The Medium is the Message
A hot topic of debate in recent months has revolved around the question “should designers know how to code?” Folks in the web design community have come down on either side rather passionately with responses ranging from “who cares, good design thinking can solve any problem” to “if you don’t how to code, get out of my face.” The flurry of responses on the Interwebs is not undeserved – this is an important question. But I think there’s an even more basic issue at its core.
Regardless of their depth of knowledge of code, some designers clearly “get” the web, and others don’t. Many designers, old and young, approach the web as they would a print piece. But the web entails vastly different problems and opportunities than print, and these mediums’ basic philosophical underpinnings are often completely opposed. On the ever-mercurial web, a designer’s desire for control and specificity often works to their disadvantage. Previously useful conventions and strategies that are burned into their approach become unwise or downright impossible.
To me the question is not whether or not a designer knows how to code, but whether or not a designer understands the medium in which they are working. In other words: are you a designer, or a web designer?
Now it does seem unlikely to me that a designer can truly understand the ins and outs of designing for the web without at least a rudimentary grasp of HTML and CSS. But in our business, coding knowledge alone won’t save you. So how do you cozy up to this most slippery of mediums?
Glad you asked.
Conventional Wisdom
At times, Bearded has been hired to develop sites that we didn’t design. On some of these occasions, my first response to one of these designs has been: “this is not a website.” At first glance it may look like a website, but the implied functionality and interactions belie a serious lack of understanding of how modern websites work – both under the hood and (pardon the extended metaphor) on the road.
I’m betting we can agree that having an understanding of what you’re designing is a key part of effective design. Having a firm grasp of what a website is and how it works is important. And nothing breeds familiarity like repeat exposure.
Use the thing you want to design, and use it all the time. If you have the choice of reading a print magazine or a web version, go website every time. Even better, do both. What are the differences? Why do you think the designers chose to do that? Do those decisions work for or against your experience as a user?
When you have the option, use a web application instead of a desktop one. Harvest, Basecamp, Prevue, Mailchimp – there are lots of great web app solutions that help designers and their clients do their work. What about your free time? There’s Twitter, Facebook, Flickr, Pinterest, and on and on.
Some I use every day. Some I just try out to see how the designers approached the problem. But there are a lot of smart web professionals out there coming up with great new approaches all the time. It’s not hard to give their products a spin and benefit from their efforts.
While using these sites and apps, note the repeat techniques, approaches, and solutions. These are conventions, and to users they carry great weight. Think about the approaches you’re experiencing. Be critical. Website after website, app after app, you will form opinions. You will bring these opinions and conventions into your own work.
Maybe you’re adding an image viewer to a website you’re working on. How do most websites deal with the UI? Does that seem like a good solution? Is there a better one? If so, is it worth retraining users to use this new way, or will familiarity outweigh the other benefits of your innovation? This is the momentum of convention, and whether or not you choose to toss it aside, you should always be aware of it.
Flux Capacity
Whether you buy the idea of the Technological Singularity or not, it’s pretty clear that things are moving faster than any of us can keep up with on our own. Lucky for us, everyone in the web design community seems to understand this, and is ready to share what they’ve learned to keep our collective knowledge out in the open.
Guess who’s on Twitter? Everyone. Start following the web designers you respect and admire. Web design luminaries like Jason Santa Maria, Elliot Jay Stocks, Ethan Marcotte, and Morgan Allan Knutson (just to name a few*) tend to be free with their opinions. They like to share the things they’re excited about, and often they’re excited about web design. When a really good article hits the Webosphere, chances are several dozen of these folks will be tweeting about it.
But staying on top of trends and issues and new innovations isn’t everything. You also need the basic skills that are the foundation of your trade. A cheap subscription to Lynda.com will give you unlimited videos to learn about everything from HTML and CSS to how to use the latest version of Photoshop.
Some of the Internet’s top web designers have also taken the time to catalog their expert knowledge in book form. These manuals can be a great way to help you get up to speed on fundamental skills and philosophies. Here are just a few worth reading in your spare time:
Designing with Web Standards
Hardboiled Web Design
Handcrafted CSS
Even when you know what you’re doing, there’s always somebody a few steps ahead, and that’s where places like A List Apart and A Book Apart really come in handy. Pretty much every book in the ABA library is essential reading for modern web designers. Responsive Web Design provides a great foundation for creating flexible, cross-platform web design solutions, and Mobile First is, if nothing else, a great pep talk. CSS3 and HTML5 are already showing their age (as web books will do), but are still great little introductions to important subjects.
Don’t Go It Alone
Have you ever created an un-printable print piece? In my first project for my first design job, I designed a 22-page saddle-stitch book (think about it). It wasn’t until a printer had looked over my files at the end of the project that the laws of physics (and the impossibility of my design) were brought to my attention. Reviewing my designs with a good production designer early on in the process could have avoided this and other little time bombs embedded in my designs.
You may fancy yourself a web designer, but how do you really know how effective you are until you start checking your assumptions with the guys who actually build the stuff (hint: I’m talking about developers)?
Designing for the web should be a conversation. Developers know what can be done, and how to do it. Designers know what they want to achieve to solve their client’s problems, and how to craft a pleasing user experience. I’m sure you can imagine the Venn diagram (cross-over area: Effective Solutions). Together you can help each other understand your side of the equation, and develop a more holistic perspective, becoming better at what you do in the process.
The Internet is complicated, and complicated problems are easier with multiple brains. And if one of those brains belongs to a designer, and the other to a developer: look out, Internet.
So should designer’s know how to code? Probably to some degree. But coding knowledge, unless that’s a task you’ll be doing regularly, is simply a means to an end. What’s essential is understanding. You can’t design things that you don’t understand. And understanding comes from experience. You’re reading this on a website. That’s a good start. Now get out of here.
*I’m following a boatload of great web design personalities on Twitter. Feel free to rifle through this list of design and Internet people I follow.
-Matt Griffin
