Sam Brown posted a great (M)interview with Shaun Inman on Peppermint Tea.
I love this answer:
SAM BROWN:Â You are one of the very few designer developers out there that is able to marry your brilliant code with a gorgeous design… How have you come to accomplish this feat that is rarely seen elsewhere?
SHAUN INMAN: Oh this one’s easy. I just don’t know when to stop. I will bang my head against the proverbial wall until I understand something—to the detriment of everything else. Sleep. Relationships. It’s really not the enviable quality everyone makes it out to be. It’s not a quick process either.
Of course, I am a classically trained graphic designer. As for code and development, I had a couple computer science friends who pointed me in the right direction early on. A collection of dense, occasionally impenetrable O’Reilly books and googling got me the rest of the way.Â
And for additional reading, here is the review of Mint I wrote a few weeks back.
(Now I just need some Transmit news to publish and my day will be complete.)