| These are all great resources, but remember: The most important part of design is sitting back and thinking about the impact your choices will make. What will a given element say about your product? How will it affect functionality? If you can ask these questions, you can achieve great design. It easy to be distracted by glossy aesthetics, but a simple, well-thought-out, polished, application is what your goal should really be. So pay attention to every detail. No pixel should go unexamined. It sounds hard, and at first it's tedious, but it quickly becomes habitual. You start to look at the corners of boxes, or unfocus your eyes after you read a logo. If you're going to take this one step further, learn about typography and negative space. Specifically vertical rhythm and the use of 6. Just like you can't "hack" a well-designed API, you can't "hack" good design. It takes effort, attentiveness, and the willingness to try ten variations before you choose an option. |
It includes its own great list of other resources, including A List Apart and Thinking with Type.
I think a vast majority of websites ignore even basic principles like spacing, negative space, readability, and rudimentary concepts about typeface pairing.