I fear I may be poking the hornet’s nest with this one, but here goes. My personal opinion on that question…
Do designers need to code?
This has been the question of the moment of late. Though, speaking of late, I may have missed the main period of discussions around the subject. Regardless, here’s my take… Disclaimer.
Is a web designer really a web designer if they can’t code?
A lot of the arguments revolve around the (false) fact that ‘designers can’t understand what they’re designing if they can’t build it’. This argument suggests that a web designer who can’t code is a fake who’s just blagging their way if they don’t know/understand how to actually build the websites they design…
This is wrong. By this token I should understand MySQL and programming and Project Managers should understand design theory and programmers should be able to manage clients. There’s a reason we have different job titles; people do different jobs.
A designer who can build websites is a designer–developer, a designer who can’t write HTML/CSS is a designer.
Designers should work with developers
One reason, I think, that people believe that designers should be able to code is that they need to honour their designs, they need to be sure their designs are buildable by being the ones who have the responsibility of building them.
The problem is not that designs need to be buildable, it’s that developers should be permitted to send designs back and make compromises. Designers and developers need to collaborate, not be combined. Designers need to keep pushing the envelope, making tricky and outside-the-box visuals that push the work of the developer forward. The developer needs to be able to work back the other way, show the designer the boundaries that cannot be broken. Designers shouldn’t lead developers, developers shouldn’t lead designers, there should be a happy middle ground where teams work together, specialising in their respective areas but understanding and appreciating each others’.
A designer who codes badly is less use to a developer than a designer who can’t code at all. Developers need designers, not bug making machines.
But the client was shown a PSD that needs to be honoured…
I think this may well be one reason why people believe designers should code; the situation where the client has seen a PSD and thus expectations are set. A developer hasn’t seen the visuals and is all of a sudden expected to build something he’s had no input in. For the most part this may not be the case at all, but it definitely could be…
The remedy here might be to make sure designers only create things that they can build, achieving this by making sure designers can code.
This is fixing the wrong problem, the problem here is a lack of communication and a lack of collaboration, not a lack of skills. Designers and developers should work together from the outset, working in the browser to ensure that a) the team is working as, well, a team and b) that a client is never shown a PSD (showing a client a PSD in 2011 is just foolish).
The recurring theme is collaboration… Designers and developers need to coexist, not be one and the same.
HTML and CSS isn’t easy…
…but it is easy to do badly. I know loads of designers who can make the most stunning visuals but their code is not a strong point. Sure, they can write HTML and CSS, but it’s not where they specialise or excel, in much the same way a lot of developers have no design sense.
A designer who writes bad code is less use than a designer who can’t code at all. Once a designer writes poor code then either a) a decent dev has to come along and spend time bug fixing, or b) poor code becomes a tangled mess off spaghetti CSS and browser hacks.
Do not undervalue the importance of HTML and CSS, they are easy to do badly, but hard to do excellently. You need excellence in both design and development, so leave each role to its respective person.
These rules introduce restrictions
If a designer needs to code what he’s designed then he’ll design to what he can do, not to what can be done. This is a fundamental mistake to introduce.
A designer who isn’t restricted by a secondary skill set will produce things outside the box, push the envelope and keep innovating. A designer who is limited by their dev knowledge is hemmed in, scared of pushing the boundaries for fear of creating themselves work they cannot complete.
By forcing one thing you are restricting another, this is not a good thing to bring into your team. What you need to do is keep the contact and collaboration (there it is again) between design and build to ensure that everyone is achieving their full potential.
Real life examples
I know two people, personally, who both excel in their given fields. One is a fantastic designer who constantly produces unconventional but stunning websites, the other is an incredible front-end and JS developer (among other things). The designer can write code, but it’s not his focus, he doesn’t write production code because the developer does that.
They have a dynamic working relationship whereby they collaborate (and again) and consult with each other throughout the whole project. The designs look incredible and they’re built very well. This is more valuable than a constrained designer forced into producing buggy, poor code to build designs they’re not fully happy with.
What do they need to understand?
If a designer doesn’t understand code then this is fine; they don’t need to understand code, they need to understand their medium. Having an understanding of the web is not the same as being able to build it.
A good designer working with a good developer is a team that is good at making websites.
Don’t dilute someone’s skill set by trying to expand it, play to the strengths of your team. Designers who can code do exist, but they don’t have to. If you are a designer who can code (and thus a designer–developer) then that’s great, if you’re a designer who can’t code, but work well with developers that can, then great!
