One of the ways to stand out at any job is to learn new skills. It's one that's never failed to serve me well. My degree was in reporting, but self-taught design skills propelled me into a different segment of the print industry. Having those writing skills combined with the design skills has opened new doors for me. This is the first in a weekly series of "How to" articles - skills that you can learn to expand the knowledge you already have in the print and web industry.
As you look for a new job, you'll find a lot of emphasis being placed on web design. For designers used to Photoshop, Illustrator, QuarkXPress, and InDesign, this might something that's completely out of your comfort zone. You're confident in your print work, because a good bit of the time it will come out as it goes in. The Internet is a different story. Throw in a bunch of HTML and CSS coding and somehow your graphic has turned into a Picasso.
I am a huge fan of the TUTS tutorial sites offered through the Envato Network. VECTORTUTS taught me Adobe Illustrator far better than a book ever could. It changed Illustrator from an extremely intimidating program to one that is very pleasant to use.
Their flagship site, PSDTUTS, is offering a week-long series of web design tutorials that will teach you how to build web sites using Photoshop. The list of tutorials, provided by the site, will be as followed:
Monday - How a Turn a Texture into a Seamlessly Tiled Background
Monday - How a Simple Layout Can Be Mixed 'n' Matched with Patterns, Photos and Backgrounds
Tuesday - The 3 Components of Good Web Design
Tuesday - 7 Interface Design Tips to Make You a Better Web Designer
Wednesday - Designing a Textured, Paper Web Design
Thursday - 7 Interface Design Tips Every Web Designer Should Know
Friday - Cliff Notes on a Website Redesign - Tips and Thoughts from the Creattica Inspire Design
Friday - 20 Killer Portfolio Templates via ThemeForest
Saturday - 8 Ideas, Techniques & Tricks for your Web Design Toolkit
Sunday - Best Photoshop Templates on ThemeForest So Far
Monday - $25,000 Giveaway, Score ThemeForest Cash by Commenting
Source: PSDTUTS
And if that isn't cool enough, designers are now able to sell their raw Photoshop designs through the network's ThemeForest site, a marketplace designed to sell all sorts of Internet-related design. While the entire event seems geared to promote the new aspect of ThemeForest and the company's giveaway, this is a great introduction to learning an new and invaluable skill that doesn't involve buying a $50 book.
Comments