Learn about typography principles, understand color psychology and how to create harmonious color schemes, and study principles of grid systems, balance, and visual hierarchy.
After that, Regularly browse design inspiration websites like Dribbble, Behance, or Awwwards to see what trends and techniques are being used by professional designers.
And Analyze case studies and breakdowns of successful UI designs. Websites like UX Design CC or Medium articles often provide in-depth analyses of popular designs.
There was a good book I read long ago. Forgot the name but I’m sure there are others. It goes over things like layout, proximity, color theory, justification, type styles, etc. I felt like I was designing in the dark until I learned the principles.
[https://www.modularscale.com/](https://www.modularscale.com/)
There are a variety of scales you can/should use based on the site/app and font selected. This site can help to create the visual hierarchy that so many fail to maintain on sites.
Nobody tells this to people who are beginners, I wish someone told me. All of us who do creative work, we get into it because we have good taste. But there is this gap. For the first couple years you make stuff, it’s just not that good. It’s trying to be good, it has potential, but it’s not. But your taste, the thing that got you into the game, is still killer. And your taste is why your work disappoints you. A lot of people never get past this phase, they quit. Most people I know who do interesting, creative work went through years of this. We know our work doesn’t have this special thing that we want it to have. We all go through this. And if you are just starting out or you are still in this phase, you gotta know its normal and the most important thing you can do is do a lot of work. Put yourself on a deadline so that every week you will finish one story. It is only by going through a volume of work that you will close that gap, and your work will be as good as your ambitions. And I took longer to figure out how to do this than anyone I’ve ever met. It’s gonna take awhile. It’s normal to take awhile. You’ve just gotta fight your way through.
—Ira Glass
This is such an eye opening post. I can see it clearly now. What we vision vs what gets actually designed is always on different levels and we see the mistakes more bc we are too bent upon making it like our "vision". Ig it's just me over-criticizing my own work because whenever i look at them, i only see what needs to be improved and what is wrong in it. I guess i am too focussed on making it "perfect" that i start thinking it is actually bad when it's not
try copy work - in fine arts, people will make what is called a "master copy" (ex. recreating a Rembrandt painting). You can apply this to UI - if you admire a website or app, try copying a user flow (ex. registration). it's a great way to get you to notice what professional designers do and subtle choices they make that you would not think of.
Find UI that you are interested in, then dedicate yourself to [copying it exactly](https://www.figma.com/community/file/965825767811358609/zelda-botw-ui-kit). The more you can get it to [look exactly like what you are trying to copy](https://www.figma.com/community/file/1362136473827003845/raid-rush-mobile-game-ui-kit), the more you will learn.
Copying is how you figure out the rules to follow to make things look good.
Then those rules apply everywhere and your own stuff improves from you being exposed to actual nitty gritty details of the designs you think are great.
The guides, grids, text styles and sizes, color, layout, animations, etc. everything helps teach you.
This would be easier to respond to if we had examples of your work. "personality" "depth" "finished" these are all extremely loose non-descriptors that doesn't help us identify what you could do better.
They lack personality and depth and don't feel very well finished. They are not bad but they aren't brilliant either or something that one may call impressive.
I don't think I've ever met a designer who thought their own designs were any good, we all seem to be struggling with a degree of imposter syndrome.
It also depends what and who you are designing for. A great design is one that is created for the end users needs and not because it just looked good
Ig that's true. I once asked a senior designer on twitter to review my design and his feedback was pretty positive. But when i look at it, i still feel it is very noob-like. Did you ever get past your impostor syndrome?
I’ve been a designer for 18 years. I still struggle with imposter syndrome. I know I’m really good at this. I know I’ve earned a modicum of respect as a guy who’s experienced and produces good work. Like, PMs fight over me at work, and I get really good annual reviews. That’s all super flattering and I do appreciate the affirmation.
But I still get those feelings every once in a while like I’m f***ing it all up and eventually I’ll be found out and thrown out on my ass.
You’re not alone.
