This is a bit old - you may or may not notice the date on this post but it's over a year old. That doesn't mean it's not useful but we all know how fast things chance on the web so there's a chance that techniques and technologies described here could be a little dated.

5 resolutions you should make this year

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Well I started this post knowing full well there’d be plenty of resolution posts around as we enter this new year, and having not got this finished quickly, there are plenty around. You can’t really make anyone follow a resolution and you should all take up your own but here’s five suggestions from me, if you have room in your life for 12 then head over to Six Revisions and have a read of A Designer’s List of New Year’s Resolutions.

Learn a new language
Lets start with learning a new language. Sure you can go ahead and learn Spanish or French or Japanese and good luck to you, I’ve been trying to learn French for years! But I’m sure you’ve guessed that’s not what I’m on about. I’m saying learn a new web language. If you’re a PHP expert why not learn some JavaScript, if you’re brilliant at both then why not learn a bit of ActionScript. Adding new skills and finding out the capabilities of other technologies will only be beneficial. If you’re not wanting to push yourself too far then why not learn to use a different framework within the languages you already use or even just use a different CMS for a project.

You don’t have to be a coder either, if you’re a designer then why don’t you learn HTML and CSS – it can only help with your design and your knowledge of the medium you’re designing for.

Work with something different
Are you a web designer? then go and design for print. A web programmer? why not try some Java programming or even some design!
Working with a different medium can help to keep your eyes open to different possibilities and avoid the tunnel vision that can come from constantly churning out the same type of project.

Read a book
Turn off the computer – really – it’ll only help you, and whilst you’re away from the computer get your head in a book especially since you’re spoilt for choice at the moment.

That’s just for starters, there are plenty more great books out there depending on your speciality.

Write some articles
Do some writing, it’ll help you to think about things in more detail. To write confidently about something you need to know it well and look at it in more detail and it’ll really help you to get to grips with the subject.
Personally since writing on here I’ve found that I learn just as much from researching and writing articles as I do from actually coding and trying things out although often the two go hand in hand.
You don’t have to start your own blog, write for other blogs, you’ll get to know other designers as well and connect with more people.

Do something for yourself
You know that project you’ve been meaning to do? That redesign that you’ve been too busy for? Stop putting it off! Look at your diary and pencil it in. Give yourself a free reign away from clients to go and play and get something done for yourself.
I’m currently looking to fit in a revision of this and a few side projects as well. It’ll be a busy year!

So there are my five resolutions, I’m not saying you should do them all, I’m not even saying I will, but if you’ve thought about doing anything new this year then feel free to share it in the comments.