It all started out with a harmless tutorial made by another designer. Which then prompted me to tweet this. I know I tend to rant about things on twitter from time to time, but I think I hit a nerve here. Some of the tutorials I have seen lately have been reducing design to a step by step ‘process’ that removes creative thought and problem solving.
Don’t get me wrong, I think that (most) tutorials are wonderful and beneficial to the design community. I know of several amazing and talented designers *cough* @collis *cough* who have sprung into the design world this way.
Tutorials should focus on skills and technique, not ‘cool’ end products.
I have no problem with tutorials that show how to create a ’smoke effect’ or a text reflection. This is what I try to do with my quick tips. I show you how to do something, but its more about the PROCESS than the end product.
Tutorials tend to minimize the design process.
Its my gut feeling that certain styles of tutorials may lead young or inexperienced designers to think that design is a straight forward 10 step process. This could not be further from the truth! Design is a difficult and often frustrating process. However this is all made worth it to see a well polished design.
Design is redesigning, and redesigning, and redesigning again!
Design usually happens in rounds of iterations. This process can be driven by client feedback or your own internal feedback. Design is a process that involves refinement. This is another aspect that is commonly missing from tutorials.
What happened to creative and conceptual thinking?
A large part of the design process is creative and conceptual thinking. What emotions does this typeface express to viewers? What does this symbol communicate? How do these colors relate to the products target audience? These are all important questions to consider when designing. These questions are often ignored by tutorials and superseded by ‘coolness’ or design tends. Design without meaning or concept is merely decoration.
Using applications for appropriate uses
While researching for this article I came across several tutorials on how to design logos, brochures, posters, anything in photoshop. While I understand how familiar some people might be the the ever popular application, this is not the correct app to use! Photoshop is for photos and rasterized images! Illustrator is for illustrations and vector images, and indesign is for print layout. Granted there are huge gray areas between the applications but they each have their distinct purpose.
What do YOU think?
Leave a comment and let me know what you think. Do you love tutorials? Have they benighted you immensely? Do you hate tutorials and wish they would be banned from the interwebs? Chime in and let me know what you think!
Images from PSD TUTS and Tutorial 9
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34 Responses to “Tutorials Gone Wild…”
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June 4th, 2009 at 12:01 pm[...] on Twitter with other designers, such as @nikibrown (read her ideas about this subject on her blog post) about this idea that was denigrating the design profession and felt that I had to give my 2 cents [...]
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Pliggs says:
Much like Google has dumbed us down, I can see how SOME tutorials can do the same.
There’s a tutorial for everything it seems, but I think if people use them as a starting point and then expand on them, we could see their creative side.
Good post.
May 28th, 2009 at 4:33 am
liam says:
I must agree. The point that stands out is: “Tutorials should focus on skills and technique, not ‘cool’ end products”
I think Tutorial9 & PSDTuts are two fine examples of what a tutorials site should be.
The reason they work is because they are both very talented designers themselves, and they have a lot of quality control over the tutorials they publish and like you say there’s always a good focus on technique and skill rather than a cool final image. Some of the other sites don’t have that established design background or experience, so while I don’t blame them for trying and I’m sure there intentions are good, they don’t quite get it right.
One other point would be that the people who are learning from tutorials don’t always know what’s good or not. I think Tutorial9 & PSDtuts do a good job of letting you know what good design is, by publishing things other than just tutorials, so their visitors are a lot more clued up.
May 28th, 2009 at 4:47 am
Dawson says:
What I’ve honestly found is that tutorials are awesome and have taught me a lot, but there’s something to be said for experiencing the frustration of creation yourself. It’s often how you use tutorials that matters. I pull up tutorials sometimes just to learn new skills in the abstract, but mostly I use them to learn more about tools I need for a current project I’m working on.
I can’t stress enough how helpful it has been for me to use tutorials as building blocks for skills for my own projects, rather than as the end all be all of what can be done in any given application. And that hooks you in to the oh so hard to tutorialize “creative process” as you work and re-work your own pieces using the skills you learned in tutorials.
A great post, with many valid points. Tutorials are a tool, like anything else, and should not limit the expanses of one’s creativity.
