First, you will need the following:

• Time
• Your Staff
• Binders
• Magazines
• Flyers
• Paint Chips
• Place to jot down ideas

Magazines are an amazing source of inspiration. They can give you color scheme ideas, font or headline ideas, folio ideas, and layout ideas. So, where to get these magazines? You can ask your staff to each bring in one magazine, and your teacher could even grade you for it. Ok, so now that you have your magazines, what to do with them? Get a big (2 in) binder, and hole punch the magazine pages that you liked. Save anything with colors that could work for your book, headlines that you like, or layouts that could go with your theme. Once they are hole punched, put them in your binder and save them to reference back to. You will be surprised how many ideas you can gather from taking apart just one magazine.

Gathering a bunch of paint chips can be an excellent source of color ideas for your yearbook theme. Go to your local hardware store and sneak out bunches of chips. The ones with multiple variations of colors on one sheet are the best because they can help narrow down color choices. If you already have some colors in mind, make sure to grab a bunch of variations of those colors too. Once you get back (home, class, wherever you’re going), spread them out all over the table, and start picking the maybes and out those aside. Once you know which ones you like, and which ones you don’t, you can put the no’s aside. With the narrowed-down pile, you can deliberate with your staff and find a unique set of color combinations that will work for your book’s theme. If you save these color sheets, they can be used again and again for future books.

These techniques can easily yield many color and layout ideas for your high school yearbook. Keep any pages or paint chips that you and your staff like in a binder, so that later they can be easily accessible.

What You Need to Know

When you start out as a beginner and you want to design your first Website there are a number of different subject areas that you must have basic beginner knowledge and skills in so you can design, develop, and produce an effective Website that you’ll be happy with. The following are skills that you’ll need to know a little bit about to get you started:

• Web Design (theory, concepts, and principles)
• Accessibility
• Usability
• Search Engine Optimization
• Typography
• Front-End Web Development (HTML, CSS, JS)
• Back-End Web Development (PHP & MySQL, ASP.NET, Ruby on Rails, etc)
• Web Hosting

As you can see Web Design isn’t just two words – It splits into a multi-disciplinary subject that requires at least a basic beginner level knowledge in each so you can be well equipped to produce a Website that will be on par with today’s Web standards.

The Path of Learning Basic Web Design

To start off with though you really only ought to know the basic theory, concepts, and principles behind designing a Website and then you’ll need knowledge in HTML and CSS to be able to produce the Website that you’ve designed, so with that in mind, here is the path I advise that you take in beginning to learn Web design.

1. Web Design (theory, concepts, and principles)
2. HTML
3. CSS
4. JS
5. Web Hosting

The above five are the most crucial elements of a basic Website. You’ll need to have the basic beginner level knowledge and techniques to be able to design a Website (even if it is just a 5 page static Website), you’ll then require knowledge of basic HTML and CSS in order to develop your design into a fully functional Website, and in addition to this basic functionality if you require any user experience enhancements then you’ll need to know how to code and manipulate JavaScript. Finally, after you’ve designed, developed, and produced your Website and it’s ready to go live on the Internet and World Wide Web you’ll then need to find a Web hosting service provider to upload your Website files to so everyone in the World can view your glorious Website.

Where to Next

There are so many different inter-disciplinary subjects that you must learn within the Web industry that you couldn’t begin to learn all of them at the same time which is why I have produced the basic and short learning path list above to help guide you in the creation of your first basic Website. In the next article I’ll be helping you to develop your first basic Website using HTML 4.01 and CSS 2.1 and as usual if you need any help then you can visit the SoDevious forums or leave a comment.

http://www.flickr.com/photos/istylr/3776831893/in/photostream/

As a teenager it can sometimes be hard to begin learning something new outside of school because you’ll often have to pay for the learning resources (books, videos, private tutoring / mentoring, evening classes, etc) yourself and without a job – Or a job that doesn’t pay as much as you’d like it to, it can be hard to really get to grips with learning something worthwhile with the right resources available. You don’t have to start off with buying second-hand books on Web Design that were published 10 years ago and are no longer relevant because in this article I’m going to list 20 free resources for learning Web Design that are relevant and new materials that have been published within the past few years.

In this article you’ll find the following free resource types:

• Books
• Online Curriculums
• Videos
• Web Communities

Free Books

There are hundreds of free eBooks available online to download and print off for your own educational use. Some of the best free eBooks are listed below to help you get started before you start buying the books.

