It’s been 6 months. I have been designing this site for release for just over 6 months now and I know how to design a site. This is my 3rd draft for my site, my first two were created but never released publicly (view them in my portfolio).

I learned a lot over the past 6 months, especially since I consider myself a graphic designer and a web developer and that is finding where to draw the line. So many designers (or artists in general) have the problem of finding that point between chalking the design full of graphics while still making the site very usable.

As we travel through this era of “Web 2.0” where everything revolves around gradients, reflections, and rounded corners, I find it’s actually harder to create good design. Half of the sites I see today look the same with just different colors and content. More and more programs are coming out and with all the tutorials out there today, it doesn’t take much to become a wizard in Photoshop anymore.

And so it boils down to content.

I’d like to think I have something worth saying just as much as the next person, without having to flood my sites with Top 10 Lists or 800 Links Every Design Should Know. It’s gotten to the point where everything seems to be have said already. Or has it?

The difference between a good and a great designer is that a great designer assumes he knows nothing.

If it didn’t make sense, I’ll reiterate. I would like to consider myself a good designer. But if I stop where I’m at right now, that’s all I will ever be. By assuming that I know nothing, it pushes me to learn even more. I know that there will probably always be someone better than me at something, but it is the ability to be very good at multiple things that will make you stand out from the rest.

I don’t know if anyone has been keeping up with the latest internet trends, but it would appear that an overflow of designers is on the way and I’m not going to be pushed aside. Think you awesome at Photoshop and Illustrator? Try learning PHP. Are you a Ruby on Rails and a Python guy? Try learning Flash. The key to being a good designer is the combination of various skills that will allow you to accomplish anything.