🚀 go-pugleaf

Typophile.com is a great place to learn about fonts, typesetting, type design, logo design, etc� Stan.

I'm a little burned out on it but I think you would probably like it.

pbc

thanks Paul, I'll give it a look see

Go to InDesign, Illustrator, or Photoshop which has far more users than here. This thread is kind of casual like the PS lounge. For real tips, I usually go to ID first and AI and PS from there. Go to any and all and you'll see people stop in several times a day or almost every day as opposed to occasionally.

www.creativepro.com has great tips. No forum that I can recall.

InDesign and Layers magazine are great as is Graphic Design. Almost all are delivered digitally these days.

      This thread is kind of casual like the PS lounge.




No. Definitely not like the Lounge.

Neil

      Definitely not like the Lounge




Did I detect a shudder there, Neil?

I wouldn't say this section is casual, as much as it is specific (usually) to commercial printing issues. The other sections are more general, and you often will get 5 or 6 replies from every question from an amateur for each one from someone who really knows.

      www.creativepro.com has great tips. No forum that I can recall




There is a forum that started up within the past year but it is slow to get moving. The nice thing about creativepro.com is that comments are often enabled after the articles so that discussion can continue - - and authors stay in touch to follow up with clarifications. This kind of interaction (also now appearing at the bottom of Adobe's livedocs online help) is a good 'next step' from plain text forums.

indesignsecrets.com and quarkvsindesign.com are good blogs with plenty of instruction and discussion.

<shudder>Shudder!</shudder>

While there's no problem with kicking off your shoes here, this forum (as well as the Web and Typography forums) is "serious", as much as the product forums are. But it's centered around project workflows, industry issues and production techniques, rather than product-specific how-to.

Neil

It's hard to find a forum that is more about design and less about the technical issues we face. If anyone knows a good one of those I would be interested. Technical issues (while I realize the need to stay on top of them) are less and less interesting to me.

pbc

Richard in post 3, I like this forum because of what Neil said, it's a workflow, issues, techniques forum. I don't need to know how to do a specific task on a program, and when I do, I head over to the program forums. I'm looking for forums like this one, with a 'designy' aspect or workflow aspect.

I don't feel the training I received in college really prepared me for the real world, so I'm trying to play catch up, mainly in regards to design. Like Paul said, technical forums are easy to find, but design is what I'm looking for. I do see some good links in here though, will check them out, thanks!

stan, 

      I don't feel the training I received in college really prepared me for
      the real world




It was no different when I was in college in the '60s! I never learned anything about running a design shop or agency. Our portfolios were often pie-in-the-sky exercises without any consideration of the practicality or cost of producing a piece the way it was presented. But, today, I have a strong sense that additionally, a lot of the production detail has gone by the boards.

Too many people today know zip about type, printing, paper, ink and other production details.

Too many people think "computer" first, and it doesn't even occur to them that maybe it's easier (and more realistic) to photograph and scan a particular kind of detail than to try and create it in Photoshop or Illustrator.

Too many people are more concerned by how many different applications they can figure out how to launch and use (even if remedially), than to understand basic design principles.

This forum, the Web design forum, and typography forum can be valuable in those areas glossed over in school.

Neil

Neil,

Sorry didn't realize you had posted until just now. I came back to get that link posted by Paul.

Ya, I get what yer sayin, especially in that people try to recreate a detail rather than just scan something they found. I often fall into that trap myself, and think, why the hell didn't I just scan this detail I'm trying to recreate?

I try to sketch everything first, but yes, sometimes we fall into the computer first trap. Anywho, it's good to see I'm not the only one who learned zilch in school. Maybe someday they'll smarten up and change the syllabus.

Stan

Stan,

I've been sitting by my computer patiently waiting for your response... <g>

I suspect that at least some art schools' ultimate goal is to push their students to produce eye-catching portfolios rather than teach "real life" content: problem solving through appropriate design; principles of typography, Web and print production; software and business basics.

It was similar when I was in school. Except that computers were daisy-chained refrigerator-size cabinets in clean rooms. Very user-unfriendly and geared to doing scientific, military, government and high-end business analysis and calculations. That sort of thing.

Neil