
Ask HN: Are there other developers trying to learn design? - mattedigital
Just curious as to whether the big recent &#x27;designers should learn to code&#x27; idea goes the other way for any developers out there?
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BjoernKW
Absolutely. I've been more actively learning more about design for about 4
years or so and not only is it fascinating but it has also helped me
tremendously in becoming a better developer.

Design, UX in particular, is what makes or breaks a software. Software can be
great from a purely technical point of view but if the user can't figure out
how to use it or if your software requires more effort than a competing, well-
designed - if perhaps technically inferior - solution your software has failed
its purpose.

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Lordarminius
Yes and hating it all the way. I used to think myself alone but after reading
a few opinions on the issue and hearing Linus Torvalds admit that he disliked
frontend too, I gained some relief(?).

My take on this is that frontend and backend development call forth different
aspects of talent and personality. Frontend is predominantly artistry backend;
logic.

Since starting to learn UIX, my respect for UI creators has grown

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mattedigital
Do you have a link to the article "Linus Torvalds admit that he disliked
frontend too", curious to read up about it. Tried searching for it but top
result was your comment ha.

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aaossa
I think he syas something like that at 13:51 in this [1] TedEx talk. Really
nice talk btw

[1]:
[http://www.ted.com/talks/linus_torvalds_the_mind_behind_linu...](http://www.ted.com/talks/linus_torvalds_the_mind_behind_linux)

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saluki
Doing full stack development you naturally learn what is good UI/UX which I
think is more important than design.

Focus on UI/UX rather than learning design.

Is it easy to use? Provides a good experience?

True Designers can come in and polish it up further if needed.

Having a good eye for what looks good and what works for users is a great
asset.

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mattedigital
Really helpful thanks

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cableshaft
Took a graphic arts class in high school, was deep in the flash animation/game
scene for a long time, then made my own UI's for my own games, tackled
multiple different designs for websites over the years, did some mobile app
design, now I've gone more analog and designing physical card games with
Illustrator. So yeah, I've been using design skills pretty much my whole life.

That being said, I'm not great at creating art, just putting together existing
art assets or assets provided to me. I'm kind of glad the current trend is
flat simple colors for everything. It makes design so much easier for me. I do
still struggle with overall composition and brainstorming different visuals
for how something can look, though.

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siquick
Most definitely, this book has been a god-send for me.

[http://www.amazon.com/Design-Hackers-Reverse-Engineering-
Bea...](http://www.amazon.com/Design-Hackers-Reverse-Engineering-
Beauty/dp/1119998956)

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Cypher
Yes its quite fascinating, I focus more on the physical engineering side of
design such as a car dash board or what design makes an awesome umbrella
instead of colour and UI placement.

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wprapido
i'm a designer who gone developer way and being able to understand both helps
me a lot, even when i don't do them both

developers, learn some design

designers, learn some development

~~~
kleer001
Same here. Nearly 20 years in the vfx industry. Finally getting some time to
catch up with the latest advancements (and some old friends, oh hello python
2.7) in computer vision, machine learning, and automation.

It's funny. I used to think IFTT was pretty great. But once I spent a little
time with cron and launchd (thanks zerowidth.com!) I was like, what? that's
all it can do? I'm sure there's a lot of overhead with a bunch of users and
such and so many services. But still, really limited against a dinky XML file
and 20 lines of python.

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artur_makly
IMHO..It's more efficient to simply partner up. But learning the basics will
definitely make you a better coder in the end.

So who want's to partner up? I'm always looking for a talented dev to tag-team
on projects. Also helps increase your chances on getting that big client since
you can deliver faster with more man-power/experience.

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shanwang
Yes, I'm doing a design course on coursera, I actually like it.

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tonyedgecombe
Which one?

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shanwang
Interaction Design Specialisation, I'm not paying for it though, just going
through the materials

