Design principles for developers taught in a non-pretentious,
non-bullshitty way

Enroll now and get a free 6-day course where you’ll learn everything
you need to know to be able to add ‘designer’ to your skillset.

Sign up to learn the basics of design in just 6 days:

Wow, uhmmmm… I’ve learned more from this one lesson than I have from paid courses from well-known web designers!

Phil Aube —Phil Aube

“I know good design when I see it. I start every project thinking ‘this is going to look so slick & awesome’… and the results are just completely underwhelming”

Sound familiar?

Maybe you can see the difference between good design and bad but you have no idea how to replicate it. Or maybe you think design is only meant for those elusive ‘creative types’—something you’re not.

If that sounds like you, I want you to know…

I know how it feels to have these struggles with design.

I know the frustration of just not being able to make something look half decent. I battled with this for many years, throughout my degree and working in an agency.

I felt like I was just missing some quality. And when I asked for help, I got nothing but vague “you just have to feel it” answers.

I almost gave up.

But I’m so glad I didn’t because it wasn’t until after that moment I realised design isn’t something you can either do or you can’t. If you know a few basic principles (and a few tricks that many designers don’t want to admit to) you can make anything look pretty darn great.

With a solid grasp of design you won’t have to worry when a client comes to you to design and implement a new feature. If you have an idea for a side project, you’ll be able to design, code and ship it without having to pay anyone to make it look good.

You can have a great looking website or app without having to rely on Bootstrap or spend days scouring Dribbble taking your focus away from the important stuff.

With Design Academy, I’m working really hard to provide a systematic approach to design that you can follow to achieve a solid, user-friendly design every time.

What you’ll learn

Essential design principles for web developers

You’ll overcome some of the most common (and easily rectifiable) mistakes that web developers make.

Learn some colour theory... without the theory

Learn a super simple workflow that you can use on any project to get a perfect colour palette every time.

Eliminate the blank canvas: coming up with ideas

Design doesn’t have to be hard or time consuming. Learn how to come up with unique solutions on the fly.

Graphics & imagery for those who can’t draw

Just because you can’t draw a straight line, doesn’t mean you can’t use imagery on your website.

Choosing fonts and using them like a pro

How to choose good fonts from the masses and apply them to make your web typography awesome.

A complete dev-friendly workflow for your projects

I’ve compiled the design process into something you can follow to go from a blank screen to a great design.

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Join over 17,000 developers who have finally started learning design.

This is the best email series I’ve ever subscribed to. I love the details and how you’re slowly building up a whole design.

— Hrishi Mittal