Design the Code, or Lessons from Kanye

This is an updated version of my Design the Code talk that was given at Smashing Conf NYC 2015. I talk about collaborative lessons designers & developers can learn from Kanye West.

Transcript

1. DESIGN THE CODE,
   NOT COMPS!
   @katiekovalcin
   

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2. I’m Katie

   I design at Sparkbox
   

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3. LESSONS FROM
   KANYE
   @katiekovalcin
   

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5. “Art is to be free.
   Design is to fix.”
   –Kanye
   

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6. …Except we need to
   fix how we design
   

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7. Working in silos 

   & phases
   Designers “throwing it over the wall”
   

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8. Static Comp ≠
   Coded Page Template
   Why is this what we hold everything to?
   

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9. Duplicate deliverables!
   We all just love to build the same site ~3 times.
   

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10. Something has
    to give.
    

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11. Something has
    to give.
    And it’s usually iterations, budgets, or sanity.
    

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12. More realistic
    expectations can be
    met in the browser
    

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13. “...duh, Katie. Developers have been
    doing it like that for years.”
    

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14. Let designers design*
    By whatever means they are most efficient and
    comfortable in, this may still be a static comp
    

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16. *But everyone needs to
    expand their skillset!
    Yes, developers should learn some design.
    

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18. Design Back-end
    Front-End
    

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19. Design Back-end
    Front-End
    Me
    

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20. Design Back-end
    Front-End
    Me Teammate
    

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21. Design Back-end
    Front-End
    My Expanding Teammate
    

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22. Design Back-end
    Front-End
    Teammate’s Expanding
    

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24. codepen.seesparkbox.com
    

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25. LEARN FROM EACH
    OTHERS’ STRENGTHS
    

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28. Mentor One Another
    

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29. Developers:
    help designers use
    your tools!
    

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30. S-V-Gee whiz, this stuff’s cool!
    

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33. Designers:
    explain your nuanced
    decisions in design
    reviews
    

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36. Everybody:
    a design system
    takes two (skillsets)
    to tango
    

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37. “Responsive deliverables should look a lot like
    fully-functioning Twitter Bootstrap-style
    systems custom tailored for your clients’
    needs. These living code samples are self-
    documenting style guides that extend to
    accommodate a client’s needs as well as the
    needs of the ever-evolving multi-device web.”
    -Dave Rupert
    http://daverupert.com/2013/04/responsive-deliverables/
    

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39. http://bradfrostweb.com/blog/post/atomic-web-design/
    

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42. Everyone involved
    from day 1
    

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43. “Kanye’s process is communal—he literally
    goes around the room asking everyone there
    what ‘power’ means to them, throws out lines
    to see how they’re received, and works out his
    exact wording with whomever is around to
    help.”
    http://www.idolator.com/5697792/kanye-west-complex-profile-
    my-beautiful-dark-twisted-fantasy
    

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44. Create goals together
    Things like:
    ✦ Performance budget
    ✦ Experience goals
    ✦ Prototyping
    ✦ Tools
    

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46. “I have this really cool
    thing I want to try”
    ...said the developer to everyone except the team
    

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47. Project Timeline
    Design
    Development
    

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48. Design
    Development
    • Are there red flags?
    • Can you offer a solution?
    Design Reviews
    

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49. WHAT TO
    MOCKUP
    

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50. “It’s about the creative process even more
    than the final product. I think there’s
    something kind of depressing about a product
    being final, because the only time a product is
    really final is when you’re in a casket.”
    -Kanye West
    http://behindthehustle.com/2014/01/kanye-west-talks-creative-
    process-director-steve-mcqueen/
    

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51. Element Collage
    

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52. Element Collage
    

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53. Element Collage
    

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54. Designing full page
    

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57. Epicenter Design
    

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58. “Epicenter design focuses
    on the true essence of the
    page — the epicenter —
    and then builds outward.”
    https://gettingreal.37signals.com/ch09_Epicenter_Design.php
    

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62. Realistic Fidelity
    

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64. Keep an open, blank document
    and copy styles over to keep an
    internal inventory
    

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65. [examples]
    

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66. Deliver static pages
    faux “in browser”
    Get the client comfortable with viewing
    deliverables in the browser
    

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68. Coded Style Guide
    

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72. HAVE CONFIDENCE
    

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74. Evaluate Feedback
    

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79. Deliver design
    feedback via code
    Because interactions are design
    

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82. REFINE YOUR IDEAS
    

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90. Pairing for Visual QA
    

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93. These are design
    iterations, NOT BUGS!
    

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94. LET GO OF EGO
    

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97. Where are the gaps?
    

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99. This is a screenshot of the same module from the
    homepage. Does not need designed!
    

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100. This was already established—does not need
     designed!
     

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101. Only these two patterns
     needed to be designed for
     this entire page!
     

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103. Open & Constant
     Communication
     

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104. Weekly Checkins
     

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105. “Go on”
     

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108. Collaborative
     design systems
     are the Futch.
     

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109. THANK YOU!
     @katiekovalcin
     

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