Here's how I was able to get pretty good at design:
Every day, visit a variety of CSS galleries and make sure to view at least 100 designs, saving the ones you like the best.
Start a personal website if you don't already have one, and begin creating mockups in Photoshop or Fireworks of what you want it to look like. Most likely, you will be unhappy with what you create more often than not, but it's important that you keep iterating.
When you finally create a design you personally like, subject it to outside criticism from designers who know their stuff. Do not take anything they say personally. They will probably rail on you about typography, whitespace, the grid system, proper color matching, and so on. Go through the process of fixing your design to address those critiques.
Last, and most importantly, redesign. Although I think that there is an element to design that's innate, I would argue that it's mostly about practice and pattern recognition. It's all about being able to pick out the best designs and have your opinions match up with the largest percentage of the population as possible.
Most of good design is just re-applying the best elements of other people's designs. Truly innovative design is a rare thing and hard to pull off. It's a bit like fashion or modern art - most people will balk at truly creative stuff, but it can make it into the mainstream with enough persistence.
TL;DR view css galleries obsessively and save your favorites, perpetually redesign a personal site, frequently ask for feedback from other great designers, accept criticism gracefully, practice, practice, practice.
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Here's how I was able to get pretty good at design:
Every day, visit a variety of CSS galleries and make sure to view at least 100 designs, saving the ones you like the best.
Start a personal website if you don't already have one, and begin creating mockups in Photoshop or Fireworks of what you want it to look like. Most likely, you will be unhappy with what you create more often than not, but it's important that you keep iterating.
When you finally create a design you personally like, subject it to outside criticism from designers who know their stuff. Do not take anything they say personally. They will probably rail on you about typography, whitespace, the grid system, proper color matching, and so on. Go through the process of fixing your design to address those critiques.
Last, and most importantly, redesign. Although I think that there is an element to design that's innate, I would argue that it's mostly about practice and pattern recognition. It's all about being able to pick out the best designs and have your opinions match up with the largest percentage of the population as possible.
Most of good design is just re-applying the best elements of other people's designs. Truly innovative design is a rare thing and hard to pull off. It's a bit like fashion or modern art - most people will balk at truly creative stuff, but it can make it into the mainstream with enough persistence.
TL;DR view css galleries obsessively and save your favorites, perpetually redesign a personal site, frequently ask for feedback from other great designers, accept criticism gracefully, practice, practice, practice.