
Design for Non-Designers: Part 1 - japhyr
https://hackernoon.com/design-for-non-designers-part-1-6559ed93ff91#.p7cpx0sae
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The author suggests reducing clutter and then goes on to use four different
type styles for a modal dialog. The header is italicised, in a different
colour and different point size to the body text. The text in the button is
uppercased and tracked out. Why? 90% of the time you only need one level of
differentiation to create a sense of typographical heirarchy, otherwise you
end up with exactly the opposite of what was intended in the article.

There is a huge disconnect between design thinking in the cultural and arts
sector and design thinking in the technology sector. As a developer and
designer working in the former, I find it both perplexing and frustrating to
see the lack of consideration given to design as something that adds value
rather than as something serving a purely functional purpose in the latter. I
think the lack of modern design education in other, particularly more
traditional formats for those focusing on digital design is partly to blame.

I would think it would be valuable for anyone with an interest in design to
look at the work of many of the better graphic design studios practicing today
who don't necessarily work in digital formats. There is a lot to be learnt
about the subtleties of graphic design from a well typeset book for example.
These blanket statements about things like white space are more often than not
rehashed guidelines for producing at best mediocre design.

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shazow
A long long time ago, I wrote up a really basic rules of thumb for novice
designers[0] to help me be more aware of basic principles but I've always
wanted someone to write a more comprehensive yet practical design guide. This
is it!

I'm super excited about Tracy's work on this topic, everyone should follow it
and get in on the Kickstarter[1] if you haven't already. :)

[0] [https://shazow.net/everything/rules-of-thumb-for-novice-
desi...](https://shazow.net/everything/rules-of-thumb-for-novice-designers/)

[1] [https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/1868398473/hello-web-
de...](https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/1868398473/hello-web-design-
design-basics-for-non-designers/)

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limedaring
Nice to see this here! I'm the author, happy to answer any questions anyone
has.

