Ask HN: Free or cheap UI design course? | Hacker News Reader

Ask HN: Free or cheap UI design course?

28 pointspototo6667 comments

Hello, I am trying to improve my website's design.

What is the best free or cheap UI design course?

I have searched past HN posts, and found two interesting course/book: Refactoring UI, and https://learnui.design/.

But Refactoring UI charges 100$, and learnui.design charges 1000$.

I can't afford them for the moment. Are there any cheaper alternatives?

Thanks ^ ^

Edit: if I want to learn UI design from the fundamentals (like learning CS from fundamentals), are there any resources?

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Very good course (teaches UX from fundamentals): https://www.udemy.com/course/ultimate-guide-to-ux/

Currently it costs $75, but Udemy often has coupons/promotions for up to 95% off (I registered for $15). This course is normally $5000+. It is very thorough and well-explained. Like 20+ hours of video lectures, slides and full transcripts. Also the instructor is very responsive and active in the course's private FB group.

This course is shorter and more focused on web UI (vs more general UX): https://keynotopia.com/ux/

You can probably find resources for free, but then you might end up paying with your time. If you're really strapped for cash, I suggest borrowing books from the library: free and probably better than a lot of the low-cost/free resources online.

Don Norman's is one of the most respected UI/UX researchers. His book is used to teach UI at universities: https://www.amazon.com/Design-Everyday-Things-Revised-Expand...

Don Norman also contributed to Apple's HIG, which is actually a very good free online resource: https://developer.apple.com/design/human-interface-guideline...

There might also be some good open courseware like this: https://ocw.mit.edu/courses/electrical-engineering-and-compu...

Don't Make Me Think is an excellent book.

The Design of Everyday Things is a classic, though not ui focused.

This comes after taking the learnui.design (UI and UX course), the course is well worth it (provided you put in the effort in lessons and submit for review). However, if you want to start, I highly suggest going through each and every article, on learnui.design/blog and his youtube channel where he redesigns. Quality stuff.

I have this bookmarked, don't remember where I saw it. There's a list of books at the end: https://www.visualmess.com/

There's a free UI interfaces book this week: https://weeklydeals.dev/

Check out hackdesign. It is really good, but its not guided and with quizzes. But the content is really good!

https://hackdesign.org/ https://hackdesign.org/lessons

I know you said free but honestly Refactoring UI + Tailwind CSS is going to be your best bang for buck.

Read the book, then put it into practice with Tailwind CSS. Practice by trying to replicate their Tailwind UI examples by yourself.

Spend $100 to learn something right, save infinite time going down the wrong paths for nothing.

thanks for the info. I have decided to go for Refactoring UI. I use tailwind in my project anyway. ^ ^

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