Web Design: The void between designer and programmer.
Designers and programmers have an almost completely overlapping client base, but the two professions lack communication, collaboration, and even comprehension. Why?
When I say programmer, I mean anyone from a legit software developer to a fresh-out-of-college fireball that knows nothing more than how to make a contact form send an email. When I say designer, I mean anyone from a professional graphic/web designer to a self-tought-tutorial-addict-freelancer. Programmers and designers try to please the same set of clients on a daily basis. But in todays “website as a faceplate” world, neither profession can offer a complete list of services to satisfy even the mildest small-to-mid-sized growing company.
The result is a spiderweb of outsourcing and virtual personas being displayed by companies in both fields, striving to meet clients’ needs, and trying to appear capable even though they are not. Graphic design firms rarely hire programmers, and programming companies rarely hire designers. They would rather outsource than hire a full-time employee whose skills are only used on occasion, because most of their business is derived from their core services. This is part of the problem. Designers and Programmers work in different arenas more often than not.
Education Can Take Some Blame
First of all, Designers and Programmers, although (today) their client base is very similar, have almost no overlapping educational requirements at most universities, excluding Gen Ed. I speak from experience when I say that the word/s “programming” or “web applications” are hardly ever mentioned by a web design teacher, if mentioned at all. I’m almost certain the same goes for student programmers and learning about “Typography” or “Form and Negative Space.” – Correct me if I’m wrong.
The fact is, two professions that are forced by clients (”The real world”) to work together, get no preparation by the universities supplying the skilled workers. A designer doesn’t need to know the skills of a programmer (and visa versa), but it would be nice if he/she were at the very least, prepped about the reasons programmers and designers need each other.
Two Different Animals
Programming and designing are two completely different animals, but together in harmony, can make a killer site or online app. The average web designer (This article refers to university-educated designers, but is meant to also refer to self taught professionals) starts off in college taking drawing classes as gen ed courses. And most universities require a series of Art History courses as well. Most University Art programs are hard-pressed to even recognize web design as an integral part of a designers education. Instead, Graphic Design majors are stuck learning the deeper meanings of Buddha hand gestures in paintings by somebody whose name you can’t even pronounce, when all they want is to learn how to design for the web. Universities simply aren’t embracing web design as it’s own distinct sector of the degree structure. What I’m trying to say is, Art programs educating the web designers of tomorrow, are not educating web designers. They are trying to deny a focus on digital media as an art form. The Art world doesn’t take much heed to the web, oh but they do like to play with flash.
On the other side of things, Programmers aren’t taught much about design, or how to work with a designer. Do they teach basic Photoshop to programmers? Maybe, I don’t really know. I do know that programmers are a different breed of web-problem-solvers than designers. Programmers learn about code, properties, values, keys, arrays, if, if else, else if, if what? Exactly. The very backbone of a simple contact form is completely and utterly alien to a graphic designer. You know, those people you outsourced to “skin” your php based website. They like to use the words “slices” a lot.
The demand is there and increasing every day, let’s work together.
When working together across both the design and programming disciplines, the best results and happiest clients are directly related to how well the (sometimes deceptive) design/programming companies work together. The best way to move forward and stay ahead of the game is to find a reliable partner, be it programmer or designer, that is willing to wear your hat and even go to meetings with you when needed. Once you develop a relationship, which most do eventually, it’s easy to get comfortable in your situation. This is one of the major reasons designers and programmers are so baffled by one another. No one interacts and shares knowledge, they just do their part and that’s it. This isn’t constructive enough to satisfy me, sorry.
Designers and programmers should be constantly looking into new ways to help each other out. And if you’re a small and growing company and have the demand, hire someone to compliment your team. Your designers will learn 100 times more information from an on-board programmer than emailing an outsourced “friend.” The same goes for programmers. Having one Graphic Designer on board could save you thousands in outsourcing, and teach your team priceless information about the layout in front of the code, and how the scripts manipulate what the user sees. Website interfaces should be designed for usability and accessibility, and that involves both what you see, and the programming that powers it. Make an effort to understand your complimentary discipline.
[...] Programmers and Designers: A Match Not Meant to Be? Is it a difference in education at the root or do differences run deeper? (tags: programming design) [...]
