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NoDesign.dev – Tools and resources for non-artistic developers

nodesign.dev

71–80 of 164 posts

Re: NoDesign.dev – Tools and resources for non-artistic developers

#71
post #49

If I could give one piece of advice for technical developers it’s that design isn’t all about the way it looks, it’s about the way it works. To expand on that, it’s how the pieces fit together within your set of constraints. There’s a LOT in common with what makes code beautiful or not. You get to the essential; nothing more, nothing less. This doesn’t mean “minimalist” , per se — just be wary of ornamentation that d…

> "way it looks, it’s about the way it works"

Dangerous to separate these. Poorly looking sites have poor experiences. Of course, aesthetics are subjective, so I'm speaking generally here.

My philosophy for design is to always, without exception, strive for a good looking and functioning site. You can't have a site that works well that looks like shit. Conversely you can often find sites that look great but are absolutely unusable.

Re: NoDesign.dev – Tools and resources for non-artistic developers

#72
post #49

If I could give one piece of advice for technical developers it’s that design isn’t all about the way it looks, it’s about the way it works. To expand on that, it’s how the pieces fit together within your set of constraints. There’s a LOT in common with what makes code beautiful or not. You get to the essential; nothing more, nothing less. This doesn’t mean “minimalist” , per se — just be wary of ornamentation that d…

You mean the User Experience (UX) is more important than User Interface (UI)?

Re: NoDesign.dev – Tools and resources for non-artistic developers

#73
post #10

Alternatively, just work with a designer. There are thousands of them out there who want to build tech stuff but don't have the skills. They want developers to collaborate with. Reach out to some on social media and you might be surprised how receptive they are. You don't have to do everything on your own, and you definitely shouldn't compromise on design if you want your project to succeed.

Hi, I agree with you.. but I think there needs to be something to get you started...watching other websites can intimidating sometimes especially when your just working on a side project....

Re: NoDesign.dev – Tools and resources for non-artistic developers

#74
post #69

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I think the problem is also with non-technical people who focus on aesthetics and push technical folks to make the product bloated. Design education would help project managers, and non-tech customers who are requesting that product or feature. This is such a common problem that there is a meme about it "Can you make it pop a little more?". Providing advice to technical folks is just a small part of this problem.

When I was first starting out it was, "can we make it edgier ?" The IDEO philosophy – which has really influenced a lot of Silicon Valley's best teams – is all about what you're saying. Design Thinking is really about making everyone on the team a designer. Everyone has their speciality, but the Designer's role is to bring everyone together with a process that involves everyone. This was the approach used by Apple wh…

I mostly agree with your parent post and your response. I think when technical people who have excellent understanding of user needs usually produce better product/service than designers getting together in a room with post-it notes - this may be an unpopular opinion but I've seen it time and again - "Design Thinking" is largely a buzz word in all places I've worked.

Also, just to nitpick - Apple has produced some of the worst products with no understanding of what the user wants - for e.g. Apple Music App. Also, Google, a recent one - Google Meet hides its mute/unmute button and in a completely undiscoverable way. Imagine driving a car where the brake pedal disappears only to appear when you hover your arm in a particular position left of the steering wheel. Now you can apply brakes. That's what they're doing with Google Meet, when I want to unmute to say something, I have to hover my mouse on the bottom of the screen and the unmute button pops up. Why isn't it always visible!? If I were leading that project, I would ask the team to scratch the entire UI and rebuild it and make sure these things don't happen again.

Re: NoDesign.dev – Tools and resources for non-artistic developers

#75

As a heads up, the site loads with a horrible amount of pop-in. I suggest loading the items in the order you want to display them, so that after the first 6 load, the pop-in is finished, so that the screen will stop flashing.

I thought of the same thing....I just made it with next.js and bootstrap ....I will look into it..

Re: NoDesign.dev – Tools and resources for non-artistic developers

#76
post #66

Earlier quoted context omitted.

UX designers also have built in product management skills.

I mean this sincerely, they do? I don't know much about UX designers jobs, do they deal with project management often?

They said product management, IMHO an important distinction. Project management is managing the work, product management is shaping the product - again, IMHO.

Re: NoDesign.dev – Tools and resources for non-artistic developers

#77
post #7

How will these tools in fact enable a developer to ship a better design? As a developer with limited design skills, I find that the problem is not finding tools, but rather knowing how to use them, eg what font to choose, what color palette to pick etc.

There are tools in the list that will help you pick decent font pairings, color palettes and much more...

Re: NoDesign.dev – Tools and resources for non-artistic developers

#78
FWIW, and since it's a design-oriented site (but maybe it's a pun on the site's name?), the masonry/grid flashes badly on first load on a desktop. I guess it's because of frequent CSS re-layouting as the individual grid cell's content graphics get loaded.

Edit: what winkeltripel said

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