We improve our professional skills

Every web designer knows how important it is to study the best works. It helps to be in trend, to follow changing techniques visualization, learn from the masters, use someone’s experience so as not to reinvent the wheel. Regular review of works develops creative thinking and a special design vision that helps distinguish quality design from bad. However, not only beginning designers, but also some quite experienced ones do not get the maximum benefit for themselves by studying top jobs Why?

Because studying designs isn’t just about looking.

This is a full-time job

Some designers consider studying top works a kind of useful leisure. Looking at designs over a cup of coffee, they feel in the trend and think that they are spending their time usefully. Sometimes they rush to review works to urgently to be inspired (to copy a suitable solution from someone). In short, many look at designs when needed or for mood After all, no one pays for it.

This approach is not beneficial. Treat studying designs like a job and you’ll soon have fantastic ones the results You will begin to see differently, think differently. You will reach the professional level much faster than those who who looks at designs aimlessly and haphazardly.

This is regular work

If you pump your muscles in the gym from time to time, there will be no benefit. So it is with the study of works. You pump special designer ones muscles With regular classes, your skill, design quality, and self-confidence will increase. Make time for these activities and consider this time “untouchable”. Don’t steal it from yourself and don’t let others do it.

It is not the amount of time that you spend on classes that is important. Regularity and purposefulness of efforts will be much more beneficial.

This is purposeful work

Sitting for hours on Dribbble or Behance, looking at designs to the point of pain in the eyes is a pointless waste of time. You must have a goal. It is clear that the goals of beginners and experienced designers are different. Ask yourself: “What is not working out for me as I would like? What should I work on?” You can write your goals on stickers or on a board to remember them and not get distracted on what does not belong to these purposes.

Develop an action plan — for the near term and for a more distant term. For example, it is convenient for someone to work 5 days a week with designs for 30 minutes and once a week — 2 hours. Someone can allocate more or less time. The main thing is to decide what it is you who will do it at this time and why, and then even 15 minutes a day will bring benefits.

Plan to work on your weaknesses. Someone does not manage to clearly structure the content, someone is not strong in color solutions, someone has problems with typography. Look for what someone does better than you and try to understand how it’s done

This is an analytical work

Design vision is formed by thinking, not by memorizing techniques or techniques. The main goal is to learn analyze the visual and functional potential of the design. What is needed for this?

Choose 3-5 designs that you particularly like. Why did you notice them? What got you hooked? Take one for more careful analysis. Your task is to understand why the work is done in one way or another. Does it fulfill its purpose? What are its main advantages? What visual techniques and tools did the designer use to achieve the goals? Why is this job in the top?

The analysis is carried out according to the following parameters:

• Adequacy of the topic of the task and its implementation. Do you think the visual corresponds to the stated theme? In what style is the work done? Why?

• Visual architecture. Is the design well structured? What is the reason for such a compositional decision? Did you understand the logic of content placement at first glance?

• Achieving goals by the user. Put yourself in the user’s place for a moment. Did you immediately understand what you were offered? Would you like to purchase this (accept offer)? Is it easy to do?

• Color palette. Why was this and not another color palette chosen? Does it evoke the right emotions?

• Navigation. Does the navigation look convenient and logical? Is it immediately clear where everything is?

• Functionality. What functions are used in this example? How are user tasks solved?

• Content. Does the content look clear? Is the hierarchy of elements traceable? How they are grouped and separated from each other one meaning blocks? Is there a feeling of cleanliness and space or, on the contrary, busyness?

• Accents. What are the accents? With what is this achieved? (Color, shape, scale, animation, etc.)

• Graphics. What graphic elements are used in this work? (Lines, shapes, textures, color spots, etc.) What do you think is the reason for this choice?

• Icons. How are the icons made? Is their meaning clear at first glance? Do they match the overall style?

• Image. How are photographs, illustrations, and animation used in the work? Are they working on the main task? By what principle are they selected? How processed? What are you interested in?

• Fonts. What fonts are used and what is their hierarchy? Is it comfortable to read the text, especially small?

• STA. How was the design of the STA unit decided? Why exactly? Do you want to press a button?

• Uniqueness. Is there something special about this work that distinguishes it from others? (Once you noticed it and took it for analysis, there must be something!) Determine what this attractive feature is.

When analyzing, look at the design through the eyes of the user, not just the designer.

At first, such a detailed analysis may seem difficult to someone. However, the more often you do it, the faster it will be you will begin to notice the advantages and disadvantages of works and spend less and less time. You will soon find that two or three are enough for you minutes to analyze the most important. The benefits of such a thoughtful analysis are enormous. It will not be easy for you to develop a special vision, and a special way of thinking. You will immediately grasp the essence, distinguish good design from bad, quickly find visual solutions and avoid mistakes. This is the thinking of a professional.

This is a design copy

Copying is a useful exercise not only for beginning designers. It means the most accurate repetition any design or its elements. Many things are imperceptible even with the most careful viewing. And only independent reproduction of elements allows you to make many interesting discoveries and gain personal experience.

This is a style copy

This training is more difficult than copying the design, but the benefit from it is much greater. You need to make a design in style one of the trending works, but for a different task. There are many styles in web design, their various combinations are often used. It is not necessary to determine which style is in front of you, the main thing is to understand the principles of visualization that this style uses. Therefore, to begin with, a general analysis is conducted. We study:

• layout structure
• color gamut
• number and level of graphics

Then we do a more detailed analysis using the basic visual criteria from point 4. Understanding the principles will help it is easy for you to create your design layout in the given style. With the help of such training, you will learn to quickly “grab”. essence” and spend a minimum of time on copying the style.

This is collecting

Create folders to store useful materials. For example, you can sort folders by types of site blocks: “Main screens”, “Galleries”, “Contacts”, “Product cards”, “Blocks with icons”, etc. You can collect designs by theme using Pinterest, use bookmark managers like Toby to organize bookmarks in a collection.

Organize your collections as you see fit, according to your current tasks.

This is an expansion of consciousness

Don’t limit yourself to just looking at the design. The principles of harmony and beauty are universal. The more a person looks around, fascinated by the colors of the world, its device, harmony and perfection, the wider the mental and creative possibilities. Studying talented works in various fields of human activity will help you develop good taste, design vision and creative potential.

Useful resources for regular viewing, materials for classes, searching for ideas and inspiration:

• awwwards.com
• are.na
• csswinner.com
• htmlinspiration.com
• cssdesignawards.com
• muz.li
• thefwa.com
• siteinspire.com
• hoodzpahdesign.com
• invisiblecreature.com
• abduzeedo.com
• designspiration.com
• superdesigners.c
• snazzymaps.com
• typewolf.com/adobe-fonts
• heycusp.com/case_study/
• wordmark.it
• incredibletypes.com
• typographicposters.com
• lubalincenter.cooper.edu
• eyeondesign.aiga.org
• bookcoverarchive.com
• klim.co.nz
• tdc.org
• logogeek.uk/logo-history
• pexels.com
• telegraf.design
• magculture.com
• stackmagazines.com
• meireundmeire.com
• behance.net/gallery
• sagmeisterwalsh.com
• www.neue.no
• stockholmdesignlab.se
• bureauborsche.com
• stereo-buro.com
• bpando.org
• experimentaljetset.nl
• wallpaper.com/design
• thegentlewoman.co.uk
• offscreenmag.com
• www.slanted.de
• the-brandidentity.com