Perhaps i am a rare breed. I’ve got both sets of experience. Having studied Art and Art History, Design concepts and even architecture and then studying Computer Science i completely understand the GAP that you are talking about.
Sad thing is that this gap will simply keep growing. The funny thing is that companies hiring web professionals look for both. I am sure that they seldom find both though because development and design are completely different. Each require different skills to be successful. It is not impossible but it is a rare mix of person that can handle both.
Excellent article!
Lucas
Nice article! I think many companies simply don’t know the difference between a designer and a programmer, and expect one person to do both jobs. With the exception of Lucas, above, there isn’t really a lot of cross-breed designer-programmer types, as you note. I think you have some excellent ideas about how to solve the issue.
Thanks for all the kind reviews! I just had to get this off of my chest, call it venting, if you will.
~BittBox
I’ll tell you what twisted link, it’s funny and true that most companies hiring a web person expect them to really know their code and how to use photoshop and illustrator at the same time. It just isn’t that practical to think that great developers are going to be equally great designers.
It’s also not that easy a job to staff because people who excel at web development or design usually freelance or run their own projects and make more then enough to support themselves (the true ones anyways). Just my two cents… okay 4 cents! :)
Lucas
EMPLOYER Seeking Graphic Designer/Web developer:
—————————–
REQUIRED SKILLS: Photoshop, Illustrator, Flash, Actionscript, HTML, InDesign, Quark, CSS, PHP, JAVA, Javascript, Perl, mySQL, ASP, C, C+, C++, Ruby, the list goes on and on. . .
Lucas, you are absolutely right. The gap will only continue to grow. Why don’t corporations just start a baby genius recruitment program and start training at birth!
~BittBox
I’m one of the few I think that are trying to find balance between coding and design. I started out as a freelance coder and very soon I realized that my clients can only evaluate a nice design and don’t understand a thing when talking about anything code related.
However although I can handle customer requirements much better now I believe I’m a bit left behind in my coding skills and I’m also much worse than a professional designer. I believe that’s a good thing after all even for non-freelancers since you can be the glue in a modern web design/development company.
Very nice article. I have been exceptionally lucky. Not long after beginning to learn programming/web development, I became part owner of a small screen printing shop on the east coast. Frank, our outstanding graphic designer, showed me the basics behind image construction/manipulation in Corel Draw, and later Photoshop, while I explained to him the layout constraints of web format, bitmap vs vector, and transitional animation. This was the mid ’90s.
In two of the three organizations that I have worked for since, I have always had the benefit of having a designer on hand. In my current position, I create ColdFusion web applications, which are generally ‘faced’ with Flash front ends designed by our production team. Production handles graphics, I handle code. But the best thing has been the ability for us to go back and forth, them teaching me new design tricks, and me teaching them about development.
Great article. I’m going to have to pass this around…
This article was so enlightening to read because I feel like I’ve been making the same argument over and over again and sometimes I even get frustrated with myself because I always think, “If only I knew more of that…,” or “If only I had that skill to add….” I am an in-house web designer and I do need to design and code, but as far as backend programming, I can pretty much just create/edit a perl e-mail script.
I definitely consider myself to be a graphic designer for the web and while I know Flash, it’s hard to to defend my skills against a Flash developer. I often feel inadequate, but I know it’s just accepting that I am one and not both and that’s okay. I love working with programmers and I have learned so much from them and how to communicate with someone, in general, who may not be looking at a project from a visual or graphic standpoint.
I find it difficult to search for jobs because now I feel that a “Web Designer” is actually a “Web Developer” and searching under “Graphic Design” typically leads to print-only positions. I even see this in companies that are creative, that you’d think would understand the difference in skill sets, but that’s rarely the case now. I also think that now that the web is moving in this social-networking direction, more and more emphasis is going to placed on programmers with little or no design skills, let alone great design skills. Sheesh, look at MySpace, it’s a trainwreck.
Man this is interesting, I came across this article while doing a Google search.
I worked as a designer for four years, along side some great programmers. i learnt alot.
I am now freelancing and I am trying to bridge the gap, by learning a lot about programming. i am trying to do everything myself, which is difficult. At college I learnt HTML, and through the years got my AS skills up, but not to developer status. I am stuck in the scenario where I want to learn something new and very quickly, but this is not possible. All the code, makes my head boggle most times, and the code that I do write, a developer could probably do it faster and in a much more efficient way.