May 28th, 2009 at 5:09 am
Brad C says:
I love the point you make when you said “Design usually happens in rounds of iterations.” It really does take a lot of trial and error to get something that looks good.
You don’t see it much, but I love to see the process of why some design decisions were made. It takes so much longer to learn the “why” of design than it does to learn the “how”. It’s a shame there aren’t more resources like that around.
May 28th, 2009 at 5:23 am
Dan Marston says:
I do agree on the whole, although there are designers out there who focus on one area and may need to use tutorials to get started in other areas (eg. designing portfolios)
These tutorials may be used not to create a new project, but to pick up tips and inspiration. I personally find it very useful to see how others create pages/sites etc and am sure others do too.
May 28th, 2009 at 5:30 am
Paul Ehrenreich says:
I agree with what @liam posted. I am in the boat of just starting out and one of the things I try to do with the tutorials is learn the technique/skills with the tools and then I try and take what I learn and try and expand on it.
May 28th, 2009 at 5:51 am
Chad (@poweredbysteam) says:
The one redeeming quality that I find in a lot of tutorials of the nature you describe is that there is often a tutorial within a tutorial that I will find useful. An example of this was a tutorial where they were making a mail icon, and though I had no use for their icon (it was a bit ostentatious) I was able to glean a few aesthetic observations on how they do the subtle gradients and outlines to achieve the sort of effect, which I could then apply to other things.
May 28th, 2009 at 6:02 am
curtismchale says:
Tutorials are really just a way to learn a tool. They often don’t actually teach good design. It has seemed to me that many of the tutorials coming out lately are very similar. They all have some person or object with all of this stuff flying around them and light. Don’t forget the glowing crap floating and flying around.
Any of the apps are just a tool for designers to use. It’s good to learn about all the little nuances but a tool does not a designer make.
May 28th, 2009 at 6:10 am
awesomerobot says:
Rule 1:
If you ever see a tutorial for designing a logo, brochure, or poster in Photoshop immediately navigate away!
May 28th, 2009 at 7:18 am
Kawsar Ali says:
I see your Point Nikki, but internet is great resources for everyone to learn. So either newbies or professionals can learn something new everyday. I think all the Portfolio tutorials from any websites, just tries to give you different options and perspectives or maybe inspire for a redesign.
Are you suggesting we should not create a mock up in photoshop? What do you suggest?
Thanks
May 28th, 2009 at 8:17 am
Keith says:
This is definitely true for some of the tutorials that I have come across. Since I am just starting out I try to take just the techniques that they are showing and put my own twist on them. Like Brad C mentioned above, I would like to see more of the why a design decision was made, then show the how later.
“Photoshop is for photos and rasterized images! Illustrator is for illustrations and vector images, and indesign is for print layout. Granted there are huge gray areas between the applications but they each have their distinct purpose.”
One I would like to add to you list is that Fireworks is for web layouts. I still find Fireworks tool set and work area better for working on layouts than Photoshop. I wonder sometimes if I am doing something wrong when I constantly read about all the people using it for web layout.
May 28th, 2009 at 8:30 am
Chuck Lasker says:
Like any tool, tutorials are what people make of them. Lazy people will use them to simply duplicate what is in the tutorial, maybe changing some text or element. True professionals, though, will glean the How To info and add it to their creative toolbox, being more skilled for the tutorial but not set to the exact steps.
I’ve learned so much from online tutorials, but not by just watching them – I learn by applying the techniques until it becomes a skill.
May 28th, 2009 at 8:40 am
john says:
The medium of the online tutorial is really no different than a published book on the subject – except it is free and accessible to all.
Like everything, they may be misused or misinterpreted, but that would not make it wrong.
May 28th, 2009 at 9:10 am
Benjamin Reid says:
I agree Niki, from your ranting on about it I’ve actually tried to re-word my un-published tutorials to try and explain why I’m actually doing something as opposed to do this, do that.
What Chuck Lasker says “Like any tool, tutorials are what people make of them.” is a very good point too.
May 28th, 2009 at 9:33 am
Kish says:
Agreed.
