When Distinctions ain’t so Distinct

I think the upcoming years will show how valuable the creative coder is. While I think you always need the specialists, you need the well-rounded individuals to act as the glue to bring the designer and the coder together.

This is why I got into web design in the first place, albeit recently. The pinnacle of my artistic ability was paint-by-numbers, so it was a no-brainer to want to learn front- and back-side coding for web design.

Good article. Here’s to the well-rounded.

I believe that to really succeed anymore, one must be able to do just about everything, from design, to coding the CMS. We must be flexible, to survive.

It’s too bad though I don’t have any of those qualities (sigh).

This is a really critical topic with me right now. I’m looking for a change of job, and the “Renaissance Man” phenomenon is playing a bigger role than I would like.

Background: got A’s in Art. Failed Math. Got a BFA Hons and became a graphic designer to pay the bills until the being-an-artist thing paid off.

I’ve been a designer for 4.5 years. In that time I’ve seen the job description grow to encompass more than anyone could possibly be good at in that time span. About 2 years ago employers suddenly expected designers to be WEB designers. An entirely separate branch of design (as different, IMO, as industrial design) that required some very specific practice with user-centred principles & information architecture. Fine though, we learned. Now I’m out hunting for a job again, and all that experience is just basic - now web designers are expected to be programmers. “Familiarity with ASP.NET” my arse. I’m familiar with it to the extent that I pick up lunch for the programmer sometimes.

Right now I’m reading this in HTML/XHTML class @ the local community college, and that’s taking away from billable time I could be working on an illustration contract for a major magazine that’s due in 2 weeks. Every minute I spend exercising the left side of my brain, I’m neglecting the right.

This is stretching us pretty thin and causing a “jack-of-all-trades, master of none” issue - yes employers would like us to be able to do everything, but how GOOD will we be at any of it? Maybe it’s easier for programmers to adopt some sense of style (the rise of CSS has shown that both sides of the brain function in many talented individuals) but from our side, anyway, I think artists are left unable to develop to their potential because of technical demands.

All that aside - I LOVE the situation we’re developing now wherein, in the best environments, programmers and designers see that they’re there to accomplish the same goals. My husband owns a web development company, and he really values creativity in his programmers. That doesn’t have to come in the form of design sense. It can and SHOULD be a whole other world of functional creativity.