August 22nd, 2018 ×
Design Tips for Developers
 Wes Bos Host
 Scott Tolinski Host
In this episode Wes and Scott dive into designing for developers - tips and tricks for improving your designs, and how to up your game in small ways that will have a big impact on your projects.
Sanity.io - Sponsor
Sanity.io is a real-time headless CMS with a fully customizable Content Studio built in React. Get up and running by typing npm i -g @sanity/cli && sanity init in your command line. Get an awesome supercharged free developer plan on sanity.io/syntax.
Mlab - Sponsor
mLab is the leading Database-as-a-Service for MongoDB, powering over half a million deployments worldwide. Wes and Scott use mLab to host their own databases as well as take care of backups, security, scaling and performance. Try out a sandbox database on your next mongoDB project → https://mlab.com.
Show Notes
6:18 - General Design Tips
- 
Spacing is important
 - 
Using patterns and textures
 - 
Use subtle gradients
 - 
Use subtle drop shadows
- Multiple shadows on one element can have a nice effect
 
 - 
Don't use true black and white (e.g. #000 or #fff) - use softer variation of black and white
- Use CSS Variables for custom blacks and whites
 - CSS default colors are almost always too harsh
 
 - 
Default browser UI is almost never the best UI
- Select elements, radio buttons, checkboxes, etc. can all be styled - it's no fun, but way better than it’s ever been
 
 
40:22 - UX Design & Animation
- 
Don't use animations when not necessary
 - 
Subtle scale/transitions on hover can be a nice effect
 - 
CSS transitions vs Physics based
 
51:30 - How To Get Better
- 
Follow UI-themed Instagram accounts
 - 
Find a free mockup and build it out pixel for pixel
 - 
Take time to challenge what you think is possible or doable technically and creatively
 
××× SIIIIICK ××× PIIIICKS ×××
- Scott: Louis Cole
 - Wes: r/posthardcore Spotify Playlist
 
Shameless Plugs
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