Book · ~250 pages

Refactoring UI

Adam Wathan & Steve Schoger · refactoringui.com Paid Beginner

Design tactics written specifically for developers and non-designers who need to ship good-looking UI without a design background. The most practical 'make it not ugly' resource there is.

  • Use spacing, hierarchy, and font weight, not just color, for visual hierarchy.
  • Start with too much whitespace, then remove.
  • Design in grayscale first to nail hierarchy before adding color.
Open on refactoringui.com ↗

It answers 10 questions

  1. I'm not a designer, how do I make my product not look terrible?
  2. What are the core UX principles every founder should know?
  3. Should I learn Figma, and how much design do I really need?
  4. Why does good design actually matter for an early-stage startup?
  5. I keep hearing "don't make me think" but what does that actually mean when I'm designing a screen?
  6. Should I just copy the UI patterns of apps my users already use, or does that make my product forgettable?
  7. How do I make a no-code app feel polished and trustworthy instead of looking like an obvious template?
  8. What are the most common design mistakes that make an early product feel amateur, and how do I avoid them?
  9. How much should I invest in design polish for an MVP versus just shipping something functional?
  10. As a solo technical founder, when is it worth hiring a designer versus using a template or design system?

Read with it

  1. 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
  2. The foundational text on human-centered design that every product person should read once. It rewires how you see every... jnd.org / Basic Books Book · ~350 pages The Design of Everyday Things Don Norman
  3. 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
  4. Users judge attractive products as more usable, which is why polish matters and also why it can hide real problems. As a... Nielsen Norman Group Article · 8 min read The Aesthetic-Usability Effect Kate Moran
  5. The single most-cited usability framework in the field, from the definitive UX research authority. A checklist you can hold... Nielsen Norman Group Article · ~15 min read 10 Usability Heuristics for User Interface Design Jakob Nielsen
  6. 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
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