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Design Hacks For The Pragmatic Minded
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Design Hacks For The Pragmatic Minded

Kyle Neath • April 07, 2011 • Earth

In the video titled 'Design Hacks For The Pragmatic Minded,' Kyle Neath, a designer at GitHub, shares practical design tips aimed at developers who may feel that design is outside their skill set. The talk, presented at the Ruby on Ales 2011 conference, dispels the myth that developers can't or don't need to design by demonstrating how simple design concepts can enhance their work.

Key Points Discussed:
- Introduction to Design: Neath explains his journey into design, initially driven by his desire to create aesthetically pleasing web pages. He emphasizes the integration of design within development, stating that all developers end up designing aspects of their projects.
- Typography: Good typography is crucial for readability. Neath advocates for using classic fonts and encourages experimenting with weights and styles rather than using multiple font types. He highlights the importance of adequate line height and suggests using a baseline grid for alignment.
- Color Usage: Neath discusses the strategic use of color, advising designers to start in grayscale to focus on design choices. He mentions the detrimental effects of improper color combinations on readability and encourages the use of subtle colors for background enhancements.
- Spacing and Alignment: Proper padding and alignment significantly improve a design's clarity. Neath underscores the use of grids to facilitate alignment and visual harmony within designs.
- Visual Hierarchy: Effective grouping of related elements is essential for intuitive navigation. Neath suggests creating outlines for UI elements to visualize relationships and ensure clarity.
- Improving Presentations: He provides tips for designing slides, stressing the importance of larger fonts, fewer text characters, and high contrast for visibility. Neath advises on succinct code samples and emphasizes the significance of clarity over syntactical perfection.
- Practice and Experimentation: Neath encourages consistent practice and exploring various design styles as ways to develop design skills. He shares his personal experience of redesigning his blog multiple times to experiment.

In conclusion, Neath reinforces that even developers can succeed in design with practice and by applying simple hacks, ultimately leading to better products. He encourages the audience to steal ideas, recreate designs, and continuously improve their skills.

Design Hacks For The Pragmatic Minded
Kyle Neath • April 07, 2011 • Earth

A lot of developers think they either can't or don't need to design. But that's just a myth — everyone can benefit from a few simple design concepts. Learn some simple design hacks you can apply to your documentation, presentations and products to make them just a little bit prettier.

