Videos that will help to improve your design skills

Whether you’re a beginner or advanced web designer you can always use some tips, tricks and tutorials to advance the way you see design as a whole. From quickly designing a new WordPress site to understanding the how and why of simplicity in the designs you sell.

According to Smashing Magazine, a few of the best ways to improve your design skills are by focusing on your concept, choosing fonts wisely, communicating instead of just decorating, selecting purposeful colors and creating negative space.

Since designers are so visually motivated, I wanted to put together a list of the best videos that help you improve your design skills. There are so many to choose from, but some of them have unique topics such as stealing designs for motivation and how to approach the situation when you realize you want to be a web designer.

This is only a short list of some cool videos out there, but feel free to check out this list of curated content for some of the most popular videos and articles for designers on the web.

Simplicity Sells

Simplicity Sells is one of my favorites, since minimalism has been a growing trend in the digital and mobile spaces. The video shows David Pogue in a TED Talk, where he outlines some of the worst designs he has seen and some other examples of products and interfaces that get it right in terms of design.

It’s an entertaining and somewhat inspiring speech, since he adds humor by playing a funny song on the piano, and he discusses the history of how technological interfaces eventually became easier to use, as a less technical, broader audience was starting to get their hands on it.

Great Designers Steal

This video talks about the strategy of designer Jeff Veen, who makes many beautiful things. Veen discusses how he never intentionally copies another person’s work. However, he blatantly looks for inspiration from others to locate solutions that he could steal for his own work.

He starts the talk with a quote from Picasso about stealing work, then he goes onto explain what the quote means and how he implements the thoughts in his own career. It’s a great watch for any designer who struggles with finding inspiration.

Build a Responsive Website From Start to Finish – Sketching, Wireframes & Design

Every website needs a responsive design, and this video details steps of that design process such as wireframing and sketching. The great part about this YouTube video is that the speaker tells you about the tools he uses on a daily basis. He provides actionable tips for improving your workflow, along with zoomed in shots of him actually drawing his sketches and moving around on the software.

Seductive Design

Seductive Design is by Andy Budd, and it’s all about creating beautiful interfaces to grab attention and make them want to see what you have created. He incorporates several areas that you must focus on in order to seduce a user, since as humans, we all love being seduced.

How To Make a WordPress Website

Some of you more experienced designers may roll your eyes at the title of this video since so many bloggers make videos for building WordPress sites in order to grab affiliate sales for hosting accounts.

However, this is one of the more extensive tutorials I’ve seen, since it lasts over an hour and it outlines everything from finding hosting, installing WordPress, creating a new post and making sure your design is mobile responsive.

Web Design Trends – Typography

If you’d like to learn more about typography, this is a great place to start. The “>presenter discusses how typography has evolved from simple fonts to elegant art, and how you must think how your typography is being used to get people engaged with your content, all based on the complexities, sizes and colors of the typography.

Logo Design, Strategic Planning & Branding

Harry’s sells high-quality and affordable razors, yet this video provides a great resource for those who want to see how a successful company like Harry’s goes about hiring its designers. It’s actually an interview with Emmett Shine, Founder and President of Gin Lane Media, and he gives some nice insights for what designers should think about if they want to work for a company like that.

Design Patterns Video Tutorial

Derek Banas offers a code-heavy tutorial where he provides answers to the most common pattern design questions he receives, and he dives deep into OOP concepts. The goal with the video is to solve common software design problems, and it’s a clear and quick way to brush up on your skills.

I Wanna Be a Web Designer

If you’re still wondering if you’d like to be a web designer, this is a wonderful video to start at, since it follows a designer throughout his day and you can discover what types of tasks he goes through to ensure that he is doing his job properly.

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