But there is no right or wrong answer
Designers can code, sure, but they didn’t ought to be required to. No one should be saying that a web designer isn’t so because he can’t code, that’s actually pretty rude…
If you have the budget to hire two people then get yourself a designer and a developer. Your designer doesn’t need to be able to code, they just need to work well in a team.
However, if your budget dictates you can only hire one person then hire someone who is a designer and developer. If you need to hire a designer–developer then make are they’re sufficiently good at both. If you can only hire one person then your designer does need to be able to code.
Designers do not have to be able to code, no one can make such a sweeping statement. It depends what you need, what you are comfortable with, and what works best for your team.
Massive disclaimer
When I say designers and developers I’m separating people into two camps; designers (people who just design (people that the industry seem to have a problem with)) and designer–developers (people who design and code (the people the industry expect)).
I’m not saying designers write bad code, because a designer who can and does write code is a designer–developer. Designers are, by definition, people who don’t write code.
So if you are a designer and you think I’m saying you can’t write code when you can then I’m classing you as a designer–developer. If you’re a designer who can’t code then that’s great. Please, no one take any offence, because none is intended.
In short
Designers shouldn’t have to be able to code to be called designers; designers should be able to collaborate and understand the rest of the team and vice versa.
If you need a designer–developer then yes, your designer does need to be able to code. If you can afford a designer and a developer then they don’t.
As David Kaneda so rightly put it:
“Just a thought: Devs don’t need to learn design, designers don’t need to learn programming — people need to learn how to collaborate.”
By Harry Roberts on Tuesday, September 13th, 2011 in Industry. Tags: Design, Development | 41 Comments »
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Shannon Mølhave said on 13 September, 2011 at 7:39 pm
I really think you nailed it with this assessment, great perspective on the real issue at hand being communication.
James Aitken said on 13 September, 2011 at 7:46 pm
I agree with some of your points, and disagree with a few others.
Your section about “understanding the medium” is key. Right now, I believe to truly understand the medium, and thus be a /web/ designer, one has to be able to produce HTML & CSS – they need to be able to code.
A print designer who can’t use the tools of their industry (Quark, InDesign, etc), but who can do a physical cut & paste layout job is not a print designer in this era.
However, I believe in the future, visual web design tools will come to dominate, and the need for a web designer to code will be gone. We are not there yet, but the time will come soon.
You wouldn’t expect a print designer to be able to write raw PostScript, and in the future one won’t expect a web designer to know how to code – but in the present, a web designer needs to code.
In my opinion.
Jon Stirling said on 13 September, 2011 at 7:48 pm
I agree with all the collaboration talk, and to an extent agree with what you’re saying.
But…
In my opinion, there are actually 3 roles in web work.
The first is the designer. The person who puts the ideas together and, as you put it, “pushes the envelope”. This is not in my opinion, a web designer, “just” a designer. Until it’s implemented it is nothing to do with the web.
Second, you have the web designer. The person who take those ideas and graphics, and builds something for use on the web using HTML and CSS (and possibly even JS).
Finally you have the web developers, which imo are the guys in the back who make everything work and tie it into the work done by the web designer (order may vary).
These are three totally different roles, and different skill sets, and I agree that they should be kept separate when possible. But! I think that the person should have at least an understanding of what is going to happen next in the cycle (though I’m not saying they should have to actually use that information).
In the end, it comes down to how you see the web, but the bottom line is always, collaboration.
Ben said on 13 September, 2011 at 8:02 pm
Sterling job my friend you nailed it.
Im a front end dev and its hard because i feel I’m forced to learn either design or back end development in order to be noticed.
This has gave me the push i really needed.
Thanks man :)
Luca Degasperi said on 13 September, 2011 at 8:03 pm
I completely agree with your vision of this hot argument. It’s not about what job you do, but how you collaborate. Just satisfy my curiosity, can developer-designers be considered the same as designer-developers?
Ben said on 13 September, 2011 at 8:04 pm
@Jon …. “Second, you have the web designer. The person who take those ideas and graphics, and builds something for use on the web using HTML and CSS (and possibly even JS).” …. That is not a web designer, that’s a front end developer.
Is a front end developer not a job these days???
