WORKING WITH
DEVELOPERS
Batony #5 – October 2, 2019
Łukasz Przywarty
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Łukasz
Przywarty
Head of Design, Infermedica
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@LukaszPrzywarty
Once upon a time, there
was a designer…
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Expectations
vs reality
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2
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Wrong colors
Missing elements
Incorrect animations
vs
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@LukaszPrzywarty
This is not what I’ve designed.
Developers don’t care about design.
There was too much to do and too little time.
It’s not my fault. !
I can’t talk to developers.
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PREPARE
1
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Become a design
advocate
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@LukaszPrzywarty
First, explain the basics
What is the job of a designer?
What is the business value of design?
What are the examples of great product design?
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@LukaszPrzywarty
Host design workshops
Show off your work (e.g. “demo days”)
Invite developers to research sessions, etc.
Next steps
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“I saw Łukasz
designing this.
Paweł, Infermedica
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Get to know your
developers
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@LukaszPrzywarty
Grab a coffee and… talk!
Learn how do developers work (process, tools)
Find out how do they like to communicate
How?
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DESIGN
2
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Include developers
in your design
process
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@LukaszPrzywarty
“The ultimate goal is to feel included.
Jake Archibald, Developer at Google
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Collaborate from the start
Brainstorm, research, design together
Leverage the knowledge of engineers
How? Remote work is not
an excuse
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Share your work
early and often
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Share prototypes (InVision, etc.)
Share user research findings
Ask for feedback
How?
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Justify your
decisions
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Show the path that led you to the
current design
Discuss the pros and cons of
different solutions
How?
Use data
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Answer “Why?”
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Think like an
engineer
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Find out how things work (read the
docs, use developer tools, etc.)
Learn a few technical terms (API,
cache, requests, etc.)
How?
Consider learning to code
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@LukaszPrzywarty
What happens if the element is empty?
What if there’s no picture?
What happens when errors occur?
What happens when there’s no Internet access?
Edge cases
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Hand off
your designs
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@LukaszPrzywarty
“The best hand-off is no hand-off
Bjørn Rostad, Product Designer at Dropbox
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@LukaszPrzywarty
Find out what the developers need from you
Provide as much information as you can
Don’t made developers guess
How?
Unless you want to test
their creativity!
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Use hand-off tools
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Create a style guide
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Design all possible flows
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Prototype in code
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Use real data (InVision Craft,
populate.design, tinyfac.es, etc.)
Remember about language
differences
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DEVELOP
3
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Regularly check
progress
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@LukaszPrzywarty
Set up the design review process
Make use of developers’ meetings
Prioritize design tweaks
How?
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Share your comments
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FOLLOW UP
4
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@LukaszPrzywarty
Developers are not your enemies
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@LukaszPrzywarty
“How can we honestly build empathy for our
users if we can’t empathize with each other,
or those outside of our towers?
Mustafa Kurtuldu, Design Advocate at Google
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@LukaszPrzywarty
Get to a solution together
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@LukaszPrzywarty
• A mindful design process
• Creating a collaborative environment
• Everyone is a designer. Get over it
• How designers work with developers
• How to work effectively with engineers
• The beauty of imperfection in
interface design
• The nine states of design
• The power of experience mapping
• When design feels like an uphill battle
• Who is responsible for design?
Sources
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THANK YOU!
@LukaszPrzywarty on Twitter
lukasz@przywarty.com