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One of the biggest mistakes I’ve made in my career (past lead designer on Photoshop)(medium.com)

over 7 years ago from Koen Bok, Maker of Framer.

  • Gabriel LovatoGabriel Lovato, over 7 years ago

    "These screenshots you have here are plenty. It’s all we’ve ever done before, so there’s really no need to spend this kind of time on a prototype."

    “Um… Ok. I guess. If you think so.”

    This is the real "lesson" to be taken from this piece. The PM rejected a new way of doing things, because it was different from his usual ways and new methods most often seem like "too much work". And Andrei accepted the PM's rejection, mostly because the PM had the hierarchical authority.

    The fact that 20 years ago it was some proprietary Macromedia code is not important. The scene could happen today, and it wouldn't matter if the prototype was pure HTML/CSS/JS, in Framer with CoffeeScript, or in Pixate or Form or Principle.

    The final part about "designers should learn to code" is too specific, distracts from this actual point, and sends the whole discussion into "design vs. code" clichés.

    1 point
    • M HernandezM Hernandez, over 7 years ago

      And Andrei accepted the PM's rejection, mostly because the PM had the hierarchical authority.

      Speaking as a PM today, and having been in the author's shoes before, I just want to point out that over the years I think "hierarchical authority" has been moving toward "do-what-it-takes-to-get-your-job-done".

      I agree, "designers should learn to code" as a statement isn't very fair. The author's point and the whole debate should actually be more like "designers should learn to code because ____". He doesn't say it explicitly (and I think he should)-- learning to code helps build empathy. And maybe one could get away with a career in "this industry" as a designer who doesn't have perfect empathy for the engineers they work with.

      But empathy, not just for the people consuming your work, but also for the people working along with you I would argue, only helps everyone.

      0 points
      • Gabriel LovatoGabriel Lovato, over 7 years ago

        Totally agree about the empathy among working peers! That being said the empathy should go both ways, programmers should learn at least about design principles and the "whys" of design so that they don't feel they're wasting their time when polishing interfaces.

        0 points