Harry Roberts said on 13 September, 2011 at 8:23 pm
@Jon: I’d actually argue that there are far more than three if you want to do things properly, but in this context yeah, designer, developer, programmer. I agree with you but our taxonomy differs :)
@Luca: ; I’d certainly say so :)
Kyle Adamo said on 14 September, 2011 at 12:10 am
I’m certain that designers do not have to code. Unless they want to launch a product without help. I’m a designer (among other things) however I’m done my time on the project management, product management, user requirements gathering, IA and even QA side of things. I’ve worked ultra close with developers so I know the exact compromises that are likely in question when working on a design.
I believe it’s most important for the designer to understand HOW things get built. They MUST know browser compatibility issues, the limitations of the chosen technology stack and be prepared with ‘Plan B’ and ‘Plan C’ options for the more risky parts of a design.
All that being said, I *wish* I could code. Anyone who’s ever toiled over an Axure prototype trying to recreate a web interaction knows what I mean. Often I pause and think, ‘why is it that I can’t just code this for real?’ rather than spend so much time building fake software:)
Michael said on 14 September, 2011 at 7:00 am
I totally agree. Web designers have no more need to know how to code than an architect needs to know how to lay bricks. Of course, a fundamental understanding of the design environment you operate in and its limitations is essential.
Michael G said on 14 September, 2011 at 10:54 am
Oh man, next these idiots will be telling us Researchers should be designing too, and that programmers should be able to conduct user testing.
If you want to just design, and not code, fine.
If you want to design and do front end code, fine.
It’s a personal decision, let’s just keep it that way, rather than all these bossy people who for some reason think they are some kind of “authority” on design.
Maverick said on 14 September, 2011 at 10:57 am
It is so weird to know that companies here in India (don’t know about other countries) expects a web designer to be knowing advanced level HTML and CSS knowledge… also javascript and other such stuff.
Being a web designer I have learned these things to some extent during the training course but we need to understand that designing is a specialised stream as is web development and programming.
That’s the main reason why most web design companies here in India churn out pathetic looking websites :(
Adrian Westlake said on 14 September, 2011 at 12:38 pm
I am a front end developer, and work with both designers and back-end teams. I don’t expect a designer to code HTML/CSS and don’t expect myself to be able to program complex back-end applications.
However, It helps enormously when you understand a little about the issues with the teams you overlap. For a designer they should know about browser compatibility, accessiblity, progressive enhancement and have an idea about how the site will be cut-up/pieced together. They should know about what can be done with CSS3, JavaScript etc. By working closely with a front-end developer they can increase their knowledge in these areas. In the same way, I make sure I understand a little about back-end technologies and as I have to work sometimes within MVC frameworks like WordPress, or Zend, then knowing some PHP enables me to understand better how the front-end and back-end of the code fits together.
A tighter team integration, with some shared knowledge is great. Don’t just learn what you should be learning, be inspired to find out about something else as well.
Adrian
Kevin Gallagher said on 14 September, 2011 at 2:12 pm
I developer mostly desktop solutions but also work with web development. I read the entire post but what really made me happy was seeing the section starting with
“HTML and CSS isn’t easy… but it is easy to do badly.”
I cannot agree more!!! Matter of fact I printed out those two paragraphs and have it on the entry to my cubicle.
Simon B said on 14 September, 2011 at 2:12 pm
imho for a designer to better themselves they should take the time to learn the code. Especially if they are designing for the web. Perhaps not the shopping carts, pay systems and such, but it is important to protect your creation and how you see the site functionality (rollovers ect), but I understand the argument and where do you draw the line?
Is the site to be a html/css design that will fall into a given grid formation or perhaps a flash, cms (wp ect) or other web programme medium? The content, the company your designing for and in essence ‘what’ your are design for will take influence in the final outcome. It’s hard if not impossible to pigeon hole where one starts and the other finishes.
I do believe however that designer-dev’s have taken the step to offer more in their arsenal of skills especially in freelancing terms. In these times I struggle to understand why designers need to pass on there work to be built when the programmes are presented to them.
Designers and front end devs to me should both have a firm understanding of design principles from a user point of view to offer functionality and aesthetics.
2 is better than one, safer and most of the time more productive. If you can afford it then why not but as times become tougher I think it’s wise to understand both paths and protect future income.
Doug Wollison said on 14 September, 2011 at 3:00 pm
I’m sorry, but I just have to start off with the bit that irks me; “These rules introduce restrictions”.
