You usually follow the same set of steps when you build a database. Mouse over the pictures to learn what they are.

Before you begin building your database, it's usually a good idea to stare idly into space for a few minutes to consider the design of your database. This involves figuring out how to represent your information in a database. A general rule of thumb is that you should have one table for each type of object. For example, if you were designing a database to help manage a club you might have one table for club members, one for events, and to keep track of who volunteered at what event. Then when you built the database you would be able to link each row in the volunteer table to a row in the event and members database. In this way you would be able to relate the items in your database in the same way they are related in real life. Later on you'll see how this allows you to use your database to figure out things like who's volunteered at more than 5 events or hasn't volunteered at all, which events had the most volunteers, and so on.