npub1dww…pdnf

2024-04-25 06:43:22

How I would like to work with designers

When I was a corporate programmer, I never had the chance to directly work with designers because I was a backend developer and more importantly, individual contributors usually have no sayings on what designers should be. Usually, the project manager discusses with designers and decides what should be done and we as programmers just receive the decisions.

In this context, programmers are not treated as engineers because real engineers have to influence the design.

I have the chance to work on designs and with designers for the first time in my life since I started Nostr last year. It has been a huge learning journey for me.

At first, I simply saw UI designers as some kind of painter that drew the shapes I want as the product creator. I have worked with several different designers to come up with UIs or graphics in a side gig, ad-hoc way, either paid or as a community effort.

I need to thank @Karnage and dtonon (npub1000…vwqk) who have volunteered to help me a bit.

However, the problem unveiled itself shortly. I never finished their design! Roughly 12 months ago, I asked @Karnage to do a redesign of Blowater. He finished it in like a week. But I still have not implemented 30% of what he designed!

Why?

The surface reason is that there are designs that I don’t like or visuals that simply goes against the functionality intention. I, as the product creator, did not communicate clearly with the designer what functionalities I want. Therefore, many changes, iterations are needed.

The root reason is, in an exploratory project, designers can’t be treated as ad-hoc helpers or outsourced laborers. They have to participate in the core process to shape the product. They can’t just do the UIs, they have to actively get involved into the design of the whole product, from functionalities to UIs. This is what I did not understand back then and it took me 12 months to realize. While a designer does not need to spend 40 hours working on a single project. They still need to be considered as a full-time team member instead of an occasional helper.

To address the title, moving forward, I either have to become a UI designer myself, or I have to work with a designer who shares similar visions and is willing to work with me as a long term collaborator. I will never outsource ad-hoc design works again.

Author Public Key

npub1dww6jgxykmkt7tqjqx985tg58dxlm7v83sa743578xa4j7zpe3hql6pdnf

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Published at

2024-04-25 06:43:22

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30023 Long-form Content

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