Kinimat

It just so happens, this is my playground. I'm working on a suite of business tools for independent musicians and small labels to manage their online presence, marketing efforts and digital distribution.

It will eventually be here: www.kinimat.com, but I'm in the early stages at the moment. Hope to launch a beta sometime in September, if all goes well. I'm working on this full-time so it should be do-able.

I'm a little rusty on the tech side of things (c/c++ ten years ago! yikes.) but Python and Django are now my friends.

Fortunately, I won't be short of beta testers; my entire extended family are independent musicians. I've already got a huge network of potential customers, hopefully that will give me a leg up.

I'm an electronic musician/dj myself, designer by education, and hacker by hobby. This project is tailor made for me. Now I just need to get'er done.

-Peter

I'm not sure if this is what you're after but Supermemo is a fantastic learning tool.

It uses a system of spaced repetitions to significantly increase retention and memory. It's been around a long time and has been refined over many years. The creator was featured in Wired not long ago..

http://www.supermemo.com

Unfortunately it's windows only.

These kinds of sites are ruining all creative industries.

It's working for spec on the off-chance your designs might get chosen. THe odds are stacked against you and the competition devalues your work. It's the type of thing that is historically rampant with IP theft, abuse, underhanded tactics etc.

Designers should not be working on spec; ever, especially college educated designers. It's tempting to get these projects under your belt for the experience and the portfolio but once you go down that path, it can be hard to raise your rates up to a liveable wage when everyone else is working for free or cheap.

Ugh.. ignore the typos.. typed too quickly.

I have a degree in design and half a degree in engineering :)

With respect to the topic.. good design studios get involved in a project from day one and have a tremendous impact on the outcome of the final project. It's not simply a "skin" over a technology. It's should be a critical part of your operation.

I find it bizarre that many people assume anything "artistic" requires innate talent and you either have it or you don't. Design requires constant practice and dedication to be good and ten years (or more) of experience to be truly great, just like any other discipline.

My designs from 15 years ago are laughably bad but now I can whip up some decent fairly quickly. On the other hand... I haven't programmed anything in 10 years and have a long learning curve ahead of me.

I'd recommend looking for some good designers on one of the freelance sites.. there's no shortage of choice. If you decide to go it alone, or even if you don't, I recommend picking up the book "Design Elements" by Timothy Samara. It's the best, most concise, book on the general principles of design I have yet to find. It will give you a good overview and some talking points with any designers you hire.

Good luck!