LEARN IT. BUILD WITH IT.
The Developer's Eye
Design skills for builders who ship without a designer
About this workbook
A 28-chapter field guide to design for engineers who ship without a designer — how to see like one, then fix what you see. Covers the visual fundamentals (typography, spacing, color, hierarchy), a component playbook (buttons, forms, tables, states), experience and flow design, tokens and component systems, the surfaces that sell (landing pages, pricing, dashboards), and the polish pass that separates ‘works’ from ‘trustworthy’.
THE COMPLETE READING PATH
Explore the chapters.
Read in order or go straight to the problem you are working on. Every chapter is available online.
Part 1: Seeing Like a Designer
- The Competence Tax 13 min
- Taste Is Trainable 13 min
- The Squint Test 12 min
- Decide Once, Reuse Forever 13 min
Part 2: The Visual Fundamentals
- Typography Does 80% of the Work 14 min
- Spacing Is the Skill Nobody Teaches You 14 min
- Color Without a Color Degree 13 min
- Hierarchy: Make the Eye Go Where You Point 13 min
Part 3: The Component Playbook
- Buttons: The Atom of the Interface 13 min
- Forms People Actually Finish 14 min
- Tables Without the Spreadsheet Look 13 min
- The States You Forgot to Design 13 min
Part 4: Designing the Experience
- Flows Before Screens 13 min
- Don't Ship Your Schema 13 min
- The First Five Minutes 13 min
- Microcopy Is Interface 12 min
Part 5: Tools & Systems
- Figma for People Who'd Rather Be in VS Code 13 min
- Design Tokens Are Just Constants 13 min
- A Component System in Code 13 min
- Working With (and Hiring) Designers 12 min
Part 6: The Surfaces That Sell
- Landing Pages That Convert Without Tricks 14 min
- Pricing: The Hardest Page You'll Build 13 min
- Dashboards People Don't Hate 13 min
- Design the Edges 13 min
Part 7: Polish & the Long Game
- The Polish Pass 13 min
- Accessibility Is Just Good Design 13 min
- Perceived Performance 13 min
- Building Your Practice 13 min
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