Not a designer? Here’s how to make your web apps look awesome
A) Please hire a designer. You might hire someone who is not very costly and fits your budget but I cannot over emphasize the value someone who does this day in day out brings to the table.
OR
B) If you were a designer and wanted to build something, what would you do? Use one of the million ready made coding junks like "Digg Template" or "Twitter template"? No you know very well that innovation does not work that ways. You would pick up a book and learn to program or find someone who knows it and will help you.
Just because "everybody" thinks they can design or make things "look" good, it does not mean it is design. Read a few books like the following to get started:
1)The Design Of Everyday Things by Donald A. Norman, Don Norman (basics of design)
2)Visual Grammar by Christian Leborg (basics of visual design)
3)Stop Stealing Sheep & Find Out How Type Works by Erik Spiekermann (typography)
4)Don't Make Me Think!: A Common Sense Approach To Web Usability by Steve Krug (basics of UX)
5)Understanding Comics by Scott Mccloud (basics of storytelling- useful in web interfaces too)
6)The Visual Display Of Quantitative Informations by Edward R. Tufte (useful in information design and dashboards)
If you have read them and want to learn more, please feel free to contact via my HN Profile.