

Design Tips Every Developer Should Know - nickpettit
http://blog.teamtreehouse.com/5-design-tips-every-developer-should-know

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mmcconnell1618
The Non-Designer's Design Book has been a great help to me. I bought copies
for my employees because it was easy to read and showed practical examples of
how a few basic principals can radically improve your designs.

[http://www.amazon.com/Non-Designers-Design-Edition-
Designers...](http://www.amazon.com/Non-Designers-Design-Edition-Designers-
ebook/dp/B00125MJYM/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&qid=1356582386&sr=8-2&keywords=non+designers+design+book)

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neya
I smell referral codes :P Nevertheless, thank you for this valuable resource
:)

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mmcconnell1618
Does Amazon auto add referral codes if you're logged in? I just popped over to
their site, searched for the book and copied the URL. I won't turn away a
commission but it wasn't intentional.

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FuzzyDunlop
I actually think '5 Development Tips Every Designer Should Know' would be more
useful. This is because a designer these days probably has to play with CSS
and HTML, if not jQuery too.

A developer won't be handling the design themselves, but a designer might well
be contributing some code on the front-end. And it's sometimes the case that
such code isn't well (or consistently) formatted, or is too complicated, as
writing code isn't the primary aspect of their job.

It's like poorly organised PSDs. You might be totally fine littering your file
with spurious layers, bad names, and inconsistent groupings. The person you
might share it with won't feel the same way, and it'll compel them to waste
time figuring it out and possibly spend more time making it sane.

But for personal projects where a developer might want their own site, the
advice here is good.

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psweber
How many "Why everyone should learn to code" articles show up on Hacker News?
The same idea applies to design thinking. It will make you more powerful. User
centered problem solving methodologies and visual communication abilities will
help you with much more than side projects you can't pay someone to skin.

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FuzzyDunlop
I don't think these are about learning to code or design. They're about
learning to care or take pride in all aspects of the work you do.

Sane organisation, attention to detail, and knowing what looks good and bad
all come under this, I think.

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tb303
Developers looking to increase their design vocabulary and skillset outside of
top five lists may find this introductory book beneficial:

[http://www.amazon.com/Universal-Principles-Design-Revised-
Up...](http://www.amazon.com/Universal-Principles-Design-Revised-
Updated/dp/1592535879/ref=sr_1_8?ie=UTF8&qid=1356563702&sr=8-8&keywords=design+basics)

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rutigers
Great designers are undervalued. If there was more of a push for
entrepreneurs/founders to learn design 10 years ago, maybe Google and Facebook
wouldn't have their design flaws.

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MordinSolus
For point 1, I would call that the use of white space rather than negative
space.

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tb303
It's negative space.

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vacri
If your audience is developers, they understand 'whitespace'. 'Negative space'
is an ambiguous term that can mean a few things to developers.

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neya
Brilliant article. The VanGogh painting example was classic. Keep it up guys!

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camus
Good , but design is about culture and practice , like code is about process
and practice. Want to be a designer ? get a generic art history knowledge ,
learn to use a paper and a pen, and just practice.

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gedrap
So is design. If you keep just practicing, you won't improve (significantly).
If you practice, seek for constructive feedback from peers, and keep reading
(theory of colors, etc) - you will improve a lot. Just like in any other area.
No need to undermine the efforts that takes to become a good designer.

