Design Foundations For Developers

In this episode of Syntax, Scott and Wes talk about design foundations for developers — tips to follow that will make your designs better! Sanity - Sponsor Sanity.io is a real-time headless CMS with a fully customizable Content Studio built in React. Get a Sanity powered site up and running in minutes at sanity.io/create. Get an awesome supercharged free developer plan on sanity.io/syntax. Freshbooks - Sponsor Get a 30 day free trial of Freshbooks at freshbooks.com/syntax and put SYNTAX in the “How did you hear about us?” section. Show Notes 6:35 - Our backgrounds in design 12:41 - Foundations Consistency makes a big difference Use “training wheel” tools until you are confident Always work within a system Less is more - subtle is better 19:39 - Color Color theory Complementary colors and shades Stick to color pallet generators until you are good enough 28:51 - Spacing More spacing than you think you need Vertical rhythm Letter spacing: -1px Consistent margin and padding 34:47 - Typography Sans vs serifs Finding fonts Use proven combinations until you know your way around 41:49 - Interaction Design for all states (e.g. standard, visited, active, hover, etc.) Animations should be quick Interactions should make sense 45:04 - Concerns beyond visuals Accessibility via color contrast Thin fonts and light grey are awful Think about the poor Windows users 48:47 - Inspiration + Resources Take inspiration from the best — you’ll find your own voice after enough work Go easy on trends - blobby characters with purple hair Take a trip around the world wide web Stripe Dribbble Site Inspire codrops Refactoring UI Links Designer Starter Pack - Andrea Crofts LastPass Colour Lovers Syntax 142: Travis Neilson on Skills Gap, Design, Focus and Working at Google Bloomberg Dropbox FontPair FontJoy Figma - Google Font Pairings Type Scale Creative Market Radnika Next Stripe Dribbble Syntax 72: Accessibility Firefox Site Inspire codrops Refactoring UI Adam Wathan Steve Schoger ××× SIIIIICK ××× PIIIICKS ××× Scott: Reelgood Wes: Magnesium Shameless Plugs Scott: FullStack React with NextJS - Sign up for the year and save 25%! Wes: Beginner Javascript Tweet us your tasty treats! Scott’s Instagram LevelUpTutorials Instagram Wes’ Instagram Wes’ Twitter Wes’ Facebook Scott’s Twitter Make sure to include @SyntaxFM in your tweets