One Reason Why the "Devigner" Workflow is Important – Designer Shortage

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Shane Morris over at Microsoft had a post about a possible designer shortage if Rich Internet Applications take off in 2007 even more than they have already (he linked to my 2007 predictions on ZDNet). I’ve talked about this with a lot of people and a good number of them disagree that the Developer/Designer workflow is that important in the long run. But I think the point Shane makes about a lack of designers who can fill the need makes it all the more important.

In the end, he’s right; we won’t have enough designers who can work with developers to create great experiences. As a result, less seasoned designers are going to have to step up. In some cases, developers are going to have to take on the role of “devigner”. For those people, a good workflow is going to be of super importance. Being able to move seamlessly between their development tools and their design tools is going to result in better projects overall. Sure, a rock star designer and a rock star developer can find a way to coexist, but for those of us stuck somewhere in the middle, good tools can go a long way towards helping us build applications that look good and meet the expectations of users.

To me, that’s what the designer/developer workflow helps. It isn’t the awesome designers, it’s the people in the trenches who need to live between both worlds. A great designer can overcome bad workflow, but with a good workflow an average designer can be part of a project that looks like it came from a great designer.

[tags]Developer, Designer, Workflow, Devigner[/tags]

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  • mike chambers

    Well, I certainly wouldn’t be surprised if there was a glut of designers who could work with Microsoft technologies. However, there is a large pool of designers who have been creating rich content, and applications leveraging Adobe / Macromedia technologies for years.

    Now, that doesn’t mean that demand won’t go up, but even it does, working with design tools that designers are already familiar with (Illustrator, Photoshop, Fireworks, Flash), will be a huge advantage, and make it much easier to to “get over the hump” and start working on RIAs.

    Of course, you need to learn how to build and design Rich interactions, but at least you can do that without having to worry about learning a completely new toolset at the same time.

    Btw, a great workflow between tools is completely moot if no one uses one or all of those tools.

    mike chambers

    mesh@adobe.com

  • http://subvert.ca Geof Harries

    I’ve only just started to use Flex in a production environment, with nothing to show at present. Posts from guys like Shane make me regret my long hesitation in trying something new.

    Here’s hoping it’s not too little, too late, because after so many years in the page paradigm, I’m bored and unchallenged with plain ol’ HTML and Javascript.

  • http://intelligantt.blogspot.com John Milan

    The shortage of designers able to work with developers goes way beyond just workflow and really reflects a problem in the current software industry as a whole.

    IMHO, we are at a transition point where the features of a program are taking a backseat to the experience of a program. Much like all cars have, more or less, the same feature set and style\cachet becomes a differentiator, so to will better designed (for the user experience) software begin to differentiate and add value.

    In fact, maybe I can teach this old dog a few new tricks…. or maybe I should hire a young kid who’s never seen a c:\ prompt.

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