What is the fastest way to learn graphic design?

I can tell you it certainly won’t be from staring at cute pictures of cats on the internet.

I know that, but I do not know how to do that.

Digital-Tutors.com has a whole series on digital design from typography, to grid based design, to theory of color.

I learned the theory of color in Kindergarten with Roy G Biv.

That’s actually how color selection affects mood and consumer behavior. The more advanced digital tutor’s lessons talks about how to do a lot of work on Adobe Illustrator.

Or I could just take classes in Adobe Illustrator.

Adobe TV is a free online resource by Adobe on how to use Adobe Illustrator.

Free is good, especially given the cost of their software. But Illustrator is not the only Adobe tool you need to use for graphic design.

The TV dot Adobe dot com site actually has sections on how to use Adobe Photoshop, too. Or you can go to the HelpX dot Adobe dot com sites for tutorials on using tools like Adobe Muse.

Yet I’ve heard that designers need to learn a lot more than just Adobe.

You could take the Udacity design 101 course on the design of everyday things; that’s free, though it lasts two weeks.

I’m pretty much just looking at the design of my workstation while making virtual designs.

You might want to take the digital-tutors computer graphics 101 class. It is free and a good introduction to the topic.

I have a good introduction to the topic in the form of all the examples of what not to do that I see.

Try the TeamTreeHouse dot com classes on Photoshop Foundations. That’s free, though you may need to pay for advanced content.

Even a lot of free gaming websites make you pay to level up, gain access to bonus levels or get extra lives.

You can find at least the basics of graphic design on sites like DeskTopPub dot About dot com; that site has a whole series of free lessons on the elements of design and using the desktop publishing software.

There is way more to design than desktop publishing. Web design is the big thing today.

For a lot of people, the simplest and fastest way to learn web design is Khan Academy. You can learn HTML5 and Cascading Style Sheets in a matter of hours, and the lessons on JavaScript can teach you the basics in just a weekend.

Khan Academy is an academic site.

It has simple lessons on the basics of drawing in JavaScript and moves on ton animating in JavaScript.

If it can teach me what matrix math is and my nine year old how to use it, I can probably learn web animation from the site.

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