Tips for Designers and Programmers to get along.

HEAVY WORDS
HEAVY WORDS

Programmers and designers are doomed to work together, get along and understand each other, no matter the differences. I know is a challenge for both, but it CAN work. It’s all about empathy  :-)
This article may hurt sensitive people.

Here are some tips for programmers to harmonize with designers.

1. Designers associate EVERYTHING to emotions. That's why they can provide with so many valuable feedback to the UX. Don’t believe me? Try showing a video of a kid finding her lost kitty...They’ll burst into tears.

2. Designers don't build, they create, and they are emotionally attached to any design production. If you need to change the position of a button or a contact form sit them down and take a long while to explain the reasons for those modifications (hand puppets are really useful for this). 

3. Never pick a colour without consulting them! Designers show pleasantness or repulsion towards esthetic elements (eg. colours). There are no middle terms.

4. Designers still believe in magic. If not they would be programmers...For them any front-end layout is possible. Try to go along with their irrational processes unless your job is on risk. 

5. When a designer stares at a screen filled up with code lines don’t judge their empty expression. A designer's brain is not capable of make any sense of it.

6. When you have a beer with a designer, don’t wait for them...they’ll spend around 4 to 5 minutes staring at the bottle label design.

Here are some tips for designers to harmonize with programmers.

1. Dear designer, the creature you have in front of you is an engineer, so he lack of any kind of emotion. Don’t try to explain why red is related to ‘alarm’. For them red is #FF0000.

2. When a programmer laugh at your ‘front end’ proposal, it’s a bad sign.

3. With programmers any task must be solved through straight solutions...as an arrow crossing space. Forget all about subjectivity. Actually, the last time I’ve pronounced that word to a coder he jumped out of the window. Luckily it was the first floor and he only broke a few ribs.

4. Always try to step into logic language. Logic is their media. For them a Shaman is an expensive piece of furniture.

5. Don't show them an image to explain something. They only smile when they see a wireframe diagram. 

6. When programmers make coding jokes don’t laugh. They already know you don’t get it anyway.


Hope these tips are useful to you. 

We guess the best for any project is to support conclusions on both, logical and emotional positions.

And either you are a designer, or a programmer, leave a comment about your experiences!

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