1. Dive Into Accessibility
2. Taking Your Talent to the Web the Web
3. The Web Book
4. Web Style Guide
5. Google’s Search Engine Optimization Starter Guide
6. The Elements of Typographic Style
7. Eloquent JavaScript
8. The Yahoo! Style Guide
9. The Art and Science of Web Design
10. Designing for the Web

Online Curriculums

With online curriculums and structured courses you’ll have a structured learning plan from start to finish where you’ll complete objectives throughout by covering both theory and practicals. Although there are only three listed below, you’ll only need these three to get yourself started on the path to becoming a Web professional.

1. Opera Web Standards Curriculum
2. WaSP InterACT Curriculum
3. MSDN Beginner Developer Learning Center – Web Development

Free Videos

It’s a well known fact that some people love to read a good book and some people prefer to watch a video and listen to a person talking about what the video is about, so I’ve also scoured the Web for some of the best, most useful, free video tutorials available. Enjoy.

1. Think Vitamin – Learn Web Design – Free Tutorial Videos
2. Nettuts+ – Who Needs University? The Best Nettuts+ Screencast Training Courses
3. SitePoint – The CSS Video Crash Course
4. Killer PHP – Beginners PHP Course [Note: Only the tutorials with active links are free]

Web Communities

Just like in the offline world / real life where you can talk to friends and professionals who can give you hints and tips about this and that you can find even more online through their own Websites, free magazines and blogs, as well as online community forums. You could sign up to any of the free and professional communities listed below where you can find help on your Web Design / Development adventures.

1. SitePoint Forums
2. MSDN Forums
3. SoDevious Forums

Hopefully you’ll be able to learn something from one or more of the resources listed in this article and you’ll be well on your way to becoming an amazingly talented Web Designer / Developer. If you’ve got a free learning resource that I haven’t listed here but you think should be here then share it with us in the comments!

As a graphic designer you probably already know about the basic tools you need like a computer, Photoshop and a tablet, especially if you have been in the business for a while. However, even the most experienced designers keep a lookout for tools that they can use to make their work easier, faster, and better. From project management tools to business accounting to invoicing to hardware and software add-ons, here are the 9 best tools for graphic designers that can make life easier for experienced professionals.

1. Premium Membership subscription to Tuts+ ($78 for a year): Tuts+, known for its powerful graphics tutorials, offers a premium site that gives you the original source files that match their public tutorials, exclusive members-only tutorials, custom Photoshop brushes, and access to the entire family of premium Tuts+ Web sites. For $9 per month, $22 for 3 months, or $78 per year, you get tutorials and other resources available that will contribute to your skills and to your bottom line.

2. How To Be a Graphic Designer Without Losing Your Soul (From $11): Now that you have been in the business for a while, you know how demanding the business end of things can get. This helpful guide will breathe new life into your withering soul and help you develop your business skills to match the creative skills you have developed.

3. Other professional designers: You cannot put a price tag on the value of some professional criticism and advice. When you first got started, you may have regarded others in the business as competitors. Now that you have experience, you can open up to others. Let them critique your work and provide guidance as you work to bring your business to a higher level.

4. Woodgrain Portfolio ($179): This handsome portfolio is itself a work of art. Made from aluminum, it sports a cherry wood grain finish. This unit comes with ten pages held by a binding with screw in posts. The time is now to start showing off your work in an attention grabbing portfolio.

5. Making and Breaking the Grid: A Graphic Design Layout Workshop: ($16.50) This great book by Timothy Samara will take your graphic design skills to new heights as it teaches you advanced techniques using grid design. This book details all the rules for managing elements and helps the reader discern when those rules can be broken.

6. Print Magazine: ($40 for one year) Stay in touch with the latest trends and ideas in the industry. This is a powerful tool that will play an instrumental role in continued skill development.

7. The OneLess Desk: ($699) (http://bit.ly/ddtcIf). Because the surface area of this stylish desk is minimal, it makes the most out of close quarters. It also helps graphic designers solve the clutter problem: because of its small footprint, you will find that less clutter accumulates, meaning fewer distractions while you work.

