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Ask HN: Where to find UX design resources?

by bindd on 5/21/25, 3:49 AM with 8 comments

We’re a bootstrapped company short on resources. We need to design our app and although one of us is a front-end engineer, we’re not designers.

Have you been in a similar situation? Where did you find UX resources to help design your initial product offering? What would you recommend we do?

  • by antux on 5/31/25, 11:40 PM

    I recommend this underrated substack: https://uxmovement.substack.com

    I've learned a lot from there about forms and table design.

  • by solardev on 5/23/25, 4:04 AM

    I find this book really helpful: https://www.refactoringui.com/

    Along with reading Nielsen Norman articles on best practices and such.

    For UI and widgets, I personally like MUI and find it better the Shadcn, but whatever, just start with something usable and polished enough, even if it's not the prettiest, and improve it later when you can hire a designer.

    You might also be able to find some relative cheap freelance design just to get a basic look and feel and maybe a logo.

  • by GunjanWalecha on 5/21/25, 4:02 AM

    For product design methods and collaborative exercises: https://www.aha.io You can use component libraries like skeleton UI:https://www.skeleton.dev/ or Schadcn: https://ui.shadcn.com/, so you don't have to design the components an style guides yourself. If you are interested in reading just one book and be confident about your design decisions, read : The User Experience Team of One by Leah Buley.

  • by edmondmc900 on 5/21/25, 6:32 AM

    Below are the websites that i usually used for ideas, resources and guidance for critical UX considerations. https://www.ux-checklist.com/ https://uxplanet.org/ https://uigoodies.com/

  • by johngalt2600 on 5/25/25, 10:07 PM

    Mobbin and dribbble have some great UI/UX to draw inspiration from.

  • by constantinum on 5/21/25, 6:55 PM

    Monitoring and finding solutions on https://ux.stackexchange.com/ really helped us.

  • by brudgers on 5/21/25, 5:52 AM

    [There is no detail to the question. This answer is generic]

    Working is the most important UX element and if it works it is good enough to ship.

    If it doesn’t work, then other aspects of the UX are irrelevant…there are no users to use what doesn’t work and if you can’t make it work UX resources aren’t going to help anything other than help you avoid the big problem.

    Should you learn some design? Of course, but the only way to learn design is by designing…it’s like singing and keepee-uppee, no book can show you how to carry a tune or get you to ten juggles.

    So to reiterate, ship.

    Good luck.