigned from time to time, and when this happens, your favorite design solution may look different or be gone completely.

Some of the best sources to look for inspirational examples for your collection are web design inspiration sites, such as Awwwards, CSS Design Awards, WebAwards, etc. Each of these sites have handy built-in search filters, but make sure not to limit your search to your particular specialty only.

This practice is not just about making a database, though. The main reason for it is to develop your sense of aesthetics and build your own style. Gradually, you will discover that your selections become better and better, to the extent that you might even want to delete the first few. Learn from what you consider the best examples, and soon enough your experience will allow you to create masterpieces of a similar level.

Practice #2. Professional Assessment

This is what many junior designers are afraid of pursuing. For some reason, everyone assumes that the mentor is someone you must pay. In the field of web design, however, accomplished professionals are often eager to give free advice and expertise (and we will see why, in the Practice #5) to those that seek it.

Do a search for notable web designers and find those that are particularly renowned in the field you wish to excel. Subscribe to their blogs, follow them on Twitter, watch their lectures and presentations on YouTube and Slideshare. When you’ve done that, try reaching out to them, via email or social media messaging. There is no guarantee on how many responses you’ll get, but one or two will reply – and that is all you need.

Next, your primary objective is to have your mentor comment on your works. Do not ask for in-depth analysis – accomplished designers have other things to do. But giving a 3-4 sentence feedback is something they would not mind, if you ask nicely.

Do not underestimate the power of professional assessment of your works. Remember not to expect praise, even if you think the job has been done flawlessly. Ask for grounded, but ruthless critique, and use it as tool to identify and eliminate rough edges in the work being assessed.

Practice #3. ‘365 Challenge’

This is a popular method of acquiring professional experience through self-expression. What you need to do is start a blog or a social media page, and develop a habit to design at least something every day and publish it to your medium.

Why is this an awesome tool? Well, because it lets you:

1. share your work with the world, and potentially become noticed on the global scale;
2. receive feedback for your works, even if just in the form of likes and comments;
3. Build your personal brand.

If you accept such a challenge, it is important not to be shy about sharing it. This way you will not only attract viewers, but also make it harder for yourself to quit. And the best thing about it, the bigger the audience you have, the harder the quitting will be.

At the beginning, you’ll owe nothing to no one. Just share what works you are proud of, and make it clear that more of the same will follow. In the course of the challenge, the pieces you post will definitely improve, and your progress will be clearly visible not only to your audience, but yourself as well.

If you think 365 days may be too long a period to aim for, try a monthly, or a quarterly challenge. Here is a good example of a completed 100-day challenge. it can be a huge challenge, but the end effect is tremendous, and not only in terms of professional growth and recognition, but also as a test of your sturdiness and will for accomplishment.

Practice #4. Global Socializing

Social media has eliminated distances and borders for people with the same passion. Many still do not fully realize how awesome an opportunity this is. There are hundreds of groups on Facebook, LinkedIn, and – heck, even Google+, devoted to web design.

And if the common social media is not enough for you there are also Behance and Dribbble. Both are a platform for designers to showcase their works. You probably already have your accounts, so make those accounts work for you! Hurl your best works on to several groups, honestly state your level of skill and ask for opinions. Some of them will of course be unnerving, but most will be insightful.

This practice has one more advantage, which may be not as obvious – it lets you learn to deal with objections, and sort out solid critique from a bucketful of unworthy praises and dislikes. This is a crucial skill for your future work, when you’ll have to deal with complex team projects and subjective design evaluations.

Practice #5. Design Reviews

When you feel confident and experienced enough, start reviewing the works of others. You can do it either in the social media groups you are subscribed to, or simply pick websites from your little personal chart (see Practice #1).

Do not confuse advice with expertise, however. The point here is to not show everyone how cool you are, but to see your own way more clearly. Always emphasize that your point of view is subjective, but try to honestly see how the work could be made better. Only then your advice will work for both you and the designer.

As you can see, the above practices are absolutely free of charge, and nevertheless, can contribute tremendously to your personal and professional growth. Feel free to try them out, and remember – it’s all in your head, and it’s all in your hands.

As a bonus, here is one last piece of advice for you:

Practice Everything You Learn

Reading ebooks, studying case studies and watching tutorials is worth little by itself. But if you try applying what you have learned right away, then you’ll feel the real effect.

• Installed a new software? Google how to use it, and try doing something in it at once.
• Heard about a new CSS technique? See if it can be used in one of your current projects.
• Read a UX case study? See if you can apply some of its tips in your work.

The secret of world-class web designers is that they are always eager to try something new. And if you think about it, doing so may be the only way to survive in such vast, evolving and ever-changing environment as the web is today.

Good luck in your designing prospects, and may the force of beauty, style and client satisfaction be with you!

The post 5 Self-Education Practices for Web Designers appeared first on Speckyboy Design Magazine.

