Overview
“To be a good designer you must be a good engineer in every sense: curious, inquisitive.”
— Charles Eames, 1949
Becoming a great designer is about much more than taking a single course or attending a single bootcamp.
You have to be self-sufficient. You have to be hungry to learn.
Throughout design school I collected every resource I found to be useful. Since then I have continued to amass a collection of links, books, articles, and more that will help you speed boost your career.
Basics
You have to start from the beginning. You have to understand the basics. Learn to love type, learn to navigate the pen tool, figure out colors, learn some design history, and learn some basic principles.
Design Foundations
Theory & Principles
History
Starting UX
Okay, hopefully now you know the essentials. We'll learn more as we go, but let's jump into the UX world. The absolute most important thing for you to learn and master is process. While you continue to hone your product thinking, process is the value you bring. Tools change & trends die. Master process.
UX Foundations
Design Process
Research
Deliverables
UI & Design Systems
Advanced Resources
Once you've gotten your footing with the basics, learned some of the vocab, and figured out a bit more what interests you; try to absorb as much as you can from high quality sources.
High Quality Content
Designing Beyond Screens
Books on Business, HCI, & more
Inspiration
It's always a good idea to have your ear to the ground; watch the trends, predict them, respond to them, and know what's happening in the design world.
