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Designer to iOS developer - Where to get started?

almost 6 years ago from , Designer

I'm a graphic designer and want learn how to develop my own apps as a hobby. Do you know great free resources I can go to?

20 comments

  • Jonathan SimcoeJonathan Simcoe, almost 6 years ago

    Designers.how is actually a really great place to start. Short videos to get you started.

    11 points
    • Scott HurffScott Hurff, almost 6 years ago

      Thanks, Jonathan!

      Our lead instructor Chris Slowik (who previously managed CreativeDash) did this exact journey. Inspired by that, he's put together five Swift courses for designers. Start with our completely free course "Xcode for Designers." It's 21 episodes and only ~90 minutes.

      4 points
      • Rhys MerrittRhys Merritt, almost 6 years ago

        Hi Scott.. You say "Start with our completely free course "Xcode for Designers."

        When I go to the website, there doesn't seem to be an order to the 37 courses... If I start with Xcode for Designers - should I then progress through the other 16 courses in any particular order?

        0 points
        • Scott HurffScott Hurff, almost 6 years ago

          Great question. The "Courses" is a catch-all rollup; we sort by recency. If you're interested in a particular topic, that's the best way to browse — take "Swift," for instance. You'll see courses at the top and the most recent episodes. Any course that appears there has a Swift-related episode in it.

          LMK if I can help out in any other way!

          0 points
      • Daniel FisherDaniel Fisher, almost 6 years ago

        Clicked this link to recommend this exact course. It really helped me understand the basics and get going, and I am really close to launching my first app. Chris is also a nice guy was happy to answer questions I had about the course on Twitter. this is great starting point, and from there google and stack overflow are your friend, don't be afraid to ask questions. Raywunderlich.com also has some pretty solid tutorials, complete with memes.

        My number one recommendation: On iOS, go Swift. It's friendly.

        For backend, Firebase will make your dreams come true - once you can figure it out.

        Good luck!

        1 point
  • Thanasis RigThanasis Rig, almost 6 years ago

    https://designcode.io/

    A very nice place to start!

    6 points
  • Christoph OChristoph O, almost 6 years ago

    If you are completely new to coding, maybe consider working through Swift Playgrounds. It's an educational iPad by Apple for teaching kids to code. Might look like a toy at first, but it's a solid step-by-step, hands-on way to learn coding without the overwhelming experience of a professional grade coding environments like XCode, or the intense learning curve of getting started with React Native. It uses Swift, so it could be a good starting point for building apps. If you already have coding experience, this may be too top-level for you.

    4 points
  • Kyle CaseKyle Case, almost 6 years ago

    My #1 recommendation is Big Nerd Ranch books. Depending how much time you're willing to spend... I'd recommend their Objective-C, iOS, and Swift books in that order. It might just be my learning style, but the foundations they cover in the Objective-C were super helpful once I took the time to go back and read it (after trying to jump straight into Swift).

    Other good resources Ray Wenderlich's books, Mengto's Design+Code book, and iOS path on teamtreehouse.com.

    1 point
  • Joe Blau, almost 6 years ago

    I would highly recommend: http://codepath.com

    There are a few caveats.

    • You probably need to be in the Bay area
    • It's a lot easier with a corporate sponsorship or if you know someone who has taught there
    • It's extremely intense so you might not have time to do much else during the course
    1 point
  • Marek Zelinka, almost 6 years ago

    Check out http://samvlu.com/tutorials.html

    0 points
  • Norm Sheeran, almost 6 years ago

    IMO just building something is the best way to learn. Obviously you'll need google search by your side. But I never read a book or watched a full video course. What worked for me was just jumping in and learning from places like Stack overflow and GitHub. I find you take information in more when you are faced with a problem that you need to solve.

    Which ever way you choose to learn, stick with it. It's an incredible feeling when you can design something in pixels and then actualy make it a reality.

    0 points
  • Ivan MirIvan Mir, almost 6 years ago

    This Slack to ask questions: https://ios-developers.io/

    (After searching for answers on Stack Overflow of course.)

    0 points
  • Andrew C, almost 6 years ago

    There are actual Stanford iOS development course available on iTunes. It's a legit development course, though, and assumes you understand what functions, variables and methods/classes are.

    0 points
  • Darrell HanleyDarrell Hanley, almost 6 years ago

    If you already know Javascript, the easiest route would be to start with React Native. Generally, React Native will be robust enough for most simple apps. You might get tripped up if your apps require SDKs that no one has built React Native plugins for yet.

    0 points