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Ask HN: How to learn UI/UX as a data/BE engineer?

39 points thenaturalist | 1 comments | 21 Oct 24 15:22 UTC | HN request time: 0.203s | source

Hi HN,

coming from a data/ BE background I feel extremely familiar with reasoning about systems and performance from the cloud-infra to the pipeline stack level. Or I'm super familiar with data visualization.

I feel like falling off a cliff when trying to extrapolate that knowledge to the more customer-facing world.

Despite having some tool ideas in the past, I realized I shy away from going towards the front end because I really lack any conecptual frame of how to think about and subsequently implement UI or UX.

I don't mean that in a nitty-gritty-designer focussed way but more like first-principle understanding:

What makes a good color scheme?

What makes a great wording and why?

What's a good form of presenting information?

I feel like I can recognize good UI/UX when I see it (as is often the case with HN company LPs), but I'd totally fail at distilling check boxes that such good examples tick.

Any pointers to how I can learn about these worlds and develop an understanding of what principles UI/UX should follow?

1. vant ◴[21 Oct 24 18:48 UTC] No.41907135[source]▶
I recommend focusing first on UX as it applies to areas that are closest to your expertise. Not a good idea to go head first into art history, color theory, typography or concepts that are so far removed from what you're doing that would feel alien.

Try starting a conversation with a FE engineer friend or even better with a UX engineer / design technologist if you know one. They speak both languages :)

If you prefer reading, NNgroup is great for basics. Start with their 10 usability heuristics: https://www.nngroup.com/articles/ten-usability-heuristics/

These 3 books should give you some great starting points:

About Face - The Essentials of Interaction Design: https://www.wiley.com/en-gb/About+Face%3A+The+Essentials+of+...

Design of Everyday Things: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Design_of_Everyday_Things

Creative Selection: https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/37638098-creative-select...