Living style guides help front-end developers transform front-end codebases into well-described pattern libraries with the minimum of effort. But to make them really efficient, we need to choose the proper tools — so let’s have a closer look at what our community has to offer. In this article, Robert Haritonov has arranged the tools by function, highlighting only the most powerful ones worth knowing about. You can find more tools, plus videos, articles and other material about style guides at styleguide.io.
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In this article, Varya Stepanova & Juuso Backman will talk about style guides that are generated directly from the style definition sources — i.e. CSS and its modern variants. Style guides are useful in many aspects of development and maintenance, so it’s little wonder that developing them has become a highly popular practice. But even with the clear benefits, taking the necessary steps to start using them is easier said than done, as quite often the challenge is cultural, requiring changes in people’s mindsets. We encourage everyone to try it!
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Product Hunt is a community where people post, vote on and comment on new products they’ve discovered or launched. Whether you’re looking for the next big thing to invest in or just want to find a better weather app, Product Hunt has got you covered. As Product Hunt’s success has shown, there’s a big demand for websites that help us deal with information overload by streamlining and centralizing content. Telescope is a fast, modern platform on which to build your own community, social news app or link-sharing website. In this article, Sacha Greif will show you how easy is to extend it. He encourages you to give it a try!
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Proto.io is powerful solution for prototyping native and web apps for use on a variety of devices. The learning curve is a bit steeper than with Axure, but it can be mastered with a little time and practice. Proto.io’s real strength is its built-in support for many device types and native app libraries, and its support for gestures and transitions. The first thing to know is that unlike most prototyping tools, Proto.io is a web application, so you’ll need an internet connection to do your work. Assuming you’ll have access when you need it, Proto.io offers a lot for mobile designers to love, built right into the app.
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Edge Reflow is one in an avalanche of tools that have come out that make it possible to visually design a responsive website. What you do with that design is up to you (and the capabilities of the tool). Edge Reflow was created to address how responsive design has changed our web workflows. In this article, Brian Wood gives you a quick-ish tour of the features in Edge Reflow CC.
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We view our design approaches as intuitive and emotional, so we have a hard time developing documented, human-focused design processes. Designers can create in-depth, documented case studies of their work. The best ones clarify the complex choices designers have to make and explain their thinking behind UX and visual decisions. In this article, Senongo Akpem analyzes some key features of case studies and provides tips on how to use them to humanize your process of design.
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Every project starts with a briefing sent to your team. Don’t take the content for granted, and make sure you clearly understand the objectives before working out anything tangible. You can do this by including a small learning phase, based on interviews with your client and their customers. Address your learnings and observations in an involved relationship. By simply asking the right questions, you’ll learn a hell of a lot more. In this article, Thomas Joos shares his learnings after years of streamlining creative dialogue.
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Mail.Ru Group has about 40 products — even more if you add mobile and tablet websites and apps, promo websites, etc. Yury Vetrov’s team deals with almost half of them. Their goal is to update these products and unify them around several guidelines. Continue reading of Part Two. In this article Yury will discuss the transformation of their design process from the classic Prototype → Design Mockup → HTML → Implement approach for every screen to a modern and more efficient framework-based approach.
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Web designers usually lose money on a project as a result of the client endlessly iterating on the design. After a few bad experiences, we avoid consulting with them. Unfortunately, this often makes interaction with the client even worse, so they interfere even more, creating a vicious cycle. But there is a way that enables you to produce outstanding design and maintain your profit margin! The answer lies in involving the client in the process, rather than excluding them. It involves collaborating with the client to produce a design. In this article, Paul Boag will show you how.
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Developer’s involvement in the design process seems to be addressed very little. This is a shame, because developers have a huge amount to add to discussions about design. The truth is that many designers have a somewhat elitist attitude towards design. They believe that only they can come up with good design ideas. Everybody has the ability to make good design suggestions. Admittedly, a trained designer will probably be more effective at finding design solutions. But that does not mean others should not contribute. As designers, we need to swallow our pride and accept contributions from everybody!
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