If you’ve arrived at this page I’m guessing that you’re not a designer, but someone who is interested in learning how to design, whether you want to create web pages, graphics, traditional digital art, etc. Whenever anyone starts something they know nothing about the first question that looms over their head is “Can I become a great designer?”

I believe the answer is yes, no matter whom you are or how much you know.

A lot of people get confused about the difference between a designer and an artist. When you think of all the fantastic designs out there on the Web it’s very easy to see that many are inspired by art. A design, strictly speaking, is the deliverable following the execution of a plan. It is the finished output of careful research and thought, catered to a specific task. When we speak of design we mean many things, an Architect is a designer, much like a car manufacturer.

Art, on the other hand, goes far deeper than the functional domain that exists within Design. Art is primarily a visual and sensual entity that brings feeling from human perception. Your definition of art depends not only on how you see art, but how you see life. It is intertwined with psychology as well as philosophy in the sense of how one person could understand a piece of art, whilst another could experience it in a totally different way.

As designers, we focus not on perception, but on functionality. Our designs hold a purpose and a selection of requirements, and unless they adhere to the strict rules surrounding that domain a design is flawed. This is the difference between Art and Design. We can stretch our designs to be perceived by some as a work of Art, but it remains within a logical boundary, whilst the realms of art are limited only to the imagination.

Only by realising this boundary can we become effective designers, not wannabe artists.

Now that we’ve covered that step it’s time to move onto the original question. Design is logical and relies on millions of known and unknown boundaries. For example, we could argue that the design of this browser window is good because the main toolbars occupy the top area, allowing the main area of the window to contain the web page. Now, for all we know there could be thousands of better ways of creating a browser application design. Perhaps it would work better at the side? Maybe removing the toolbars entirely would be the best idea? Design is about research and learning best practices.

You can do several things to help nurture your ability to design, such as:

• Learn what works through Human Computer Interaction and User Interface Design
• Master your Toolset
• Do your own research into what works best
• Learn from and work with other designers

All of these are good, but all contain the most important part of learning to design, and that is to PRACTICE!

Practice is the only way anyone can become good at anything. Once you’ve found what tools you require to design what you want, and you know enough about the subject to know what works all that’s left is to actually do it.

Talent is a tricky subject, because talent definitely does exist, and there are those that have natural talent for design. This does not mean that you cannot pick it up! I’ve known really poor designers that have worked their way up from creating small banners about their favourite bands to working on corporate product design projects for large companies within the spaces of a couple of years through non-stop practice. These people have done nothing but devote time towards learning to design through both practice and learning old and new methods, designing and creating every single day for most of their lives. Much like with every other profession, what you need is passion for what you want to do. If your dream is to become a professional footballer you could become one. If you’re not naturally talented then you’ll need to start playing at the age of three, you’ll need to vigorously watch football all your life to learn how to play, you’ll have to play against others non-stop and you’ll need to become fitter than everyone else on the pitch by far. Once you beat your opponents you work on beating better ones, until you’re playing for Manchester United against Liverpool in the Champions League Final in ‘x‘ years time.

If you’ve come here looking for exact ways of learning how to design than you’re out of luck, because I don’t know how you’ll become a great designer. The only way you’ll ever know is if you get your feet wet. There are hundreds of thousands of fantastic digital art and design communities out there and a simple Google search can land you on a forum or social network that will help you perfect your design skills. I definitely recommend the SitePoint Forums, as always. The guys and girls there are very friendly and are more than helpful in helping you reach your goal.