Have a taste for design, but aren't sure how to apply it to your applications? Whether you're creating a web, desktop, or mobile app this book will guide you through a practical design process that produces usable, elegant software with personality.

WHAT'S INSIDE

Whether you are a tech-savvy artist or a creative-minded technologist, D4S will help you connect the dots between the gray areas of design theory and modern application design.

SOMETHING FOR EVERYONE

A design process specifically for software, making it easy for developers without a design background to create compelling user experiences.

See Process
Research
Design Thinking
Visual Design
Interaction Design
Research

Every project starts with a plan. The first part of the book shows you how to perform basic user research and generate key insights that serve as the foundation of your project.

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Design Thinking

This is the meat and taters of design. This section of the book explores the nitty-gritty of designing software focusing on specific techniques for sketching application flows, generating wireframes, and creating prototypes.

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Visual Design

“Good design means that beauty and usability are in balance.” — Don Norman
Many people believe that attractive things work better, especially the discerning app consumer. This section focuses on the critical role visual design plays in creating premium user experiences.

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Interaction Design

More important than any typeface, color swatch, or wireframe is this: Software is for people, and people use software because it makes their lives easier. You can have the greatest typography and richest color palettes, but that won’t matter if your apps don’t “feel right". This is interaction design.

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WHERE CAN I GET IT?

The book is available from many fine retailers including Amazon, Wiley, Indie Bound, Kobo, Book-a-Million, and Barnes & Noble in a variety of formats including Apple iBook, Amazon Kindle and Google Play.

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BOOK EXTRAS

Sometimes a printed book doesn't cut it when describing interactive design. Below are some live resources from various sections in the book.

MOTION

A small collection of motion treatments that help you create animations and transitions for your applications and websites

Download Pack

A collection of design templates and vector illustrations and artwork found throughout the book.

COLOR

Coding with color is more fun than picking traditional color palettes. The samples show programmatic uses of color.

Layout

A tool for generating grid layouts for use in creative programs and in code.

D4S PRESENTATION

This is where it all started. Check out the original slides from the "Design for Software" talk.

ABOUT

A little about me and why I wrote the book

Hi, I’m Erik. For over a decade I’ve been helping engineers design and produce software in a variety of industries — healthcare, automotive, finance, retail, law, education and more.

Working closely with developers for so long I’ve gleaned some unique insights on how to approach design in a software setting. Over time I’ve compiled a collection of design frameworks and tactics that have become my design process for creating software. This process is the premise for the book.