But hey, maybe in a couple of years, I will be wanting to learn the ins and outs of CS5, and trying to forget PHP 8 :)
Really good article.
[...] Web Design: The void between designer and programmer. | BittBox Designers and programmers have an almost completely overlapping client base, but the two professions lack communication, collaboration, and even comprehension. Why? [...]
I know I’m late in coming to the conversation, but had to add my thanks for the article and other’s comments. This has hit core issues on many levels. I’m a graphic designer first and Flash guy second?a far second. You just can’t do both well. I’ve partnered with a programming agency [www.agencyfusion.com] that can take care of the programming skill set while I focus on the fun stuff (designing). This set up works far better than trying to force skills into my brain that are better left to those who do it so well. Thanks again for the original write up. Great and timely commentary.
I couldn’t agree more with your gap theory.
As a former art director with an ad agency, turned independent professional who subcontracts all web programming my company provides, I can’t count how many programmers I’ve worked with only once or fired mid-project. Luckily, after 5 years of searching, I have finally found 2 programmers who get that I’m the branding and design expert and they are the programming expert. And, together, we can kick some ass. We compromise, I respect their opinions and direction and vice-versa — and it works well. Ya, after 5 years of searching.
It was not this easy (at all) in the “corporate world” which is one of the reasons I left. I make less money but experience much less stress now.
Some good news from here in Toronto, Canada. My clients are actually receptive to my educating them on the difference between the two areas of expertise and the need to hire both individuals. They also (usually) understand that they need to choose, when dealing with a limited budget, where the money will go as I also make it perfectly clear what can, and cannot, happen with the money they are willing to spend. I help them to manage the budget and present options which help them to spread money out (so that both myself and the programmer profit financially) and they get what they need in the end. Mostly, clients take my advice when I speak to them in respectful, down to earth language they can understand.
Let’ here it for Small Business!
Ive got a design background with a vis comm degree so im foremost a designer, but do most of my own front end web coding (expect hardcore backend stuff.)
I find that designers, who have no technical expertise in web design, often miss the mark on how to design a look and feel that will work for the web and their audience.
You need to be able to understand the medium your designing for, whether its online, print or motion.
hey there ppl
It was a really interesting article nd I also enjoyed the comments that it recieved.
I myself am a student currently studying architecture (2nd Year) but i also have some programming experience from my high school. Since i enjoy both the fields I have developed that keen interest in web designing and development. However, After reading your article i am in a fix as to which career path to follow should i just go for core designing or can i make an attempt to master both?
currently i have good experience of photoshop, corel draw, 3ds max, illustrator, C++, java and HTML.
Waiting for useful suggestions from ur side…
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Brilliant article especially as I soon plan to go into University to study programming. I think a great idea would be to bring the two together early on. Not so much teach or recommend design to programmers or vice versa but to give projects that require collaboration and see the difference in results.
@ Neeav
I wouldn’t say master both but whatever you pick you can always tell potential employers or clients that you do have a good ability with both if the need be. Personaly I think specialising in a specific area is better that trying to specialise in two, but saying that if you think you can do both then by all means give it a shot.
Hi there, great article. I?m a graphic designer, working at a programming company. Normally I do all the layout job and then I work with a programmer so that he can understand all the stuff he must add to the code and the results normally are very good. But, until a final layout is worked, we normally talk and work a lot about how the design and the code can be better to the website / app. He understands my work and how I think about it, and vice versa. I usually learn a lot with him, for eg. the CSS, a lack in my learning process that I?ve only acquired recently; and I allways try to make him understand how design should be applied and why. Hope that more companys realise that can be a good move to have both the professionals, working together, instead of outsourcing.
Portugal
Great article, and interesting comments. Adding my 2-cents to this issue, I’ve also noticed this issue but from the web developer side of things. I graduated last year in EE/CS, and I can completely relate to the lack of any coursework remotely related to graphic design and aesthetics.
Unfortunately for me, I’ve always wanted to create beautiful and functional websites. I’m confident I can get the programming/backend side down, but I have no training whatsoever in graphic design. I’ve only read tutorials & blogs like this *very well done* one, and tried my hand at modifying templates for practice. Anyone have suggestions on what else a programmer who wants to learn design can do?
