I pitched a thought on Twitter about a book that I think should exist. The helpful folks on Twitter kindly responded with some candidates, but I should clarify what I’m looking for.
What I really want seems to change every time I say it, but fundamentally I’m a coder. It’s what I know how to do, and I’m pretty good at it. I realize that I just don’t have the design skills to be building designs every day like some of the more prolific designers that I work with. Especially not at their level of quality. But what I would like is some magic formula that gets me at least to the point that I can produce something that is not butt-ugly.
Yes. The designers among you are saying, “There is no magic formula.” But I put this thought to you: Coding is an internal, artistic process. Just like there is creativity in art, there is creativity in code. I posit that me learning some design-creative process that would result in not-completely-ugly designs is no different from many of you learning to write a little code. Just like you look at my art and say, “Don’t quit your day job,” I look at your code and think the same thing. No really, we coders hate your code – please stop. Sorry to break that to you.
But yeah, I want to become minimally proficient at visual design. I want to be a full stack web developer. I expect that there is some process I can follow to start down that path. Interestingly, Randy was one of the folks who replied to my original Tweet.
Web Design for Developers: A Programmer's Guide to Design Tools and Techniques
This one looked really promising. Actually, it still could be because it’s not finished. Understand that at this point I’m willing to pay much more than $54 for a book that gives me what I want, especially if I get pre-release PDFs out of it, but I don’t think this book is it. Why?
From what I can see of the book, only the first two chapters fulfill my interests. The primer on HTML is useless for me. I’m wondering why this book is “for Developers” if it has to cover all of that ground over again.
The latter chapters, which aren’t available without purchasing (I’m reluctant to pay if it’s really not what I want), seem like they might offer some useful tutorials on the use of Photoshop for design. That might be neat. What I’d like to see there would include some techniques for commonly-used design elements found on the web. Sure, this would date the book as trends change, but at least they’d be able to bilk me for more cash next year. Am I right? Ugh.
This book isn’t finished. It has potential. And based on Randy’s recommendation, it might be enough. I’ll have to think more about it. But I did get some other suggestions.
Non-Designer's Design Book
I think I actually own this book. My issue with this one is that it covers a lot of the fundamentals, but doesn’t target web design quite enough. I’d really like a book that talks solely about web design, and not about print. Even if the author is very good at web design, there are only a few pages really dedicated to that medium.
I understand that most of the design principles carry over from one media to the next. I think it’s difficult for me to envision the application of those principles to the web without seeing them as web examples, or rather, if they’re all letterhead or brochures. Maybe that’s a personal quibble. I dunno. This still feels incomplete.
A Practical Guide to Designing for the Web
This book isn’t really a book, but a PDF download. From what I’ve seen, there is a lot of good foundational information here, and much of it is geared toward producing web output, even if it includes a lot of historical information. I think that’s useful.
Still, examples of direct application of those foundations is completely lacking.
One of the things this book goes over well is how to strike out on your own as a web designer. Here’s my beef. If I was good enough at design to do that, then why do I need a book on practical design? This book should probably be two books – one on the business of web design, and one on the fundamentals of design. That there is no section on the application of design fundamentals to web design makes it not worthy of my £12.
The Principles of Beautiful Web Design
I’ll say upfront that I’m not crazy about SitePoint books. I think the books on that label typically under deliver on their jacket promises, and cost way too much for the privilege of learning that. But this book that Aaron recommended presents itself as teaching the topic that I want to learn.
I’m not sure how I feel about this one. I haven’t seen the whole book, since it’s not all available online without a ($29.95 PDF, $49.90 PDF + book) purchase. From what I’ve seen, there is uneven coverage of fundamental design principles, but there is ample description from the point of view of actual design for the web. That’s a plus.
Still, I’m not seeing any specific techniques in the index or table of contents. I like the idea of learning both what my design should consist of and some hints of how to produce it. I think these last two books are good on the theory, but too light on the application.
I should be clear that I don’t want to simply learn to use Photoshop. Actually, I don’t care what tool I learn. But I want to see how to apply the design techniques in the tool. For example, if I’m applying a grid to my design, how do I create that in Photoshop (or Fireworks, which I prefer, and actually know how to do that in already, but that’s beside the point)? Or, if I’m applying color correction to images for the purpose of creating focus on the page, where are those controls, and how should they be set to accomplish those goals? I think those questions are pretty straightforward.
What is it that I really want?
I don’t mean for this post to be a bashing of all the ideas people provided. It sure sounds like that. Rather, I want to point out the significant void there is in this specific area. There is a lot of content out there written for designers moving from traditional print or media design into the web, basing their work on foundations already laid and familiar to their audience. What is specifically lacking is two things combined.
First, there is no book targeted at coders who have been turning other people’s designs - poor or excellent - into working web sites all along. There is no allowance for the thought that the reader is an expert at HTML and wants to learn the process of design that happens prior to his receiving Photoshop files.
Second, there is no book that specifically identifies the design challenges for the web. I feel hesitant about making this second claim without the first, but thinking about it, none of the books I’ve seen are really complete, either. There are many books that talk about design, but I’ve yet to see a good one that really harvests the fruit of interactivity available on the web.
I can hardly get some designers to tell me what color their buttons should be when I mouse-over them, much less get them to think in actions that my mind works in, like expanding video marquees, draggable lightboxes, and accordion divs. A book that covers these topics specifically, and not just how to take your printed work and turn it into a web site, is what I need. It’s what the world needs!
If we had a book that would cover those basics, throw a little bit of light training in for the specific effects in the software that achieve the described results, and provide some stylistic tips that are related to current trends in web design, all while avoiding teaching me how to code HTML all over again… That would be perfect.
I really need to take some designers/coders I know, shove them into a locked room, and make them write a book for me. Or maybe I can get them all to collaborate on something. That would be great.