Now, I’m hoping that you’re talking about designers forced to code, and not designers who can also code. Either way, I should point something out; being a designer who needs to code doesn’t mean that they have to be limited by their development knowledge; it’s incredibly easy to find tutorials and hight traffic forums where one can post their problem and get fast, helpful responses. I do it all the time on my client projects, including one where I was working with a system I’ve never touched before, but I regularly searched for tutorials, documentation and forums, and solved pretty much every problem I had.
A designer who knows how to develop will still be able to think outside the box, possibly even more so if they, for example, find a way to achieve an effect with CSS rather than a load of images.
Having said that, I agree that a designer doesn’t need to actually know how to code, no more than a print designer needs to know how to operate a print press and all the other technical sides to print. However, a print designer is expected to be aware that certain factors need to be considered when designing something; bleeds, folds, crops, ink trapping, stuff like that. By the same token, a designer for the web should be aware of things like bandwidth restrictions (and try to design with graphics that can be done with css or with gif/png images with limited color palettes) and web-font availabilities.
I’m a designer, front-end developer, and back-end developer (equally good at all 3 fields). I can do a website entirely on my own but I have plenty of experience working with designers, and sometimes prefer working that way. I never consider the development side full of restrictions, since my first answer to many questions designers have put to me is “I’m not sure, let me try it out and see”. Guess what? 75% of the time it’s “Yup” the other 25% it’s “Not quite, but this’ll work just as well”.
J-Bles said on 14 September, 2011 at 3:13 pm
Personally I always show my developer the mark-up before the client even sees it. It gives him and I a chance to break it down. He points things out that I may need to fix or things that may make page loading faster while keeping the over-all layout in tact. And it’s just a glance.
Most clients will understand that it will take some time to get a first proof so use your time wisely. And if you are struggling with a time schedule let your client know that you are working on functionality and this is just a rough draft but you are positive that you will have a functioning proof next round.
This is a good article and you are right in separating the designer and developer. I myself know a bit of code but I don’t walk around touting the developer card.
I have a developer and he is good at what he does. This idea that developers and designers are at war is becoming less and less of a common thing. I know for a fact my developer and I have to and always will keep the lines of communication open as well as any of my vendors. It’s all a giant cycle. I mean ultimately we are all in the game for a paycheck. You may be a great quarterback but without your O’line or Receivers you can’t make plays, teamwork is crucial.
Justin said on 14 September, 2011 at 5:33 pm
This is a great idea for an article. As a developer I have found it really easy to work with a designer who doesn’t code. It helps if either
a. The designer is familiar with the limitations of the language and/ or CMS.
Or b. The designer is in contact with the developer throughout the design process to ask questions.
hutch said on 14 September, 2011 at 5:40 pm
Oh how i wish reality was this nice. I’m still trying to get designers to deliver assets with consistent aspect ratios, let alone consistent sizes. next will be getting them to specify sizes of things in pixels instead of inches.
Martin Koistinen said on 14 September, 2011 at 6:33 pm
To me, you have the right team when the designer and the developer respect the other and their experience. The project always turns out the best when there is powerful collaboration–one inspires and pushes the other to learn or just do more awesome work.
And, as far as the argument about ‘but the client has already seen the PSD’ goes. Well, anything that a good developer wants to change probably comes with a great reason such as getting better performance, better UX or whatever. This reason is usually more than enough to convince the client that the change is a good one. If the dev just wants to change something because she just doesn’t want to do something the way it was designed, then, well, maybe you need another dev. Having said this, if you have the good team, the dev won’t be put into this position in the first place.
Also, to those who argue that its best to let a person in one field focus on that field instead of spreading themselves around, I have always found that spending some time in other fields makes you learn faster in all areas as there is often so much experience that can be carried over from one field to another. Even between design and development. If nothing else, it would help one appreciate the other more and would certainly aide the communication processes.
Bill said on 14 September, 2011 at 7:14 pm
I would say it’s relatively important for designers to know how a site is built though. Even if they don’t know coding specifics, they ARE designing interactions and multi-state user interfaces.
How those could be implemented can have a great deal of influence on the design.
egiova said on 14 September, 2011 at 7:22 pm
I see your point. I designed since almost three decades now, and every time I had to learn a new tool, I did. As naturally as I say it. My coding skills are certainly limited, I’m thinking about php or java, for example,(and certainly because I don’t have the same “mental avaibility” than before) but in the case of html and css, I find it indispensable., period.
