Yes, design is an integral part of frontend development as a well thought out design implementation on websites and web applications is a reflection of the developer’s expertise.
As a result, it’s required that front-end developers should have an eye for quality design alongside its implementation.
Knowing design here doesn’t mean being able to create mind-blowing UI’s.
It also doesn’t mean being a Figma or Adobe XD legend as that’s a route for UI/UX designers.
So what does “knowing design” entails for front-end developers?
It means:
- Having a good eye for design (color balance and alignment)
- Been able to spot a good design from a bad one.
- Understanding the basic principles of design.
You should be aware that front-end web developers are developers that are either naturally drawn to good designs with the flare for implementing aesthetically pleasing products for users to feel at ease while interacting with the product.
Let’s take a look at the basic design skills required for front-end development.
Top Design skills to learn for front end development
Typography
Most of us would be familiar with the term, typography, it is the art of arranging letters and placing them in such a way that the text is clear, easy to decipher and appealing to the user.
Now typography is usually taught for graphic design but it is an important part of front end development.
The first thing that you come across while using an application or website is the placement of words if they are not easily readable the user tends to to switch to a more readable text website or application.
The Colour Theory
The colour theory is an explanation of the colour wheel which is a wheel that has all the compare and contrasts of colour combinations.
 Most designs that we come across daily are either too bright or too dark.
Applications like Instagram, Snapchat and Facebook are visually appealing to the users with properly mixed matched colors.
Alignment
While designing a UI it is very important to keep all the components aligned.
Regardless of how well configured the backend of the site is, poor aligned frontend components will hurt user experience.
Simplicity
While developing a front end for the first time one may be intrigued by all the Drop boxes text fields and other common elements for development.
It’s very important to understand which component to use and which not to use.
You should strive to maintain simplicity while still dishing out a unique user experience.
Design It Before You Program:
A prototype must be followed for designing of UIÂ and this prototype is usually prepared using Figma or Adobe XD.
This serves as a guide for the front-end development and also for easy visualization for the client.
Learn from the Already existing designs
You can always take ideas from what’s available on the net for design inspiration.
Youtube has proven to be a helpful resource for inspirations like this.
Final Thought
Front-end development centers around design implementation.
As a front-end web developer, being vastly rooted in design and design principles keeps you ahead of the pack and increases your value in the front-end development niche.
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Till we meet again on another article,
Happy Coding!
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