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I think many programmers don't put an emphasis on design because they think it doesn't matter. They would rather get something done rather than make it look goo
by mcmire 14y ago
I think many programmers don't put an emphasis on design because they think it doesn't matter. They would rather get something done rather than make it look good. There is nothing wrong with this approach, but I would say the first step is to realize that design is important, too.
Many people say, "oh, well, I don't have design skills". I think everyone has design skills, it's just something you have to work at. And the first step is to pay attention. I like this line from the article: "I started to look at things, and I saw what looked right and I tried to memorize it." That's basically the advice I would give too. Even if you can't design, you can tell what looks professional from what looks half-baked. The next time you come across a well-designed site, ask yourself, what makes this so much better than other sites? Is it the way things are laid out? The choice of font? The colors?
And once you have a good foundation, look to the details. Consistency in spacing or alignment, emphasis of elements, etc. Use your instinct - if something looks bad or unprofessional, fix it.
That's really all there is to it.
- rapind 14y agoI think many programmers don't put an emphasis on design because it's really frikin hard. A really good visual design is like a really good system design. It takes a lot of thought, experience, and a ton of work to achieve. With enough experience you'll get significantly better, and like programming there are some core concepts that will continue to be useful. However, like programming, it's also changing constantly and requires effort and passion to keep up with it. One person can certainly achieve both, but it's definitely not an afterthought; "oh yeah, I need to do a little design here, shouldn't take too long".
- wccrawford 14y agoI'm a programmer, and I care about it. And I agree that it's really frikin hard. I can look at a design and know if it's good or bad. That's easy. Knowing why and how to fix it is the hard part.
- randomdata 14y agoI would argue that programmers, for the most part, care very deeply about visual design. Every time you choose where to place line breaks, text alignment, even the use of variable names and other language constructs involves you making a choice about how your code is visually laid out in the editor. The problem is, I propose, one of deeper social conditioning. I have worked professionally as both a designer and programmer, but I have never found a workplace that take both abilities completely seriously. Designers do design work and programmers do programming work and that is just the way it is. I think this leaves a lot of developers feeling like design is a completely different career that is out of their reach.