Its scary seeing everything look so similar these days and I think so many tutorials on one “cool” technique has a lot to do with it.
But I also think they’re really inspiring when you need a push/shove in a new direction. Its just a matter of using them as “inspiration” for ideas, and not a complete solution.
May 28th, 2009 at 5:51 pm
Callum Chapman says:
Great article! I agree with what you said about photoshop, illustrator and indesign, it really frustrates me when people write tutorials teaching you how to design create icons etc in photoshop! However, I always use Illustrator for print design so long as it’s a single page, any more than that and it’s indesign for me!
May 29th, 2009 at 12:39 am
Narshada says:
I think that part of the responsibility lies with the reader. While there may be plenty of ‘designers’ that like to read step-by-step accounts of how to create cool effects, ‘real’ designers already have the creative, critical and innovative mindset that means when they read a tutorial, it will act merely as a springboard for their own ideas and projects. They will take the techniques shown and adapt them for their own purposes and experiment, because that’s what they would do anyway. Those that don’t… well they probably won’t be picking up any design awards any time soon.
I agree that the writers should include more calls to experiement and showing the process, including revisions and iterations, rather than just spoonfeeding. Design is not tool settings and techniques, they are just methods to realise the mental processes of design.
May 29th, 2009 at 2:47 am
Clemente G says:
I agree wholeheartedly. I rather see tutorials that teach me a technique which I can use to create a design, rather than a tutorial that teaches me how to create retro theme.
For the “…applications but they each have their distinct purpose…”, its gray area. I do believe if you are creating a logo and you first think to open Photoshop, then
user == #fail. But things such as print, is iffy as you can do both in Illustrator or InDesign. It might be easier in one or the other, but some people have a better experience due to there comfort zone in a certain app.All in all, great article. You have been followed.
May 29th, 2009 at 3:36 am
Khoa Nguyen says:
I TOTALLY agree. I actually couldn’t agree more. I think its creating a inundation of really thoughtless and conceptless designs out there. Its rare that you see something that isn’t a fad or something that’s truely original and creatively thought up.
I think that tutorials do serve a purpose, they’re there as reference points for designers to go, read about, maybe get inspired and learn a thing or two, but I think lately a lot of it is just people taking the tutorials verbatim and just slapping their own name or their own logo on it and that really just defeats the purpose.
May 29th, 2009 at 8:00 pm
Heather says:
This was all really well put! And I’ve often thought the same thing (regarding the tweet you linked). If you’re going to follow one of those tutorials, make sure you do it to learn some new techniques or shortcuts or better ways to use the tools in your arsenal (illustrator, wordpress, PS, etc..). If the tutorial didn’t teach you something to apply to your OWN designs and style, then it isn’t a very good tutorial in my opinion.
June 2nd, 2009 at 5:29 pm
Sayz says:
I don’t hate tutorial, in fact I like tutorial which can teach me how to use a feature of a certain application like Photoshop or InDesign,
actually… I prefer to have these tutorial site to tell us the reason to use a certain effect by applying a technique…
A similar end-product can be achieved in thousand ways (or maybe little)…
June 4th, 2009 at 9:59 am
Kelly says:
Agreed where it comes to using photoshop to create any sort of page layout. InDesign is DA BOMB (and the proper application) for this kind of work.
I enjoy all the tutorials. Although I agree there’s a lot of stuff getting regurgitated in the design world (how many times am I going to have to see another bikini-clad “hot chick” with hair flying everywhere and rainbow sparkles floating all around her? Or some dude jumping and bursting apart into a spray of water?)
I like to use the tutorials because I find I learn new techniques or different (perhaps better) ways to accomplish particular tasks in the design programs. I find there seems to be a million different ways out there to enhance an image in photoshop and do other tasks in the other Adobe programs out there.
June 5th, 2009 at 11:47 am
rory says:
I do find tuts very helpful, I’m a very busy web designer and although can design well I don’t always have the time to sit for hours working out how to do things, shame cos I’d love too but I gotta pay the bills keep those tuts coming I say…
June 8th, 2009 at 1:25 am
Soh Tanaka says:
I think if the design tutorial is doing a good job teaching the concept or technique, its on the right track.
