2 Different Brains

There has been a lot of discussion from the beginning of web design as to whether or not a designer should know how to write code and if a developer should know how to design. Should these 2 roles be filled by 1 person?

I am going to make an attempt to answer this question based on my personal experience. Unfortunately, in my personal experience the answer is not so cut and dry. I am a designer first. My background and education is in design. Any front end development skills I have are self taught. Although I can write css it is not my strongest ability.

HERE, BUILD THIS
I started designing websites without knowing how they were built. I would build the site in photoshop and pass the files on to the developer when I was done. A few issues came up in this process. 

• The web and print and very different. I was designing things that really shouldn't or couldn't be done on the web. 
• The developers were missing details and the designs were not as strong when they were built. 

I started introducing myself to html to help solve these problems. As my css and html skills improved, I started noticing my designs improving as well. My sites started having more thought out architecture, user interface and generally started loading faster. Not to mention the developers that I was working with started liking me more.

IF - THEN
The next natural progression for me was to go from just designing the sites to designing and developing them. Suddenly, I was taking a step backwards. I noticed my designs becoming safe. I started designing sites based on what I knew I could build rather than on the best solution for a project. How could this be happening. I was learning more and becoming a better web designer, but the end product was suffering. Then it hit me. My great epiphany: I am not a developer. In my experience, designers and developers are very different people. I am not logical and I don’t think in "if – then" statements.

HAPPY MEDIUM
This brings me to {e} house. We have managed to come up with a "best of both worlds" solution here that seems to be working great for us. Teamwork. I have designed my strongest websites since I learned how to build websites. But having the ability to collaborate with developers that are much better than me helps us put together sites that reach their full design potential and solve the client’s challenges. This helps me not limit a design based on my development skills. For me, it is very important that I understand how a site is being developed. But is is not the best use of my time to be the one developing it. If we all stick to what we are best at we generally get the best result.

CONCLUSION
Yes. It is very important that a designer knows how to develop. And it is equally important that a developer understands attention to detail, design and a brand’s style guidelines. The catch is that it is ok if either position is not responsible for both. Especially if you are lucky enough to both be involved in the creative process together. {e} house has hit the jackpot. Our designers understand how to develop sites and our developers have a great attention to detail and eye for design. This builds a creative and collaborative environment and process that has been working very well for us.