Member-only story
Designers shouldn’t learn to code — developers should learn to design
Developers should learn the trades and become de facto UI designers.
After sharing my story about design systems on Linkedin, I got this comment:
”You are absolutely correct in that a design system needs to have a component library, and primarily be optimised for digital UX in the first place. But why would developers not be able to unfold and detail brilliant design based on a high level style guide? I don’t believe in the traditional dichotomy between ‘designers and developers’. If you work on anything near a user interface you should have a great sense for design, even if you have competence in programming. I think the problem is rather that decisions about brand and strict rules in manuals have historically been dictated by people who do not understand interaction, tech or coding.”
Naturally, I responded that they were preaching to the choir. Strictly speaking, I only argued in the article that you can’t hand off a design system. It’s practically impossible; without developers you wouldn’t have a design system in the first place. Handing off a style guide, however… that’s a totally different story.
Now, do I believe that developers would be able to unfold and detail brilliant design based on a high-level style guide? Yes. Do I believe any sort of design should ever be ”handed off”? No. Because design is a continuous collaborative effort. I adhere to the principles of Lean UX in general and this great one in particular:
Design is a function, not a person.
This is why I find the comment in itself so thought-provoking (in the most positive sense imaginable). The part about the problem rather being that ”decisions about the brand and strict rules in manuals have historically been dictated by people who do not understand interaction, tech or coding” helped my mind wander into another, related topic.
