Hicksdesign

Maybe not "daily", but very frequently: here is a small selection of some of the small sites on my newsblur newsfeed list: [0]

http://www.jamesaltucher.com : Much self-pity, but also sometimes quite funny.

http://www.astrobio.net/latestnews_rss/news.xml : Is there life on other planets?

http://kaygun.tumblr.com/

http://www.friday.com/bbum : Coding, hardware projects, generally interesting.

http://bestyoucanbe.blogspot.com/ : Insights into the education system in regard to the raising of his neurologically non-typical son.

http://blog.lmorchard.com

http://ex-muslim.org.uk : Oppression of atheists in the Muslim world.

http://clojurefun.wordpress.com : Clojure!

http://scientopia.org/blogs/goodmath : Bad science, denialism.

http://blog.willbenton.com : Music, logic, programming, etc.

http://www.groklaw.net : Maybe not "small"; detailed analysis of important legal cases.

http://hicksdesign.co.uk/journal : Web design.

http://www.holovaty.com/ : "I'm co-creator and co-Benevolent Dictator For Life of the open-source Django Web framework"

http://prometheus.med.utah.edu/~bwjones : Combines talented photography, photoessays, and study of the retina.

http://lee-phillips.org : I regularly check my site to see if it's still working.

http://chronicle.com/blogs/linguafranca : Language issues; can be amusing or stupid.

http://freethoughtblogs.com/maryamnamazie : Freedom for women in the Muslim world.

http://math-blog.com : Infrequently updated, but often…

Beautiful graphic design is something I'd like to learn, and it is something I have not invested much effort in yet. Tutorials like those on SmashingMagazine can tell you the how but can't teach you the why. Any graphic designer/art student will tell you that learning how to draw is all about learning how to look. I'd like to be able to do design myself but realistically it is easier to become friends with good designers (yes, you pay them but it is more like working with a partner than a hired gun). In lieu of taking classes, go to art openings. I've met very few designer developer individuals.

That being said here is a list of some resources for (previous AskYCs, rest of them learning how to make icons) (which is a stepping stone to Tap Tap Tap UI).

http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=1487274

http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=1290147

http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=66863

http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=227406

http://web.archive.org/web/20050101092500/http://mpt.phrasewise.com/stories/storyReader$374

http://hicksdesign.co.uk/journal/principles-of-icon-design

http://flyosity.com/tutorial/crafting-subtle-realistic-user-interfaces.php

http://steveweller.com/articles/tabbar-icons/

http://speckyboy.com/2009/04/28/35-tutorials-to-create-amazing-vector-graphics-using-inkscape/

http://iphonedevelopment.blogspot.com/2010/05/some-good-advice.html

One reason why this isn't the perfect solution it may sound like is that often different size icons have slightly different designs.

Near the end of this post:

http://www.hicksdesign.co.uk/journal/branding-firefox

Compare the 128x128 and 48x48 icons, and then compare the 48x48 and 16x16. As you go from 128 to 48 much of the detail in the fox's fur goes away, and as you go from 48 to 16 it becomes a simple gradient and the detail on the planet disappears as well.

If they simple resized a vector image, the 16px would be a muddy mess.

(There are probably much better examples somewhere, but this is just the one I've used in the past- apparently, for the last 10+ years...)

In my experience, of the best ways to get started in design is to replicate other people's designs as perfectly as you can, just to get the hang of designing something good.

For example, the other day I recreated the hat icon here: http://hicksdesign.co.uk. This is mine: http://cl.ly/GYHw.

If you make one thing every day, you'll eventually be pretty good at fleshing out your own ideas.

Resources:
http://pttrns.com; http://teehanlax.com/blog/iphone-4-gui-psd-retina-display; http://dribbble.com

http://www.alistapart.com/articles/responsive-web-design/ is a useful reference point for creating fluid design. Essentially you can specify different css depending on the width of the browser window, which means you can cater to multiple types of user.

For a real example: http://hicksdesign.co.uk/journal/ implemented a 4-column layout at the end of June that looks great on both my 1920 monitor, and my mobile. Try resizing your browser window to see the effect in action.

While I largely agree, I think there is a contradiction between

(1) giving mobile users the option to see it as a 'full' (i.e. desktop) version

and

(2) Fitting the design to the screen size.

In the quoted example (http://hicksdesign.co.uk/journal/finally-a-fluid-hicksdesign), while a great implementation of fluid design, on my mobile device I don't have the option of seeing what it looks like on a desktop (it doesn't let me zoom out to a larger screen size)