# Design Resources

## Knowledge

- [Book: _The Non-Designer's Design Book_ — Robin Williams](https://www.amazon.com/Non-Designers-Design-Book-4th/dp/0133966151)
  The definitive introduction for non-designers. Covers the four CRAP principles (Contrast, Repetition, Alignment, Proximity) plus typography fundamentals. Use for: all foundational lessons, especially the first 4-5 sessions.

- [Book: _Refactoring UI_ — Adam Wathan & Steve Schoger](https://www.refactoringui.com/book)
  Practical UI design advice written by a developer for developers. Covers layout, spacing, typography, color, and working with design tools. Use for: applying design principles to technical interfaces, later lessons after fundamentals are solid.

- [Article: "12 Visual Hierarchy Principles Non-Designers Needs to Know" — Visme](https://visme.co/blog/visual-hierarchy/)
  Quick, visual reference covering hierarchy fundamentals with practical examples. Use for: supplementing lessons on visual hierarchy and layout.

- [Article: "Design Foundations: A Guide to Visual Hierarchy" — Toptal](https://www.toptal.com/designers/ux/visual-hierarchy-infographic)
  Comprehensive guide with downloadable infographic. Covers how size, scale, typography, and color work together to create order. Use for: deep dives on specific hierarchy techniques.

- [Article: "A complete UI glossary: 100 terms all designers should know" — UX Design Institute](https://www.uxdesigninstitute.com/blog/ui-glossary)
  Authoritative glossary of 100 UI design terms. Use for: building and cross-referencing the personal design glossary.

- [Article: "What is Visual Hierarchy?" — Interaction Design Foundation (IxDF)](https://www.interaction-design.org/literature/topics/visual-hierarchy)
  Academic but accessible explanation of visual hierarchy from a leading UX education platform. Use for: deeper theoretical grounding when needed.

- [Book (free, online): _Practical Typography_ — Matthew Butterick](https://practicaltypography.com/)
  The most respected practical typography reference on the web, written by a lawyer-turned-typographer. Short rules, generous examples. Use for: all typography lessons; particularly the "Summary of Key Rules" and "Type Composition" chapters.

- [Article: "Better Web Type" — Matej Latin](https://betterwebtype.com/articles/)
  Web-specific typography fundamentals (measure, leading, modular scale) with interactive examples. Use for: applying typography to digital interfaces and explaining the math behind a type scale.

- [Tool: ColorBrewer 2.0 — Cynthia Brewer (Penn State)](https://colorbrewer2.org/)
  The definitive resource for data-visualization palettes (sequential, diverging, categorical). Colourblind-safe and print-friendly filters. Use for: picking any palette that encodes data, especially in maps or heatmaps.

- [Tool: Refactoring UI Color Palettes (Tailwind defaults)](https://tailwindcss.com/docs/colors)
  The Tailwind colour system, designed by the Refactoring UI authors. Free, well-tuned 11-step ramps for every hue. Use for: when you need a ready-made neutral scale and accent palette without picking each shade by hand.

- [Article: "A Nerd's Guide to Color on the Web" — A List Apart](https://alistapart.com/article/nerds-guide-to-color-on-the-web/)
  Explains HSL, why it beats RGB/hex for design decisions, and how to think about colour relationships. Use for: grounding the theory of why HSL is the practical model.

- [Book: _Storytelling with Data_ — Cole Nussbaumer Knaflic](http://www.storytellingwithdata.com/)
  The definitive guide to making charts and slides that say something. Covers headline-first design, the squint test, eliminating clutter, and directing attention. Use for: every lesson on communication design and message strategy.

- [Article: "BLUF: The Military Standard That Can Make Your Writing More Powerful" — Animalz](https://www.animalz.co/blog/bottom-line-up-front/)
  Bottom Line Up Front: state the conclusion first, defend it second. Originally a US military comms standard. Use for: structuring slides, emails, and design briefs around the takeaway.

- [Essay: "Politics and the English Language" — George Orwell (1946)](https://www.orwellfoundation.com/the-orwell-foundation/orwell/essays-and-other-works/politics-and-the-english-language/)
  Pre-AI but addresses 90% of what makes AI-generated prose feel hollow: dying metaphors, pretentious diction, meaningless words. Six rules at the end are the original anti-AI checklist. Use for: every lesson on writing voice.

- [Essay: "Write Simply" — Paul Graham](http://www.paulgraham.com/simply.html)
  Short essay on why complex prose is usually bad prose. Direct, opinionated, the opposite of AI voice. Use for: instinct calibration on writing tone.

## Wisdom (Communities)

- [r/design_critiques — Reddit](https://www.reddit.com/r/design_critiques/)
  Community dedicated to design feedback for beginners and amateurs. Use for: getting critique on visual explanations and diagrams as skills develop.

- [r/UXDesign — Reddit](https://www.reddit.com/r/UXDesign/)
  Larger UX community with beginner-friendly Q&A threads. Use for: asking specific questions about design concepts and terminology.