Design Level 1

I signed up for this but designing is hard.

This is something I’ve been saying for some time. Never trully appreciated how much thought goes into product design. Now I know. The products I’ve been creating are confusing to use and ugly.

Luckily I believe it’s a skill that can be learned. Difficult to become an expert but manageable to become good enough. Especially for a maker. You can’t afford to become an expert on everything.

I know I should start from a ready made template, change the content and get going. Somehow, it doesn’t feel right. Doesn’t feel like it’s my project. Too generic.

So I start from scratch which is terrifying. So many decisions, so many options. Most of the time my designs end up feeling empty and lack structure. But there’s hope.

There’s three things at play: the problem or need (a product solves), the user experience and the UI design.

How to get there?

For now, books. The random blog post or youtube video are not good enough. Courses are usually too long and more difficult to go back on forth.

Already have “Don’t make me think”. Will probably get “RefactoringUI” or Design for Hackers.