designers are a picky bunch

Mouse Pointer

The title should come as no surprise; but thanks to that fact we can drive developers and programmers crazy sometimes.

We are picky on what goes where (layout), picky on which color to use (color combination), picky on how images should display (image manipulation), and if you are head of the project – specially picky on how the system works (design usability) and finally picky on the details that make the project look complete. These are pieces of the puzzle that some programmers and developers only pay light attention to. Just look at design-police.org for guidelines; yeah we have that many.

Although a system can -work- correctly, it might not display correctly or it might not give the impression a finished system should give. On the other side of the coin, programmers do pay attention to other parts of the system that we might not pay as much attention to. A programmer, somewhere, is mentioning this concept in a programming blog.

It works both ways; and clients should be aware of this. It is a very rare occasion when you find designers that are just as talented when they program. The same rare occasion happens when you find a programmer that is just as talented when he is doing design. The reason for that mentions right-side of the brain people & left-side of the brain people. No magical reason for this to happen, but just common human nature. For clients, the best course of action is having both types working on your project; a one-man-band seldom sound like an orchestra.

Admitting what you can and can’t do is a primordial part of web design, or any business. wakeuplater.com by Samuel Ryan, has a guide with the 8 web design mistakes that developers make. It is refreshing to see a developer/programmer that understands how design works and actually cares about the differences. His website also offers free tools for freelancers, making it worthy of repeated visits.