Design School for Developers

Design School for Developers is a tutorial series aimed at helping developers (and those new, or simply interested in designing for the web) to understand more about the techniques and decisions employed behind the design they may code.

You may be a developer used to working with other designers and want to get a better understanding of design in general, or you may be a developer that wants to – or has to – work on your own projects and would like to learn how to design better websites.

Either way, and whatever your situation, by the end of this session I'll have armed you with a huge amount of knowledge which you will be able to put into practice on your next project.

Posts in this series

Welcome to Design School for Developers
Design School for Developers is a tutorial series aimed at helping developers (and those new, or simply interested in designing for the web) to understand...
Rachel Shillcock
8 Jul 2013
Design Theory
Planning a Design Project
Before you start designing, there are several things you should look at first. I always find these extra initial steps help when you eventually do start...
Rachel Shillcock
8 Jul 2013
Design Theory
Researching Your Design Project
When working on any project for the web, you should always start by researching as much as you possibly can. To be honest, you can do as little, or as much...
Rachel Shillcock
17 Jul 2013
Design Theory
Sketching and Your Design Workflow
Once you've finished working with your content - great news! You get to start thinking about the actual design. But not so fast - don't jump onto a computer...
Rachel Shillcock
20 Jul 2013
Design Theory
Introducing Wireframes to Your Design Process
After sketching, there is one final thing you should work on before starting to design (although, admittedly, this is all part of designing). Wireframing is...
Rachel Shillcock
22 Jul 2013
Design Theory
Defining and Recognizing Colors
When you are designing for any medium - not just the web - the way you use color in your designs will impact how that design is perceived, understood and...
Rachel Shillcock
24 Jul 2013
Design Theory
Understanding the Qualities and Characteristics of Color
Moving on from our previous article on defining and recognizing colors, let's now explore the qualities and characteristics of colors.
Rachel Shillcock
5 Aug 2013
Design Theory
Selecting Your Own Color Scheme
By now you should have a good idea of what color is, what each of the colors mean and have a good understanding of the different types of color scheme...
Rachel Shillcock
5 Aug 2013
Design Theory
Working With Brand and Design Guidelines
Sometimes, particularly when you work with established brands and companies, you may encounter a set of brand or design guidelines. As a developer who might...
Rachel Shillcock
9 Aug 2013
Design Theory
Typography Basics for Developers
Typography is a fundamental element in any design that you work on. The main reason we have websites in the first place is to display information, and for...
Rachel Shillcock
13 Aug 2013
Design Theory
Improving Layout With Vertical Rhythm
Learning all about the ins and outs of the technical side of typography is good. It will give you a solid grounding when looking for typefaces or fonts and...
Rachel Shillcock
13 Aug 2013
Design Theory
All About Grid Systems
Now you know all about colour, typography and various things you should undertake before you start a design project, it’s time to start getting down and...
Rachel Shillcock
22 Aug 2013
Design Theory
Choosing a Grid System
In the previous article, I introduced you to grid systems. With any luck, by now, you should have a good understanding of what they are and why they’re a...
Rachel Shillcock
23 Aug 2013
Design Theory
Using Alignment to Improve Your Designs
Alignment is one of those things that comes hand-in-hand when working with grid systems. The subject of alignment isn’t simply a matter of choosing whether...
Rachel Shillcock
3 Sep 2013
Design Theory
An Introduction to Composition
Composition is about laying out all your ideas and design elements into a whole; composing your design. We're going to combine all of the previous lessons...
Rachel Shillcock
9 Sep 2013
Design Theory
Adding Space to Your Designs
Let’s get the basic stuff out of the way first. Whitespace isn’t simply a block of space in your design that has to be white. Instead, think of it more like...
Rachel Shillcock
10 Sep 2013
Design Theory
Building Consistency and Relationships into Your Designs
One key part of composition is understanding how to build consistency into your designs and how to display the relationships between each of the elements on...
Rachel Shillcock
18 Sep 2013
Design Theory
Reducing the Bloat
Complexity in our designs is often unavoidable. Sometimes, it’s also necessary. When working for any client there is always going to be a level of complexity...
Rachel Shillcock
19 Sep 2013
Design Theory
An Introduction to Hierarchy
Ensuring that your designs present a clear hierarchy is very important, and something that you should aim for in every one of your designs. There’s...
Rachel Shillcock
30 Sep 2013
Design Theory
Building Content Hierarchy Through Design
Way back at the beginning of this series, we talked a lot about content and the importance content has in any design work. It’s something that should...
Rachel Shillcock
2 Oct 2013
Design Theory
Building Visual Hierarchy into Your Designs
It’s important to remember that hierarchy has not only to do with content and the words that you have on a page. The imagery you include in your designs,...
Rachel Shillcock
3 Oct 2013
Design Theory
All About Trends in Web Design
As long as the web has been around there have been certain design trends which have popped up from time to time. Some of these trends have stuck around and,...
Rachel Shillcock
9 Oct 2013
Design Theory
CSS3, Web Fonts and Icons
We’re really lucky to be working in an industry like the web industry. Nowadays, we have so many new tips and techniques and ways of working all of the time....
Rachel Shillcock
10 Oct 2013
Design Theory
Video in Web Design
Video itself has been around for a long time; in films, on the television and now readily available to play on our phones, tablets and other devices. Video...
Rachel Shillcock
11 Oct 2013
Design Theory
Responsive Web Design
Unless you’re totally new to the industry, or you’ve been living under a rock in the faraway lands of another planet, you’ll have heard about responsive...
Rachel Shillcock
1 Nov 2013
Design Theory
Design School for Developers: It's a Wrap!
So there we have it, the end of our session for Design School for Developers. Hopefully, by now, you’ll have a much better understanding of the basic...
Rachel Shillcock
1 Nov 2013
Design Theory