[willifred]

I can understand feeling frustrated, but it's a little unfair on yourself. Most designers hone their ability through constant application of their skill, not to mention very often years of expensive schooling. Nobody does it overnight. Although it's certainly possible to do without the expensive formal schooling.

> what are the ingredients

The ingredients (AKA the elements and principles of design): http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Design_elements_and_principles

If you're not going to quit your job to go to SVA or RISD, I'd say the best place to start is to pick up a few books and do exercises. Give yourself time, don't get frustrated, and work at it. There are a lot of good resources in print out there. You could do worse than Alan Pipes's Foundations of Art and Design

http://www.laurenceking.com/product/Foundations+of+Art+---+D...

I'm not aware of anything really fantastic available for free online.

[sek]

Thanks for the suggestions, what is so difficult for me is i don't see progress. How i said, i don't think it is something to learn overnight. I just don't saw a starting point yet, in the technical world there is always a tutorial.

That book sounds very interesting, this is probably the thing i was looking for.

[willifred]

This might be helpful too, a very good book on the basics:

http://www.amazon.com/Visual-Grammar-Design-Briefs-Christian...

[s_o]

I'm just like you in that I'm more of a hacker that has trouble figuring out how to make things look good. Try this book (I've read 3/4 of it--excellent book):

http://www.amazon.com/Design-Hackers-Reverse-Engineering-Bea...

It was made just for people like us!