Marcel Birthelmer wrote:

> Are there cheap books that miraculously teach all there is to know?

I don't think so... this is one of the areas of engineering that's much
more of an art than a science. You have to know a lot of techniques, know
what you can do yourself, know who can do what inexpensively in your area
(which obviously depends a lot on where you are), know materials, what you
(and others) can do with them (and what not) and where to get them, and
then kind of combine that in your head or at the tip of your pencil or
wherever in a way that produces that super cool design :)

Whenever I discuss design ideas with others, there's at least one idea that
comes up that combines one or more of these in a way that nobody has
thought of before. Not every time that's then something that will be
pursued, but still... I guess what I'm trying to say is that there are no
general recipes. But you can learn a few techniques from others that make
sense for you.  

> I'm asking mainly because I'm working on a project now that I want to 
> complete to such a degree that it can be assumed to have been 
> store-bought, but I have no design skills whatsoever, and I'm sure I'm 
> not the only one who's ever been in this situation.
> Any input is welcome.

One thing I've done that provides a quite nice finish and that to a price
that's very accessible for a hobby project too (at least here in Brazil) is
to 
- get cut some adhesive paper cut to graphic designs I made (text, logo,
whatever) -- there are some guys who have a machine that does this, and
they usually make most of their money off the designs, so if you give them
the design, it's not expensive at all;
- polish aluminum -- if you can't do it yourself, there are shops that do
it;
- glue the paper on the polished aluminum and sand blast it;
- take that to an anodizing shop and get it anodized in your color of
choice. The parts covered by the adhesives will be shiny, and the rest will
be similar to brushed anodized aluminum, a bit more coarse.

Every step is really inexpensive here, and quite suitable for one-offs and
prototypes. Gives a very nice general professional finish, but doesn't work
for small text and other markings that you need with a high contrast.

Gerhard
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