The Designer's List of Online Designers' Lists

How to become a decent designer in 707 points, and counting. Sorry, still under construction…

THREE SECTIONS FOR YOUR BRAIN

Improve Your Work

Typographic Mistakes, by Christopher Phin (10 mistakes)

http://www.recedinghairline.co.uk/files/c1c3be2fda2b218e858029a4bde7e96c-397.html

Grammar nazis are so last century. Welcome, friends, to the brave new world of the typography nazi.

The Laws of Simplicity, by John Maeda (10 laws)

http://lawsofsimplicity.com/?cat=5&order=ASC

I wrote The Laws of Simplicity in late 2005 to early 2006 to get my thoughts down about simplicity. In the course of 100-pages, I outline the Ten Laws as used on this website.

Secrets of UX Design from Google, by David Sherwin (4 secrets)

http://changeorder.typepad.com/weblog/2008/03/secrets-of-ux-d.html

Jake Knapp entertained a packed house with a speech on tactics that he uses for creating strong UX work in "the flood" of projects that pour through his UX department from month to month.

The 10/20/30 Rule of PowerPoint, by Guy Kawasaki (1 rule)

http://blog.guykawasaki.com/2005/12/the_102030_rule.html

I have to listen to hundreds of entrepreneurs pitch their companies. These pitches are so lousy that I’m losing my hearing, there’s a constant ringing in my ear, and every once in while the world starts spinning.

A Guide to Web Typography, by John Boardley (4 steps)

http://ilovetypography.com/2008/02/28/a-guide-to-web-typography/

First, it’s worth noting that Typography is not just about choosing a font, or even distinguishing one typeface from another. In recent experiments, trained Monkeys were able to correctly identify Helvetica 90% of the time.

How to Get Design Approval, by Paul Boag (10 ways)

http://24ways.org/2007/10-ways-to-get-design-approval

How then can you ensure that the design you produce is the one that gets built? How can you get the client to sign off on your design? Below are 10 tips learnt from years of bitter experience.

What a Graphic Designer Must Be Able to Do, by Ben Terrett (4 things)

http://noisydecentgraphics.typepad.com/design/2006/04/a_graphic_desig.html

And now you're going to ask me which is the most important?
That's easy. Number 4.

The Best Design Programs in the World, by Business Week (60 schools)

http://images.businessweek.com/ss/07/10/1005_dschools/index_01.htm?chan=innovation_special+report+--+d-schools_special+report+--+d-schools

A panel of innovation consultants, academics, and executives selected the best design programs around the world. From Arizona State to Zollverein, here are the top 60 schools and courses of note.

How to Design Like Me, by Khoi Vinh (5 rules)

http://www.subtraction.com/archives/2007/1101_the_elements.php

For better or worse, there are certain tropes, tendencies, tricks and clichés that I repeatedly enlist in the pursuit of a design solution. I thought to myself the other day, wouldn’t it be fun to list them all out?

The Typesetter's Routine, by davidthedesigner (6 golden rules)

http://davidthedesigner.typepad.com/davidthedesigner/2007/03/uncommon_knowle.html

A few simple rules that will help you become a better typesetter, if not a designer.

How to Design a Flag, by Philippe Bondurand (7 rules)

Flag Enthusiasts, fly your banner over the country of your dreams!

I Learned Design from The Sopranos, by Michael Beirut (8 rules)

http://www.designobserver.com/archives/025896.html

After eight years, 86 episodes, and untold quantities of gobbagool, The Sopranos finished its run on HBO.
And this is what we've learned.

Michael Beirut's Book Turned into a List, by Richard Weston (nearly 79 rules)

http://acejet170.typepad.com/foundthings/79.html

The (hopefully) clear and (I think) interesting points surgically removed from Mr Bierut's book. With apologies to the author for oversimplification, just repeating the essay's title, misunderstanding, misinterpretation, missing a few out and, well, for just getting it wrong at times.

