How do I learn graphic design?

[Athena]

@wasson

What I heard over that was “Do people really just learn this stuff by copying?”. No, we don’t… if you really had the appreciation for design that the OP implies, then I don’t think you’d have asked that. If you were being facetious, then I’ll take off my sensitive-slippers and apologize.

I was responding to BigT’s post:

@BigT

I’m under the following impression: most amateurs (with sites that look good) just go and find a site design they like online, and copy that.

I can copy with the best of them, but I want to get better than that.

[SanVito]

@Athena

And to further clarify - I may have been using some wrong terminology, I’m mostly looking to learn better layout. I don’t expect start designing logos from scratch or create original artwork.

I do my best to bring a real graphic designer into the mix for any website of any size that I do. But occasionally I do websites for friends or really small organizations that don’t need super-fancy sites and can’t afford to pay much. It’s these situations that I’m looking at improving my own skills for.

And there’s nothing remotely wrong with that. Perhaps a dedicated web design book/course would be the way to go - it might be a little more digestible than Graphic Design From The Beginning, as it doesn’t sound like you’ll be needed much experience in concept work, for instance. Reading up on effective branding would be useful for you, however, as it will help you understand how to communicate a consistent message through words and visuals, which is applicable to any design medium.