I am a programmer for iOS development and also a freelancer. Usually rely on some outsourcing and make their own products for a living. After doing it for so many years, it gives me the feeling that if you can only write programs, there is much less room for freelancers.
01 Why should I study design
To make your own product, you need a product design and some icons. At this time, you need to tell the artist your requirements, but what he made may not be the same as what you want, but after many revisions, you have to make do with it. Later, I will take out outsourcing and need prototype drawings and design drawings. This is even more troublesome. You need a product manager and a designer. If you hire someone to do these things, then the outsourced Chen Ben will suddenly become bigger. , For outsourcing like us, while relying on quality, price is also a factor that users value.
If programmers understand some design, not only can the product be more elegant and beautiful; with the awareness of design, it will also affect the idea of development, and have a higher level of global awareness. The products thus designed are both functional and aesthetic. The current App Store is not like a few years ago, where you can basically make money by making an app. The current App Store needs high-quality products, and the appearance of the app is obviously an important factor affecting user downloads.
02 Why use Sketch
Since I came into contact with Sketch, all the knots in my heart have been opened at once. I was going to learn PS before, but for developers, PS is too heavy, I hope a lightweight design tool will appear, and Sketch fully meets my requirements. Talk about the advantages of Sketch:
1Easy to get started, quick output, and improve work efficiency. It can quickly output 1x, 2x, or even custom-sized slices, and can intelligently mark any element.
2 Vector graphics, especially suitable for designing for mobile/web, especially now flat design is popular. The graphics created in sketch are all vector, and it is very convenient to zoom in and out, and there is no need to adjust too much. There is also a very good little function, that is, you can turn 0.0 pixels into integers with one click, and it is very convenient to switch between vector view and pixel view.
3 Help designers focus on the UI they really care about. The core of UI designer's design draft is to define color, control style, page structure, font and icon style, etc.
4 Suitable for product managers, UI designers, programmers to communicate efficiently. The word size, color, etc. can be marked on the map, which is suitable for teamwork.
5 Rich plug-in functions. The plugin can help you intelligently annotate pages, fill in avatars and text, etc.
03 Why write the series of Sketch actual combat
When I was learning Sketch, I bought some books on this subject, but there are too few books on this subject in China, many of which are technical and not systematic. I bought the book "Making Mobile Design Easier: Sketch 3 Operation Guide and Detailed Explanation", which makes people feel terrible. I just translated the Sketch document, and the translation is not good. Many things are gone through the motions and wasted. Not to mention money, but also a waste of people's time. I also bought 2 other copies on JD. Later, I only looked for foreign books, such as design+code. This book is really worth buying. It's more specific, there are pictures and short videos, and the price is right.
After reading those books, I thought, why are there so few books on this subject in China? At least I don't see many Sketch books on JD.com, so I want to write a tutorial, which is to copy other people's works. During this process, I will explain the usage and knowledge of Sketch clearly. At present, I think it is a step-by-step screenshot. way to do this, or record a video. During my learning process, I found that a lot of practice and thinking is the fastest way to learn this software. I want to share what I have learned with you, make progress with everyone, and make good use of Sketch as a tool.
04 Summary
Since I learned some designs, I feel much more comfortable. I can draw whatever interface I want to design, and I want to design an icon. I can make one myself. It feels so good to be free! Of course, if you want to be a real designer, you not only need to master a design software tool, you also need to read a lot of design books, some design specifications, such as iOS Human-Computer Interaction Guidelines, Android's Material Design, etc.