5 ms·

Ask HN: Are there other developers trying to learn design?

6 points by mattedigital 10y ago

Just curious as to whether the big recent 'designers should learn to code' idea goes the other way for any developers out there?

Lordarminius 10y ago
Yes and hating it all the way. I used to think myself alone but after reading a few opinions on the issue and hearing Linus Torvalds admit that he disliked frontend too, I gained some relief(?). My take on this is that frontend and backend development call forth different aspects of talent and personality. Frontend is predominantly artistry backend; logic. Since starting to learn UIX, my respect for UI creators has grown
- mattedigital 10y ago
  Do you have a link to the article "Linus Torvalds admit that he disliked frontend too", curious to read up about it. Tried searching for it but top result was your comment ha.
  - aaossa 10y ago
    I think he syas something like that at 13:51 in this [1] TedEx talk. Really nice talk btw [1]: http://www.ted.com/talks/linus_torvalds_the_mind_behind_linux http://www.ted.com/talks/linus_torvalds_the_mind_behind_linu...
Cypher 10y ago
Yes its quite fascinating, I focus more on the physical engineering side of design such as a car dash board or what design makes an awesome umbrella instead of colour and UI placement.
saluki 10y ago
Doing full stack development you naturally learn what is good UI/UX which I think is more important than design. Focus on UI/UX rather than learning design. Is it easy to use? Provides a good experience? True Designers can come in and polish it up further if needed. Having a good eye for what looks good and what works for users is a great asset.
- mattedigital 10y ago
  Really helpful thanks
BjoernKW 10y ago
Absolutely. I've been more actively learning more about design for about 4 years or so and not only is it fascinating but it has also helped me tremendously in becoming a better developer. Design, UX in particular, is what makes or breaks a software. Software can be great from a purely technical point of view but if the user can't figure out how to use it or if your software requires more effort than a competing, well-designed - if perhaps technically inferior - solution your software has failed its purpose.
wprapido 10y ago
i'm a designer who gone developer way and being able to understand both helps me a lot, even when i don't do them both developers, learn some design designers, learn some development
- kleer001 10y ago
  Same here. Nearly 20 years in the vfx industry. Finally getting some time to catch up with the latest advancements (and some old friends, oh hello python 2.7) in computer vision, machine learning, and automation. It's funny. I used to think IFTT was pretty great. But once I spent a little time with cron and launchd (thanks zerowidth.com!) I was like, what? that's all it can do? I'm sure there's a lot of overhead with a bunch of users and such and so many services. But still, really limited against a dinky XML file and 20 lines of python.
siquick 10y ago
Most definitely, this book has been a god-send for me. http://www.amazon.com/Design-Hackers-Reverse-Engineering-Beauty/dp/1119998956 http://www.amazon.com/Design-Hackers-Reverse-Engineering-Bea...
shanwang 10y ago
Yes, I'm doing a design course on coursera, I actually like it.
- tonyedgecombe 10y ago
  Which one?
  - shanwang 10y ago
    Interaction Design Specialisation, I'm not paying for it though, just going through the materials
cableshaft 10y ago
Took a graphic arts class in high school, was deep in the flash animation/game scene for a long time, then made my own UI's for my own games, tackled multiple different designs for websites over the years, did some mobile app design, now I've gone more analog and designing physical card games with Illustrator. So yeah, I've been using design skills pretty much my whole life. That being said, I'm not great at creating art, just putting together existing art assets or assets provided to me. I'm kind of glad the current trend is flat simple colors for everything. It makes design so much easier for me. I do still struggle with overall composition and brainstorming different visuals for how something can look, though.
artur_makly 10y ago
IMHO..It's more efficient to simply partner up. But learning the basics will definitely make you a better coder in the end. So who want's to partner up? I'm always looking for a talented dev to tag-team on projects. Also helps increase your chances on getting that big client since you can deliver faster with more man-power/experience.

6 points by mattedigital 10y ago

Just curious as to whether the big recent 'designers should learn to code' idea goes the other way for any developers out there?

Lordarminius 10y ago

Yes and hating it all the way. I used to think myself alone but after reading a few opinions on the issue and hearing Linus Torvalds admit that he disliked frontend too, I gained some relief(?). My take on this is that frontend and backend development call forth different aspects of talent and personality. Frontend is predominantly artistry backend; logic. Since starting to learn UIX, my respect for UI creators has grown

mattedigital 10y ago
Do you have a link to the article "Linus Torvalds admit that he disliked frontend too", curious to read up about it. Tried searching for it but top result was your comment ha.
- aaossa 10y ago
  I think he syas something like that at 13:51 in this [1] TedEx talk. Really nice talk btw [1]: http://www.ted.com/talks/linus_torvalds_the_mind_behind_linux http://www.ted.com/talks/linus_torvalds_the_mind_behind_linu...

Cypher 10y ago

Yes its quite fascinating, I focus more on the physical engineering side of design such as a car dash board or what design makes an awesome umbrella instead of colour and UI placement.

saluki 10y ago

Doing full stack development you naturally learn what is good UI/UX which I think is more important than design. Focus on UI/UX rather than learning design. Is it easy to use? Provides a good experience? True Designers can come in and polish it up further if needed. Having a good eye for what looks good and what works for users is a great asset.

mattedigital 10y ago
Really helpful thanks

BjoernKW 10y ago

Absolutely. I've been more actively learning more about design for about 4 years or so and not only is it fascinating but it has also helped me tremendously in becoming a better developer. Design, UX in particular, is what makes or breaks a software. Software can be great from a purely technical point of view but if the user can't figure out how to use it or if your software requires more effort than a competing, well-designed - if perhaps technically inferior - solution your software has failed its purpose.

wprapido 10y ago

i'm a designer who gone developer way and being able to understand both helps me a lot, even when i don't do them both developers, learn some design designers, learn some development

kleer001 10y ago
Same here. Nearly 20 years in the vfx industry. Finally getting some time to catch up with the latest advancements (and some old friends, oh hello python 2.7) in computer vision, machine learning, and automation. It's funny. I used to think IFTT was pretty great. But once I spent a little time with cron and launchd (thanks zerowidth.com!) I was like, what? that's all it can do? I'm sure there's a lot of overhead with a bunch of users and such and so many services. But still, really limited against a dinky XML file and 20 lines of python.

siquick 10y ago

Most definitely, this book has been a god-send for me. http://www.amazon.com/Design-Hackers-Reverse-Engineering-Beauty/dp/1119998956 http://www.amazon.com/Design-Hackers-Reverse-Engineering-Bea...

shanwang 10y ago

Yes, I'm doing a design course on coursera, I actually like it.

tonyedgecombe 10y ago
Which one?
- shanwang 10y ago
  Interaction Design Specialisation, I'm not paying for it though, just going through the materials

cableshaft 10y ago

Took a graphic arts class in high school, was deep in the flash animation/game scene for a long time, then made my own UI's for my own games, tackled multiple different designs for websites over the years, did some mobile app design, now I've gone more analog and designing physical card games with Illustrator. So yeah, I've been using design skills pretty much my whole life. That being said, I'm not great at creating art, just putting together existing art assets or assets provided to me. I'm kind of glad the current trend is flat simple colors for everything. It makes design so much easier for me. I do still struggle with overall composition and brainstorming different visuals for how something can look, though.

artur_makly 10y ago

IMHO..It's more efficient to simply partner up. But learning the basics will definitely make you a better coder in the end. So who want's to partner up? I'm always looking for a talented dev to tag-team on projects. Also helps increase your chances on getting that big client since you can deliver faster with more man-power/experience.