Reddit reviews Janson's History of Art: The Western Tradition (8th Edition)
We found 3 Reddit comments about Janson's History of Art: The Western Tradition (8th Edition). Here are the top ones, ranked by their Reddit score.
Sure! SmartHistory is an amazing resource (http://smarthistory.org/)--we suggest it to our undergrads constantly, and many of us still use it ourselves when teaching outside out speciality . . . There's also Art History Teaching Resources, which is designed for teachers, but can be really helpful with quick overviews of periods and styles, and often has reading recommendations for beginners (http://arthistoryteachingresources.org/).
If you've got money to spend, I also strongly recommend The Great Courses (http://www.thegreatcourses.com/category/fine-arts/art-history.html?CFM=mega_menu)--they're dvds of courses by actual professors and experts in the field, and do an incredibly thorough job teaching specific material over a series of lectures. You can pick what courses you're interested in as well, and some of the lecturers are really amazing. They're not cheap, but they do go on sale a lot.
You could also pick up some textbooks, which do a great job introducing the whole history of art. We use [Gardener's Art Through the Ages] (https://www.amazon.com/Gardners-Through-Ages-Richard-Tansev/dp/0155011413), [Janson's History of Art] (https://www.amazon.com/Jansons-History-Art-Western-Tradition/dp/020568517X), and [Stockstad and Cothren's Art History] (https://www.amazon.com/Art-History-5th-Marilyn-Stokstad/dp/0205873472/ref=pd_sbs_14_t_2?_encoding=UTF8&psc=1&refRID=C66Q35JR4CV6SYGG8PBK). Like all textbooks, they're on the pricey side, but new editions come out all the time, and you can find old editions for pretty cheap, and since art history doesn't change much, it really doesn't matter it it's out of date! A lot of them also come in "a la carte" editions, so if you're only interested in ancient art or the Renaissance say, you don't need to get a 900 page book that goes up through the 21st century.
To be good at design in general, there's a few things you need to know.
Basically, there is no shortcut. You need to study the history and understand why things work or don't. A bit of psychology never hurt anyone either, even just a 101 class should be enough to get you started. Lastly, just remember this one thing, it will be the most important part in your career...CONCEPT IS KING. I cannot stress this enough, make sure everything you do has a big idea behind it. Something that lets you organize everything under it. I don't care how much UX/UI thought you have, how many ad units and SEO whatevers you did, without a great idea, its total shit and just fluff.
Jansens is expensive as HELL, son. Dunno what kinda art-schooling you had, but we SPENT where I went to school.