@Nina,
Depending on your current background in design, I think taking a couple of courses at a college in your area that does offer design classes as a continuing education option or a program that allows you to pick and choose classes and sessions in that course area, without necessarily working toward another degree.
I know the Art Institutes are pretty good for this type of thing and they are all over the US. The reason why I am suggesting more of a formal education to start is because it will give you the ability to work and learn with other budding designers, as well as to help you establish your own design sense and how you can best apply it to your role as a programmer, if you do decide to do both. I think if you are able to find a balance between learning how different designs function and the skills needed to create designs (like Photoshop, Illustrator, Dreamweaver, etc.), you will have a really well-rounded foundation.
If you’re more self-taught, then you can search through Amazon to find certain titles that you think would push you in the right direction too. Best of luck. :)
We’re actually looking to hire a programmer on full time. It’s been something we’ve been through for years – hiring offshore or freelance programmers on a project to project basis. Some work out, some start out great but then never finish, some overcharge, others are too cheap to be true. We’ve gone through a LOT of programmers over the years and just when we settle on one and have done more than 3-4 jobs together, the programmer is MIA and cannot take on projects suddenly. Sigh.
We are immediately hiring a programmer who will work full time with us side by side. If there aren’t enough projects to work on, then ideally the programmer should be thinking of new apps to build to help our company out.
When designers and programmers work side by side, new doors are opened. And besides, both parties involved offer their real world skillset in addition to their trained one. They can talk marketing, business, heck, even sports and entertainment. There should be no reason why programmers and designers aren’t working together as much. Both need eachother so badly~ Btw, any programmers interested in working for us, email me!
@Jeff Finley,
I couldn’t agree more. Good luck. I’m sure it will grossly benefit your company to have the real deal on board.
~Bitt
Good article, I work for a web development company that was just a programming sub. We went along for years till we finally figured out that if we had the best designers working for us, we would be a very unique beast. Since expanding we have noticed a very different product coming out. It’s opened everyone’s eyes. Even so much so we are re-designing our site and giving a great deal of attention to the design elements. Good article and perspectives.
I’ve found my struggle as someone who tries to balance coding (at least front-end, I admit I know little to nothing about any hardcore programming) and design as a web developer is working with people, clients, and a lack of understanding of how rapidly the web world progresses.
While there’s good news from Toronto from Tracy, right west in Winnipeg there are a lot of stubborn people who think that they’re programmers because they learned something ten years ago in school. I’m working at a design company right now that still insists that tables are the fastest and best ways to do things.
To combine design and programming becomes so much harder when someone considers usability – we do work for people who can only have access to a 56k connection, yet it’s still insisted that we need a graphics-intensive (or worse yet a Flash) layout.
There’s a lot that designers and programmers can learn from one another, keeping up with the times and understanding usability are both valuable.
Hi there, sort of stumbled upon this article after subscribing to the site’s feed. The title caught my attention, and I agree with your insights after reading it. I have no professional web design or programming experience, but in the last year and a half or so I have developed a very great interest in css and site design. I have seriously considered pursuing an education in a field relating to these subjects, but upon looking into the programs offered by various colleges, I was disappointed to find that very few seemed to have much available for my specific interests. I wonder why that is. You mentioned universities denying web design as being an art form, and I think that is definitely true. It just seems strange to me. I guess because it is relatively “new?” So I’ve held off on starting any kind of structured schooling for now, but I spend a great deal of time online researching, experimenting with, and very slowly learning more and more about writing css and designing sites, simply by trial and lots of errors. Heh. Anyways, your article was well-written and presented effectively. Thanks.
-Mona
Good post!
I’ve been struggling with this problem for a while now! Near enough all the job listings I see for web designers want you to be a code genius and an expert in photoshop at the same time.
I’ve been working at improving my skill set in both and as a result I feel that I’m progressing a bit too slowly for my liking.
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Anyone have any suggestions for a print designer just now getting into web design and learning how to work with programmers? I’m trying to figure out what I really need to know to have a great collaboration and to understand the web medium.
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[...] points about the differences between web designers and web programmers. You can read his whole post here. He mentions in his article how the two are completely different animals, one requiring a design [...]
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