Most likely we won’t be duplicating the end result to a T, and will be using the tutorial and applying it to our daily tasks and projects. So the fancy end result is not as important as the process like you mentioned~
Great insight
June 10th, 2009 at 4:39 pm
Rob Bowen says:
I agree, Nicki, not just with you, but with many of the other comments. I think that many inexperienced designers walk away from a tutorial with a single way to accomplish a task, and the subtleties that built up all through that process, the finer points they should have been focusing on, get overlooked.
I think Brad C. said it wonderfully with this statement 'It takes so much longer to learn the "why" of design than it does to learn the "how". It's a shame there aren't more resources like that around.' Great discussion!
January 8th, 2010 at 9:19 pm
Don @creativelydone says:
I agree about the over use of Photoshop for designing almost everything. I am currently working on my site for design conversation, inspiration and tutorials. I think tutorials that teach how to apply the knowledge in design and why you would want to use certain techniques are my goal. I like reading, checking out ideas, and doing some tutorials I come across. Mostly I point them out to others (tweet), save them in a file for later and/or pass them on to students for the 2 design programs that I am on the advisory boards for.
January 8th, 2010 at 9:40 pm
Sneh Roy says:
Agree on the Photoshop thing .. not for logos [I have done several posts on that myself]. I kind of disagree on Tutorials not being about a cool end product. A tutorial with a Cool Finished Effect is what grabs my attention in the first place and my mind starts thinking about what techniques might have been used in it. As designers, we all follow structure, wireframes, sketches, conceptualizing .. a tutorial that shows you how to do all of those things is not really a tutorial in my opinion, it is just a process or method of the person writing it and it will most definitely not be my process, because I might do things differently. But tutorials that show cool effects, fantastic end results show the use of tools and techniques most importantly and that is what I am after, not necessarily to produce the exact result but to stow that information away to create and imagine results of my own.
January 8th, 2010 at 9:58 pm
Matt Haltom says:
I'm not sure I agree with the whole "teaching creativity" thing… I mean common, has anyone heard of Job Security?! JK!!! I totally agree that teaching creative thinking with technology techniques it critical to the development of any professional creative.
January 8th, 2010 at 10:51 pm
Alma says:
To me your statement "Design without meaning or concept is merely decoration." says it all! As an instructor, I often battle with the students because they think that skill over concept will make them more successful. And unfortunately it often seems that way. However, critical thinking, problem solving, and being able to conceptualize an idea from beginning to outcome requires iterations after iterations, after iterations, and did I say iterations? That requires discipline, commitment, and respect for the profession. Sometimes design shops hire the very skilled designers in software because there will always be the need to fill that gap in this rapidly evolving technology. But those who are the design thinkers are the ones doing the hiring not the ones being hired. And that is a very important distinction. Design is a process that maintains a love and hate relationship with technology, but at the core it is about how to problem solve and how to communicate visually and effectively with the audience. That implies learning, reading, understanding visual theory and rhetoric, being able to articulate thoughts, and others. Great post Niki!
January 9th, 2010 at 2:48 am
Ben Young says:
I agree with most of the points you make here, all except the last one, which, by the way, feels a bit 'tacked on' (rants gone wild?). Why should it matter what tools a designer uses? There is no "correct" app. That sort of opinion stifles innovation. Some of the world's most amazing creations come from people who decided that rules like that don't apply to them.
Also, if I'm not a professional illustrator but I design the odd logo for the web, do I really need to buy Illustrator? No, I can use Photoshop, or any other software package I choose, provided I get the result I want. The process of how I get there is up to me.
Bottom line is, i I want to paint a picture with my feet, I'll damned well do so.
Other than that, good points.
February 25th, 2010 at 4:32 pm
Error601 says:
I just wish knuckle-headed (old-school) designers would stop using Illustrator for multi-page documents. That's what InDesign is for! Oh right, InDesign wasn't around on the "dark ages" and Quark sucked then and still sucks…
February 25th, 2010 at 4:46 pm