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I’m a product designer based out of New Delhi, India. I have been doing product design for the last 7+ years, working with brands across the globe. I'm interested in the relationship between mindfulness and creativity: how mindfulness can empower you to be a stronger designer and a more engaged team member. Furthermore, I approach projects with a balance of a zen mind and a beginner's mind, using my experience and expertise to guide the process but remaining curious when approaching new challenges.
I also love to mentor aspiring designers as a way of giving back to the community 🙌
I also share design tips, frameworks, etc., in my newsletter. Subscribe (by the way, Google VP of Design is one of my subscribers), and get the best resources once a week in your inbox. Join 900+ subscribers 👇🏽
Why it’s hard to improve visual design
visual design is hard to improve because some of it is tacitExplicit knowledge is the stuff that’s easy to explain. It can be learned from books. It’s got easy rules you can follow. It’s easy to share with other people.
Tacit knowledge is different. It’s hard to explain. It’s hard to know you have it. You don’t find it in books. Sometimes, people work hard to make tacit knowledge explicit. Then, they can write it down. But that’s rare.
Tacit knowledge takes a long time to learn. You surround yourself with it. You soak it in. You might not know if you’ve learned something.
The visual design has lots of tacit knowledge. It’s not simple or easy to get better. — Anthony Hobday
I have learned the hard way. I made a lot of trial and error, read different books and blogs, and practised the visual design craft day and night to improve it. I don’t want you to learn this way, thus creating this guide for U design, thus creating this guide for you.
Lack of practical, structured resources on the internet
Secondly, on the Internet, there’s hardly any practical material available. For example, if you want to learn how to create a colour palette for the interface, on a Google search, you’ll find everything from the color wheel to colour psychology and emotional values.
But nobody tells you how on earth you should create a color palette that can applied to your UI. Same problem with typography and other aspect of interface design.
Erik Kennedy describes the same frustration:
I have another word for that sort of thing: useless.
So if colour theory doesn’t provide a solid basis for colour in UI design, what does?
Do you know what works? See the practical guides I provided in my reading list (with key points and summaries):
Isn’t it to the point, applicable, and easy to implement?
Before we start…
💜 Support an independent designer and educator
Contributions (as little as a cup of coffee): As it’s an open-sourced guide, if you wish to support me, you can contribute below.
P.S.- If you’re based out of India, you might prefer UPI for donations. Here’s my UPI ID - shivamdewan08@okicic.
