How to become a (web) designer if you are a programmer

[onsker]

Hi All,

I have many years programming in different languages, i love doing it, and im good at it, i feel i can code (almost) anything if i have the resources to do so.
However my weakness, i feel, is and has always been (web) designing, its like i don't have imagination, i cant even draw something simple. I can code in css of course, but i find my self struggling with floats and margins/paddings to make things look the way i want to. Further, when a fellow designer takes whatever design i did and just improves upon it or redoes it, it just becomes way better than i could have imagined.
I have been told, programmers are logical and designers are creative, and each cant do the otherthing well since the mind set is completely different.

Is this true? Any stories of Programmers who have become good [web] designers? Any tips on how should i start?

 

[v2Media]

It's rare to have both skills, development and design. However design needs a creative spark that many programmers don't have.

I think you should start by immersing yourself in graphic design related study - books and internet. Buy a big, fat blank page scrapbook and get clippings, scans, prints of designs you like and make notes on what you like/dislike about each design. This will exercise your aesthetic sensitivity and make you design articulate. Two excellent reference books I keep for design inspiration are "The big book of logos" and "Taschen's 1000 favorite websites".

Once you've developed an aesthetic eye for design and are familiar with design terminology, then take the next step of ramping up your xhtml/css javascript skills. I recommend sitepoint.com/products for basic web design study materials.

I've been a web developer for over 10 years now and also a capable web designer. However I had a career in commercial art for 6 years, then got a bachelor of fine art, then a master of multimedia design. So for me, design came first, then development/programming.

Got to admit though, if you want to do both design and development, you have to exercise both. You loose what you don't use...

 

[kensha]

You can always be both if you have enough spirit to do both.

I'm a webdesigner/programmer so that I can mentain mine own website and build it up from scratch.
However it's just shortly I started to look at the webdesign so I'm learning a lot from there.

I hope some'one still can answer on mine last post cause now I use containers for the text fields.

Anyway you should take a look at the webtemplates on the internet and have a twist and turn of your own.

Being a programmer and webdesign is just awesome as you have full controll.