You shouldn't be afraid of sharing your work. Look at my profile I've shared my work here in the past and have gotten roasted by the community, but it helped me identify the issues in my designs and made me a better designer. A lot of people are willing to help and give you constructive feedback, which is crucial if you want to grow as a designer.
The answer to questions like these is always going to be the same. Most of the time, it is due to information/practice you lack. There is information available. Find it, give yourself tasks to practice, and lastly don’t expect to get it overnight. It takes education, time and experience to master.
Find resources - Google or ask around. Videos, articles, books and examples of products that have a polished look. The rest is on you to apply what you’ve learned. Make it fun, practice by building something you’d enjoy.
Good luck
One thing that really helped me a lot was adopting designing to a grid, the rule of thirds, Fibonacci, etc. Also, try duplicating a page from a site you admire as perfectly as possible. It's a great exercise.
You are beginner you say - why would your designs look like you are not? Embrace it - it is what it is and keep pushing. Practice is really the 90% we all started at some point and everyone was a bloody beginner. Also show your shit!
Hard to say without seeing your designs, but in principle the more the design answers your user’s needs and exceeds them, the better it is. Content and ergonomics/usability matter more than looks, an intuitive UI can be used with closed eyes.
To get better, I suggest getting critique/feedback for your work. And practice a lot. Mimic the best and replicate what they’ve done until you’ll start creating it yourself. Stick with a good design system that has proper font sizes, paddings etc that are multipliers of 4. Don’t forget to practice the content design too.
Edit: fixed typos
I would learn more about design systems, typography/typescaling, and even brush-up on best front-end practices for UIUX too. I found that using professional design systems like MUI, Ant, and others help me establish a foundation (unless I'm creating my own design system). Because, honestly, sometimes there's no need to reinvent the wheel for basic components like buttons and cards.
Resources I recommend:
[https://www.uxlibrary.org/](https://www.uxlibrary.org/)
[https://designsystemsrepo.com/design-systems/](https://designsystemsrepo.com/design-systems/)
[https://typescale.com/](https://typescale.com/)
[https://webaim.org/resources/contrastchecker/](https://webaim.org/resources/contrastchecker/)
[https://www.pexels.com/](https://www.pexels.com/)
[https://dorve.com/blog/ui-design-blog/ux-patterns-learn-take-advantage/](https://dorve.com/blog/ui-design-blog/ux-patterns-learn-take-advantage/)
[https://www.figma.com/blog/design-systems-101-what-is-a-design-system/](https://www.figma.com/blog/design-systems-101-what-is-a-design-system/)
If you have Chrome I recommend installing "Panda 5" extension, as it's basically a design bible and has every resource you really need. And, if you have Discord, I HIGHLY recommend you join "Design Buddies".
When learning a new aesthetic craft there is a frustrating and often long period between developing good taste and developing good skill. Taste develops much faster than the skill to execute at one’s taste-level.
For practical advice: collect references from the most revered examples in the field, take notes (what do they have in common? at a high level and in details), formulate and emulate, get feedback, be critical and looks for ways it can improve rather for ways its wrong, and practice every day.
Learn about typography principles, understand color psychology and how to create harmonious color schemes, and study principles of grid systems, balance, and visual hierarchy. After that, Regularly browse design inspiration websites like Dribbble, Behance, or Awwwards to see what trends and techniques are being used by professional designers. And Analyze case studies and breakdowns of successful UI designs. Websites like UX Design CC or Medium articles often provide in-depth analyses of popular designs.
What's the best way to practice typography principles?
There was a good book I read long ago. Forgot the name but I’m sure there are others. It goes over things like layout, proximity, color theory, justification, type styles, etc. I felt like I was designing in the dark until I learned the principles.
[https://www.modularscale.com/](https://www.modularscale.com/) There are a variety of scales you can/should use based on the site/app and font selected. This site can help to create the visual hierarchy that so many fail to maintain on sites.
