Hi! I will be teaching a UI-design course in the spring and I have two questions:

1. What are your favorite UI-design textbooks/material?

The course has for many years used About Face by Alan Cooper as a kind of UI-bible. The book's fundamentals are still super relevant but the examples are starting to feel outdated (the last edition came out in 2014) as well as some newer concepts not even being mentioned in the book (mobile-first, responsive design, etc.).

2. What are some ways/tools/exercises one can do to practice judgment and gain an eye for quality design?

With the increased capabilities of AI as well as AI establishing itself more and more as a part of our design process, I believe that understanding what good design is, is going to be an even more important skill set. The skill set of being able to judge design, being able to articulate what makes good design good, understanding how something may be changed in order for it to be improved and basically just having good taste and an eye for quality.

So how do you train/teach taste?

Thanks!

Hey everyone!

I’ve been designing a keyboard-first floating desktop HUD intended to sit over apps like Figma and Photoshop to speed up asset workflows (searching vector icons, recoloring, and offline image processing).

A few design decisions I’d love your candid thoughts on:

Tear it apart — looking to refine the UI as much as possible!
Website name is: assethud.app

made entirely in figma, will post how i made it soon :)

any changes or any issue you see let me know looking for feedback, like the color, feather, text placement

I designed this UI for a video game called Who Gave Them Weapons? The main challenge was matching the game’s cartoonish visual style while keeping the interface engaging and easy to navigate. Since the game contains a lot of text (often presented as tooltips), I wanted to avoid making the UI feel like a spreadsheet.

The UI is still in development, so I can still redesign or tweak certain aspects. Any feedback is welcome and greatly appreciated.

Little surprises I’ve hidden around the site.

What do you think about little touches like these? Things that are hard to measure in numbers, but bring a smile to users who stumble upon them.

Hey everyone!

I'm a UX/UI designer planning to start my own design studio. I want to build a business that provides professional design services, primarily focusing on UI/UX design, websites, and mobile apps, with the possibility of expanding into other creative services over time.

I'm trying to figure out the best way to build a team without taking on unnecessary expenses before the business starts generating consistent revenue.

I'd really appreciate advice from people who have started or run a design agency or creative studio.

1. What's the minimum team I need to get started?

Which roles are essential from day one, and which can wait until the business grows?

2. Which roles should be permanent team members, and which are better outsourced to freelancers on a project basis?

For example, developers, graphic designers, branding specialists, copywriters, motion designers, project managers, and digital marketers.

3. What responsibilities should I handle myself as the founder?

Besides UX/UI design, should I initially manage client communication, sales, project management, and business development myself?

4. Which roles can I postpone until the studio grows?

I'd rather start with a small, efficient team and bring in specialists only when a project requires them instead of committing to fixed monthly salaries too early.

5. If you were starting a design studio from scratch today, what would your initial team structure look like?

I'd love to hear about your experiences, the mistakes you made, and what you would do differently.

My goal is to build a sustainable studio that delivers high-quality work, keeps clients happy, and scales gradually without unnecessary overhead.

Thanks in advance for sharing your experience. I'd especially appreciate practical advice from people who've actually built and managed a design studio

I build a garden planner (EdenVatika), and I recently asked gardening communities for app feedback. The reply were brutal but helpful, most criticize for lack of soul / personality in my app, few pointed out that its not polished some said its half baked or laggy, Ai Slop, boring, unable to find their closest city etc etc.

I fixed most of what they pointed out, but one comment kept coming up that I can’t fix on my own: the app works, but it lacks personality.

I though UI/UX community would be the best place to ask and understand whats lacking, as you guys are what make things look cool and interesting.

I’m a developer, not a designer, so I can see that it feels generic, but not why. If you can spare 2 minutes, I’d love to know:

• What makes it feel flat or “template-y”?
• Where would you add personality: colors, type, illustrations, empty states, wording, something else?
• Anything that just looks wrong or confusing?

Blunt is fine. I’d rather hear it now than after launch season.

Disclaimer - Include [AI] in the post title. The app was created with the help of claude code over 3 months. Refined, changed, updated tested with real users and all.

designed this recently and i think it is pretty good for what it is but im not satisfied with the current font (google sans), feel like it doesnt really match the rest of the app, does anyone have anything better that would fit (preferably open)

Hi everyone!

