Article · 10 min read

7 Practical Tips for Cheating at Design

Adam Wathan and Steve Schoger · Refactoring UI (Medium) Free Beginner

A free, fast preview of the Refactoring UI mindset that you can apply this afternoon. It gives you seven fixes (use more white space, add a hint of color, use fewer borders, think outside the box) that instantly lift a default no-code layout. If you only read one thing before your next design pass, read this.

  • Extra white space alone makes a cramped screen feel considered
  • Accent color and soft shadows replace heavy borders and boxes
  • Emphasize by de, emphasizing everything else, not by making one thing louder
Open on medium.com ↗

It answers 4 questions

  1. I'm not a designer, how do I make my product not look terrible?
  2. How do I make a no-code app feel polished and trustworthy instead of looking like an obvious template?
  3. What are the most common design mistakes that make an early product feel amateur, and how do I avoid them?
  4. As a solo technical founder, when is it worth hiring a designer versus using a template or design system?

Read with it

  1. Design tactics written specifically for developers and non-designers who need to ship good-looking UI without a design... refactoringui.com Book · ~250 pages Refactoring UI Adam Wathan & Steve Schoger
  2. Typography is the fastest way to stop looking like a template, because every no-code builder ships one default font that... fontpair.co Tool Fontpair fontpair.co
  3. Erik Kennedy writes for engineers and founders who were never taught design, and his rules are unusually memorable (light comes... Learn UI Design (Erik Kennedy) Essay · 25 min read 7 Rules for Creating Gorgeous UI Erik D. Kennedy
  4. An interactive page that improves an ugly wall of text step by step in front of you, so you feel exactly which changes matter... jgthms.com Tool · 4 min interactive Web Design in 4 Minutes Jeremy Thomas
  5. The classic that gives non, designers four principles they will use forever: contrast, repetition, alignment, and proximity.... Robin Williams (Peachpit) Book · 240 pages The Non-Designer's Design Book Robin Williams
  6. Video · 44 min Refactoring UI (CSS Day 2019 talk) Steve Schoger
eChai Partner Brands The partnership →