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Tyler Burnett
Tyler Burnett

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UX via the assistance of selective design

As a developer, I frequently find myself in the position where I am accountable not just for the front end behavior, but also the front end interface design. Now to be straight forward, I'm not a professional designer, but in my own opinion, I believe I've managed to get a knack for clean and efficient design. To be fair though, I can't solely be held responsible for this success, in my toolbelt I have accrued an assortment of wonderful purpose-made utilities that I regularly weave into my designs through the power of selective design.

Lets get to business

Ok, so hopefully that hook wasn't too drawn out for your liking, I promise from now on to get straight to the point.

Personally, I understand that I generally have an idea for what I want whilst also not understanding the specifics. To put it bluntly, I don't know what I want till I see it.

Now, It can be safely assumed selective design is the process of (you guessed it) 'selecting' design elements based on suggestions to be implemented into your UX, which can ultimately save you time and effort in the process, but the ultimate problem is then finding tools that will achieve this goal. Luckily enough I'm more than happy to share with you my absolute favorite tools of this specific functional genre. With all of these lovely options, It becomes a much easier process of breaking into UX design.

Colour Schemes

http://colormind.io/ - My choice
http://khroma.co/
https://www.schemecolor.com/bright-bot.php

Fonts

https://fontjoy.com/ - My choice
https://fontpair.co/
https://www.canva.com/font-combinations/

Design emphasiers

Gradient

https://mycolor.space/gradient

Vector

https://www.toptal.com/designers/subtlepatterns/
https://www.heropatterns.com/
http://thepatternlibrary.com/
https://getwaves.io/

Now you have the tools

Let me be clear, these tools will assist you in the process of design but they cannot do all the work for you. For instance, many times I've found that a color palette that I've selected simply does not create the feeling that I initially intended in the conceptualization. Thus, iteration and design processes still apply.

Anyway, I hope you find as much use in these tools as they have given me, happy coding everyone.

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