Getting Started with SwiftUI Guide
How Designers and Engineers Can Get Started with SwiftUI
About this guide
In this guide, we will share about what SwiftUI is, why learning SwiftUI will be helpful, how you can go about learning SwiftUI, and how it will be beneficial for designers and engineers.
What is SwiftUI?
SwiftUI is a UI framework developed by Apple to build apps for Apple platforms, including iOS, macOS, watchOS, and VisionOS. It allows developers to create visually rich and interactive apps with less code, making it easier and faster to build user interfaces.
Why it is helpful to learn?
SwiftUI is easier to get started with, especially for those taking their first step, and for designers who want to learn how to code and create advanced prototypes—and even apps that can be launched. While working with SwiftUI, you will see a preview where you can view the code you write, making the experience of building apps and prototypes enjoyable. You will declare what the UI should do, and then you'll see it in the preview.
What You Can Do After Learning SwiftUI
Once you get comfortable with SwiftUI, you will be able to create prototypes as well as real apps for iOS, watchOS, macOS, iPad, and even visionOS. As designers, you can create highly interactive apps with seamless transitions, animations, and work with real data once you're familiar with the framework. You’ll be able to create some of the most advanced prototypes you can imagine. If you decide to branch out into React or other frameworks, SwiftUI will still serve as a strong foundation. However, it's good to focus and become proficient in SwiftUI first. Additionally, SwiftUI can set a strong foundation for mastering iOS design, as it helps you understand the underlying systems.
How to Learn SwiftUI
The best way to learn SwiftUI is by starting with understanding 20% of the fundamentals. There is always more to learn, but when you're starting out, it's good to focus on that core 20%. So, what does that 20% include? You could begin by learning how to build layouts using Stacks (similar to Figma’s Auto Layout), then explore ScrollView, basic animations, and screen transitions. It's important to understand the structure of how you write code. Once you're comfortable with that, you can move on to more advanced topics. In this newsletter, I'll share my learnings and resources so you can learn from these as well. Be sure to subscribe to stay updated.
Also, if you're a designer or engineer and want to get started with SwiftUI, I’ve launched a course to help you begin. It’s a beginner course I put together after learning the foundations and creating a few projects.
Thank you for reading
If you're interested in getting started with SwiftUI, I have created a beginner-friendly, project-based course: https://designnquest.com/swiftui.
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