I got better at design
March 31st, 2020
For context on this:


Unlike February's skill, this one was a big success! Here's what I learned and some examples of how I applied this knowledge:

I learned how to be more consistent

I learned about color palettes, well, I learned that it's a whole lot easier to use a scale for each color, this is how I have my CSS files set up now:

In my code, I'm not concerned with hex, I just use the variable "blue3", it makes things so much easier and consistent

Also works great for padding and font sizes.

I redid the entire landing page for Pigeon:

Old
New
More screenshots from the new Pigeon landing page:

Screen Shot 2020-03-31 at 6.46.17 PM.png 799 KB
Screen Shot 2020-03-31 at 6.45.30 PM.png 491 KB

I added more color to the spreadsheet view, which makes things look sooooooo much nicer:

Just some simple colors make a huge difference.


I also redid the sidebar for Pigeon: video.

Overall, here's my takeaways and some things I learned:

  • Don't reinvent the wheel - what other (successful) sites are doing probably works, esp from a conversion perspective
  • Design/UI is fun and it's just like coding - every day you get better and learn new tricks up your sleeve
  • Use Dribbble for inspiration
  • There is not very much good content out there on modern design
  • Refactoring UI is the best money you'll ever spend
  • ASK FOR FEEDBACK from people - it really helps.

Really stoked on this new "skill"! I'm not sure what my hobby will be for April. I will come up with it by tomorrow though!