I’m hoping to outline a few useful sources for those interested in further expanding their knowledge in design. Ranging from web forums, tutorials, and blog posts, you can find topics on nearly anything. The only thing you’ll need going in is a strong will and determination to learn!

Creating a Standard Website

For those who aren’t familiar with a standard website, you are truly only required to work within a single language. HTML 5 is the most recent release in the series of W3 documentation. Inside we find a structured tree-hierarchical language based on tags and attributes.

However, with only HTML, you may create bland formats with no true creativity. CSS is known as a style language written with name/value pairs. Inside these files, you write code to target page elements and update their styles. These could be font sizes or typefaces, background color, positioning, borders, or practically anything you can think of.

With these two languages, it is very easily possible to build a website within a few days. The learning curve isn’t too steep, and once you understand how the languages interact with each other, it’s mostly studying new or unknown tags. This is similar to learning a new language – once you understand the basic syntax, the main challenge moving forward is learning the different types of words.

HTML Study Resources

If you have never studied HTML before or just wish to expand your knowledge, I would recommend hitting Net Tuts+. They are a popular web development blog run by Envato which publishes very useful snippets of HTML code.

They don’t solely focus on HTML, however, so you will oftentimes find mixed articles in the archives. Their tutorial categories include PHP, JavaScript, WordPress, and Ruby, among many others.

W3Schools HTML5 page is another series of great value. If you’ve got 2-3 hours set aside, I would highly recommend going through their simple lessons. Everything is guided and features very classy transitions from different elements until building your final web page.

To be slightly more specific, I have found one blog post in particular stands out. The article was written by Dave Woods titled HTML5 Tutorial – Getting Started. This outlines all of the major ideas you’ll need to understand in building your first website. The web has changed, even in the past ten years, to the point where creating a website is very simple. It is the innovation and creativity in web design that poses barriers to many professionals in the field.

Crowning CSS

If HTML is easy enough and you’re looking to build out your CSS skills, I would recommend a few similar resources. W3Schools actually features two separate courses. Firstly a standard CSS class outlining how to go about creating simple alterations in your website. These would include fonts, colors, headings, links, and navigation menus.

For the advanced crew, their latest CSS3 release offers an in-depth tour of the latest features. These have become popularized with today’s modern gurus accessing cheap drop shadows and rounded corners in every project.

Similarly, we have a large archive of CSS posts accessible in tutorials and resources. Along with the classic CSS techniques, many developers have been integrating CSS3 tutorials. Check out our collection of 20 tuts specifically related to CSS3.

Flourishing Imagination

Once you’ve passed a certain point in your design education, you’ll feel very comfortable building a simple website on the fly. It doesn’t need to be the prettiest of the bunch, but if you fully understand the process from beginning to end, then it’s time to push forward with new frontiers.

Some designers trend towards the graphical arts. These could be icon and logo design, illustrations and vector artwork, backgrounds, and other forms of graphics. Digital artists are generally fond of Adobe’s software suite and will feel comfortable expressing creativity and building website layouts.

On a similar scale, customizations to websites can drastically affect the mood. If you are skilled graphically with drawing and freehand tools, try messing around in Adobe Illustrator. It’s very simple to create vector artwork to be used as a mascot, logo or even background in Flash animation projects.

Icon design is a similar realm where most designers will spend time in Photoshop or Fireworks. With the vast amount of icons found on the web, it’s no surprise numbers are growing. Incidentally, the ability to create your own icons brings about immense possibilities.

Where you may find some of these articles is the newly launched Web Design Tuts+ blog. Their focus is directed on designing page graphics, layouts, wireframes, and the like. This is a great skill to hold in general, as it makes the process of web development that much easier.

Scripting and Programming

If you find yourself leaning towards analytical thinking, studying a small development language may be more beneficial. Education in programming can be done on a large scale through studying similar tutorials and practice.

For social networking fans, I recommend PHPCamp’s front-page articles. Signup is free, and with an account, you are able to leave comments and interact with other community members on article pages. The most popular articles will be voted into the front page, and all relate to PHP, MySQL, and Ajax programming.

Some of the latest PHP tutorials can help expand your knowledge on the topic, both beginner and advanced. We have 25 amazing tutorials on the latest techniques, which mostly any web developer should understand.

For those of you leaning towards scripting, I find these JavaScript tutorials and resources fill the gap very nicely. When beginning Ajax, there isn’t much of a jump to understand JavaScript, either. In effect, you need both a frontend (JS) and backend (PHP/ASP/RoR) language to complete an Ajax call – it is not a language itself.

Conclusion

Following a path of web design is easier now than ever before. Historically the web has been a place for open discussions and sharing of knowledge. The web design community expresses this like never before and truly enjoys helping others to understand.

This article should give you a jumping-off point to see where you are currently and where you wish to be. If you’ve got any questions or comments, feel free to leave them in the blog comments below!

The post Building Up Your Web Design Education appeared first on Speckyboy Design Magazine.