One of the things I love about the internet is being able to share knowledge. If you are stuck on a design project whether it’s a technical or creative issue there are plenty of good online design forums to go for help.
http://www.sitepoint.com/forums/
Site Point is one of my favourite forums for technical advice. It includes sections for discussions on XHTML, CSS and different programming languages, but also advice on marketing, SEO, hosting and blogging. The site also features a lot of tutorials and I have bought a couple of their books which have been good too.
http://www.allgraphicdesign.com/phpBB2
This graphic design forum is geared heavily towards new designers and students with categories such as Design Education, Young Newbie Designers, Getting Started in Design, Prepress Discussions
http://www.graphicdesignforum.com/forum/index.php
A good mixture of topics in this forum covering all areas of design for both print and web. There are also Software specific categories such as Quark and Adobe products to help you with software specific issues. Take a look at the design related blog too at http://blogs.graphicdesignforum.com/
http://forum.computerarts.co.uk
This forum is a spinoff of the magazine – Computer Arts it’s not as comprehensive as some of the other forums, but has a large number of users. There are the usual web and print design sections, but what may be of interest is the recruitment, design projects/competitions, and exposure (show off your work) categories. The rest of the main Computer Arts site is well worth a look too, its full of articles, reviews and tutorials. The hard copy magazine is a good read if you can get hold of one.
http://www.estetica-design-forum.com
This forum is run by a graphic design blog reader who emailed me a link. While it currently does not have a huge number of members, when I tried it responses were very quick. It has a wide variety of categories from web programming and print design to more specific typography, logo design and a section on business.
http://forum.howdesign.com/
I have only used this forum a few times, but it seems to be geared more towards the business side of design with categories such as business talk, freelancing, marketing and career advice.
http://forums.digitalpoint.com/
Similar to sitepoint (though I prefer sitepoint) this forum is mainly about web design, programming. SEO and marketing.
If you can’t find the answers you need in any of these forums, I have been really pleased with how helpful other bloggers have been. If it’s a design for print question, you can always drop me an email and I’ll see if I can help and I’m sure other bloggers will too.
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12 Comments
Thanks for this, great resource for getting some extra help
Greatly appreciated
Thanks Tara, these look like they could be really useful, especially the business related forum. Although I’m trying to cut down the amount of online reading that I’m doing …
Nice list, Tara.
With the HOW design forum, it’s definitely not just for the business side of things. The critique section there is excellent for design feedback.
Thanks for the mention Tara always nice when you’re starting out to get a little help, Cheers.
Thanks for sharing the knowledge. I’m just starting out, making my first steps into web design.
I’ve already found the Sitepoint forums. I also bought a book through Sitepoint – The Art & Science of CSS – very good.
Those are some great sites, I also find http://www.pixle2life.com to be a very good site too. They have tons of tutorials and a great forum…I love it
Hi everyone, I’m glad you find the list useful.
Toon no problem on the mention I hope your forum is going well.
The New Web Designer – you sound like your in a similar position as me, I’m trying to learn about web design too. Just been over to take a look at your blog, I look forward to reading how you progress.
Some great resources there, Tara. I agree, the SitePoint site is a treasure-trove of info.
If it weren’t for sitepoint I would have chunked my PC out of the window long ago..thanks for the list
Site point is my fav choice.
The read Principles of Beautiful Web Design by Jason Beaird (available on sitepoint for $39.95) and it taught me what exactly makes a good design in a very step by step fashion.
Thanks for the list !
The most beautiful about the Internet is the fact that there is an incredible amount of information available for everybody. You just have to search for it and you can learn about almost everything you want. Let’s just hope will remain free forever.
How generous of your to share these resources! I’ll definitely be looking more closely into these one of these days. Acquiring knowledge is a continuous process. I’m always eager whenever I come across sites such as yours.
The tutorials at SitePoint are priceless! They work best for newbies who are still groping their way through web design.