Help be to become creative!!

[Zzi]

Hi..

Please help me with some advise and opinion. I love this field as a web designer. I am a fresh graduate from a college and currently I am working at Cooprate and Business company. I am incharge as a Web Master for their Company Intranet.

The sad thing is, everybody saying that my design is a Kindergarten level. I am very upset. then I went to attend Web design course, but the lesson is only basic, on how to create using HTML. I also try to find on the internet, learn some sample.

Help me with some advise and opinin and my be sample of website can do so. Eventhough not as good as professional but I really want to be creative badly...!!, I used to Photoshop, swishmax, and dreamweaver.


Please help...thank you in advance for your kind advise...

[bartoszdesign]

...but I really want to be creative badly...

pushing things won't work to start with. It would be easier if you've had provided an example. But if you need advice here we go:

For a corporate design i have an own small guideline...

1. a neutral an calm color palette
2. a simple, neat design
3. a clear navigation
4. a good content management

less is more and you would be suprised how simple and good designs can be. the user of the intranet have to use it every day and need to be able to get to any place within not more than 3 clicks.

edit: look for some examples on the internet and collect information, make notes and sketches, brainstorm with others and then slowly start to develop.

[...Gav]

If your a pressured designer your a rubbish designer. You will get designers block and create very basic, simple, boring things.

1st / other websites - find other websites you like, bits on their site you like and incorp them into your design. Web design isnt about reinventing the wheel, it's about clean, crisp designs that people wil like.
2/ Use other websites as inspiration, there are LOADS of sites out there that can give you major inspiration for layouts, colors and so on
3/ Dont put pressure on yourself, you wont design quickly or very well if your constantly thinking your next design has to win every web award out there
4/ Courses are not helpful imo - as u say, you want to become creative, but you attended a HTML course? Talent cant be taught, your born with it, everyone has it it's just finding it.
5/ It's all about layout and colors, user friendly websites get alot better reviews than busy messy ones. Google Adobe Kular - amazing internet based color application
6/ Less is more -


Sit down dude, pen and paper, and just sketch some concepts, let your mind loose, go mad, noone can judge your concepts, there just concepts. Draw 5 or 6 of them, then look back at them, take 1 or 2 things from each one and make a final concept.

Then load up photoshop - and start putting things into places. If you see something u like on another site and are wondering what it would look like on yours, dont worry about making your own vector version in PS, print screen, paste it into PS and cut it out, add it on, done.

Pick some colors you think would work well and pull out your swatch table - put them colors in there and just start mixing and matching.

Good luck with it bro - it's not easy getting into this industry - it's hard to kick off. But again dont try and make the worlds best website, make one to your ability that YOU like. Then just use that as a bench mark for your future designs and make sure that every new design you do, beats your previous one to that. Then your confidence will grow and so will your creativity :smile:

Gav

[jonze]

I'm of the opinion that creativity is something you either have or don't have, and all the learning in the world won't change that!

[bartoszdesign]

true, you won't learn creativity, but i'm conviced you can learn building solid websites.

[johnnysevengun]

true, you won't learn creativity, but i'm conviced you can learn building solid websites.

Yes, but.... Creativity is about creating something. Building is about implementing somebody elses vision.
So, What do you want to be? The Architect or the Bricklayer?

[iandevlin]

How about a Bricklaying Architect? Or an Architectural Bricklayer?

[Arkady]

[johnnysevengun]

How about a Bricklaying Architect? Or an Architectural Bricklayer?

Why would you want to do all that hard graft by yourself? Hire people to do it.
Unless your time isn't valuable. Or your just building a simple wall.

Can you imagine Lewis Hamilton changing his own tyres in the pits!

[...Gav]

Cause if u want a job doing right, you do it yourself.