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Gary Sorrell
6,543 PointsDevelop vs Design - Should I worry if I don't feel the love for design?
I'm an honest guy, so I can honestly say I will probably never be much of a designer. I came to TT to learn how to make websites work, and so far I have really enjoyed this. Even when I am banging my head against the nearest solid object because my function won't run. As soon as I start worrying about which color, what font, it becomes drudgery. In other words, I will likely always be a part of a team, as opposed to a lone wolf, jack of all trades. I remember Hampton making a comment during one of his SASS videos about being a developer, not a designer.
I'm not sure what my exact question is, but since I see developer/designer used a lot interchangebly, will not being very good at the latter be a hindrance?
I figured I would run this by the pros.
5 Answers
Andrew Shook
31,709 PointsGary, there is a definite distinction between a web designer and a web developer, and at a lot of places that distinction is recognized in job duties. In a lot of ways, being working in the web world is like working in medicine. There are specialist and general practitioners, and it's ok if you don't want to be a general practitioner. Like you, I'm not a big fan of doing design work, and I have managed just fine.
Jeremy Germenis
29,854 PointsIn the website industry you will always be somewhat involved in both aspects, design and programming. You can cheat a little by using frameworks such as bootstap, but you will still have to make some design decisions. You may think about focusing on php and ruby because those jobs will more limit your time "designing".
Ben Jakuben
Treehouse TeacherThe most important thing about being a developer who doesn't do much design is to concentrate on the details that designers give you. You don't need to come up with colors, shapes, spacing, etc, but you should be able to compare mockups with your product and make all the necessary adjustments.
James Barnett
39,199 PointsEveryone (who builds websites) needs to understand the basics of visual design and the basics of UX.
I'd start with:
Gary Sorrell
6,543 PointsThanks for the input guys. I will definitely look at those links James.