Being a programmer, I lack a natural sense of design, and not every project requires or allows to hire a professional designer.
In short, I want to become better at making things look good. I like to believe that I have good taste, as in recognizing good design as such, but am pretty hopeless about creating good designs myself.
What books/blogs/websites have you found helpful to learn more about design?
Some suggestions of my own:
- Usability overlaps with design quite a bit (making things pleasant to use, getting rid of clutter etc), so books like Joel Spolsky's user interface design for programmers, Steve Krug's Don't make me think, or Alan Cooper's About Face can help with design, too.
- Robin Williams: The Non-designer's design book. Short, to the point, and teaches the basic principles.
In short, I want to become better at making things look good. I like to believe that I have good taste, as in recognizing good design as such, but am pretty hopeless about creating good designs myself.
What books/blogs/websites have you found helpful to learn more about design?
Some suggestions of my own:
- Usability overlaps with design quite a bit (making things pleasant to use, getting rid of clutter etc), so books like Joel Spolsky's user interface design for programmers, Steve Krug's Don't make me think, or Alan Cooper's About Face can help with design, too.
- Robin Williams: The Non-designer's design book. Short, to the point, and teaches the basic principles.
- Blogs: Smashing Magazine and Six Revisions.