There must be a market for teaching color- and taste-blind
people like me how to make minimally nice-looking sites. If
you know anyone capable of doing this, tell them to get into
business doing it sooner rather than later - they’ll clean up
financially.
Sure, but there are classes and tons of graphic design books sitting on
shelves in your local book seller’s store. There are magazines and
design retrospectives that show, page after page, of nothing but
award-winning designs – from print to advertising to interactive media.
If one were to google “non-designer’s guide to design” there’s some
good, free stuff out there, too.
In short, just like leaning Ruby, the info is out there.
But, if I could give one piece of advice to developers about design it
would be this:
- less is more
If you find yourself frustrated with the visual design you’ve mocked-up,
take a Zen approach to it and try to minimalize the design elements and
colors; keep it clean; keep it simple; and remember that generous
amounts of white space (areas in your layout that have no content in it)
is a Good Thing.