Web Design Disasters, by Jakob Nielsen (10 mistakes)

The ten most egregious offenses against users. Web design disasters and HTML horrors are legion, though many usability atrocities are less common than they used to be.

Uncommon Knowledge by Richard Weston (in progress)

http://acejet170.typepad.com/foundthings/uncommon_knowledge/index.html

You see, every know and then I get the urge to impart knowledge that I've accumulated on others, usually younger designers. OK, sometimes it's reminisciences about PMT cameras and Rotring pens, but sometimes, very occasionally, it's something that might actually prove useful. Usually, it's stuff that I wish I'd known when I was at their stage of life/career.

Weblog Unusability, by Jakob Nielsen (10 mistakes)

http://www.useit.com/alertbox/weblogs.html

Blogs are often too internally focused and ignore key usability issues, making it hard for new readers to understand the site and trust the author.

Tutors for The Future of Graphic Design, by Ben Terrett (7 rules)

http://noisydecentgraphics.typepad.com/design/2006/06/the_future_of_g.html

The D&AD have asked me to talk to some tutors about the future of graphic design next week. Which is lucky because I'd been thinking about it at the weekend.

Web Site Design, by Sharpened Productions (10 rules)

http://www.sharpened.com/web/about/rules.html

Simple is good, Design is paramount, Navigation should be intuitive, and so on…

Create a great CV, by Ben Terrett (10 rules)

http://noisydecentgraphics.typepad.com/design/2006/01/create_a_great_.html

We were all students looking for that first design job once. And remember how hard it was?

Things to Do When You Are Bored, by 9rules (5 rules in fact)

Let’s face it people, we are all bored sometimes, whether it’s at school, work, or the end of an exam. And we all have nothing to do except listen to music sometimes or even read a book. Are you even bored of that? Well, read the following simple and short article to have some new ideas in mind.

Calling a Prospective Employer, by Ben Terret (4 rules)

http://noisydecentgraphics.typepad.com/design/2006/02/create_a_great_.html

If you rang a prospective employer, you wouldn't say,
"Erm, umm, yeah, have you got any junior design jobs ?"
would you?

15 Top Designers' Rules, by Fast Company

http://www.fastcompany.com/magazine/28/one.html

Fast Company asked 15 top designers -- creators of buildings, furniture, products, Web sites, costumes, and labels -- to deconstruct something that exemplifies great design to them.

What They Never Taught Me in Design School, by Michael McDonough (10 rules)

http://www.designobserver.com/archives/000121.html

I read lots of these kinds of things (and even written a few myself), but I found McDonough’s not just entertaining but actually quite useful, and valid for nearly any kind of design discipline.

How to Get Your First Job in Advertising, by David Trott (19 rules)

http://noisydecentgraphics.typepad.com/downloads/howtobydavetrott.pdf

Ninety-nine per cent of peopletrying to get jobs in advertising believe that they are whizz-kids. The one per cent who know they are not (and are desperatly trying to learn) are the one who actually get the jobs.

Excellent Freefonts For Professional Design , by Smashing Magazine (+40 fonts)

http://www.smashingmagazine.com/2007/11/08/40-excellent-freefonts-for-professional-design/

Over the last year we’ve been observing typo-designers and their works; we’ve regularly collected high-quality fonts available for free download and free to use for personal or/and commercial projects.

Things We Have Done That Haven't Worked, by Ben Terrett (8 failures)

http://noisydecentgraphics.typepad.com/design/2007/05/things_i_we_hav.html

I think the title is fairly self explanatory, but to clarify; it means stuff I've done as a graphic designer or stuff we've done at work that just hasn't worked.

L'Evolution du Design Interactif, par Etienne Mineur (10 points)

http://www.fluctuat.net/blog/contributeurs/etienne-mineur.html

Je me propose de mettre en avant 10 points me semblant essentiels liés à l'histoire du design d’interactivité. Ce choix est totalement subjectif et n’engage que moi. Il s’agit du point de vue d’un graphiste travaillant dans ce domaine depuis presque quinze ans, et je vais donc vous éviter, dans cette série d’articles, des points trop techniques ou trop liés au marketing à mon goût.

