On being an app designer.

A lightning talk from a panel discussion at AREA 17, in Brooklyn, NY.

I focused on how my role as a designer is shaped by a project's medium and the team I am working with.

Panel details:

Interdisciplinary vs. Multidisciplinary

The Adapting Relationship Between Marketing, Design and Technology

http://www.area17.com/news/interdisciplinary-vs-multidisciplinary

Transcript

1. I started focusing on web application design a couple years ago when I started at Engine Yard. At my work, making design changes harmoniously with the rest of the app development team is essential to getting new features out.
2. This means using the same continuous integration process and adopting a the same development workflow as the rest of the dev team. I see application design as echoing development process in both tools we use and the methodologies for shipping change. I’m going to talk about how my job as a designer is shaped by this process.
3. vs. A big part of what this means is that we iterate our product but shipping small, testable, design changes, instead of any massive overhauls. To give you an idea of the application that I work on, I'll share a screenshot of the dashboard.
4. It's a web app that other developers and web agencies to host and scale their own apps on Amazon Web Servers.
5. designer I am a designer, but working on this web app, my role is multi-faceted Defining how users will experience new features, and creating that UI Since this interface is the product that our customers use, it's also about maintaining and cultivating Engine Yard's brand. Like most other designers, I want to see an idea through to completion, and I enjoy coding the interface and fine tuning it's interactions.
6. designer UI/UX I am a designer, but working on this web app, my role is multi-faceted Defining how users will experience new features, and creating that UI Since this interface is the product that our customers use, it's also about maintaining and cultivating Engine Yard's brand. Like most other designers, I want to see an idea through to completion, and I enjoy coding the interface and fine tuning it's interactions.
7. designer brand UI/UX I am a designer, but working on this web app, my role is multi-faceted Defining how users will experience new features, and creating that UI Since this interface is the product that our customers use, it's also about maintaining and cultivating Engine Yard's brand. Like most other designers, I want to see an idea through to completion, and I enjoy coding the interface and fine tuning it's interactions.
8. designer brand UI/UX code I am a designer, but working on this web app, my role is multi-faceted Defining how users will experience new features, and creating that UI Since this interface is the product that our customers use, it's also about maintaining and cultivating Engine Yard's brand. Like most other designers, I want to see an idea through to completion, and I enjoy coding the interface and fine tuning it's interactions.
9. $ git branch moar-sparklez There are definitely times when I'm wire framing and using illustrator to plan an idea, but usually it's faster and preferable to create a branch in git, and share an idea as an interactive experience. If I mock something up using tools other than what it's going to be natively coded in, it just doesn't end up feeling the same. It becomes a duplication of effort since I will have to build it in the app, anyways.
10. To someone watching a normal day of work, it probably doesn't look like "design" in a very artsy sense, all my tools are pretty much the same as the developers on my team, but with a heavier dose of web inspector. I know that this blurring and expanding or roles is causing designers to have a bit of an identity crises when it comes to succinctly describing what they do.
11. To someone watching a normal day of work, it probably doesn't look like "design" in a very artsy sense, all my tools are pretty much the same as the developers on my team, but with a heavier dose of web inspector. I know that this blurring and expanding or roles is causing designers to have a bit of an identity crises when it comes to succinctly describing what they do.
12. The Visual & Interaction Designer Unicorn via Designcult.org “Not Just Unicorns: A Designer Bestiary” The blog DesignCult by James Reffell had a funny article last month called “not just unicorns: a designer bestiary” http://www.designcult.org/2013/01/not-just-unicorns-a-designer-bestiary.html It comically describes these desirable hybrid skill sets like the design "Unicorn" and "Pegasus" and the "Centaur".
13. The Designer & Coder Pegasus via Designcult.org “Not Just Unicorns: A Designer Bestiary”
14. Designer & Copywriter Centaur via Designcult.org “Not Just Unicorns: A Designer Bestiary”
15. At this point seems likes design titles and roles had more nuance than the sub-genres of black metal. The conclusion I’ve reached is when a web application is your design project, it means picking up the tools of that medium, and expanding your design skills into new regions.
16. ui/ux/ designer/ marketer/ developer Designers, developers, project managers, centaurs - we are all trying to do the same thing: make something valuable to our users. It takes a mix of different people and talents on your team to achieve this, and ultimately, titles are pretty meaningless.
17. ui/ux/ designer/ marketer/ developer It’s more about identifying ways to contribute and how to make things better.
18. It’s more about identifying ways to contribute and how to make things better.
19. Just make stuff. It’s more about identifying ways to contribute and how to make things better.
20. ciaoz! @jessicaspacekat Thanks!