Chapter 2.1 — Introduction to User Interface Design.

Interface design is not a science, and so it is hard to get right without trying to do it yourself and hearing what others think. After all, the point of interface design is to make interfaces that are enjoyable to use, visually appealing, and intuitive. Luckily, there are thousands of designers who have already done the hard work of trying different designs and seeing which ones work. Some of them decided to compile years of experience into books so that aspiring designers across the world can pick up the field easily.

We have found what we think is the best book on interface design, Refactoring UI, and we thought it will be most effective if we provide it as is instead of trying to summarize it in this chapter. As part of this course, you should have received an email indicating how to obtain your copy of the PDF. If you didn't or you are struggling to find it—let us know!

Homework

Please do the following:

• Read half of Refactoring UI. It may look like an overwhelming 100-page read, but it actually has only 10-20% text—the rest are image examples. We promise it won't take you long.
• Start thinking about the website you want to make. To reiterate, it is up to you what you will produce. However, we encourage you develop a personal website since it can serve as your calling card online and will be useful on many occasions—for example, when applying to schools or jobs, or simply when developing your network. Draw a few sketches, search up inspirational personal websites online. In class, we will ask you to talk about the website that you want to have developed by the end of the course and to show your sketches.

In the next homework, you will start to actually design this website! Yay!