Recommendations for books and training resources covering for Design for Programmers [closed]

Question

Off the back of one of the answers to this question (currently the second highest scoring), it made me think, what's the best way to get developers up to speed on good basic design principles.

I'm not talking about making them into graphic designers but some developers almost take pride in ugly UIs, seeing them as unimportant next to the functionality.

What I am primarily interested in are the graphic design elements rather than the usability aspects which is pretty well covered by books such as "Don't Make Me Think". Use of white space, emphasis, font selection and a million other things I'm probably not even aware of.

I know people are often seen as artistic or not artistic but surely the basics can be taught and someone has written a book covering this?

Answer 1

What is often overlooked is the related areas of design that aren't specifically associated with programming. For example, typography can play a large role in usability. While it is mentioned in usability classes/articles, going deeper into the topic may be of benefit.

Also, the application of design technique varies between platforms and context. Design's role in web design vs. application design will share some similarities, but they are different mediums. A productivity suite for *nix platform could be very different than an iPhone application promoting an upcoming movie. (partly an issue of marketing vs. functionality; most programming will fall on the side of functionality)

Here area some areas to look into:

General Graphic Design

   •  Book: Graphic Design: The New Basics

   •  Book: Graphic Design, Referenced

   •  PDF: The Big Four: Contrast, Repetition, Alignment, Proximity

Typography

   •  Book: Thinking with Type

   •  Book: The Elements of Typographic Style

   •  Article: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Typography

   •  Article: http://www.informationarchitects.jp/en/the-web-is-all-about-typography-period/

Layout

   •  Book: Layout Workbook

Color

   •  Book: Color Design Workbook

   •  Book: Color Harmony Workbook

Philosophy of Design

"The dumbest mistake is viewing design as something you do at the end of the process to ‘tidy up’ the mess, as opposed to understanding it’s a ‘day one’ issue and part of everything." -Tom Peters

 

"Good design keeps the user happy, the manufacturer in the black and the aesthete unoffended." -Raymond Loewy

 

"Truly elegant design incorporates top-notch functionality into a simple, uncluttered form." -David Lewis

"Good design is good business." -Thomas J. Watson Jr.

More Quotes

Answer 2

Have a look at this Amazon List named Best Usability Books. Many nice titles on it you should consider.

If you are programming for the web, you should read the work of Jakob Nielsen (books).

You will love the work of Edward R. Tufte (books), Colin Ware (books) and Stephen Few (books) if you are in data visualization.

The ideal is to buy the best seller of each author.

• Show Me The Numbers by Stephen Few
• Information Visualization from Colin Ware s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1293618869&sr=1-1
• Envisioning Information from Edward T. Tufte
• Prioritizing Web Usability from Jakob Nielsen

Also people recommended me this book several times, but never had the chance to read it:

The Design of Everyday Things by Donald A. Norman Donald A.

Answer 3

there's this:

http://net.tutsplus.com/articles/lectures/design-for-developers/

Answer 4

Seems like this little talk was made to answer your question:

http://net.tutsplus.com/articles/lectures/design-for-developers/.

If I recall correctly, the presenter gives some references and suggestions by the end, but this talk covers basic design stuff specially targeted to developers.

Answer 5

Joel Spolsky has written a book specifically for programmers and user interface design. Its called User Interface Design for Programmers and its available on Amazon.

Answer 6

The Non-Designer's Design Book by Robin Williams is a nice introduction to layout and typography for anyone who doesn't have a design background.