I'm working on a mobile app designed to help couples understand each other's wishes and turn small acts of care into shared memories.

I'm currently trying to improve the app's UI/UX, especially how clearly the main features are communicated and how intuitive the overall experience feels to someone using it for the first time.

I'd really appreciate an honest outside perspective on a few things:

• First impressions: What stands out to you when you look at these screens?
• Clarity: Can you understand what the app does and how its main features work without additional explanation?
• Usability: Are there any elements, labels, or interactions that feel confusing or unnecessary?
• Visual hierarchy: Is it clear what the user should focus on or do next?
• Priorities: If you could improve one thing first, what would it be, and why?

I'm particularly interested in the reasoning behind your feedback, not just whether you like or dislike the visual style.

I'm part of the team developing this product, so I'm naturally quite familiar with the interface. That's exactly why I'd value perspectives from people who are seeing it with fresh eyes.

Thanks for taking the time to share your thoughts. Constructive criticism is very welcome!

Here are the current app screens: https://docs.google.com/document/d/1nNHHC4WAgK11nfayN3ruzE7T-TuK6gNhsmSPp6SLOmk/edit?usp=sharing

Thanks for taking the time to look through it. I know giving thoughtful design feedback takes effort, and I genuinely appreciate any perspective you’re willing to share!

There’s a lot of discussion about designers using AI to build prototypes and make changes in code. Curious how this works once those changes need to go into an actual product.

If you’re doing this on your team:

• What kinds of changes do designers own?
• Do you open PRs yourself? Who reviews them?
• How do you explore different design directions before committing to one?

Especially interested in the small stuff: spacing, responsive fixes, component states, and copy. Things that can sit in a backlog for ages, but still need proper testing and review.

First with all the dashed lines is before, the other one is after.
Context: This is a game where you have to check the delivery order of trucks, at the end of the day, this is you recap screen.

I removed all the dash lines and replaced some of them with continuous lines to reduce visual "clutter"
I also added some spaces here and there and made the margins all around larger to let the text "breathe".

Do you see more that could be done to make it even better?

Guys, I love the backend and j am good at it.

But I get frustrated when designing ui, I can make great ux ideas but what the hell is colours, cards etc.

Even after designing frontend pages yourself and someone says it looks like AI I feel so bad.

What is the solution ? I can make api and controllers but frontend pages naah.

See the settings page claude designed for my gaming cafe website project and let me know how is it before I add the page in my site.

Hi everyone, I could use some opinions :)

I’m currently putting together a HUD. No unnecessary bells and whistles, just the useful information.

However, I’m not quite happy with the layout, and I can’t figure out why...

Do you notice anything, that could help me?

I’ve seen this navigation pattern on X. The active tab is the only one that has a label alongside the icon.

Why to prioritise confirming where users already are over showing where they can go?

Surely these decisions are not made in a vacuum so wonder what may be the intent behind releasing something that seems to compromise discoverability so much.

Hey all... I’ve spent about six months designing and building this app (started out as a case study, then grew to a bit of an obsession), constant iterating on the UX and UI through several rounds of testing with a small group of users. I’m ready to share it more widely, and I’d love some feedback from this community.

It’s a crowded space, with estabished subscription products and new apps launching constantly. I’ve decided to offer mine for free and focus on creating an experience people enjoy and find useful.

Most of my attention has gone into the details: making flows feel delightful, refining interactions, and building a consistent visual language. The latest round of testing has been encouraging, but I’d value some fresh perspectives. It's designed "by hand" (funny we need to say that nowadays).

From what you can see, does the interface make it easy to understand where to start? Which interaction or visual choices feel good, and which could use more work? Does the experience feel distinct from similar apps you’ve used (I know this community has seen a ton), and if so, what makes it stand out?

I also created a demo version, if you want to see the UI and UX in action.
https://getproof.now/redesign/index.html?demo=1&try=1

Thanks for taking a look. Honest, specific critiques are welcome!

I've been reconsidering my default theme, which is currently grey. Should I switch to a standard white or dark theme like most apps use? Everyone has different tastes, of course, but is grey good enough as the default for a task manager app with gamified systems? Which one do you prefer?

genuine question for designers and devs here. i've spent the last month talking to people who make figma kits, framer templates and notion setups, and one comment on my last post really stuck with me. someone asked why anyone would buy a template when claude or v0 can recreate a design in a few minutes.

honestly i don't fully know the answer, so i want to hear from the buyer side.

