

How I Designed Code Year in 1 Hour - zds
http://sachagreif.com/how-i-designed-codeyear-com-in-1-hour/

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sgdesign
As a designer, this is why I love working with startups. You can go from idea
to actual live site in a few days only.

Paradoxically, it was a lot of fun working on such a short timeline: it
basically took all the pressure off and made sure I couldn't second-guess
myself.

~~~
culturestate
"Paradoxically, it was a lot of fun working on such a short timeline: it
basically took all the pressure off and made sure I couldn't second-guess
myself."

I couldn't agree more. I often give myself artificially short deadlines if I'm
having designer's block, it works wonders.

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mcantor
Title should actually be "How I _Re_ -designed Code Year in 1 Hour".

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rblackwater
No it should be "How I Re-designed Promo Material for Code Year in 1 Hour"

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phil
Great writeup, and helpful for people like me. I often know exactly what
message I want to deliver and the visual hierarchy I want, but coming up with
a nice layout is harder. So the break down is good to see.

It was pretty shocking to see the McCurry Afghan girl photo as an icon
placeholder though. That's probably one of the top 5 news photos of all time,
and I'm not alone in having a strong emotional reaction to it?

Maybe Cookie Monster as a placeholder instead?
[http://www.google.com/search?q=cookie+monster&hl=en&...](http://www.google.com/search?q=cookie+monster&hl=en&safe=off&client=safari&rls=en&prmd=imvns&tbm=isch&tbo=u&source=univ&sa=X&ei=fWsDT6jfMoKXiALS17zTCw&ved=0CEYQsAQ&biw=1440&bih=995)

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danso
If the most valuable web design tip I learn this year is that this site
exists: <http://subtlepatterns.com/>

...Then it will have been a decent year

~~~
sgdesign
Then let me make it a super extra fun year :)

<http://sachagreif.com/the-design-freebies-list/>

~~~
kemka
My collection of files is growing really nicely :) Do you use anything in
particular to manage all of these resources locally?

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Jun8
This was a _fantastic_ step by step guide for people who have absolutely no
design sense, like me. Thank you!

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zds
If you want to work with Codecademy too, we're hiring ;)

<http://codecademy.com/jobs> or jobs(at)codecademy(dot)com

thanks!

~~~
danoc
Are you guys hiring summer interns as well?

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RoboTeddy
It's interesting to see the iterative thought process of a designer as they go
through and make changes. I wonder if it'd be a good way to learn design. How
about Design Year? :P

~~~
sgdesign
That's a good idea actually! I could imagine weekly design lessons each
focusing on a new design principle or element.

For example, one week you'd design a sign-up form, the next focus on contrast,
etc.

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deepkut
Gorgeous design, nice work. Your call to action, the big red "Start
learning!", is well done and placed effectively. I like it.

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metra
I must be missing something, where's the CSS discussion? Isn't that what takes
up most of the time?

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metra
This is a serious question. I'm not a front-end guy. Instead of downvoting,
can someone enlighten me?

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enra
It depends of the design, but I think generally it takes me longer to design
mockups than to implement them.

When implementing you know what you should do, and when know your tools, you
can pretty much do it as fast as you can type.

When designing you start from scratch. You try to wrestle all the ideas and
requirements with the best practices and the right style, to create something
that's new and works.

So I think designing well is much harder than implementing the design well.

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ddw
Has Code Year started yet?

