

Ask HN: how can a backend coder learn to be a front end designer? - hetaoblog

any good ways/suggestions/sites?
as a backend coder, my sites are usually ugly and un friendly to users, I want to improve. could you help advise? thx.
======
puppybeard
Remember this rule: design and coding are two separate processes, each of
which needs it's own workflow.

If you style a site by adding bits of css now and again while you build the
backend of a site, it will look like crap. I know, because I used to do it,
and the work I did then embarrasses me now.

You obviously know what a good design looks like, so do your design away from
your project, in Photoshop or whatever, and don't turn it into css until
you're happy with it.

Solicit criticism of your design. Ask people who know design to give you
feedback, whether you know them personally or online. They'll stop you from
repeating mistakes they may have learned from themselves.

Everything the user, heretohelp is saying sounds right to me.

~~~
hetaoblog
1.really good suggestions! indeed i'm doing 'adding bits of css now and
again'! as i do not have photoshop skills so far i should stop that.
2.actually i'm not that clear about a good design. do you think search 'good
design example' and try to work them out in photoshop is a good way to start?
i just did a search, [http://inspirationfeed.com/inspiration/40-detailed-
examples-...](http://inspirationfeed.com/inspiration/40-detailed-examples-of-
user-interface-design/) any designer can give the hours you need for any of
the example there? it looks very difficult for me so far.

------
unconed
In the same way you can't become a good coder by reading, you can't become a
designer by looking. My best trick was to look at a design and then try to
recreate it without looking again. Comparing my version with theirs would
often show me what i was missing.

Also, get "the design of everyday things" to unlearn your bad engineering
habits.

------
heretohelp
There are a lot of angles to approach this from.

There are core principles and foundations to design, much like engineering.
Cultivating a personal sense of taste is important as well.

Start by doing some reading on the fundamentals of design and typography.
Also, start frequenting various design blogs and websites. You need to
_expose_ yourself to design much in the manner that programmers get exposed to
open source code.

Once you start seeing things created by designers, you'll start to understand
what reflects your personal taste and hopefully you begin to develop a
coherent opinion.

Give serious thought/time to UI/UX from a functional standpoint. I highly
recommend Tufte's treatises on data visualization as a way of thinking about
how to model and present data to your users as well.

Next you'll want to begin doing lots of mock-ups, preferably with actual
HTML/CSS/JS. Now you can start respinning designs of existing projects you've
worked on, and re-do them in a way you're proud of.

Invest enough time, hammer out enough work, you should start producing thngs
you can be proud of.

Just like code.

Here's a basic starter page with some information:
<http://metatoggle.com/design_crs/contents.html>

~~~
hetaoblog
thx. i should put enough time. btw, the link has good content but the site's
design itself is not good, at least from my perspective.

