What are the best ways to be a better web designer?

Like a lot of web designers I didn’t go to school to learn web design or development. My degrees are in completely unrelated fields. As a web designer and developer I’m close to 100% self-taught. That self-teaching isn’t random though.Since the beginning I’ve set a course for self-study that I continue to adapt to this day. I thought I’d share some of the things I do to continue to improve my design and development skills.First I want to offer a few thoughts on learning in general.Two Types of LearningOne of the frequent topics of conversation on small business forums is how important a college education is. The argument ultimately boils down to the importance of theory (school) vs. experience (working).Most people typically fall on one side or the other and I’ve usually found that side depends on their own career path.There are good arguments for both sides, but I think the best way to learn is through a combination of theory and practice.Theory:Learning through theory is about learning from the experience of others. Design has a long history and there are many years of thought about design from which you can learn.Mostly I pick up theory through books and through time spent thinking and analyzing my work and the work of others.Sadly I think far to many design blogs focus on the how without offering the why. You get recipes instead of learning how to cook. Recipes certainly have value, but if you understand how to cook you can create your own recipes instead of relying on the recipes of others.PracticeWhere theory is learning from the experience of others, practice is learning from your own experience. Theory is often taught under ideal conditions. The real world is seldom ideal. It’s also one thing to know something intellectually and another to know it by experiencing it at web design Houston.Practice:Gives you a deeper understanding through real worldAllows you to solve problems under less than ideal conditionsTrains you to physically do somethingWith theory it combines the experience of others with your own experience, leading to something uniquely you via /r/web https://ift.tt/2Fsqvw1