8. TSOVET Limited Edition AT76 Watch ($1,250): A unique designer must create a unique persona that includes everything creative. While building your distinctive look, do not forget a stylish watch like this one. The AT76 has the look and feel of precision machinery and creatively incorporates the look of vintage avionics. TSOVET has a variety of looks that will all serve the designer well, so do not hesitate to pick out the one you like best.

9. MacBook Pro memory upgrade ($50): After running your own graphic design business, you know how quickly you use up the system resources on your MacBook Pro. More memory means that you can run more programs and they will run faster making it an essential tool for continued business development.

These 9 tools for graphic designers can all contribute in some way to your continued development as an artist and as a business person. Give these tools a try and watch your career move forward faster and better than you ever dreamed.

From the Editor: I seriously recommend the book, How To Be a Graphic Designer Without Losing Your Soul for any designer looking to get serious. Great book!

If you’re into webdesign, there’s a chance that you have used stock photography at one point or another. While I’m sure we would all love to take and use our own, sometimes that just isn’t possible. Thankfully, there are many websites out there today that offer all kinds of stock photos. If you are in need of stock photography at all, these websites are definitely worth checking out.

Creativity 103.com
Creativity103 has tons of very large sized photographs, most of which have good resolution. There’s a ton of different categories with an average of three pages each. Most of the categories are a little.. different; examples of some are: Alive, Concrete, and Surreal. However, they are all free and if nothing else, could provide some inspiration.

Morgue File.com
MorgueFile offers photos of decent (from what I have tested) resolution and size. It can be a little aggravating to navigate; being very specific with each selection, but there is always a search bar if you know what you are looking for and don’t need to browse. You also do not have to create an account to access the images.

PhotoVaco.com
Photovaco has a ton of photographs varying in size and resolution (although most of what I saw were very large with good resolution). There’s alot of ads around the website, so navigating may take a few minutes to get used to, but it’s well worth it. As well as photos, they also have vectors that are free for use. You do not need an account, either.

Stock Vault.net
StockVault has excellent photos when it comes to size and resolution. They offer a more casual and easier to navigate (in my opinion) browsing system. On top of photographs, they also offer 3D renders and textures. You do not need an account to access any of the images.

Sxc.hu
Stockxchng is among the most popular websites when it comes to stock photography. They offer a large selection, varying in different sizes and resolutions. Navigating is very simple and on top of photographs, they also have tutorials. You do not need to create an account.

Unprofound.com
Unprofound is unique when it comes to stock photography websites. Instead of browsing by category, you browse by colors. The images are submitted by users with accounts, so they vary in size and resolution. There is a search box, however, and if you are looking for a “flower” you can simply type that in. You do not need to create an account unless you wish to create a portfolio.

Woophy
Woophy has an excellent range of size and resolution in their photographs. Their photos come from amateur photographers (anyone can join, but you do not need an account to use the photos) around the world. There aren’t many categories, but there is still a way to browse through them if you don’t have anything already in mind.

My name is Nicole Dominguez, and I am a sixteen year old with a passion for Web Design. For the past three years I have been teaching myself the in and outs of creating websites, and I run a this blog helping teens like me learn as well. From personal experience, I’m telling you that it isn’t easy competing with people twice your age. So, what is age really? How important of a factor is it?

Sometimes, age plays a huge role in being respected by other designers, but sometimes it earns you cool points by knowing so much at a young age. Age can mean many things to a designer.

Think college. If I wanted a formal education in Web Design, I could go to college, and as a teen, there aren’t many ways to make that happen without waiting for it. But, I could also teach myself. What’s the difference between going to college to learn about Web Design or teaching myself? Its the egotistical pride with saying that you have the degree of course. It’s knowing that I have accomplished a goal.

Design of all sorts isn’t something to be taught, it’s something to be mastered, and sometimes a teacher can’t do that for you. A teacher can’t instill that passion; they can only help you master tools and concepts. After all, Photoshop is only a tool. I can honestly say, that in the two years of taking design classes in high school, I ended up schooling my teachers on a few techniques – anything I learned was a ‘fill-in-the-blanks’ for what I had known already. I’m deciding to take the formal education route, and go for the gold – because, well, I want to succeed. I want to be taken seriously.

I’m planning to attend the University of Central Florida and earning myself a degree in Digital Media with a Web Design specialization. Yes – a degree is only paper. It only shows that I had what it takes to do it all. But you know what else it means? It means that I get a chance to be taken seriously as a designer. Wait, this isn’t about me.

