In this episode of Syntax, Scott and Wes talk about design foundations for developers — tips to follow that will make your designs better!

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.

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 ×××

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