Inference

I have always felt that there has been a really unjust divide between designers and developers. It’s almost like this really weird chasm that one must cross to go over to the other side. Somehow designers lack the analytical thinking required to be a developer and that developers lack the creative sense needed to be a designer. I think this is a really broad generalization and to me, it comes down to what you are striving to be in your career. Regardless of where you stand on this debate, one thing is clear; in a day and age when people are churning out web-based products at a high rate, there is incredible value in being able to do both.

I have always been a developer and never felt the need to learn how to design, until I started working on my own products. Once you start working on your product, there is this strong urge to put out the best you possibly can. And part of making a good product is a good design. So I started spending more time into understanding the aspects of good design. One of the issues I faced was that none of the design articles, books and tutorials were geared specifically towards developers. I really wanted a “design tips for hackers” type of a book. Something I can put to use right away and not feel like I need to spend an eternity to learn how to make the lander and interface for my project.

The 80-20 Effect

It’s true that it takes years to master any craft, and design is no different. The more time I spent on it, the more I feel there is to learn. I have come to respect designers and their work. That being said, I feel a lot of the basics can be picked up very quickly if it is provided in the right format. I’d like to think of this like the 80-20 effect, where getting reasonably good takes 20% of the time and mastering it takes the rest. So I am going to put together a series of posts that try and do just that.

Design Tips for Developers

I have gotten quite a few requests in the past from people asking me for feedback on their designs and I would always have this feeling that if only they knew a couple of small things, they wouldn’t need my advice. I am going to try and list the things I have learnt in the past couple of years of working on the design for my startup. I have the following goals in mind:

• Make it practical
• Target current design trends
• Greater detail to help with the basics
• Talk about specific techniques with examples

I hope that after reading each of these posts, you should be able to go back and apply it right away on your existing designs.

Who is this for?

I am trying to target developers that have little to no design experience and would like to do things to improve their design but don’t have the resources to bring a professional designer on board. Somebody that wants to improve but is stuck with the one nagging question, “people tell me my design looks bad but I don’t know why”.

The Plan

I’m going to try and make this set of posts as practical as possible while talking about the theory behind the designs as well. I’m going to be talking about the basics of using Photoshop for visual elements of the interface, the basics of UI, typography, the importance of grids, etc. I’ll also try and touch on the importance of developing a good taste for design and how we should think about design while developing products.

Disclaimer

I am not a professional designer nor am I going to pretend to be, so take my advice with a grain of salt. In essence I am trying to lay down a path that I would have liked to take as a developer when I was starting to learn design. I hope others find it helpful.

Rest of the Series

This post is a part of my Design Tips for Developers series.

• Preface
• Photoshop Basics
• Photoshop Effects – Gradients

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Thanks to @mliao for reading over this post.