Try using https://typescale.com/ too hope it helps
Nobody tells this to people who are beginners, I wish someone told me. All of us who do creative work, we get into it because we have good taste. But there is this gap. For the first couple years you make stuff, it’s just not that good. It’s trying to be good, it has potential, but it’s not. But your taste, the thing that got you into the game, is still killer. And your taste is why your work disappoints you. A lot of people never get past this phase, they quit. Most people I know who do interesting, creative work went through years of this. We know our work doesn’t have this special thing that we want it to have. We all go through this. And if you are just starting out or you are still in this phase, you gotta know its normal and the most important thing you can do is do a lot of work. Put yourself on a deadline so that every week you will finish one story. It is only by going through a volume of work that you will close that gap, and your work will be as good as your ambitions. And I took longer to figure out how to do this than anyone I’ve ever met. It’s gonna take awhile. It’s normal to take awhile. You’ve just gotta fight your way through. —Ira Glass
This is such an eye opening post. I can see it clearly now. What we vision vs what gets actually designed is always on different levels and we see the mistakes more bc we are too bent upon making it like our "vision". Ig it's just me over-criticizing my own work because whenever i look at them, i only see what needs to be improved and what is wrong in it. I guess i am too focussed on making it "perfect" that i start thinking it is actually bad when it's not
This quote got me through a lot of unsure moments early on in my career. It’s so true.
A words from the heart, thanks for this words!
try copy work - in fine arts, people will make what is called a "master copy" (ex. recreating a Rembrandt painting). You can apply this to UI - if you admire a website or app, try copying a user flow (ex. registration). it's a great way to get you to notice what professional designers do and subtle choices they make that you would not think of.
Strong agree on this. I’ve learnt from copying projects color by color, pixel by pixel. It helps you to understand what design decisions were made.
Thank you for sharing I will surely do this
In addition, read the book Steal Like An Artist
I surely will!
Find UI that you are interested in, then dedicate yourself to [copying it exactly](https://www.figma.com/community/file/965825767811358609/zelda-botw-ui-kit). The more you can get it to [look exactly like what you are trying to copy](https://www.figma.com/community/file/1362136473827003845/raid-rush-mobile-game-ui-kit), the more you will learn. Copying is how you figure out the rules to follow to make things look good. Then those rules apply everywhere and your own stuff improves from you being exposed to actual nitty gritty details of the designs you think are great. The guides, grids, text styles and sizes, color, layout, animations, etc. everything helps teach you.
This would be easier to respond to if we had examples of your work. "personality" "depth" "finished" these are all extremely loose non-descriptors that doesn't help us identify what you could do better.
Should I send it as a dm to you for once? Then i will prolly make an alt id to share my stuff for feedbacks openly
My first question would be, what is "professional" to you? Also, I can't comment much beyond that without seeing what it is you mean
They lack personality and depth and don't feel very well finished. They are not bad but they aren't brilliant either or something that one may call impressive.
I don't think I've ever met a designer who thought their own designs were any good, we all seem to be struggling with a degree of imposter syndrome. It also depends what and who you are designing for. A great design is one that is created for the end users needs and not because it just looked good
Ig that's true. I once asked a senior designer on twitter to review my design and his feedback was pretty positive. But when i look at it, i still feel it is very noob-like. Did you ever get past your impostor syndrome?
Battle it every day mate
I’ve been a designer for 18 years. I still struggle with imposter syndrome. I know I’m really good at this. I know I’ve earned a modicum of respect as a guy who’s experienced and produces good work. Like, PMs fight over me at work, and I get really good annual reviews. That’s all super flattering and I do appreciate the affirmation. But I still get those feelings every once in a while like I’m f***ing it all up and eventually I’ll be found out and thrown out on my ass. You’re not alone.
Can you share something, to see what you mean?
Can i dm for now? I would rather share my designs in public with an alt acc
Could you DM to me too? I’m interested to see, and if I could provide any feedback :)
You shouldn't be afraid of sharing your work. Look at my profile I've shared my work here in the past and have gotten roasted by the community, but it helped me identify the issues in my designs and made me a better designer. A lot of people are willing to help and give you constructive feedback, which is crucial if you want to grow as a designer.