I never worked with a developer, but with programers, and, frankly, to understand these dudes, you need good temper :)
However my knowledge of html/css (and the bits of java and php I understand) helps a lot when it comes the turn of the programmer to touch your design.
My experience teached me that you need to dominate as much tecniques as possible. It’s just fun to learn (everyday if possible, why do you think I’m reading this blog? lol).
egiova said on 14 September, 2011 at 7:28 pm
Second thought:
I suggest a different title for this post:
How much coding designers needs to make a good job?
That’s all for today, thanks the attention.
Thomas said on 14 September, 2011 at 8:23 pm
I don’t get the point of reading the same discussion in at least every blog I’m following.
A Webdesigner is someone, who designs for the web-experience. Design is allways a solution, and a web-solution consits of more than just the Screen-Design. Webdesigners, who do not code, who just offer visual solutions, are screen-designer, not webdesigner. So far, my opinion.
Laura said on 15 September, 2011 at 10:25 am
It gets argued over so much because everyone has different definitions of designer and developer. What you call a designer-developer, I call a web designer.
Everywhere I have ever worked has had both designers and developers. HTML and CSS has always, without exception, been the job of the web designer. I don’t know a single developer who would see it as part of their responsibility. To me, a web designer is someone who designs and builds websites. If you just create the PSD then you’re not a web designer – you’re a graphic designer making pictures of websites.
Billy Moat said on 15 September, 2011 at 3:11 pm
Has anyone else noticed an upsurge in the amount of jobs advertised for people who can design, build the front-end then hook up all the back-end bits too?
I think that the recession has caused companies to look for one person to do 2 or 3 people’s jobs now.
I’m sure that there are folk out there who can do a great job of all three of those areas but not many.
Generally folk tend to be very strong in one area with limited ability in the other areas.
Personally, I came from a front-end developer background but in my current job I’m doing all of the design & all of the front-end development.
I’m a stronger front-ender than a designer but I get by due to having been working in the web industry for going on 13 years now.
I guess with the way things are going we all have to adapt to the job opportunities that are out there all we wouldn’t be working at all.
Philippe Gervaise said on 15 September, 2011 at 11:30 pm
The problem with all the articles around this topic is that they lack a clear definition of what they are discussing.
What is a designer, what is code? Is a mockup “design”? Are html and css “code”? Html and css are certainly not “programming” as they’re not functional languages, they’re just a description of what a web document will look like.
Another way to approach the question is to ask: who is supposed to write html and css? In my experience 99% of the developers can’t write html (I mean good html.) I think it’s not their job. Their job is to build the engine.
“Front end developers” could probably do it, but I think their value is more in the interactive side of a website (javascript, and yes this is programming.)
So when the designer doesn’t write html/css, you need the good ol’ “html specialist.” And he’s still relevant today because more than ever before writing good html/css –standards compliant, mobile ready, light, maintainable and so on– is fucking hard.
But I digress, do a web designer need to know some html, or at least have a good knowledge of how things are built in a web page? Hell yeah! It’s the same for designers in any field: print, product, packaging designers, they all need to know a lot about how their designs can come to life, way beyond the mockups on their computers. Markup and code is how websites come to life, you just can’t be a web designer and ignore them. Just like with product design (and contrary to print) in web design the end result always happens through engineering. At some point you really need someone who groks design *and* how sites are built.
I’m both a designer and a front end guy, I’m very good at html/css. Sometimes I work as just a html guy, and the process is not simply: I’m given mockups, translate them to html or templates, and hand the files to the devs. Each step is a collaboration and we all need to know at least a bit of how the other teams work.
When a designer doesn’t really get how the web is built, in my experience his designs are less relevant and harder to build. I need to ask lots of question that often remain unanswered: what is this block here, how does it work, how can we make sure the text is not too long, what happens if we have only three items instead of four…? If the guys has no clue, my web designer hat is then required. How good is a web designer, if you need another web designer to make something useful of his mockups?
So I totally agree with the idea of deep, dynamic collaboration between designers and developers (and front end guys), but for this kind of collaboration to happen we need to understand each other. I’ve found that he bigger the overlap between our skill sets, the easier and better it works.
And in my opinion there is not better way for a web designer than to know at least html/css.
Hen Asraf said on 16 September, 2011 at 8:58 am
I think you’re messing too much with the technicality of the term “designer”, rather than the real issue at hand.
I see a few things in this subject. First, yes, the general public expects a designer to be “all-able”, they expect the designer to do the code for them. Most people don’t dwell deep into what each title means, they just need a job done.