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Ruby on Ales 2011

00:00:11.840 Thank you.
00:00:21.380 All right, I’m here to talk about design hacks for the pragmatic mind.
00:00:27.660 Hopefully, you guys won’t take too much offense to that.
00:00:33.960 I want to start off a little bit about myself. My name is Kyle Neath, and I’m a designer at GitHub.
00:00:40.079 I call myself a designer because I’ve been writing Ruby for about six years. My journey into design started from wanting to make the things I built look pretty.
00:00:46.140 If you want to find me online, my handle is usually ‘kyle’ everywhere—Twitter, GitHub, Flickr, wherever you want to look.
00:00:52.218 My blog is called Warp Spider, and I plan to post the slides for this talk shortly after.
00:00:58.020 Now, what’s important in life? My favorite beer!
00:01:03.180 I’ve thought about this a lot. Dogfish Head 90 Minute, baby, is an amazing beer. The 120 Minute is also awesome, but I can’t drink that lightly.
00:01:11.760 As I think about it, I also love Firestone Double Barrel Ale. This was the first good beer I had in college when I decided to pay more than 30 cents for a drink.
00:01:17.099 Another favorite of mine is Black Butte Porter; I discovered that through my PBS this past few years.
00:01:23.280 And of course, Sierra Nevada Pale Ale, which is always found at most bars, is delicious.
00:01:30.420 Luckily for me, I work at a company with a four-tap Kegerator and a custom hand-tap system.
00:01:37.740 Also, I recently decided to learn how to snowboard and often go up to Heavenly.
00:01:44.100 So, if I’m a designer, why am I at a Ruby conference? That doesn’t seem to make sense.
00:01:52.560 The truth is that developers end up designing a lot of things even if they don’t realize it—like documentation, Ruby gems, admin sections of websites, mini apps, and side projects that may not have time for a designer.
00:02:06.360 It’s a false separation to say designers and developers are different. In reality, it’s a spectrum.
00:02:17.640 At the end of the day, design is just as important as technology. It’s all about the end product.
00:02:24.660 It doesn’t matter if you have a fantastic technological infrastructure if the design is lacking and users don’t enjoy it.
00:02:30.200 I think everyone should aspire to be a better designer. There’s this notion that designers who can’t code are worthless, yet we rarely hear developers criticized for not being able to design.
00:02:38.760 You might be thinking about your own skills; maybe you feel like you're a developer who can't design.
00:02:47.160 Aspiring to enhance your design skills will help you produce better products overall.
00:02:54.540 I’d like to share how I got into design—the journey of becoming what everyone calls a designer.
00:03:05.100 In seventh grade, I was enamored with Warcraft II and wanted to share my passion, and back then, websites were a fantastic way to do this.
00:03:12.540 So, I wanted to build websites. I learned by using the ‘view source’ option and I copied the designs I found. I don’t recommend this for professional work, but it’s a great way to learn.
00:03:22.560 As I continued this process, I realized that good design is a collection of hacks. That’s why I call it 'design hacks for the pragmatic-minded'.
00:03:30.600 I appreciate simple rules that can be built upon and applied consistently.
00:03:39.060 This talk isn’t about design theory or anything I learned in school; it’s simply a collection of hacks.
00:03:47.460 I’m going to share tips to polish your designs, some quick improvements, and strategies that will enhance your design understanding.
00:03:54.180 Let’s start with type, meaning the fonts and the layout of text.
00:04:01.560 Good typography is 90% about what you aren’t doing. Stop trying to be fancy; that’s the enemy.
00:04:08.280 Classic fonts go a long way. Fonts like Helvetica, Arial, Times New Roman, Georgia, and Monaco can help you create amazing interfaces.
00:04:14.280 Many of my favorite design websites use these simple fonts, so don’t feel pressured to choose something fancy.
00:04:20.880 Instead of using numerous different fonts, experiment with font weights and styles.
00:04:27.360 For instance, Twitter’s tweet section uses only Helvetica with a mix of weights, making it visually appealing.
00:04:34.080 You can achieve a coherent design by just tweaking weights and styles.
00:04:42.360 Another thing to consider is line height for improved readability.
00:04:49.080 Standard line height is often too compact; increasing it will make your text easier to read.
00:04:56.640 This adjustment has a much more noticeable effect on smaller font sizes.
00:05:05.220 A tool I recommend is the baseline grid, which helps align your text effectively.
00:05:13.020 Using a vertical grid to align your text creates a visual rhythm that enhances the design.
00:05:21.780 Now let’s discuss color. Color usage is essential for emphasizing content.
00:05:31.200 Specific colors can set expectations; for example, blue text typically signifies a link.
00:05:40.560 However, using too many colors can be distracting. It’s advisable to start your designs in grayscale.
00:05:47.520 By designing in grayscale and adding color later, you’re forced to think seriously about your color choices.
