Ask HN: What is the best way for a developer to get better at design?

3 pointsrayalez2 comments

I became kind of okay at designing websites just from experience, applying common sense, and using good software a lot, but now I want to take my skills to the next level. What is the best way I can improve, without making it my primary occupation?

Can you recommend some learning resources or share good advice?

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The two resources I recommend are The Designer of Everyday Things (https://www.amazon.com/Design-Everyday-Things-Donald-Norman/...) and Designing Interactions (https://www.amazon.com/Designing-Interactions-Press-Bill-Mog...)

Both focus on more than website design, but they helped me understand how users interact with my user interfaces. I'm sure there are also a ton of great blog posts out there too, but I found these books the most helpful.

This book about typography has helped me a lot. When designing a new site I always begin with the text (but I mostly make pages where the text is the interesting thing) and having the text nailed down makes it so much easier to "see" how the rest of the page should look.

http://practicaltypography.com/

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