Whether you are self-taught, fresh out of school, or a design veteran, continuing education has invaluable long-term effects on your ability to stay competitive and business savvy.
The immediate benefits are also abundant. Emerging techniques you learn today can be applied to a client project tomorrow for added value, or to set your work apart from the mainstream.
There was never a point at which successful designers have learned enough. The secret to being cutting edge is to stay sharp. Aside from your local library or book store, and in lieu of returning to college full-time, the internet offers you an infinite number of outlets and resources for learning.
With so many blogs, e-books and forums offering knowledge on hundreds of design-related topics, determining quality and choosing sources can quickly become overwhelming and time consuming. Below are 9 of the best resources I have uncovered and used to keep my own skills fresh, chosen for their high content quality, element of interest, value and relevancy.
1. Sessions College for Professional Design
Sessions College offers a collection of high quality certificate and degree programs aimed at professionals who wish to learn something new or refresh their credentials. Each course is designed to provide new and creative ways to use modern techniques in design, coding and multimedia. Fees are reasonable, and the school offers an easy payment schedule and assistance for securing private loans for those who need them.2. Lynda.com
The video courses offered through Lynda.com cover a wide range of subjects, from Development to Photography. Courses are carefully tailored to help professionals learn new topics in a short amount of time, and are a perfect way to evolve your work by expanding your knowledge to include complimentary skills such as Photography or Animation. Lynda.com is a pricier option at $25 per month, but may make up for the money you will lose by letting your talents wane.3. O'Reilly
O'Reilly is an academic standard when it comes to instructional text, and their library sports titles covering every technical subject imaginable. They also sponsor the School of Technology, which offers extensive online courses and certificate programs, covering modern programming languages. Unlike formal online university programs, the School of Technology courses earn you credits at a fraction of the cost and are accessible anytime. Training courses are excellent for learning specific topics quickly, but the cost adds up. If money is tight, the best solution is to buy a book. Several titles are available for free download from the O'Reilly library, found by entering "free" into the search bar.4. jQuery
The power of jQuery is quickly becoming a staple in web design, and understanding its basic function and implementation is important, even if you are not a developer. The jQuery website is more than just a repository. Its tutorial seciton is an excellent solution for learning specific techniques and plugin usage. Each tutorial is written by key contributors to the jQuery project, many of which are also authors, teachers or industry pioneers.5. W3C Schools
Building from standards set by the Worldwide Web Consortium, W3CSchools always has a complete overview on updates in web coding before they are fully supported by browsers. Keeping on top of content as it is published to this site guarantees you will have a strong understanding of the discipline and techniques required to implement it in your designs far before the rest of the web catches up. W3C Schools even offers certification for the benefit of skeptical employers.6. Free University Courses
You can pay for premium education, or you can get it free. If you are like most designers, free is always a better option. Academic Earth is a compendium of top university resources, seminars and lectures on a variety of topics, including business, art and writing. Berkeley and MIT also offer a huge selection of open courses, video lectures and materials to help you supplement your technical skills.7. Conferences
They aren't the most cost-effective or quick ways to learn a new skill, but the contact-building capabilities of conferences and seminars far outweigh the perceived inconvenience of leaving your computer and many of them offer convincing whitepapers aimed at convincing your employer to fit the bill. Thousands of experts from around the globe gather to exchange expertise and ideas in areas you may not think to pursue as a designer, such as copyright law, business ethics, user experience and agile development. Smashing Magazine hosts a thorough list of conferences on their blog here and cover everywhere from New York to New Zealand. Conference websites often host videos of past talks, allowing you to gain key insights without having to attend. To keep on top of internet topics outside of design, check out upcoming technical conferences at O'Reilly.8. Challenge Yourself
Learning a new trick in CSS or mastering HTML5 is not the only way to keep your skills sharp. Your creativity muscle needs new ways to flex itself that go beyond web standards. Use sites like the 100-Day Drawing Challenge and Show & Tell's 30 Day Challenge to keep your artistic aptitude high and strive for unique and interesting perspectives through physical sketching. If Photography or Digital Art is more your thing, consider JPG Magazine, DP Challenge or Dominance War to help keep that spark lit, and keep an eye on Duuel, a new website aimed at challenging pairs of designers to innovate in specific areas of design.9. Community
Your instinct may tell you to stay away from others of your kind for survival, but this is counterproductive and counter-intuitive where the spirit of web design is considered. Sites like Forrst, DesignersCouch and Dribbble give you the opportunity to experiment in an open arena, ask questions or share your expertise. Your peers and colleagues offer the best resource for learning new techniques, discovering new tools and gaining valuable feedback, so don't be afraid to use it. Where are your favorite places online to continue their design education? Let us know in the comments!Vail Joy
Written exclusively for Webdesigner Depot by Vail Joy. She is a freelance designer and tech blogger with a deep interest in all things web-related. She also enjoys writing for WIX, the free website builder.
Read Next
10+ Best Resources & Tools for Web Designers (2024 update)
Is searching for the best web design tools to suit your needs akin to having a recurring bad dream? Does each…
By WDD Staff
3 Essential Design Trends, April 2024
Ready to jump into some amazing new design ideas for Spring? Our roundup has everything from UX to color trends…
How to Plan Your First Successful Website
Planning a new website can be exciting and — if you’re anything like me — a little daunting. Whether you’re an…
By Simon Sterne
15 Best New Fonts, March 2024
Welcome to March’s edition of our roundup of the best new fonts for designers. This month’s compilation includes…
By Ben Moss
LimeWire Developer APIs Herald a New Era of AI Integration
Generative AI is a fascinating technology. Far from the design killer some people feared, it is an empowering and…
By WDD Staff
20 Best New Websites, March 2024
Welcome to our pick of sites for March. This month’s collection tends towards the simple and clean, which goes to show…
Exciting New Tools for Designers, March 2024
The fast-paced world of design never stops turning, and staying ahead of the curve is essential for creatives. As…
Web Tech Trends to Watch in 2024 and Beyond
It hardly seems possible given the radical transformations we’ve seen over the last few decades, but the web design…
By Louise North
6 Best AI Productivity Apps in 2024
There’s no escaping it: if you want to be successful, you need to be productive. The more you work, the more you…
By Simon Sterne
3 Essential Design Trends, February 2024
From atypical typefaces to neutral colors to unusual user patterns, there are plenty of new website design trends to…
Surviving the Leap from College to Real-World Design
So, you’ve finished college and are ready to showcase your design skills to the world. This is a pivotal moment that…
By Simon Sterne
20 Mind-Bending Illusions That Will Make You Question Reality
Mind-bending videos. Divisive Images. Eye-straining visuals. This list of optical illusions has it all. Join us as we…
By Max Walton