

Not designers. Not coders. Just builders. - studiofellow
http://blog.studiofellow.com/2012/05/09/not-designers-not-coders-just-builders/

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freyrs3
All of these "coders must learn design" articles ignore the fact that most
programmers are not web developers and that sizable chinks of the industry
simply never touch frontend code at all.

For a lot of developers there is little career incentive to develop design
skills.

~~~
adrianhoward
_All of these "coders must learn design" articles_

This isn't one of those. It's a "designers should learn to code" article.
Which is interesting since I generally find that there are more developers
interested in design, than designers interested in code.

In fact I asked HN about this earlier today!
(<http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=3949467>)

------
Stwerner
Coder trying to be a designer here. I've spent a lot of time reading books and
experimenting, but what I am really missing are beginner tutorials on how to
make the popular elements I see on websites in photoshop (or even principles
of creating the different elements).

Maybe I am not looking in the right places, but I would love to be able to
find an exploration of gradients (for example) in Photoshop and/or css and how
different configurations create different visuals. When I open up Photoshop
and try it myself, I feel overwhelmed by the seemingly infinite color and
position choices I have in front of me - and every attempt comes out looking
horrible.

~~~
studiofellow
I think learning design can seem really difficult after a cursory glance at
the design community.

Sorry to mention this, but it's the best way I know to help. I wrote an ebook
about design specifically for coders and technical founders. It actually
covers several of the issues you mentioned, like creating a gradient in
Photoshop and how to use and pick colors. You can see a sample at
<http://bootstrappingdesign.com/pdf/sample.pdf>

~~~
adrianhoward
It's interesting that in my observations of designers and developers - it's
the designers who have more catching up to do... See
<http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=3949467> for some of my ramblings on this
earlier today.

~~~
studiofellow
I hadn't seen that thread. Interesting that our experiences are practically
opposite.

I left a comment on that other thread, but I think this part is relevant here:

 _Maybe we're all just pointing fingers at each other. It's obviously
productive for everyone to gain basic competency in the opposite discipline._

