Back in the day there was no better resource than the Apple Human Interface Guidelines. I've not read it in years but the design of the OS on my Mac makes me suspect it's either no longer such a rich vein, or no longer exists at all.
Ask HN: How to learn UI/UX as a data/BE engineer?
11–20 of 31 posts
Re: Ask HN: How to learn UI/UX as a data/BE engineer?
#12I recommend focusing first on UX as it applies to areas that are closest to your expertise. Not a good idea to go head first into art history, color theory, typography or concepts that are so far removed from what you're doing that would feel alien.
Try starting a conversation with a FE engineer friend or even better with a UX engineer / design technologist if you know one. They speak both languages :)
If you prefer reading, NNgroup is great for basics. Start with their 10 usability heuristics: https://www.nngroup.com/articles/ten-usability-heuristics/
These 3 books should give you some great starting points:
About Face - The Essentials of Interaction Design: https://www.wiley.com/en-gb/About+Face%3A+The+Essentials+of+...
Design of Everyday Things: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Design_of_Everyday_Things
Creative Selection: https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/37638098-creative-select...
Re: Ask HN: How to learn UI/UX as a data/BE engineer?
#13I find that many designers are sadly missing a solid foundation.
Everything by Tufte is worth reading.
The design of everyday things, Norman.
The humane interface, Raskin.
Re: Ask HN: How to learn UI/UX as a data/BE engineer?
#14I really like this short book: https://www.refactoringui.com/
The authors created Tailwind after writing it.
Re: Ask HN: How to learn UI/UX as a data/BE engineer?
#15I highly recommend to start by building a very simple website from scratch using HTML and CSS.
It's very common today for FE engineers to have a very limited understanding of the basics because they picked up client-side tech by following React tutorials (or any other highly abstracted framework).
It's a very incremental learning process, so expect your brain to take some time to learn to identify small details that make great UI/UX. It takes practice!
Once you feel comfortable building a simple page, explore various techniques to make it feel more professional (i.e. identify why your page doesn't look as good as some other references, and start copying their ideas).
Re: Ask HN: How to learn UI/UX as a data/BE engineer?
#16Design and usability are skills that take years of practice to mature. Its something vaguely akin to interior design. To learn that I would recommend reading books about visual design and taking art classes. To start you need to learn how the code works. But about the code you must first make a very deliberate decision: * Do you want to learn this for yourself? * Or, are you looking for employment? If the goal is emp…
The least effective FE engineers I worked with (big tech) are people who learned client-side tech by learning React. They have a very limited understanding of UI concepts and an insufficient attention to detail.
React is arguably more about encapsulation, data flow, and state than about the fundamentals of UI and UX.
Re: Ask HN: How to learn UI/UX as a data/BE engineer?
#17I really like this short book: https://www.refactoringui.com/
It is a short and good read.
Re: Ask HN: How to learn UI/UX as a data/BE engineer?
#18The best way to get started is to use a trusted design system on the frontend, and follow their components, layouts, and color scheme exactly. Once you know the rules and have something basic implemented, you can break the rules from there. I think most developers go wrong when they try to re-invent the wheel before inherently understanding the rules (by copying experts). Tailwind, Google Material Design, and Apple U…
I think this is key, pick a good design system and it will cut down on how much you need to learn and tinker with.
Personally I like plain HTML and Django templates, styled using Bulma components. I don't think about color, other than the high level "warning, danger, info" level. I don't think about spacing other than the "m-2 m-3" granularity. I don't mess with react, node, etc.
This approach helped me launch backend oriented websites, without needing to be a FE expert.
Re: Ask HN: How to learn UI/UX as a data/BE engineer?
#19Design and usability are skills that take years of practice to mature. Its something vaguely akin to interior design. To learn that I would recommend reading books about visual design and taking art classes. To start you need to learn how the code works. But about the code you must first make a very deliberate decision: * Do you want to learn this for yourself? * Or, are you looking for employment? If the goal is emp…
The least effective FE engineers I worked with (big tech) are people who learned client-side tech by learning React. They have a very limited understanding of UI concepts and an insufficient attention to detail. React is arguably more about encapsulation, data flow, and state than about the fundamentals of UI and UX.
Agreed, but employment in software is not about effectiveness. Its about conformity. That is why the decision is a forced dichotomy.
Re: Ask HN: How to learn UI/UX as a data/BE engineer?
#20I'd say the most important things to take away from other top comments here are the classic book recommendations, but other than that I'd argue any online sources should be secondary to watching people use systems for a few months based on training that's written or goven by someone else.
I'm a frontend person, started in graphic design, and I've never actually been very good at design, but now I'm doing straight up IT work in an office with visibly stressed people using computer systems I did the hardware setup for, but not the software. These are all basic Windows laptops with pre installed images and cumbersome auth flows. Being in this job has offered me more insight than any article I've ever read, so therefore I think it's better to have some observation or hallway testing experience before looking to refine that with any specific UI recommendations or UX strategies that are rooted in theory.
That's why I love the classic Don Norman book, because it's rooted in watching people use everyday objects that have been designed at a remove from their real world context. Just watch people use your shitty startup webapp UI or corporate hellscape portal, under stress for half an hour