My favorite resource? Dribbble, of course.

Studying other artists is perhaps one of the biggest ways to grow as a designer.  Having work critiqued by other artists is also extremely valuable, but we aren't all blessed with a workplace full of designers willing to critique our work.  It's also fun just presenting work and getting more eyes on it.

There is where Dribbble (with 3 b's) comes into play.

Dribbble suggests this question: what are you working on?  Dribbble is a community of web designers, graphic designers, and various other designers that create small snapshots (shots) of their work in progress or at completion. Members can then comment or like the shots.  If you haven't figured it out yet, Dribbble has this basketball theme around it.

Anyway, it's a great way for designers to showcase their work.  Designers can provide critiques, which can help improve the work because a lot of content is a work in progress.  It's also a great way to get some inspiration, which is why I use it.  The world's leading designers are on Dribbble and it's amazing what people can accomplish.  It really helps you keep up to date because the most popular section is always flooded with the trending design elements.

Oh yeah, Dribbble is sort of private.  It requires an invite to become a member, but you can still browse the site without a membership.  Members just have the opportunity to contribute content, which is really fun.

The Main Page

The main page is where all of the recent shots of the people you follow appear.  Following people is pretty easy and it doesn't require an approval.  There is also a social media-like section which shows your recent activity, such as comments on your work.  Finally, there is a suggestions tab which suggests works that you might like based on the stuff you have favorited.

The Shot

Once you're looking at a shot, you can like or comment the work.  If you have a similar shot or the shot inspired you to create something based on that work, then you can rebound the shot by linking up to the original work.  You can also see how many views the shot has.  There is also a handy color palette tool that shows the colors the work primarily used, which I've used a few times to try to find a color palette for a project.  If you're a paying member, you can actually link the original file to the shot so that users can get the big picture.

Jobs

One of the awesome things about Dribbble is that it has created a section similar to LinkedIn or Indeed in that companys can post job openings. You can search by location, but I don't think there is an option to search by job position.  However, pretty much all of the jobs are design-related.  If the company is actively on Dribbble, then they can become a team, which is where multiple members post to.  If a team is advertising a job, then a little icon is placed beside the job opening.  This is usually a nice place to work at because Dribbble is a great resource.

Conclusion

Dribbble is a lot like Adobe's Behance, but to me,  Dribbble is more creative and professional.  For one, it requires an invite to become a member.  I also just love the entire theme of the site; the basketball thing is pretty funny.  I am always impressed with the content as well.  I don't think I have ever seen anything horribly designed on the site, which is impressive.  It's a great resource for getting inspiration.  Dribbble really is one of my best kept secrets, but I really think every designer should be a part of it.

Web Design Basics

I'll just begin by stating it.  Great web design is tough.  It's a delicate balance of pleasing aesthetics and usability.  You could have an extremely impressive and beautiful website, but if users struggle to navigate through the content, then you have failed as a web designer.  Like with any form of art, there are some basic principles behind the design that have existed for decades.  I really wish to say centuries here, but web design has only existed for the past two decades or so.  However, web design is pretty much art; the principles behind art have existed since the beginning of time.

Anyway, let's not get too caught up in being correct with our wording here.  There are some basic principles behind web design.  Follow these principles and you should be able to make a great interface and web experience (UI/UX).

1. KISS (Keep it simple, stupid)

Simple, flat design

Play KISS music on page load.  Actually, that is an extremely bad idea.

Simplicity is really overlooked with beginning designers.  It's easy to get caught up in adding flash and thrill to a design, but really it's just unnecessary junk that is taking away from your work's usability.  Ideally, beginning artists or designers should work with minimalism for a large portion of their learning experience.  If you are able to make an attractive design with minimal materials/shapes/lines, then you have the potential to be a great designer.  But back to web design, keeping it simple will definitely help make your site easily navigable and it will just flow so much better.

2. Don't Make Users Think

Yeah, I'm going there with the stock photography

This is a continuation of KISS.  Making users have to think about how to use your website is going to cause some negative thoughts about your site, which could potentially harm your brand.  Having a really complicated design might look great, but it could cause problems in some users.  Just because you think something works well doesn't mean everybody else will have the same opinion.  You have to remember, the web plays host to all sorts of skill levels.

3. Remember Conventions

This is like a design principle within a design principle.  Following conventions works because, well, it's a convention; it's just the way something is usually done.  For example, when first loading a page, most users' eyes will travel to the top left of the page because we have been taught to read from left to right.  Most people expect the site's logo or home link to be placed there.  It's really something we are so used to and we don't have to think about it.

Explore a handful of websites and pick up some of the conventions they are utilizing.  However, this doesn't mean you have to play by the book 100%.  Deviating from the norm is actually a good way to explore your creativity, but ignoring several design conventions in doing so could lead towards poor usability.  In other words, the sites that deviate from the norm still apply some of the basic web design conventions.

4. Stay Consistent

For some, a website is just another tool to represent a brand or an idea.  These brands have already made decisions for their color schemes, typography, etc.  These visuals stay consistent across all forms of media and it's comforting because we can still recognize it as the original brand.  Your website shouldn't be any different.  Using 15 different fonts, different spacing rules, different layouts, alignments,  or pages that don't look similar to the original index page can cause users to question if they are even looking at the same website.  It can cause usability issues as well. You want to stay consistent with your page design.  You are creating a set of rules within the first few seconds of a page visit.  Users will understand these rules quickly.  But if you can change the way the site works or feels, you are really causing some problems.

5. Get Inspiration/Explore!

There is no better way to learn than by learning from your peers or competitors.  Visit as many websites as you can within your site's field and see what trends are popular, what conventions the sites share, what layouts are working, and what doesn't work.