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Bootstrapping Design

bootstrappingdesign.com

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Re: Bootstrapping Design

#11

Post by studiofellow »

betterlabs wrote: post #9

Great idea and I am looking forward to the eBook. I have always used and created designs based on what I have liked / what has inspired me and it would be awesome to have a high level structure to go by, that comes from a professional designer. It would be helpful to have a "Checklist" of the most important aspects to ensure which would help validate / update past designs.

Working from what you like and what inspires you is really the best place to start.

I'm planning to include a checklist in the book that's more detailed than the simple preview/cheatsheet on the site right now. Thanks for the suggestion and interest!

Re: Bootstrapping Design

#12

Post by hopeless »

I'm really looking forward to this book. It seems like the perfect thing for a developer like me. Usually I just buy a template from ThemeForest and extensively modify it but I'd really like to start from a blank page one day.

Re: Bootstrapping Design

#13

Post by fourmii »

Looking forward to the book. We're in the situation at the moment where we have a back-end founder working on our product and me (with no web design background) working on the front-end because I've always had interest in it. Being bootstrapped means that we've had to scour blogs, HN etc and other peoples' designs and consume large amounts of UI/UX books to try do at least the initial release ourselves..

Re: Bootstrapping Design

#14

Post by studiofellow »

fourmii wrote: post #13

Looking forward to the book. We're in the situation at the moment where we have a back-end founder working on our product and me (with no web design background) working on the front-end because I've always had interest in it. Being bootstrapped means that we've had to scour blogs, HN etc and other peoples' designs and consume large amounts of UI/UX books to try do at least the initial release ourselves..

Completely understand your situation and have heard similar stories too many times. That's why I decided to start the eBook.

If you would like some design feedback, shoot me an email. That offer stands for anyone else too, time allowing!

Re: Bootstrapping Design

#15

Post by Vindexus »

studiofellow wrote: post #2

Thanks for submitting this. I'm the author. I'm still in the process of writing and would love to make this a collaborative project. If you have topics or ideas you'd like to see covered, please leave a comment or shoot me an email. hello@BootstrappingDesign.com I'll also be sharing excerpts with the mailing list and on my blog.

As a developer I often struggle with the following things:

Picking a color scheme. What colors work well together? Why do they work well together? How do I find good color schemes? Is there a formula or something?

White space. How much should I have? I normally just operate in increments of 5px until I think something looks good. "Looks good" ends up being smaller than other sites when I actually compare though.

Font choices and colors. I always just use arial for body text and I'm fine with that. My headers always look very bland though. What fonts compliment what? Should my headers be darker or lighter than my body text?

Gradients and box shadows. I know they can look nice and I know some people do it well, but whenever I add this kind of stuff to my graphics I think it looks corny.

Those are some things I find frustrating when designing.

Re: Bootstrapping Design

#16

Post by studiofellow »

Vindexus wrote: post #15
studiofellow wrote: post #2

Thanks for submitting this. I'm the author. I'm still in the process of writing and would love to make this a collaborative project. If you have topics or ideas you'd like to see covered, please leave a comment or shoot me an email. hello@BootstrappingDesign.com I'll also be sharing excerpts with the mailing list and on my blog.

As a developer I often struggle with the following things: Picking a color scheme. What colors work well together? Why do they work well together? How do I find good color schemes? Is there a formula or something? White space. How much should I have? I normally just operate in increments of 5px until I think something looks good. "Looks good" ends up being smaller than other sites when I actually compare though. Font…

Thanks so much for the list. I'll make sure it's covered.

Re: Bootstrapping Design

#17

Post by bobbywilson0 »

The hardest thing to develop as a designer is good taste. This book may provide some quick tips to make a typical developer made design less bad, and maybe that's the goal, but good taste takes time.

As developers what would you think of a designer picking up a book that says "Bootstrapping Development"? Would you think that your designer buddy could read through this book in a weekend and not need a developer for his start up?

Re: Bootstrapping Design

#18

Post by dconway »

studiofellow wrote: post #2

Thanks for submitting this. I'm the author. I'm still in the process of writing and would love to make this a collaborative project. If you have topics or ideas you'd like to see covered, please leave a comment or shoot me an email. hello@BootstrappingDesign.com I'll also be sharing excerpts with the mailing list and on my blog.

One aspect of design that's been on our mind has been naming our product. Any general guidelines about naming websites would also be appreciated. (I've read GoDaddy's suggestions, but useful as they are, they're so sparse.)

Re: Bootstrapping Design

#20

Post by MostExtremeCake »

It's unfair to judge this book before reading it, but the web page promoting it reads like an infomercial. Specifically, "You are a designer." and "Save thousands by not hiring a designer." make me feel like there is going to be a chapter about making font size smaller and jacking up leading.

What am I getting by reading this? Is it design basics that let me get started with modifying something? Is it the fundamentals? Is it a rundown of common contemporary design elements that can be combined to make a reasonable looking page?

Professional designers aren't selling overpriced witchcraft.

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