The Best Design Programs in the World, by Business Week (60 schools)

A panel of innovation consultants, academics, and executives selected the best design programs around the world. From Arizona State to Zollverein, here are the top 60 schools and courses of note.

Improve Your Taste

The Best Types of All Time, by FontShop I guess (top 100)

http://www.100besteschriften.de/index.php

Zeit des Sichtens
So haben wir gewertet
Beste Schriften Edition
Impressum

The Worst Designed Cars, by BusinessWeek (top 10)

http://images.businessweek.com/ss/07/08/0824_uglycars/index_01.htm?chan=rss_topSlideShows_ssi_5

A recent survey selects the worst designed cars of all time.
The top pick?
The AMC Pacer.

Awsome Music Videos, by Pitchfork (top 100)

http://www.pitchforkmedia.com/article/feature/36588-staff-list-100-awesome-music-videos

So now we're making use of our video-inspired sloth, sharing 100 of our favorite music videos; simply, dozens of clips that, for various reasons (because they're so good, because they're so bad, because they feature the Jacksons imagining themselves as gigantic golden gods sprinkling gold dust on humanity), we enjoy watching and hope you'll enjoy as well.

Excellent Examples of Web Typography, by I love typography (top 15)

http://ilovetypography.com/2007/09/19/15-excellent-examples-of-web-typography/

I have spent the last month searching, stumbling, noting, bookmarking and analysing in a quest to find 15 Excellent examples of Web Typography. I’ve chosen them because they make excellent use of type. Some of the examples mimic the typography of print, while others actually leverage web technology, smart CSS and delicious HTML to make their pages not only aesthetically pleasing, but legible, user-friendly and easily navigable.

The Most Important Type Designers, by Brown Fox (dead: top 20 + living: top 11)

I’m trying to compile a list of the 20 most important type designers of all time. Which one would they be? I know this is personal, so I just wrote down what came to my mind, odered by living and dead. I know this is by no means complete or correct yet. Please feel free to add / edit!

Reasons Why Banksy is Shit, by Craig Robinson (top 10)

http://www.flipflopflyin.com/g/2006/10/ten-reasons.html

There are plenty of popular people or things that I don't like. The Arctic Monkeys for one. The League of Gentlemen for another. Top of my list, though, is Banksy. A sixth-form brain inside the body of a vandal masquerading as an artist.

Most Annoying Alarm Clocks, by Vic DaSilva (top 10)

http://www.uberreview.com/2006/03/top-ten-most-annoying-alarm-clocks.htm

When it comes to alarm clocks, their job is to get you out of bed. Here are 10 alarm clocks that get you out of bed in a very annoying fashion.

The Best Design Blogs, by David Airey (top 50)

Improve Your Life

Behaviour Guide For Younger Generations, by Jean Touitou (9 tips)

How to Say I Love You, by Paul Ford (100 tips)

ABOUT THE LIST

Welcome to The List.
Here, you will find links to one of the designers' favorite litterature: lists of rules.

This website is an attempt to compile these rough pieces of text for other people who may need wise advices.
To make it simple, I hope this place to become a tool for other designers to use.

I tried to organize this List in three sections: Improve Your Work is the main one. Behind every designer, you'll find a teacher ready to help his colleagues with tips 'n rules.
In the Improve Your Taste, you'll get some tips if you have any hesitation while building your cultural environment.
And you'll be able to live much, much better if you carefully read the Improve Your Life section, believe me.

There's also a gallery at the bottom of this page with pictures of lists, because sometimes a picture is worth a thousand words. Even with words on it. Maybe.

Of course, this work is constantly in progress, and I'll add new lists from time to time, so don't hesitate to bookmark.

YOU MAY WONDER

About The List

About l'Imprimante

How to Help The List Grow

THE SHOPPING LIST