So, yes, that’s why it’s great to collaborate a designer and developer: you have to people who excellent at each job, rather than one person who is so-so in both. But as a developer (much terrible at design, so I have a friend I work a lot with who is outstanding at it), I don’t expect my co worker to do the coding. That’s my job, makibgbsure things work. But I do expect the designer to do some of the work, as in, maybe give me a starting point with HTML, so that I can build up from it, rather than mess for a long time with turning graphics into code, which btw, I am also terrible at. So yes, the key is finding the balance; but I undoubtedly don’t title my friend as a developer. Yes, he is capable of coding HTML and CSS, he’s good at it, but that stops there; then it is a developer’s time to take the basic ground code and work up from it, making it operate and move dynamically.
I guess there’s a lot to finding what’s right for you than trying to define a global idea of a designer or developer or both. It’s about the character, not the title. The person defines the job, it’s not the job that defines the person.
Bharat KV said on 17 September, 2011 at 1:35 pm
This is an awesome perspective… Well, thought out and very well written. Very true that many a times people look for one person who can do everything. Which is quite impossible since his/her strengths is in either design or coding. Which actually leads to a lot of compromising…
I guess we have the tolerance and understanding to collaborate the web would grow drastically :-)
Fabio Venni said on 17 September, 2011 at 2:26 pm
Right… I will enter the cage and fight, great article!
A few points:
HTML ain’t code… it’s markup… it describes the semantic structure of a document and we inherited the need the technique and the discussions that from librarians
In CSS there is no logic really… not sure what it is… but please don’t call it code just because of curly brakets ;)
To me the markup structure is part of what you design and it’s part of “understanding the medium”, like color matching and Pantones are tools of the trade for print designers
Using pixels sizes instead of centimeters in Photoshop doesn’t mean you are a web designer
If you think that a web designer is just a graphic designer that designs websites, then think that if you call yourself that you need to know your color theory, have a solid typography theory foundation, some photography light and picture manipulation, know history of design and art, be able to draw… oh, and have taste!
Javascript interactions, fixing nasty Browser and getting Data out are not part of your job
HTML and CSS are your job…
…as well as understanding limitations of antialiasing algorithms for digital type at low resolutions, bandwidth related problems, concept like progressive enhancement
gradients color and font faces are just branding exercise and cosmetics… is not the design of the site… is the look and feel
we design with constraints, like an architect have to know gravity is there to stay and paper ain’t strong enough to build a stairway
of course building a skyscraper is different than building a small ban and you might wanna go for a team of specialist (sysadmin, dba, programmer, developer, web developer, web designer, graphic designer, illustrator) to the guy that builds you a wordpress theme all by himself!!
so – web designers don’t need to code… but they should know HTML and CSS :P
Fabio Venni said on 19 September, 2011 at 4:39 pm
(never comment from your iphone without reading the whole thing first)
Chris Ford said on 21 September, 2011 at 5:11 pm
Does a web designer need to code? No more than a print designer needs to be able to run a press.
HOWEVER, a web designer *should* know what is possible within the constraints of code, the same way a print designer needs to know what is possible within the constraints of the printing process.
Imagine if your business card designer didn’t understand the difference between CMYK and Pantone, or what a linescreen was, or why resolution was important, or what the ink spread on different papers was, or what a “bleed” or “safe area” was for. They’d probably produce pretty crappy work, even if they “collaborated” with the printer.
You are responsible as a designer for understanding the medium you’re designing for, even if, ultimately, you aren’t ultimately the one responsible for executing it. How do you expect to solve a problem if you don’t understand it?
In my experience, those designers who can code, even if they choose not to, tend to produce the best work, simply because they *get it* and can have a meaningful discussion with the developers responsible about the thought process behind their comp.
Greg said on 21 September, 2011 at 6:12 pm
HTML and CSS *are* easy to do; this being the case, they are especially easy to do badly. ;-)
Jen said on 21 September, 2011 at 11:57 pm
@Michael: If you feel like making the analogy to architecture: an architect may not have ever laid a brick, but they sure as hell have spent years training and practicing making TECHNICAL DRAWINGS that describe exactly (down to the 1/16th inch) where those bricks go. They’d have better know how laying bricks work, or they never pass the exams.
Saying that an architect is like a graphic designer is completely erroneous: by this definition, an architect will draw something on a napkin, then hand it off to a cad specialist to draw.