1. have you bought a ui kit or template in the last year? what made you pay instead of just generating one?

2. what makes one worth it for you? clean auto layout, components, dark mode, docs, something else?

3. what would you pay for something good, and does it change if it's priced in rupees instead of dollars?

4. or have you completely stopped buying because ai does it well enough now?

would love honest answers, even the "i'd never pay for this" ones 🙏

I was checking my website UI behaviour on iPhone Duo display but I got no Duo in my hands so I made a fun project to render my site inside an iPhone Duo with real correct to scale and aspect ratio and thats how it looks like now.

You can fun play with yours too: https://iphone-duo-preview-eight.vercel.app/

Hi! I wanted to share this small animated orb component for AI interfaces. It's open source:

GitHub: https://github.com/kochjar/orbling
Live demo: https://orbling.vercel.app/

Hey everyone,

I started out as a graphic designer and I'm now leading a small team at the same company. After about 3 years it's started to feel pretty repetitive, and I'm craving something with more depth and impact. I've always wanted to get into product design, and now a startup has offered me exactly that. I'm excited, but also a bit lost on where the field is going. From what I've seen, a lot of teams are prototyping with AI tools like Claude Design and barely touching Figma anymore, so I'm not even sure what the workflow looks like these days.

So I'm curious how you'd describe the work now, where you think it's headed in the next few years, and what the process looks like from idea to shipped product. And coming from graphic design, I honestly don't know where to start or what to learn first.

If you're a product designer, especially at a startup or someone who made the switch from visual design, I'd love to hear your take. Advice, resources, or reality checks all welcome.

Thanks.

I got inspired from like 3 apps to combine and create this design after stitch and Claude gave just a generic UI design. I'm more of a developer than a designer not that creative and not knowledgeable in UI/UX design philosophies also.. so I tried my best not to look like an AI design. Suggestions welcomed.(Datas are hardcoded dummy data).

For those of you who are experienced in UI/UX, what projects would you recommend for a beginner? Would you suggest redesigning an existing website or app, or creating something completely from scratch? What was your first UI design project, and what would you do differently if you were starting over?

I'm trying to get a small car-lease marketplace off the ground in Southern California. Dealers and brokers post lease deals, and shoppers compare them and message the seller.

The current design works, but it feels too "vibe-coded": dark mode, blue gradient, rounded cards. It looks like every other AI-built template. I used AI to help explore these redesigns, but I'm the one picking a direction, and I want something with more personality that people remember.

The people I'm designing for are regular shoppers, not car-deal enthusiasts. Most of them don't know terms like "due at signing" or "money factor." They mostly want to know: what can I afford, and is this a good deal?

The images:

1. Current site (live). What’s up now.
2. Dark studio. A black showroom feel with big condensed type and one car at a time.
3. Freeway signs. Inspired by California highway signs. Each category is an “exit.”
4. Plain language. Light and simple. One big price per car, written for people who’ve never leased.
5. All four on a phone, side by side.

All the prices are real listings from the site.

What I’d love feedback on:

1. Which one would you trust most as a first-time visitor, and why?
2. Which one feels the most unique, and which still feels generic?
3. On the deal cards, is it clear what you’d pay upfront and each month?
4. Anything confusing, cluttered, or ad-like, especially on the phone?

Blunt feedback is welcome. Thanks!

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Title. Srsly, though some designers imitate the font style on letters, they can't even read and expect the font to work. No, that is just not going to work. Btw the fonts name being the same does not mean that the readability of the font is the same in different letter systems.

Get a person who is a native in the language when selecting fonts for languages you dont regularly consume media from.

A few months ago I helped another team with UX, mockups, a simple design system, and dev handoff. The team and users loved it. I checked in with the devs several times offering to answer any questions or QA, but they kept saying "not yet."

Today they sent the site for testing and it's a disaster. So many issues, but the biggest is that they didn't implement the design system at all.

My main project is winding down, so I'm thinking of pitching a pivot into design engineering to fix this. They're on Angular with the DevExpress component library.

I've done this before, themed an existing library (shadcn) to match a design system, built out Storybook (this team has none), and implemented it. But this is much bigger project, with multiple sites.

Has anyone done this at scale? Any advice on approaching it, and on framing it to get it greenlit?