Even with all the tools webflow has to offer, it doesn’t mean I will be able to put everything together in a way that is visually appealing and looks professional.
I have been working on learning HTML and CSS and had planned to be begin coding pages from scratch, but am very intrigued by webflow and that the code is accessible. Still, it seems there is a learning curve with webflow as well.
At any rate, I intend to work webflow into my plans of becoming a web designer, but even if I become adept at using the webflow tools as well as HTML, CSS and JavaScript, where can I learn to put the text and colors together in a way that is harmonious and looks as if it is professionally done, and not just wods and photos plugged into a template (or worse)?
I struggled with the same thing and had the same questions.
The answer where to look: Everywhere!
If you truly look around every website (okay, not every) has a certain UI and UX experience. You as a user don’t pay much attention to it. But as a designer you take inspiration from it. Look at the site… what was the first thing that came in your mind… does that button work? Are there too many things on the site? Learn from other’s mistakes. You also… I feel as if I am to write a book so I’ll sum up my experience.
I have done Webflow for two years. I was only introduced to website design through Webflow. What I did was first master the concepts of the development process of building a site in Webflow then took to focusing on my style. I basically looked at templates and sites about cool websites and went from there. You get a feeling for the design of today if you have spent long enough looking at it. I then opened a business. First year I was asking people to hire me, 2nd year I was so blessed as to have clients ask me to build a website for them. (and a lot of them)
I basically wrote an essay that I could have summarized in a 5 word sentence. But rather than delete it I will just keep it so you can understand my journey and perspective.
Basically, the point is learn from templates and their design (Webflow has some great templates)
P.S. If you know anybody who is a professional in UX/UI design I would get to know them better (they can help you a huge amount in getting better) such was in my case.
There are many of books, e-books and magazines about principals of Web Design. Even Webflow has an e-book about it ( Web design 101 | A free Webflow ebook )
Typography, Color theory, UI and UX, and sure look at the examples. And try, create from scratch, experiment, practice
And one day you will realize that you look at the site and can “predict” its structure
A key thing to realize is that making a web site visually appealing is not enough and not even the point. A web site should be easy to navigate above all. Aesthetics should come second.
Therefore you should distinguish between usability and aesthetics, and focus much more on the former rather than on the latter.
(All said holds true only if you want to make sites useful to the users using them. More often than not you’d meet clients who are not the users of their own sites. They’d want you to do something which resembles the site of a leader in their market or would want you to just follow the current design fad (e.g. one pages sites, hero images, infinite scroll and flat buttons).)
@uzzer , I think you are saying that you have to focus on the UX of the site as well. And that’s great, but wouldn’t looking at templates work for this?This is because templates are usually laid out with UX in thought. Anyway, good point though… UX is very important.
How do you know templates are usually laid with UX in thought? That could not even make sense because good usability stems from the copy of a site and templates, naturally, do not have copy on them.
Usability can be assessed only as soon as you know the web site audience, its segmentation, goals on the web site, typical scenarios of use, etc. Templates by definition do not serve the needs of a specific web audience towards specific goals. They are good for giving you a ready-made graphic design but after that, it is the usability expert who must add copy and arrange the visual elements accordingly, into a meaningful interface.
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