Refactoring UI
Refactoring UI by Adam Wathan and Steve Schogerby Adam Wathan and Steve Schoger
Ranked 2 of 12 design books by recommenders
Recommended for developers learning visual design, teaching small changes like spacing, type scales and color that make a UI look professional. Critics note it is a paid PDF of about 218 pages.
Recommended for developers learning visual design, teaching small changes like spacing, type scales and color that make a UI look professional. Critics note it is a paid PDF of about 218 pages.
17 people gave an opinion
- recommend it
- 14
- criticize it
- 3
- approval share
- 82%
Recommended in 3 of 13 months
- November 2025: not recommended
- December 2025: not recommended
- January 2026: recommended
- February 2026: not recommended
- March 2026: not recommended
- April 2026: not recommended
- May 2026: recommended
- June 2026: not recommended
- July 2026: not recommended
- August 2026: not recommended
- September 2026: recommended
- October 2026: not recommended
- November 2026: not recommended (month in progress)
Why it doesn’t carry the badge
- 14 people recommend itNeeds 10 or more, met.
- 4.7 recommenders for every criticNeeds 2 to 1 or better, met.
- Recommended in 3 of 13 monthsNeeds 4 or more, not met.
The same three rules apply to every product, and the badge can’t be bought. How the badge works
What people say about it
The reasons people give, with the number of comments that give each one. Open a reason to read what they said.
Why people recommend it
Each mark is one comment
Teaches design to developers
“For Devs/Engineers and even many designers, things some of us tend to take for granted were amazing to them.”
Comment from 22 Jan 2026 in “Design Thinking Books You Must Read” “Refactoring UI is a well known book for learning about design as a developer”
Comment from 5 Jan 2026 in “CSS sucks because we don't bother learning it (2022)” “it really helped me become better and understand subtleties of design”
Comment from 7 Jan 2026 in “Creators of Tailwind laid off 75% of their engineering team” - Comment from 8 Jan 2026 in “Creators of Tailwind laid off 75% of their engineering team”
- Comment from 27 Sep 2026 in “Tells of a Slop UI”
Small changes make big difference
“it demonstrated how small changes can add up to make something that looks amateur look professional”
Comment from 22 Jan 2026 in “Design Thinking Books You Must Read” “it taught me so much about simplicity and good design”
Comment from 7 Jan 2026 in “Creators of Tailwind laid off 75% of their engineering team” “This book taught me so much about modern UI design.”
Comment from 7 Jan 2026 in “Creators of Tailwind laid off 75% of their engineering team” Easy to understand
“I loved how easy it was to understand.”
Comment from 9 Sep 2026 in “Shopify acquires Tailwind” “Learned a lot from Refactoring UI”
Comment from 8 Jan 2026 in “Creators of Tailwind laid off 75% of their engineering team”
What people warn about
Each mark is one comment
Costs $99 for PDF
“$99 for a 218 page PDF which, while it has a Goodreads page which rates it highly”
Comment from 22 Jan 2026 in “Design Thinking Books You Must Read” Retained nothing for some readers
“i've read it and retained nothing”
Comment from 8 Jan 2026 in “Creators of Tailwind laid off 75% of their engineering team”
Other design books people recommend
The four most recommended other design books, with the same counts for each, so you can compare like for like. The tick on each bar marks the 2 to 1 line the badge needs.
| Product | Recommend | Criticize | Approval | Months | Owned | Badge |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| The Design of Everyday Thingsby Don Norman | 29 | 2 | 94% | 8 | — | Approved |
| Refactoring UIby Adam Wathan and Steve SchogerThis page | 14 | 3 | 82% | 3 | — | — |
| Don't Make Me Thinkby Steve Krug | 12 | 1 | 92% | 8 | — | Approved |
| Practical Typographyby Matthew Butterick | 10 | 3 | 77% | 8 | — | Approved |
| A Pattern Languageby Christopher Alexander | 9 | 1 | 90% | 4 | — | — |
What people said
17 of the 18 comments that mention it, newest first. Each links to the original comment.
“Read Refactoring UI, originally written by the Tailwind devs.”
“I loved how easy it was to understand.”
“presents a systematic design system, introducing ideas such a type-scales, color-scales, spacing”
“looks better (easier to read) on the left than text in empty space on the right”
“it demonstrated how small changes can add up to make something that looks amateur look professional”
“Refactoring UI as suggested somewhere else in the thread is a decent suggestion”
“$99 for a 218 page PDF which, while it has a Goodreads page which rates it highly”
“For Devs/Engineers and even many designers, things some of us tend to take for granted were amazing to them.”
“In my opinion, this will become an all time classic”
“The Tailwind Team's Refactoring UI book was a big eye opener for me.”
“Refactoring UI is a great book that i've had a ton of value from”
“i've read it and retained nothing”
“Learned a lot from Refactoring UI”
“it taught me so much about simplicity and good design”
“This book taught me so much about modern UI design.”
“it really helped me become better and understand subtleties of design”
“Refactoring UI is a well known book for learning about design as a developer”
Counts come from 1,795,640 Hacker News comments, November 2025 to November 2026. How we count. Report a mistake.