

Ask HN: How to overcome self criticism with UI design - tzaman

Hey fellow hackers.<p>I'm a part of a bootstrapped, 3 person strong startup (1 biz guy, 2 devs) and I'm the one responsible for designing the user interface for the prototype app we are building. I have a gazillion ideas how the interface should look like, but the problem is I'm constantly changing it as I'm never fully satisfied with the outcome. I know that prototype (MVP) should mostly be focused on the core proposition, but somehow I managed to convince myself into thinking that the experience must be absolutely flawless in order for early customers to like it and thus us having a higher chance of success. I'm primarily a PHP/RoR/Js developer but I have a great interest in design - I visit dribbble, smashingmag and co. on a daily basis.<p>I'm asking this question as I often find myself deciding too long on things like (css) shadow opacity and border color.<p>Any tips much appreciated!
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PythonDeveloper
First, stop looking for a "better" design. Functional design is a much better
goal. It's better to launch an ugly site and make it better over time (or not,
see Craig's List) than to never launch the site at all.

As a developer, I found that writing code so that the site is easily skinned
so as to accommodate quick re-skinning makes my fickle sense of design easier
to overcome. The fact that "I CAN" re-skin it allows me to not focus on the
fact that "I should" re-skin it. Using a modular template approach facilitates
this... Load the various parts of the page from templates: top (pre-head),
head, body top, body content, body footer, and finally page footer.

Second, outsource the design and give that person the power to make the final
decision.

Finally, spend time (and money) on sites like ThemeForest.net (no affiliation)
and 99Designs.com (no affiliation) to get implementation ideas and templates.

