Applied Arts Mag - Opinions

Should or shouldn’t designers learn coding for their web designs? It never hurts to know how things work under the hood

A lot of ink has been spilled in this column about the lack of design sensitivity that has plagued the digital world since 1996 or so. By throwing print onto the dust heap of history, we have also thrown out the principles of visual communications design that grew with it. These principles are entirely portable, but because of their association with a dying medium, they have been deprioritized. The result has been that the lion’s share of websites look and read like crap.

Over the last 15 years or so, graphic designers have struggled with the question of whether or not they should learn code. As a result, control of the digital experience has until now primarily resided in the hands of engineers, not designers. If the same thing had happened in, say, automotive design, we would be driving around in vehicles that resembled Rube Goldberg machines http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rube_Goldberg. So why do we put up with that in digital?

Over that period of time, designers without coding skills have been able to create page layouts that look great, read well and are user-friendly, but the disconnect happens when it gets handed over to a developer for coding. Designers and coders simply don’t speak the same language, and are informed by totally different priorities. More often than not that lovely Porsche-like layout comes out looking more like a Kia Cube.

So it was with great interest that I read a post on Graphicdesign.com http://www.graphicdesign.com/article/should-designers-code-poll-question/in which the writer laid out the pros and cons of designers learning code. On the ‘no’ side of the ledger, the writer lists the reasons why you shouldn’t: you’re not a developer, it’s time consuming, you’ll never be done learning, you will spread yourself too thin, you can outsource it and anyway there are tools that design websites without coding.

But on the plus side, there are also reasons why you should learn code: you will learn new skills, you will understand how it works, you’ll be able to work with coders, and it will bring you new opportunities because as we all know too well, it’s where the industry is going. To that I would add that you know coders are never going to learn how to design like you can, so here’s your chance to grab the digital bull by the horns before it grabs you.

If you read that and decide not to learn HTML and CSS, fear not. The beta version of Adobe Muse http://www.adobe.com/ca/products/muse.htmlis out, and just like the Internet has completely democratized the tools that once were used only by designers, Adobe Muse democratizes the web design process so that all a designer has to do is what they do best: design the damn thing. The coding all happens under the hood, where it should, automatically.

My own opinion on this is that it never hurts to understand how things work under the hood. After all, as the post on Graphicdesign.com points out, why did you, back in the days before computers, want to understand how printing worked? Because it made you a better graphic designer and helped you to be conscious of the possibilities you had and limitations within which you worked. Respect for the craft of print production also made it easier to collaborate with printers, earn their trust and optimize the results. It’s just as true with coding.

At a minimum, on whichever side of the sword of Damocles you decide to tread, know the risks. Code not, and you will never really understand why the result doesn’t meet your expectations; learn code, and you will be better equipped to predict the outcome. And isn’t that what design is about anyway?

Some months ago I discovered the art of responsive web design, which is a way of coding content so that it optimizes itself on the fly to conform to different screen sizes, from laptop to tablet to smartphone.

It was the first time I had seen digital layouts arrange themselves in a way that consciously prioritized design and user experience over the metalanguage of programming, thus elevating the user over the developer. In doing so, it yielded layouts of refreshing simplicity, because it respected the limitations of the display and didn’t try to shoehorn content into spaces that it wasn’t designed for.

A lot of ink has been spilled in this column about the lack of design sensitivity that has plagued the digital world since 1996 or so. By throwing print onto the dust heap of history, we have also thrown out the principles of visual communications design that grew with it. These principles are entirely portable, but because of their association with a dying medium, they have been deprioritized. The result has been that the lion’s share of websites look and read like crap.

Over the last 15 years or so, graphic designers have struggled with the question of whether or not they should learn code. As a result, control of the digital experience has until now primarily resided in the hands of engineers, not designers. If the same thing had happened in, say, automotive design, we would be driving around in vehicles that resembled Rube Goldberg machines. So why do we put up with that in digital?

Over that period of time, designers without coding skills have been able to create page layouts that look great, read well and are user-friendly, but the disconnect happens when it gets handed over to a developer for coding. Designers and coders simply don’t speak the same language, and are informed by totally different priorities. More often than not that lovely Porsche-like layout comes out looking more like a Kia Cube.

So it was with great interest that I read a post on Graphicdesign.com in which the writer laid out the pros and cons of designers learning code. On the ‘no’ side of the ledger, the writer lists the reasons why you shouldn’t: you’re not a developer, it’s time consuming, you’ll never be done learning, you will spread yourself too thin, you can outsource it and anyway there are tools that design websites without coding.

But on the plus side, there are also reasons why you should learn code: you will learn new skills, you will understand how it works, you’ll be able to work with coders, and it will bring you new opportunities because as we all know too well, it’s where the industry is going. To that I would add that you know coders are never going to learn how to design like you can, so here’s your chance to grab the digital bull by the horns before it gores you.

If you read that and decide not to learn HTML and CSS, fear not. The beta version of Adobe Muse is out, and just like the Internet has completely democratized the tools that once were used only by designers, Adobe Muse democratizes the web design process so that all a designer has to do is what they do best: design the damn thing. The coding all happens under the hood, where it should, automatically.

My own opinion on this is that it never hurts to understand how things work under the hood. After all, as the post on Graphicdesign.com points out, why did you, back in the days before computers, want to understand how printing worked? Because it made you a better graphic designer and helped you to be conscious of the possibilities you had and limitations within which you worked. Respect for the craft of print production also made it easier to collaborate with printers, earn their trust and optimize the results. It’s just as true with coding.

At a minimum, on whichever side of the sword of Damocles you decide to tread, know the risks. Code not, and you will never really understand why the result doesn’t meet your expectations; learn code, and you will be better equipped to predict the outcome. And isn’t that what design is about anyway?

—Will Novosedlik has worked on brands both as a consultant and as a client in Canada, the U.S. and Europe. These brands include Nestlé Canada, Corby Distilleries, Swiss Chalet, Harvey’s, RSA Security, Bata International, Deutsche Telecom, Butterfield and Robinson, Telus Business Solutions, Vodafone and The Reitman Group. Recently, Novosedlik led the brand communications and customer experience teams that launched the WIND Mobile brand in Canada. He currently works as the VP Design Thinking & Brand at Idea Couture.