Newbie!

[mikey4402]

Hi everyone, i am new to the forum and new to graphic design. i started messing around with photoshop and just got hooked with it!!. im currently reading Photoshop CS2 for advertising and marketing by Daniel O. Sorenson, its a pretty good read soo far.

I am currently a Marketing and advertising major at Kent State Universtiy with a minor in computer illistration, i will be transfering to the Universtiy of Akron in the fall.

I hope to learn alot will here on the forum and i hope one day i will be able to contribute to the site.

any tips to get me started off with graphic design. mabye some good reads. i plan to first get a good understanding with Photoshop then move on to Macromedia software.

[typographics]

welcome to the forum mikey!

[Vikia]

Welcome Mikey! Glad to have you on board.

[cjoe]

The education of the typographer. http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/1581153481/103-2121302-9374233?v=glance&n=283155

good book.

[Neballer]

ARRR, Welcome about Matey. If it's tips ye be seekin, hard a port to the resources thread. Tis a treasure chest filled to the brim with booty the likes never been seen.

[Ned]

Yes, Neballer... I couldn't get that Pirates film out of my head after seeing the trailer, either...

[Rocketpig]

If you want my opinion Mikey, Photoshop is not the way to learn design skills. It's too easy to dress things up and lose the ability to design a simplistic piece that really looks good.

Spend more time with Illustrator and if you're going into print, Indesign. If you're planning to spend more time in web, you can start with Dreamweaver/GoLive but I strongly suggest you learn CSS and HTML.

Everyone knows Photoshop mainly because it gives such shiny effects quickly and easily. Learn something more complicated like Illy if you really want to challenge yourself.

And as others said, hit the resources thread long and hard. There are real gems to be found there.

[MD]

The resources section is alright but anything I post is gold - If you want some real Profound Wisdom® you have to go right to the source. Welcome to the forum.

[Rocketpig]

Well, MD certainly does wear the crown.

If you need a $5 Logo®, talk to the man with the crown.

[PrintDriver]

'man'? with the crown?

Rocketpig has the right idea Mikey. Photoshop is only an image prettier-upper. For real layout and design learn Quark or InDesign with a huge helping of Illustrator on the side.
Read the following two resource threads to learn why.

http://www.graphicdesignforum.com/forum/showthread.php?t=41
http://www.graphicdesignforum.com/forum/showthread.php?t=294

[TheBluePanda]

Welcome Mikey! And don't let these naysayers break you from the fun you're having with Photoshop. Yes, its not the preferred method for certain print materials and such, but there is a whole lot of layout you can do with it. I use it on a daily basis doing graphic interface layouts for e-learning courses, web designs, digital signage, and more.

Just don't use the filters.

[PrintDriver]

Use the filters all you want, just be original with them.
:D

I was thinking mostly print - as you can imagine.

What kind of digital signage, Panda?

[TheBluePanda]

What kind of digital signage, Panda?

My company is involved with event staging, so I'm often called upon to create graphics/animations/advertising/atmospheric stuff/etc for the lcd panels they incorperate into the stage design.

[mikey4402]

thanks for all the warm welcomes... i guess im gonna have to give indesign and illustrator a shot.

im not sure what i plan on working on more when i graduate print or web. so i want be well rounded in both.

rocketpig: im currently studying up on HTML from this site http://www.w3schools.com/html/default.asp
but CSS i have no idea about

[mikey4402]

My company is involved with event staging, so I'm often called upon to create graphics/animations/advertising/atmospheric stuff/etc for the lcd panels they incorperate into the stage design.
thats awsome i would love to do something like that. or at least something in entertainment

[EC]

thanks for all the warm welcomes... i guess im gonna have to give indesign and illustrator a shot.

im not sure what i plan on working on more when i graduate print or web. so i want be well rounded in both.

rocketpig: im currently studying up on HTML from this site http://www.w3schools.com/html/default.asp
but CSS i have no idea about

Welcome mikey!

IMO, there are very few desigers that are really well rounded in both web AND print. Having a strength in one area seems to be the norm, with a decent understanding and ability in the other so they can get the job done. But you seem to already know that. ;)

There are definitely areas of complexity in both disciplines that take quite a bit of time and dedication to if you want to be REALLY good. The issues you contend with are so very, very different.

If you want to do anything on the web, though, you need to learn CSS.

Glad to have you on board. :)

[Birdie1483]

I'm just finishing my school at Purdue and I use InDesign and Illustrator for everything. I only really use Photoshop for photos - to do things to them that I cant do in InDesign or Illustrator. Definately hone up on all of the Macromedia programs and even a little in QuarkXPress. Some companies still use the program and it's just nice to have it under your belt. It was helpful to me when I interned at a small company last year. As for deciding what you want to do, I still have no idea and I'm two months away from graduating. OH NO! I guess I'm going to have to let the stars fall into place for me.

[lesliegraphics]

If you want to learn design research the great designers of our times and then study them. Then you will know that knowing Photoshop, Indesign, Quark, or anything else is not going to make you a good designer. That's all just technical stuff that came onto the design scene 25 or so years ago. But ask yourself this: What did the designers do before Adobe and Quark and all the other thousands of programs? What did they do and how did they design? When you know the answers to these questions you will know about design. Study design history. Try to design something without your computer. Test yourself, challenge yourself. There are alot of designers out there that very likely couldn't be in design if it weren't for computers. Take a hand lettering class sometimes called Typography I where you (and I am not talking about a calligraphy class!) learn about the letterforms and where the type came from and you actucally learn how to lay out type by hand. Believe it or not hand drawn type is still used today, the computer will never completely take over because in the end it's just a computer and a computer program. Your'e the mind, and no computer has that.

[Satchel]

thats awsome i would love to do something like that. or at least something in entertainment

Not all entertainment is fun - I do digital signage for the concerts that come to my property - Seems like they have to have an AARP card to get a gig there! to tell you the truth, most of the time I dont even know who the people are! Sometimes it's cool but most of the time it's a pain - gotta send it to their "people" to get approval and they're not quick about it either.

[lesliegraphics]

A good book to read on advertising/design is called "Ogilvy on Advertising" even though many of the ads in this book were done well before you were born, it gives you an insight into the mind of one of the greats in advertising.