Don’t copy that floppy!

I’ve written a new article for Smashing Magazine entitled Understanding Copyright & Licenses. It’s a primer for web designers and developers. Give it a read, let me know what you think.

I do like to tackle the difficult topics. They often require a lot of research and I tend to arrive at the other end knowing a lot more than I thought I did! This one was surprisingly more fun than it sounds…

Start Writing

Writing is an amazing technique for self-improvement. It forces you to articulate your ideas and express yourself in ways you’ve never considered before.

Here’s a test: try writing your “design style” in 500 words. Stuck on the first sentence? If you’ve never written about design theory or practice before it’s incredibly difficult. If you can’t describe what you’re doing now, how can you go beyond that? How can you express your ideas to clients? It’s hard to learn new things without being able to pin-point what you already know. As a designer you should be experimenting with different mediums.

Allow your creativity to flow in all formats.

For me, writing about web design has improved my game rapidly. Doing it publicly (which is not essential to educate yourself) has introduced me to new people and opened many doors within the industry. So go forth and write!

Why not start by writing a nice comment on my latest Smashing Magazine article :)