playwiththeweb

The importance of aesthetic and development skills.

As a web-designer and full time Computer Science major, I am seeing how important possessing the ability to develop and possessing a keen eye for good design is becoming. I am reminded of this everyday as I scourge the website for the newest practices concerning Javascript and HTML. There is an ongoing complaint throughout most design sites of how the engineer and the designer usually clash when approaching a project. Either the engineer is unable to create an attractive and usable interface, or the designer implements practices or changes which may require large amounts of time to be developed.

What ever happened to the developer that could design, or, the designer that could develop? There are some that argue that a jack-of-all trades may not be the most desirable position, however, I say to hell with that. It seems as though being a viable asset to any company nowadays is providing the skills necessary to develop an application that is not only easy to use but aesthetically pleasing. Design shouldn't be limited to designers. Some say that acquiring an eye for good design takes a lifetime. As an engineer I argue the opposite. That acquiring good development skills requires more effort and that design should be introduced naturally along the way. If you are an engineer, you know your math. Most design is based purely off of math - the best design is nature, which math defines - so put your skills to good use. It should be easy and natural for an engineer to adopt and integrate design skills into his/her workflow.

Disregard focusing on either design or development, and integrate both. It couldn't be that hard. Leonardo da Vinci himself was a fantastic artist, scientist, and inventor. Why limit yourself to one thing?

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