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Ask HN: How do you manage UI/UX for your side projects?

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Re: Ask HN: How do you manage UI/UX for your side projects?

#91

Post by dreamer7 »

A lot of good suggestions here already. I agree with another comment that UI/ UX is very important, especially if your project is intended to be used by the general public.

But UI/ UX is hard and it is very easy to get sucked down a vortex trying to get something to be exactly as you envisioned . And this drain on your mental energy can cause you to give up projects mid-way.

On the other hand, i always get a massive sense of progress when i'm able to interact with a feature through a UI.

I too despise(d) UI work like you when i spend a lot of time on things that i expect to be simple. The way i approach it now is to work with the mindset that the UI only has to be good enough. It does not have to look shiny and polished as long as it is able to deliver the value you are creating with your system.

Re: Ask HN: How do you manage UI/UX for your side projects?

#92

Post by bpicolo »

wartijn_ wrote: post #50
spunker540 wrote: post #34

Earlier quoted context omitted.

What would you recommend in its place? I’ve been using bootstrap for any web side projects of mine mostly for its ability to flex and handle multiple devices sizes and also because its defaults look passable out of the box. I agree containers are confusing but honestly making a custom web app look good on all resolutions/aspect ratios is complicated in my opinion.

Not OP, but I recommend using plain css. With the grid layout and flexbox it has become pretty easy to create something decent and learning flexbox and grid isn't hard. Grid works basically the same as Bootstrap: split a page in parts and tell each element how many parts they can use. But with gird you don't to split your page in 12 part, but can choose for yourself how many you want. Flexbox is rid, but for things y…

Plain CSS is missing the main feature of these libs, which is simple-as-crud components that match visually and help you build out pages that have the UI patterns users expect.

Re: Ask HN: How do you manage UI/UX for your side projects?

#93

Post by bdamm »

etxm wrote: post #71
d0m wrote: post #51

A lot of engineers have the mentality of "engineering is hard, but design is just whatever some color matching and styling". I'll prob. be downvoted but here's my honest opinion: I think you'll gain a lot career-wise to learn about UX and UI. You'll be able to understand products in a deeper level from the customer's side and will then be able to make better decisions as an engineer. You'll also have a much easier ti…

As an engineer, I think design is so goddamn hard. People that are good at it are like majestic unicorns to me.

Agreed. Beyond some trivial basics all these "theories" of how to use style are really a thrashing excuse for the fact that people who are awesome at this really do have a gift, and if you want your product to look great than at some point you have to hire them.

Until then, if you are developing a compelling project that does something really useful, then people don't usually care too much what it looks like as long as it doesn't burn their eyeballs out of their sockets. It's true people pay for style, but you don't need style to get something out there and into the hands of people who can help you decide whether or not you now need to invest in style.

Re: Ask HN: How do you manage UI/UX for your side projects?

#94

Post by ianlevesque »

andrei_says_ wrote: post #72
d0m wrote: post #51

A lot of engineers have the mentality of "engineering is hard, but design is just whatever some color matching and styling". I'll prob. be downvoted but here's my honest opinion: I think you'll gain a lot career-wise to learn about UX and UI. You'll be able to understand products in a deeper level from the customer's side and will then be able to make better decisions as an engineer. You'll also have a much easier ti…

Made the bullet list readable on mobile: * Visual hierarchy (I.e. the same way you divide your code in modules and functions, you need to divide the visual space in a clear hierarchy). * Basic on typography (It makes a big difference even if most people don't notice it) * Understanding what's UX (I.e. reading "Don't make me think"). Just "caring" and "thinking" about UX will improve designs, even if you don't have mu…

This is so ironic with a comment about UI & UX.

Re: Ask HN: How do you manage UI/UX for your side projects?

#95

Post by SomeCollegeBro »

d0m wrote: post #51

A lot of engineers have the mentality of "engineering is hard, but design is just whatever some color matching and styling". I'll prob. be downvoted but here's my honest opinion: I think you'll gain a lot career-wise to learn about UX and UI. You'll be able to understand products in a deeper level from the customer's side and will then be able to make better decisions as an engineer. You'll also have a much easier ti…

I develop an internal product that is currently used only by our companies service technicians, but the end goal is to release this to our partners for use outside of the company. Here is one of the biggest things I've learned about UX as a non-designer: watch people use your products, and be ready to accept failure. Let's say you've designed something specifically to be used a certain way. Then, upon user testing, 5 people deliberately use it a different, unintended way. This is YOUR mistake, not theirs. It can be hard to predict these type of things in advance, I've found. As a programmer, I tend to think about software a completely different way than a non-programmer (especially someone in a non-technical role). This often results in software that I think is simple, but turns out is non-intuitive and complicated.

Re: Ask HN: How do you manage UI/UX for your side projects?

#96

Post by danenania »

I think it can be distilled to three key things:

1 - Learn the basic principles (see d0m's comment).

2 - Borrow/copy like crazy from others who are better than you.

3 - Be brutally honest with yourself and know your limits. You don't need to be a brilliant designer to achieve that magical "good design" effect--you just need to get the fundamentals right and avoid mistakes. Until you develop some instincts, most of the ideas you have won't work, so you need to be willing to throw out what you've done and try again ad infinitum. If in doubt, take it out.

Last point: I think it's close to essential knowledge at this point for building viable software products. Like it or not, people judge by appearances, and good design is one of the best levers available to make people take what you're doing seriously. It's one of the top things that can take you from being perceived as a "hobby project" to being perceived as a "startup".

It's not easy to learn, but it's not really that hard either in the scheme of things, and it pays massive dividends. Even if you're using templates or paying someone else to do it, you still need to be able to distinguish the good from the bad if you want to avoid the (often subtle) mistakes that kill the perception of quality.

Re: Ask HN: How do you manage UI/UX for your side projects?

#98

Post by QuantumGood »

UX can be a product feature. Or can overlap them. Develop some fascination with what improves user experience and you will naturally develop the motivation to work on it. Separate it a bit from "just" design/UI in your mind, and think about the user's needs and their psychology.

Re: Ask HN: How do you manage UI/UX for your side projects?

#99

Post by madeuptempacct »

d0m wrote: post #51

A lot of engineers have the mentality of "engineering is hard, but design is just whatever some color matching and styling". I'll prob. be downvoted but here's my honest opinion: I think you'll gain a lot career-wise to learn about UX and UI. You'll be able to understand products in a deeper level from the customer's side and will then be able to make better decisions as an engineer. You'll also have a much easier ti…

Do I really need to read "Dont Make Me Think"? A friend got it for me and I threw it in a "never going to read" pile assuming it could be summarized as "Things should be intuitive."

Re: Ask HN: How do you manage UI/UX for your side projects?

#100

Post by pranayairan »

I think buying themes or designs from marketplaces like themeforest works best for me, I then improve on those things by taking inspiration from similar apps or companies on how they are displaying certain information, navigation flows and try to mimic as much as possible. This gives great results.
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