Design for Developers

As a developer I must admit I find design hard! Open up a blank PSD in Photoshop and I come out in a cold sweat. More often than not a developer will quickly construct an application, get it working and dump everything on a page. The application works, but it’s horrible to look at and is very unintuitive to use. Thankfully, a designer by the name of Johan Ronsse has put together a presentation aimed at developers who are looking to improve their design skills.

The presentation has some excellent content on what you should (and shouldn’t) do with an interface design. Basics on fonts, colours, shadows and icons are all explained in a clear and concise way. For those wishing to continue with their new-found design skills, slide number 179 has a long list of links and books to read. My personal favourite is the simple, yet effective Grid Calculator tool. I’ve read many articles on the grid system, but have never used it. This handy website does all the mundane maths for you, allowing you to get back to making your application look pretty!

Big thank you to Johan for the presentation, every developer should read it at least once (or bookmark it to read later)!