Ask HN: Recommend some good books for a dev with no design background?

22 points by cosgroveb 15y ago ↗ HN

I could think of top 10 lists for algorithms, web application security, reversing, design patterns... Things programmers should or might want to know about.

I think to be a more well rounded individual I would like to start reading up on design. Graphic design, UX design, typography, style. Please tell me where to start!

Also: it seems like all the important design communities are by invite only (Forrst for example), which makes it hard to get started from a social-web perspective. This isn't true for the programming community given sites like this, /r/programming, StackOverflow, github and bitbucket, and the multitude of open source projects. Oh well. Just an observation.

12 comments

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Tymiboss 15y ago ↗

You could try http://goo.gl/xbYN Here is a review: http://goo.gl/jRCn...in french...who knows! I have not read it myself, but I trust the one who wrote the review. To sum up: great book for sleek designs!

devmonk 15y ago ↗

The trick is that books are outdated as soon as they are written. There are a number of great books on design, but you can learn just as much if not more by just searching around.

Assuming you mean site design (learn the golden ratio, learn CSS, get good with photoshop) vs. code design (GoF Design Patterns, etc.), smashing mag is pretty good place to start.

elbrodeur 15y ago ↗

The principles of great design are pretty timeless and are rooted in psychology, how our brain works and history.

You're right that you can learn a lot by intuition, but it's more likely that you're learning what you prefer, not what good design principles are.

eswat 15y ago ↗

I don’t have much for book recommendations, but start off with The Elements of Typographic Style [http://www.amazon.com/Elements-Typographic-Style-Robert-Brin...] and get a feel for creating usable and readable typography in your apps. http://www.typographyforlawyers.com/ makes a good companion site too.

Graphic design comes down to “the art of organizing” and effectively using five elements: line, shape, space, colour and texture. When searching for fundamental design books I’d look for those that cover how to harness said elements effectively.

elbrodeur 15y ago ↗

Don't Make Me Think: A Common Sense Approach to Web Usability http://www.amazon.com/Think-Common-Sense-Approach-Usability/...

It's a quick read that will give you tons of "A ha!" moments.

Ernestas 15y ago ↗

The Non-Designer's Design Book: Design and Typographic Principles for the Visual Novice - Outlines the essentials of page layout, emphasizing the four concrete principles of design--proximity, alignment, repetition, and contrast

blahblahblah 15y ago ↗

I'll second that recommendation. It's such a quick read and yet so incredibly insightful. The same author also wrote a sequel to the book intended specifically for the web. I haven't read her web design book, but if it's anything like the original I'm sure it's a valuable addition to any web designer's library.

In addition, I'd recommend: "The Humane Interface: New Directions for Designing Interactive Systems" by Raskin

and

"User and Task Analysis for Interface Design" by Hackos and Redish

arebop 15y ago ↗

There are some timeless classics such as http://openlibrary.org/works/OL5267912W/Vitruvius_on_Archite... and http://openlibrary.org/works/OL1417305W/On_painting_and_On_s... but some really good contemporary advice about data displays can be found in http://www.edwardtufte.com/tufte/ and for an introduction to typography you could do worse than the LaTeX Memoir Class manual http://www.ctan.org/tex-archive/macros/latex/contrib/memoir/.

limedaring 15y ago ↗

The internet is pretty awesome, and has a lot of resources too. :P

Some of my favorites: http://www.viget.com/inspire/, http://veerle.duoh.com/, http://www.webdesignerwall.com/, and http://jontangerine.com/. Even if these resources don't have tutorials, surround yourself with design and you'll start picking it up.

sgentle 15y ago ↗

I found this enlightening: http://worrydream.com/MagicInk/

It's a treatise against interaction as the fundamental paradigm of information software. Presenting your information well means not needing to interact with it much to gain value from it. Lots of pretty examples, also.

ashitvora 15y ago ↗

There are many books for Usability, User Experience, etc. but if you are a hard core programmer, I would recommend "Designing Web Interfaces" is good for beginners and "Defensive Design For The Web".

Links: http://www.amazon.com/Designing-Web-Interfaces-Principles-In...

http://www.amazon.com/Defensive-Design-Web-improve-messages/...

Enjoy :)

ryanteo 15y ago ↗

Hi, You might find these websites more useful in terms of substance and practicality. uxmovement.com - Usability articles designshack.co.uk - Well-written articles on design www.alistapart.com - Web design

I guess you'll also be interested in the presentation of information and statistics. I recommend Edward Tufte's books. I second the recommendation of Steve Krug's book, probably one of the most practical and well-written guides.

For typography, I found these articles quite good as an introduction: Basics of Typography http://designshack.co.uk/articles/typography/8-rules-for-cre...

If you have Illustrator, you can design some pretty nice text http://designshack.co.uk/articles/graphics/an-in-depth-guide...

This is a pretty good introduction to some classic fonts: http://www.blog.spoongraphics.co.uk/articles/25-classic-font...

Have fun! (I'm also picking up skills to be more well-rounded) Ryan =)