[schrijver]

The gist of the post is not that you don’t need a designer, it’s rather that you should become one. Which is fine if you have some basic enthusiasms and talent in the area. As a designer it sort of pisses me off that people are going to skip hiring me, as a teacher I feel great about people learning about design :)

[schrijver]

I would never recommend dribbble though, it’s glossy run of the mill boring stuff! You’d do better with dabbling in design history… My favourite design education text is the book ‘Thinking with Type’, which combines practical knowledge with a inspirational reading of typographic history, renaissance books, swiss grids, postmodern experiments http://www.thinkingwithtype.com/

[wccrawford]

The post is aimed at people who admit they can't design well. Starting with the boring run-of-the-mill stuff is exactly what they need.

For people with some good designs of their own under their belt, moving onto more advanced topics is appropriate.

[schrijver]

That’s like saying that if you want to learn how to paint you shouldn’t be visiting the Louvre, you should go to a mediocre art fair instead! That’s not true, you need great examples at each stage of the journey.

[mcolyer]

Interesting feedback. What I meant to communicate is that there are some simple rules that people can follow to apply a minimal level of design to what they build.

However it's really no substitute for having someone whose sole role is design. So people shouldn't skip hiring you, but use these suggestions to hold them over until they could afford you.