You're already a pretty good designer
r/programmingmethod.ac/blog/design/programmers-designers.html
u/himynameisthor:
In the end it read like a horoscope with a sales pitch… “Here are things you know”… “here are things you know you don’t”… “follow us on twitter so you know when to give us money”.
Author here. I posted this last night not really expecting to pick up, but woke up to an interesting discussion. The end product will be free, but I’ll get into some details of the mechanics for the sake of transparency.
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There will be progressively more difficult missions. So you start by designing your own business card, then a logo, then a letterhead, and so on.
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You read the related content, so in the case of a business card you’d read on alignment, balance, typography and the specifics of business cards.
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You submit your mission for review, more experienced users decide if they approve or fail your mission. Approving missions gives you access to more difficult missions (i.e. designing an icon)
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Once you’re advanced enough, the easiest way to gain access to the last missions will be reviewing the work of new users.
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I make money recommending related services. So, if you’d like to print your business cards online, I get a cut.
I’ll spare you the need to pay this guy money:
Make the underlying data model work in such a way that it makes sense from a programming standpoint. Don’t worry about the UI at all… pretend that the whole thing is going to be controlled by scripts.
Now design a lovely UI that revolves around the way a user would want it to work. Ignore the data model designed in step 1.
Integrate steps 1 and 2 by writing a shim layer that knows enough about each model to perform the appropriate translations and transactions.
Presto, you’ve just mastered Model-View-Controller programming. Or as I like to think of it, the “User Layer <-> A Miracle Occurs <-> Data Layer” pattern.
Your proposal sound a hell lot like Ronco Spray On Usability: http://daringfireball.net/2004/04/spray_on_usability
I think it has more to do with the difference between design and aesthetic. A lot of people just don’t have a sense for aesthetic, and even if they think something looks good, they can’t really imitate it since they lack a certain sensibility. But, just because they can’t make the overall interface look awesome, doesn’t mean they lack the capability to appreciate where certain buttons should be placed, what components should be emphasized, what visual cues should be shown, etc.
On the other hand, we have the other group of people who actually do have sense of aesthetic, but can’t seem to design very well either. I’ve seen plenty of interfaces with great looking buttons, typography, colors, etc, but the attention to the overall design was lacking. For example, these type of people might be able to create an awesome looking popup, but the mark of great design would be if they figured out how to convey the same information without the popup. […]
Programmers have a developed sense of aesthetics too, it’s pretty obvious when you look a pristine code that is well formatted, indented, commented, etc.
The same principles apply for visual design:
- Indentation is analogous to alignment
- Code structure is analogous to hierarchy
- Function length is analogous to balance
An awfully designed blog telling programmers that they are good designers. Nice one.
That header alone commits a mortal usability sin by not giving clear, consistent indicators of possible major actions. Throughout the rest of the page, things just get worse. No sidebar providing information and further actions (twitter, newsletter), blog categories in the footer, etc.
In fact, he actually commits one of the most common mistake programmers make when designing: assuming the user is as familiar with the interface as you yourself are.
You’re right: there’s no clear action to be taken. This is because I deliberately want you to read the article and then deciding if I’m worth following on twitter.
Why would you want a newsletter? You’re a programmer, you already know how to use RSS and follow on Twitter, I don’t want to push content down your throat. I want to build enough trust so that you think I’m worth it.
Why would I want a newsletter? I don’t know. In fact, I probably wouldn’t want one. But considering the size of this thread, others might. There is no way to know without giving it a try, and seeing if people are interested.
And yes, I do know how to use RSS and follow on Twitter. But like most people, I don’t usually have those things at the front of my mind when browsing websites. So if I see an interesting article on some website, I will probably forget to subscribe to their Twitter or RSS feed - unless the website reminds me of the possibility.
You write about what you “want” me to do. That’s not how this internet thing works. Users do what they want. As a designer, it’s your job to make those things easier for them. That means having the main elements of your design in easy-to-find, predictable places, without them being too intrusive.
If a visitor sees your article, skims the first few paragraphs, and decides he wants to see more of your articles, why not just let him?
I’ve already addressed this point. Everything you add detracts from the rest of the elements. There is a cognitive cost to putting a nav, a newsletter, Twitter and Follow buttons in the sense that you have to chose to ignore them.
I set up everything as to provide a pleasant, readable experience. So far, it has worked.
u/CloneDeath:
“I admit, I suck in this area. I am a horrible failure. Let me give you some advice on how to do better in this area.”
That’s what it says in a nutshell.
I’ve built memela.com entirely on my own, you can also see my portfiolio. Here is my StackOverflow profile.
It’s not that I’ve tried and failed. It’s the paradox of learning that the field is just so huge that you wouldn’t be able to master it in your entire lifetime.
u/CloneDeath:
Put something like that second line in the blog post instead (of I am a suxors at this), and it will sound a lot better.
I will, thanks for the tip!