Design for Hackers: Reverse Engineering Beauty

The smash hit web design book that debuted at #18 on Amazon.

Web design isn't just about knowing HTML, CSS, and JavaScript. When it comes to web design for developers or web design for programmers, you need to know design principles to make beautiful and engaging interfaces.

Hackers are able to accomplish so much in so little time because they come from a community that's built upon sharing knowledge. When it comes to programming, they can learn whatever they need to learn by reading manuals, or simply typing in a Google search. But learning design isn't so simple.

Many design books try to teach design through lists of "do's" and "don'ts." But hackers know you need a deeper understanding of something to really do it well. Design for Hackers takes apart design by "reverse-engineering" Impressionist painting, Renaissance sculpture, the Mac OS X Aqua interface, Twitter's web interface, and much more. You'll learn about color theory, typography, proportions, and design principles. This theoretical advice is mixed with concrete, actionable advice such as suggestions for color scheme tools, and a chart of "all of the fonts you'll ever need."

Whether you're doing interaction design, user interface design, user experience design, iOS/Android mobile design, or good old-fashioned "web design," by the end of the book, you'll be seeing design through new eyes.

David Kadavy is president of Kadavy, Inc., a user interface design consultancy with clients including oDesk, PBworks, and UserVoice, and mentor at the 500 Startups seed fund. Previously, David led the design departments of two Silicon Valley startups and an architecture firm, taught a college course in typography, and studied ancient typography in Rome while earning his BFA in graphic design. David's design work has been featured in Communication Arts magazine, and he has spoken at the South by Southwest (SXSW) Interactive conference. David has written for SmashingMagazine.com, blogs about design and entrepreneurship at his blog, kadavy.net, and tweets at the handle @kadavy. More than 30,000 people have taken his free design course at designforhackers.com.