It just doesn’t work like that.
A web designer is no such thing unless they understand the HTML and CSS that will eventually build their design. But it’s not just that – a web designer should at least have some knowledge of UX, interaction design, color theory and art, bandwidth concerns, SEO, etc.
This argument has limited the role of web designers in the process – by defending web ‘designers’ that don’t know how to code, you have limited those that don’t feel it necessary to expand their skillset, and let them feel justified in their complacency.
Anyone that can’t spend the couple of weeks of spare time it takes to learn the basics of HTML and CSS shouldn’t feel justified in calling themselves a web designer. They are makers of pretty pictures, graphic designers, or screen designers.
Logosfera.ro said on 25 September, 2011 at 10:33 am
I have recently worked with “just designers” on 2 different projects and the lack of knowledge when it comes to SEO, HTML, CSS, UX did not compensat by the artistic ability to choose fonts, color schemes and the use of Photoshop.
And today, with all this talks about responsive design, progressive enhancements now knowing what’s under the hood of a web page is not something to brag about.
What’s next? Tell php developers they need not learn javascript? Do people that know HTML really need to know CSS?
I think I got it. For a project you need:
- a designer
- a htmler
- a ccser
- a server-side programmer
- a client-side programmer
arnold said on 25 September, 2011 at 1:05 pm
Designers design all kinds of things, not just the visuals of a website. If the main focus of the designer is just the creation of visual elements/branding or the overall layout and UI then that person is not a web designer, instead he or she is a Graphic Designer or a Visual/UI Designer.
Simon said on 25 September, 2011 at 2:28 pm
@Michael, the “Architect” meme. Speaking as an architect, I can assure you that we do know how to ‘lay brick’; and we *need* to know how to do it too. Jen is absolutely spot on with her description of the process. As well as studying aesthetic design history and theory, architects also learn about engineering, material science, etc. which are a significant part of the subject of architecture. Contrary to the stereotype, we do not merely flounce around dressed in black wearing a beret admiring the ‘art’ of buildings like the Sagrada Família; we admire the *engineering* as much (wearing black, obviously! The beret is optional…). It’s worth noting that we can all produce engineering drawings, either by hand or using a CAD or BIM solution too, which I would point out is akin to a designer writing HTML and CSS; and the majority *do*. The same is true of industrial designers. Jonathan Ive doesn’t sit on his backside all day colouring in pictures of iPhones and iMacs! He is actually more concerned with how they are made; http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t0fe800C2CU
Dan said on 25 September, 2011 at 8:33 pm
I think designers should be able to code HTML and CSS, at the very least. Neither HTML nor CSS are hard, they’re just all memorization. I design websites, and then I code them. I never saw coding a design as being out of my bounds, because I’ve always held the belief that one is not a true WEB designer unless they can code for the web.
Jake said on 8 October, 2011 at 8:22 pm
If you’re not showing clients psd’s, how does your process work???
I’ve yet to deal with a client who ok’s wireframes, and says, cool, now make it look however you’d like.
Martin said on 9 October, 2011 at 12:15 am
1993-2010: Yes, absolutly.
2010-2011: Basic Knowledge should be enough
Chris said on 14 October, 2011 at 2:06 am
A designer is not a developer, and vice versa. They are two completely different roles. Anyone who thinks a designer should be able to code obviously doesn’t understand the industry. I’m glad that most designers don’t code as it would put me out of a job (I’m a senior front-end developer).
I work with lots of designers who send work my way as they know I’m very good at what I do. One of my designers previously specialised in print design. Everything he touches ‘looks’ amazing – and it works wonders for my portfolio – but he can’t grasp the fact that his designs just won’t work in a browser.
He usually completes the design process with the client then passes me a PSD that in most cases has to be reworked before we can publish it to the web.
I don’t think he should be able to code, but I wish he could understand a browser or the UX, or at least get me involved even a little in the design process, it would save us all a lot of time and effort.
Jon Gold said on 22 October, 2011 at 12:43 pm
Without wanting to devalue what we do, I’ve always found HTML, CSS and jQuery so easy to pick up that there’s no excuse not to.
Production-ready on a 100k+ uniques/month site? Clearly not. Code as flawless as what you do, Harry? Again, no. But there’s a whole lot of situations that aren’t on that scale where being able to quickly knock out code is invaluable.
I’m a graphic designer who came to the web from print and would never consider hiring a designer who couldn’t code.