If you’re anything like me, you may find reading laborious in large chunks. Unfortunately, most of the resources for learning web design are tucked away in textbooks, magazines, and blogs. However, in recent years, there has been a large number of designers and developers who have begun to offer a more interactive way to teach design and development…enter the screencast.
Screencasts, in the design and development industry, are primarily focus on tutorials and methodology used in designing, coding, or organizing a website (or element of a website).  They offer an alternative to those pages and pages of steps and diagrams found in your typical print tutorial. It is one thing to follow these steps but watching someone else create and teach takes learning about design to another level.
You can pick up on many of the intricacies of a designer’s process by watching them design via a screencast. Little workflow secrets are lurking everywhere and just seeing someone work through a design task can open up the door to tools and techniques that you may not experiment with by just reading it on a blog. Screencasts also allow the producer to connect with the audience on another level. You feel more engaged by watching a screencast and hearing the designer explain why they do this versus why they do that.
There are many other reasons of why screencasts are valuable but instead of taking the time to explain them, I’ve rounded up 15 of my favorite places to watch screencasts about design and development. Bookmark these sites and whenever you have 30-45 minutes, sit down and watch a tutorial via screencast.¬† It will change the way you design or code–I promise.
Screencasts on Visual Swirl? Maybe…
On a relevant note, Visual Swirl may be joining the list of screencast producing blogs. I’ve been kicking around the idea since the blog launched and I’m working through some ideas of producing my own. I’ve also been approached by a few people to produce some for the blog. Before we head down that path I wanted some feedback on what we should produce and even if we should do it. Do you feel screencasts add more value then standard blog articles? What topics would you like to see in a screencast? What experience level should we aim for in the screencast tutorials? Any thoughts or ideas would be greatly appreciated. Drop me a line below.
Great Sites for Design and Development Screencasts
Vimeo and Youtube and iTunes Store
While these three sites aren’t specifically design sites, they do offer many great screencast videos for designers and developers. Just do a few searches and you’ll find dozens of great tutorials and walkthroughs.
If you know of any other great screencast resources for designers, please leave them in the comment section below.
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