Frederik Delmotte / Microblog
mail@frederikdelmotte.be
00447708286280
23.01.11
The hybrid design developer
The focus at my previous job was mostly development and to avoid becoming a drone I decided it was best for me to use my technical background as an advantage while searching for a job as a creative.
However, during this search, it became very clear that almost all agencies have the tendency to keep the job requirements for a designer or developer strictly separate. You're either good at one or the other. Their is no room for a "hybrid". Personally, this does not make much sense to me. Especially considering that we work in an industry were design decisions can be driven by technology (IE: The Wilderness Downtown) or vice versa. The workflow of the designer who passes the work to the developer as a two-step process is just outdated.
Jonathan Harris raised this during his Cold vs Bold talk and I fully agree with him. He mentioned that one of the reasons why so many agencies do mediocre work is because their is no shared vision. The vision often fades over the lifespan of a project through lack of instant feedback. When you work with different people there is hardly any instant feedback. Miscommunication occurs, meetings are required, everybody has an opinion about everything and it becomes impossible to aim for perfection. If you develop your own designs, than you can adjust these while developing. After all, some issues might only occur during build while others are simply unpredictable at an earlier stage.
I strongly believe that digital designers need to know how things work and developers should at least have a basic understanding about design. Their is nothing wrong with being good at one thing, but most of the time a project goes beyond skill sets. The vision is always key.