00:05:53.460 Many designers use colored backgrounds with gray text and borders, which can hurt readability.
00:06:02.640 Instead, add subtle hints of color to your background and borders; this improves the visual design.
00:06:11.760 Using gradients in design is common, but you may wonder why yours look lackluster.
00:06:22.560 The secret often lies in blend modes in design software that can enhance vibrancy.
00:06:29.520 Instead of only using standard black and white gradients, explore various blend modes to brighten your designs.
00:06:39.000 In conclusion, adding black or white directly to a color can desaturate it. You want richness in your colors.
00:06:47.460 Playing with saturation and radiance in your design can yield remarkable results.
00:06:54.420 Using stock icons or images is another aspect that many overlook.
00:07:02.640 Some designers feel they are a cheap way out, but that’s not true. Stock icons can add personality and flair.
00:07:09.960 For instance, the octocat from GitHub began as a stock image but became iconic.
00:07:15.900 Stocks are widely accessible and can significantly elevate a design.
00:07:23.340 They are cost-effective and available in various formats, allowing flexibility in usage.
00:07:31.680 In terms of design principles, spacing and alignment make a significant difference.
00:07:39.060 Often, developer designs overlook proper padding, leading to cramped text next to edges.
00:07:46.920 It’s important to provide adequate space to improve readability. Conversely, don’t go overboard with padding.
00:07:55.020 A good technique is to use equal padding on both sides, ensuring that padding matches margins and font size.
00:08:02.880 Grids are another vital aspect of design that simplifies layout and alignment.
00:08:09.960 They provide guidelines much like legos, allowing you to create visually appealing designs effortlessly.
00:08:16.380 Ensuring alignment, even if it’s just by five pixels, greatly improves the overall look.
00:08:25.620 Visual hierarchy is essential in design, grouping related elements together.
00:08:32.100 Using boxes to represent these elements helps clarify what belongs together.
00:08:39.360 For example, on Tumblr, information is grouped logically, enabling intuitive navigation.
00:08:46.680 To ensure your design maintains a good hierarchy, write outlines of your UI elements.
00:08:53.640 Visualizing relationships helps prevent unrelated elements from being confused.
00:09:01.680 Additionally, performing a squish test—shrinking your design to assess grouping—can provide insight.
00:09:09.060 Let’s now delve into improving your presentations, a topic I have strong opinions on.
00:09:18.300 First and foremost, increase your font size on slides. A bigger font is always better.
00:09:26.520 When it comes to text length, 80 characters are suitable for a text editor, but terrible for slides.
00:09:33.240 Truncate strings where possible; your code can be less accurate in a presentation.
00:09:41.280 If you have a large block of code, present it one line at a time to avoid overwhelming your audience.
00:09:48.840 A good goal is to maintain around 40 characters wide, with about four lines of code visible at once.
00:09:57.000 This format helps reduce cognitive load during presentations, keeping your audience engaged.
00:10:05.040 While some slides might require larger code samples, remember that clarity is Key.
00:10:12.360 Always favor brevity in your code samples; it doesn’t have to be syntactically perfect.
00:10:22.800 Contrast is an essential aspect of slide design. Ensure that your text is easily legible.
00:10:29.520 Using a 75% overlay can help test visibility in various lighting conditions, especially with projectors.
00:10:36.420 In conclusion, applying these principles can help you become a better designer.
00:10:44.640 Steal ideas where you can and practice those styles to build your skills.
00:10:53.520 Recreate designs from screenshots to learn about layering styles and effects. Side projects are an ideal way to practice.
00:11:03.540 I have redesigned my blog about ten times this year alone, which allowed me to experiment without risk.
00:11:12.960 Lastly, consistent practice is key. You're not going to become proficient overnight.
00:11:19.920 So, to summarize, oddscat stickers work great!
00:11:25.800 Any questions?
00:11:32.520 Audience member raises an accessibility concern related to color.
00:11:41.760 In response, I recommend designing in grayscale first and emphasizing contrast.
00:11:51.840 This helps ensure that any color choices remain accessible.
00:12:00.840 Another audience member raises concerns about icon license usage across projects.
00:12:11.760 Most icons usually have individual usage licenses; always check licensing terms.
00:12:19.800 Another audience member mentions the writings of Donald Norman on the use of color.
00:12:27.360 This is a crucial conversation about effective color use in designs.
00:12:34.920 Another audience member asks about the use of progressive disclosure.
00:12:46.320 Using tooltips and first-time guidance is an effective approach to revealing deeper information.
00:12:57.240 Another comment addresses the role of text shadows in design.
00:13:05.640 A well-placed shadow enhances readability but must be used wisely.
00:13:13.320 Cool, thank you, everyone!
KN
Kyle Neath
1 talk
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