Design for non-designers

Tips & tricks for who wants to develop good-looking products. I have a couple of words and resources to help you.

Let’s define. I’m not a designer. I’m just a developer who interests in user interface design and developing products. I know there are lots of people who similar to me. That’s why I’m writing this post. Enjoy the reading.

by Edho Pratama, unsplash.com

Don’t Be Afraid

I have developed lots of ugly-looking products. Now, I know if my product works well, I have an explanation for the ugly-looking product.

If your product works as promised, most users will focus on the functionality. That’s why you shouldn’t afraid.

You know product development is an already long and stressful journey. Of course, everything won’t be beautiful in step one. The golden key is, take baby steps to achieve your product’s beautiful version!

Do Lots of Design Reviews

I’m reviewing every product, case study, and the design I see. I always ask these questions to myself;

What is the problem of the product’s trying to solve?

Who is the product’s audience?

Why are they using this color palette?

Why are they using this font? (If it looks good, save to bookmarks. You’ll thank me.)

Why are they using this layout?

If you answer these questions, you’ll find the answer to that question “Why Is This Product Looks Fucking Good?”. That’s my formula.

At the below, you’ll see a section for finding good tools and resources.

The golden key is, there’s something called the internet that’s very useful.

Let’s Get Hands Dirty

When I start to develop a product after the business stuff, of course, my first step is to draw a low fidelity wireframe. It helps to understand the flow, user experience, and layout. Generally, I use Figma for drawing low fidelity wireframe but there is no right or wrong choice. If you most comfortable with pen and paper, just use it.

Every single design step is deeper than I write. My purpose is to explain basically. If you interest these topics deeper, you can find thousands of papers and sociological research.

And don’t forget, you should decide the choices according to your product’s purpose. For example, if you’re developing in the luxury fashion vertical product, your choices will be: