| I'm a developer too, for the last year I've been working on my UI & UX skills - and I've somehow managed to get paid to built out product features for the web (UI, UX + code) professionally. Here's what I figured out (YMMV): --- For UI design Books aren't that helpful, you have learn by doing. Instead, for theory Treehouse offers a primer on HTML, CSS & UI design which provided a great foundation, they have courses on things like colour theory. Really really helpful. Practice. I designed & launched a bunch of complete web apps, each one with a landing page + full functionality. Each attempt had a visible improvement in UI & UX over the last. I got tons of great feedback and encouragement (you're gonna need it) from forrst. So I'd highly encourage posting there and asking for feedback (tell people you're learning). Learn Photoshop. Check out Sacha Greif's ebook on UI design http://sachagreif.com/ebook/ it comes with a PSD and has a great intro into UI stuff. Check out Lighting & Realism In Interface Design by Mike Rundle (developer + designer) here http://designthencode.com Get a bunch of freebies from dribbble and deconstruct and remix them to your taste. ----- For UX Watch this https://peepcode.com/products/ryan-singer-ux then watch it again. Ryan Singer is an absolute UX god - he understands how to navigate the problem space very very well. To really improve UX measure how people use what you make (mixpanel, click tracking) & conduct user studies - watch people use an interface to really understand what works UX wise. |
I started looking into useful material to help improve my non-design skills, because well... they are non-existent.
I started with Twitter Bootstrap but I don't think it is the way forward if you want to learn design the proper way. I recently bought this book: The Non-Designer's Design Book (http://www.amazon.com/Non-Designers-Design-Book-The-Edition/...) and would warmly recommend it to anyone who wants to put one foot or their whole body into the design world.
I now try to spend more time analyzing the design of websites, brochures, menus, etc. It is very fun and I believe it is my observing and analyzing other peoples' work (mistakes included), then practising, that you can improve your eye(s) for design.