Geddes' Guide to Crafting

I spent some time this week enjoying Dave Geddes’ content. Three resources in particular have left me with a lot to think about, and I’m combining them into what I call “Geddes’ Guide to Crafting”.

• Practice CSS Like an Artist (article): Geddes’ draws comparisons between designing an application and painting a portrait. First you start with a rough sketch, then filling with broad strokes. Only once you have the foundation set do you add fine details.
• When Should You Polish Your UI? (article): Geddes reflects of a few strategies for polishing the design for your application. Following the previous theme, he recommends a rough sketch with broad strokes (i.e prototyping) before polishing with fine details.
• Build the zelda UI with Web Tech (video): Geddes completes the first phase of recreating Zelda: Breath of the Wild’s menu screen in HTML and CSS. Here you can see rough sketching and broad strokes in practice. The video alludes to a part two, but it was never posted on YouTube.

As a developer, it can be tempting to spend too much time worrying about the fine details of what you are developing. But the best of products were not created perfect on the first try. They come from an on-going process of sketching, filling, and eventually polish.

So don’t sweat the fine details in the beginning. Create a something that works, and then fill in those details later.

Happy crafting!