

Ask HN: Designers, what is the single book developers should read on design? - nikcub


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bottlerocket
"The Non-Designer's Design Book: Design and Typographic Principles for the
Visual Novice"

By Robin Williams (not _that_ Robin Williams)

Quick, easy read geared towards non-designers (it's in the title!) that
explains the basics of C.R.A.P. (Contrast, Repetition, Alignment, Proximity),
4 things that will change the way you look at things and stop centering
everything :D

 _edit: formatting_

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nikcub
great recommendation! I have heard of it before but I got it today, flicking
through it and it is excellent - every dev really should read this. thanks
again.

~~~
bottlerocket
Certainly! I find myself shilling this book all the time. It's a great
starting point for people dipping their toes in the design pool because it
tells you just enough to improve simple stuff without being preachy or over-
complicating things.

Good luck!

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PeterMcCanney
Understanding Comics By Scott McCloud.

It won't teach developers anything about Photoshop or CSS, but it's an
incredible book in terms of Visual Iconography and its effects on
readers/users.

His follow up 'Reinventing Comics' is also a must read. To quote Will Wright
(The Sims, Spore)

"Anyone involved in interactive entertainment (games, web, etc.) should read
this book. Scott McCloud has once again transcended the world of comics and
tapped into much deeper issues of creativity, entertainment and economics."

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notyetdeleted
Practice. Fire up Photoshop, and paste in a bunch of designs that are well
done. Start picking out individual elements, and then recreate them from
scratch. You'll constantly be asking yourself why your redesign comes short,
and through this, you'll begin to understand the subtle differences that make
a great design.

I've never read a book on web design in my life, and I've kicked out some
award winning layouts. The trick, don't stop refining the design, and don't be
afraid to take a step back. The only time the design stops improving is when
you stop working on it. Continue to refine, and you'll look back tomorrow, and
laugh at the layout you once thought was acceptable. Fast forward another day,
and you'll do the same. Have patience. Although great designs might look
simple, realize they've gone through an endless number of revisions to reach
that point.

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nikcub
Thanks for the recommendations everybody. I will probably end up buying each
of these and going through them.

I have picked up a lot of design tips over the years but never spent time to
really learn the fundamentals of what makes good design. It is a bit like non-
graduate programmers who skip over compsci theory, for eg. I know how to do
stuff in CSS, I know how to copy and paste templates from the web, but never
understood why certain designs and UI's are good and others aren't

I will prob do a blog post on these books and tips etc. in a few months once I
go through it all properly - thanks again.

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mpakes
_The Elements of Typographic Style_ by Robert Bringhurst

Also see this site, which adapts the book's contents to the web:
<http://webtypography.net/toc/>

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lovskogen
The Humane Interface. I think its nerdiness would suit a developer. Learning
lots as a interface designer.

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keiferski
_Universal Principles of Design_

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JoeCortopassi
Book is awesome. Not only does it tell you how different elements of design
interact with each other, but what about it causes people to react the way
they do

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jsavimbi
I would start with Web Form Design: Filling in the Blanks
(<http://www.amazon.com/dp/1933820241?tag=bagcheckcom00-20>), reason being
that from an incremental perspective, a developer should be in control of how
the user interacts with the application, not with the design elements (which
most designers believe are the interaction). CRUD is the basis of the user
experience, everything else is just fluff.

