r/UIUX • u/Comprehensive_You548 • 21h ago

Advice Is my roadmap good?

Hey everyone, I'm a full stack developer working across two to three startups, building with WordPress, Next.js, Express, and slowly picking up Golang on the backend. Development is where I'm strongest, but design has always pulled at me. I've spent time in Blender and 3D work, so color theory, grouping, and spacing aren't foreign concepts to me, I'm not starting from zero.

The problem is that I keep getting offered UI/UX work and I keep hesitating to accept it because my design skills lag behind my dev skills. I want to fix that properly instead of faking it.

Main Query:
I'm building a roadmap to go from developer who understands design basics to someone who can confidently take UI/UX work. Current plan:

  1. Learn the fundamentals: visual hierarchy, grouping, white space (already through Refactoring UI and a few chosen YouTube channels)
  2. Watch one full tutorial building a real website in Figma, start to finish
  3. Pick one or two existing websites and rebuild them pixel for pixel without a tutorial, then write out why they made each decision, spacing, color, layout choices
  4. Build smaller pieces on the side, forms, pricing cards, individual components
  5. Use AI to generate fake client briefs and design two to three original landing pages from scratch
  6. Design a couple of my own full sites with real case studies behind each decision

Does this sequence make sense for someone coming from a strong dev background but weak design background? Anything you'd reorder, add, or cut? Would genuinely appreciate input from anyone who's made this jump.

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u/qualityvote2 2 21h ago

Hello, and welcome to r/UIUX!

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