Essay · 8 min read

Good Design

Julie Zhuo · The Year of the Looking Glass (Julie Zhuo) Free Intermediate

Facebook's former head of product design on what separates good design from decoration, which reframes polish as clarity and intent rather than prettiness. It backs our point that users forgive a simple product but distrust a sloppy one. A short read that changes how you decide what to polish.

  • Good design is intentional and clear, not merely decorated
  • Simplicity done well signals competence and care
  • Decide what matters most, then make that unmistakably clean
Open on medium.com ↗

It answers 3 questions

  1. What are the core UX principles every founder should know?
  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?

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. The most accessible, practical intro to usability ever written, you can read it in a weekend and immediately fix your product.... sensible.com Book · ~200 pages Don't Make Me Think, Revisited Steve Krug
  3. 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
  4. Coolors is the fastest way to lock a brand palette and walk away with the exact hex codes your site, deck, and designer all... Coolors Tool · Web tool, minutes to build a palette Coolors: The Super Fast Color Palette Generator Fabrizio Bianchi
  5. A free, fast preview of the Refactoring UI mindset that you can apply this afternoon. It gives you seven fixes (use more white... Refactoring UI (Medium) Article · 10 min read 7 Practical Tips for Cheating at Design Adam Wathan and Steve Schoger
  6. 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
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