I’m writing a book on visual design for developers. Would you like to be part of it?
Posted by Alett · Location-independent
I'm writing a practical guide to help developers apply visual design principles and create more polished, intuitive, and user-friendly websites.
With a BA in Fine Arts and over a decade of experience in web design and development, I'm creating a book to help developers who are confident in coding but struggle with the visual design side of building websites.
I'd love to hear about the challenges you encounter:
1. Which design principles give you the most trouble—typography, color, spacing, visual hierarchy, or layout?
2. Can you build a functional website but struggle to make it look polished and professional?
3. What difficulties do you face turning a design idea into an attractive, responsive interface?
4. What design techniques or practical examples do you wish someone would explain more clearly?
I’d also love to hear from anyone who’d like to collaborate, whether that’s contributing examples, reviewing chapters, publishing, or an idea I haven’t thought of.
I'm writing a practical guide to help developers apply visual design principles and create more polished, intuitive,…
Why I’m posting this
I'm seeking developers' design challenges and questions to create a practical guide with useful, real-world solutions.
Open to
Ideas, collaboration, partnership
Free public Ideas
Here is someone you def need to connect with!
Suggested post: I have 15 losing contest designs and notes on why each lost. What could they become?
This book is for people like me. I'm a former game developer moving into web work, so here are honest answers:
1. Layout is the hardest. Typography, colour and hierarchy all trouble me, but choosing the right layout for a specific thing is where I get stuck most.
2. Yes. I can build a working website, but making it look polished and professional is the gap.
3. Games are immersive and free; a 2D web page feels flat to me. Turning that "wow" feeling into a clean, responsive page for both mobile and desktop is hard.
4. What I wish someone explained: the psychology behind layouts, meaning why a layout works, not only what it looks like. I've picked up a few tricks: strong visuals, clear icons, one prominent CTA, and scroll moments that make the viewer pause on one thing. But I'd love to understand the "why" so I can choose, not guess.
Happy to help as a reader, review chapters from a developer's point of view, or share real examples: I kept my losing contest designs with notes on why each one lost, which could work as "before" examples.
I'd love to hear your thoughts too: https://cosell.com/listings/i-have-15-losing-contest-designs-and-notes-on-why-each-lost-what-could-t
My first reaction was mixed. The colorful, playful look gives CoSell real personality, and I enjoyed it at first. But the color quickly became overwhelming: nearly every card has its own background, font, and button style, so nothing stands out because everything is competing for attention.
The text felt most off. Font sizes, weights, and styles change from card to card; some headlines run four or five lines, and the handwritten and all-caps fonts slowed my reading. Light gray placeholder text and the pale yellow “Share idea” button were hard to read against the cream background, and I couldn’t tell whether the button was disabled or just faded. The site looks fun, but it doesn’t yet look easy to use.
A chapter showing the same interface improved in five small passes could be valuable: spacing, type, hierarchy, colour and responsive behaviour. A developer reader could implement each pass from your instructions, revealing where the explanation needs work. The final example could become an interactive companion to the book.
Ideas are free public suggestions. Proposals are paid and private and are never shown here.