Bootstrapping Design
Jarrod Drysdale
Language: English
Pages: 39
ISBN: 2:00116138
Format: PDF / Kindle (mobi) / ePub
We are bootstrappers: developers, scientists, hackers, founders, marketers, writers, designers, and thinkers who are building the new breed of online businesses.
We are starting businesses—not pandering for design awards. We’re building lean and profitable startups rather than the next Facebook.
If you aren’t a bootstrapper, this book isn’t for you. There are many design books that teach how to become a full-time- job designer and many that teach formal design theory and advanced techniques for readers with years of experience.
This book contains the minimum design fundamentals that bootstrappers must understand in order to launch a business. My intent is to emphasize design basics rather than to reduce the whole of design to a bag of tricks. You’ll notice peripheral topics such as kerning, color wheels, and art history are absent. This is not because such topics are unimportant but because they are neither suitable for beginners nor relevant to their bottom line.
CSS3: The Missing Manual (3rd Edition)
The Art & Science of Web Design
Building Business Websites with Squarespace 7
Mobile and Web Messaging: Messaging Protocols for Web and Mobile Devices
themselves professional designers (including myself) have all but disappeared. Instead, we have ffffound, Dribbble, Cargo Collective, and other closed-gate communities where the intent is that you peek in through the bars and hope that someday you'll get inside. There are fewer modes of meaningful learning. Less sharing of experience. Now, it's "Check out this beautiful illustration and custom lettering. If you can't do something this cool, we won't let you in. Good luck getting here." Seeing
gigs, much of my design learning happened over years of late nights and weekends when I'd beat my head against the wall trying to become a better designer. It was hard work. I want to save you that trouble. My approach to design is about instinct because I learned in high pressure situations. Launch in a week or lose the client. Make it pink or get moved off the project. Other designers are more academic in their work, but I like to jump in and get my hands dirty. This makes me uniquely
believe they used a sidebar." Of course not. Instead, you know where to find content even on your first visit to the site. Layout conventions are good for users. They make designs easier to understand and content easier to browse. So, while you are learning design, don't try to create a unique new layout from scratch. Stick with a standard one. This way, one of the biggest factors of your design is already figured out for you. Alignment When creating a layout, ensure that the left
Space. Great design achieves a balance between the two. Further Reading Gestalt Principles of Perception, in-depth series of blog posts by Andy Rutledge Principles of Grouping, Wikipedia Figure-Ground, Wikipedia Chapter 7 Typography Typography presents an incredible opportunity for those of us who are woefully unskilled in illustration or creating custom graphics. It's a surprisingly easy way to add lots of visual appeal to your work. You'll
too similar, they can clash. Such low contrast elements can be difficult to notice because they either blend in with the background or blend together. The colors are too similar so the button is difficult to locate and the text is not easy to read. With improved contrast, the button is much easier to spot and the text is clear. The two green colors are too similar and the icon is difficult to make out. White provides more contrast so the icon is easier to