Design 101 for Developers

As a designer, I've seen a lot of discussion around whether designers should code, but rarely have I seen people wondering if developers should design? It turns out, developers already are designers, and make design decisions every day. I hope to get developers to think more like a designer, make better design decisions, and become less reliant and dependant on designers.

Original talk given at Pragma Conference, 10 Oct 2015

Transcript

1. Design 101 for Developers
2. I’m @cjdowner
3. I’m a designer Make this bigger 302px 302px San Fransisco Display Heavy, 200pt rgba(255, 147, 0, 1) “Aesthetic experience wizard?”
5. Designers should code…
6. …but I can’t code…
7. Should developers design?
10. What is design?
11. UI UX
12. UI UX Visual
13. UI UX Visual Interaction
14. UI UX Visual Interaction Design?
15. What isn’t design?
16. • Design isn’t a magical process
17. • Design isn’t a magical process • Design isn’t a phase that ends before development…
18. Design sketch mockup p:type review iterate spec export Development development things
19. • Design isn’t a magical process • Design isn’t a phase that ends before development… • You don’t need to be artistic
20. • Design isn’t a magical process • Design isn’t a phase that ends before development… • You don’t need to be artistic • Design isn’t just about taste
21. Why design?
22. Developers will run into design problems all the time…
23. Savin’ Time ⌛
24. “Can you make the animation smoother?”
25. “Move this 2px to the left”
26. Design Rules Header 1
28. Consistency
30. Space is your friend
34. Don’t let constraints design for you
36. Avoid system colours
37. R:0 G:0 B:255
38. many blues…
40. How it works How it looks >
41. Be boring…
42. …and ignore trends
43. Question everything
44. What’s the secret to good design?
45. Iteration
46. Good design happens when there’s an overlap between designers and developers…
47. Anyone can be a designer!
48. Designers vs Developers
49. Designers: Lead
50. Recap
51. • Developers already design! • The design phase is parallel • Consistency is key • Don’t design what’s the easiest to code
52. • Design obvious over clever • Be your own worst critic • Designers: Involve developers!
53. A clean UI is like clean code
54. Grazie Mille http://speakerdeck.com/cjdowner http://sketchapp.com Image credits: http://unsplash.com