In my experience the very best way to develop design chops is to get a sense of the kind of design you like, and then let that influence the look and feel of your own projects.
At first you will be copying other peoples' style and that is okay. As you proceed and improve you'll start doing your own thing. Great artists steal, etc.
Of course, without your own projects, you'll get nowhere, as has been pointed out.
As an aside, there's very little of the camaraderie/collaboration you're probably used to from the hacker world in the design world. (Though http://hackdesign.org/ looks rad!) No one has written The Cathedral and the Bazaar for design yet. Know that upfront and you won't be surprised when designers act more afraid than excited at the prospect of unskilled hackers trying their hand at design.
Don't buy into the suggestion you need to worship 'the masters' of graphic design to learn to do your own thing. The web is not just paper that you can click, it's a new medium. You'll learn as much studying design on the web as you will from books.
At first you will be copying other peoples' style and that is okay. As you proceed and improve you'll start doing your own thing. Great artists steal, etc.
Of course, without your own projects, you'll get nowhere, as has been pointed out.
Design it Yourself is a pretty good read: http://amzn.to/UV6jFV
As an aside, there's very little of the camaraderie/collaboration you're probably used to from the hacker world in the design world. (Though http://hackdesign.org/ looks rad!) No one has written The Cathedral and the Bazaar for design yet. Know that upfront and you won't be surprised when designers act more afraid than excited at the prospect of unskilled hackers trying their hand at design.
Don't buy into the suggestion you need to worship 'the masters' of graphic design to learn to do your own thing. The web is not just paper that you can click, it's a new medium. You'll learn as much studying design on the web as you will from books.