There are quite a few teens like myself fighting the same battles; being underestimated, laughed at, not taken seriously, not having the privilege of being able to do things adults can. Yet – they gain from their experiences in dealing with clients and creating their own projects. For instance, take a look at the team at 9Miles Media. 9Miles is a team of teens trying to do what they love, design, program, and collaborate. I used to be a part of 9Miles, until there just wasn’t enough time for me to be an active member. Just one of the trials and tribulations of being a teen in this industry, not enough time.

Sometimes it feels like I make a difference out there – inspiring others, being able to help; but sometimes it feels like there’s no hope in the world if I have to wait years to be where I want to be. No matter how long it takes, I am going to get there. My name will be in lights, (well monitors at least) and nothing is going to stop me. And that folks is the advice I have to give to all you young designers out there – don’t stop trying to reach your goal, even if it feels hundreds of thousands of miles away.

Thanks for listening. Don’t forget to let us hear your thoughts. Are you a teen designer? Are you an adult with an opinion about this? Let us hear it!

Don’t Price Too Low

While you might think undercutting your competition will bring in more business, that couldn’t be further from the truth. Not only will you bring in very few clients this way, the clients you do bring in will mistreat you. Why? Because people value products based on how much they THINK they should value it. As an example, Jonah Lehrer, author of the book “How We Decide” conducted an experiment with wine. A group of people were allowed to compare the tastes of a cheap wine and an expensive wine. Everyone raved over the expensive wine, proclaiming it had a much richer taste. Little did the taste-testers know that the labels were switched! It turns out that the cheap wine was the better tasting, but everyone perceived the expensive wine to be better, simply because of the higher price.

Offering a fully functional website for $500 will not bring you a flock of clientele. Furthermore, the people that do come will not value your services as much as they should. These people will be impossible to satisfy. It’s a paradox of value.

Factor In Experience

Have you generated a sizable client list? Have you participated in any internships? If you have experience dealing with real clients in the web design industry, let that reflect in your pricing.

Factor in Confidence

Arrogance sells. If you believe you have the skills necessary to compete with your local competition, there’s no reason why your rate should be substantially less than theirs. People subconsciously equate pricing with confidence. Many design firms will charge at least $85/hour. Although their work may look like garbage, they have the arrogance and confidence that makes people spend money. Don’t be arrogant to the point of disrespect, but price and present yourself as a contender.

Offer a Unique Product

If all web designers make websites, how can you offer something new? Many steps are involved in the process of building a website: Make one of these steps your specialty, and people will pay extra for your specialization. Do you have amazing UI design? Do you have a custom client login so they can view the status of their site? Do you respond to all emails within 12 hours? Find something you specialize in and people will pay more for it.

Do you have any experiences with pricing yourself to share?

Leave your feedback in the comments section below!

What can you do?

Blogger

Bloggers here would be able to contribute 1 to 3 posts a month, on their own time. You get links back on the posts you write, on a staff page and as a link exchange. You also would be able to reference what you write in a portfolio and get your work published!

Areas of interest:

• Tutorials (Photoshop, HTML/CSS)
• Inspiration Posts
• Resource posts (Roundups)
• Articles
• Photography (How-To’s)
• Craft Articles (or anything creative)
• (We would also be looking for people to submit resources, like graphics, layouts, etc)

Site Helper

Anyone with a few minutes to spare can be a site helper! This is what we would like!

• Submit posts to Social Network sites (RT’s etc)
• Be active in the forums
• Suggest how we can do things better around here
• Or just link to us on your site!

If you think that you can be a part of this team, then we would love to have you! You can contact us with this form, or leave a comment below! You can even get in touch with us if you have any ideas or questions! I can’t wait to start building a team! Thanks everyone!

Oh, one more thing. I am looking into offering service hours for your time. No, not all of you need them and some of you may not know what they are, but some of you do. For example, in my school we need  a certain amount of volunteer hours to graduate. Again, I’m looking into it, so it may be a possibility!

Edit:

Thanks Jared for reminding me! If you can’t become part of the team, you could guest post! Guest posting is at your leisure, and we never pressure you to get things done fast. It’s all when you can! Well, you can drop us a line for that or take a look at  our guest posting page.