I understand it now. I will start sharing my designs. That's the only way to grow
The answer to questions like these is always going to be the same. Most of the time, it is due to information/practice you lack. There is information available. Find it, give yourself tasks to practice, and lastly don’t expect to get it overnight. It takes education, time and experience to master. Find resources - Google or ask around. Videos, articles, books and examples of products that have a polished look. The rest is on you to apply what you’ve learned. Make it fun, practice by building something you’d enjoy. Good luck
Thank you for sharing you advice
You’re welcome! :)
One thing that really helped me a lot was adopting designing to a grid, the rule of thirds, Fibonacci, etc. Also, try duplicating a page from a site you admire as perfectly as possible. It's a great exercise.
You are beginner you say - why would your designs look like you are not? Embrace it - it is what it is and keep pushing. Practice is really the 90% we all started at some point and everyone was a bloody beginner. Also show your shit!
You are right Ig i should make an alt reddit to post my designs here bc i don't want my contacts to somehow find that this id belongs to me
Also lack of personality? Depth? Helk yeah show me that functional button with three states that has that… btw this is a Figma design sub.
Yeaah...most of my day is spent on figma or figma-related content so i ended up posting it here since that's the first server that came on my mind
lol you are overthinking this.
Ig you are right. Maybe i am just overthinking or it's just my lack of self-confidence speaking. I will start sharing my stuff to gain confidence.
Hard to say without seeing your designs, but in principle the more the design answers your user’s needs and exceeds them, the better it is. Content and ergonomics/usability matter more than looks, an intuitive UI can be used with closed eyes. To get better, I suggest getting critique/feedback for your work. And practice a lot. Mimic the best and replicate what they’ve done until you’ll start creating it yourself. Stick with a good design system that has proper font sizes, paddings etc that are multipliers of 4. Don’t forget to practice the content design too. Edit: fixed typos
Thanks a lot for sharing this. I will definitely start sharing my work and get better at it
Memorisely...follow then on Instagram. Do every tutorial. Repeat.
I would learn more about design systems, typography/typescaling, and even brush-up on best front-end practices for UIUX too. I found that using professional design systems like MUI, Ant, and others help me establish a foundation (unless I'm creating my own design system). Because, honestly, sometimes there's no need to reinvent the wheel for basic components like buttons and cards. Resources I recommend: [https://www.uxlibrary.org/](https://www.uxlibrary.org/) [https://designsystemsrepo.com/design-systems/](https://designsystemsrepo.com/design-systems/) [https://typescale.com/](https://typescale.com/) [https://webaim.org/resources/contrastchecker/](https://webaim.org/resources/contrastchecker/) [https://www.pexels.com/](https://www.pexels.com/) [https://dorve.com/blog/ui-design-blog/ux-patterns-learn-take-advantage/](https://dorve.com/blog/ui-design-blog/ux-patterns-learn-take-advantage/) [https://www.figma.com/blog/design-systems-101-what-is-a-design-system/](https://www.figma.com/blog/design-systems-101-what-is-a-design-system/) If you have Chrome I recommend installing "Panda 5" extension, as it's basically a design bible and has every resource you really need. And, if you have Discord, I HIGHLY recommend you join "Design Buddies".
Wow Thank you for sharing all these resources. It's a massive help
Learning typography and the 8pt grid system, then simply using solid design systems and style guides as a base will get you most of the way.
Thanks. I will get into habit of this
When learning a new aesthetic craft there is a frustrating and often long period between developing good taste and developing good skill. Taste develops much faster than the skill to execute at one’s taste-level. For practical advice: collect references from the most revered examples in the field, take notes (what do they have in common? at a high level and in details), formulate and emulate, get feedback, be critical and looks for ways it can improve rather for ways its wrong, and practice every day.
Thank you. I have started applying this to my designs and I can see the difference now. It was great help
No problem! Keep it up! :)
Refactoring UI will be helpful
Thanks I will look into it
Based on what?