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Dioxide Wordpress | $32

Blur – Portfolio and Blog Template | $14

TypeLine – Minimal HTML Theme | $17

Gordon – WordPress Blog / Portfolio | $27

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Clean Portfolio Site | $17

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Iconic, a bold new professional web layout | $22

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Vintage | $22

PENDULUM – Premium Wordpress Theme | $37

Wordfolio | $37

Folio Theme | $27

Briefcase Portfolio Theme | $27

Minimal Wordpress Portfolio | $27

Joorang – Portfolio & Blog Wordpress Theme | $37

Locus One Page – Wordpress | $32

Bookly Portfolio Template (AJAX based) | $14

Levos Clean and Minimal HTML/CSS Template | $17

Galeria – Single Page Wordpress Portfolio | $27

If you decide to purchase any of these themes, every item is $2 off when you pre-pay (deposit) money!

I hope you enjoyed this post and found it helpful!

(Image credit motherjones.com)

How can you differentiate yourself?

With determination, sacrifice, and a little guidance, you can easily differentiate yourself from those competing for your prized web designer/developer position.

Educate yourself

School does not teach you all the essential skills you need to become a successful web designer. If you currently major in computer science and hope to obtain a web development position after graduation, know that almost all computer science degrees revolve around C++ and/or Java. Learning PHP, jQuery, .Net, or Coldfusion has to be done on your own time.

Luckily the design community makes the learning process extremely simple and relatively enjoyable.

Subscribe to blogs via RSS that relate to the position you’re pursuing. In addition to SoDevious, here are a couple of blogs by category to get you started:

• Web Design: Spoon Graphics, Vandelay Design
• Web Development: The Web Machine, CSS Tricks
• SEO: SEO Book, Michael Graywolf’s SEO Blog

You MUST read blogs like these in order to stay ahead of your competition. The web design industry is always changing; failure to educate yourself results in the industry leaving you behind.

Forums are another great educational resource. Personally, I prefer forums over blogs, but I recommend utilizing both. Forums have the added benefit of enabling you to interact with the community and get your specific questions answered. You get your mix of industry experts, novices, and average-joe’s, allowing you to see multiple perspectives. Here are a few forums by category I recommend.

• Web Design: Web Design Forums
• Web Development: Devshed Forums
• SEO: SEO Chat Forums

Your ability to self-teach will directly correlate with your success in the future. If you want to prove to your future employer that you can contribute more to the company than the next candidate, you better know what he’s talking about when he says “AJAX” or “CMS”. A majority of the skills required to land your web design dream job will not be taught in the classroom.

Build your resume

Your resume can be your best friend or your worst enemy. To some companies, the strength of your resume means more than your GPA. Your resume tells your potential employer what you did with your time while in school: Did you go above and beyond to build your resume? Or did you find frat parties and video games more important than your future career? How your potential employer answers that question determines if you get the job.

So you need to build your resume, but how? Here are 3 easy ways to build your resume as a teenage web designer.

1) Apply for internships

Internships remain the foundation of a strong resume for college students. They let employers know you have at least an idea of how the industry works in “the real world”. Call local web design companies and ask if they have any internships available. Treat this internships as a job, even if you don’t get paid. Paid internships are few and far between. You must treat the internship as an investment: Make less money (or no money) now so you can have a higher salary later. While working at Pizza Hut or Build-a-Bear puts some money in your pocket, it does not contribute to the skill set you plan on using the rest of your life.
Read more about Internships.

2) Donate a site/logo to a charity or church

Working for free does not appeal to anyone. However, donating a website or logo to a local organization not only adds an item to your resume, it gets people talking. Consider making a website for a church. Why a church? Church people talk. Make the site, and when it’s finished, ask the Pastor to announce the launch of the website at a service. People trust their pastors, so his credibility is passed on to you when he announces you made their website: textbook word-of-mouth marketing.

3) Guest post on blogs

Find highly credible blogs to guest post for. Using this search query brings up a multitude of web design blogs that allow guest writing. Contact the site owners and pitch your idea to them. If your article gets published, be sure to tack that on to your resume. This greatly adds to your credibility.

Keep your eye on the prize

Taking on such an extensive workload in addition to your classes may seem too stressful or unfair. I encourage you to push through and keep your eye on the prize: Your dream job. If you ever need any help, ideas, or encouragement, the crew here at SoDevious are here to give you a helping hand.

Photo Credit: http://www.flickr.com/photos/carbonnyc/143186839/