Skills a Designer Must Have when Working for a Startup(blog.stylej.am) |
Skills a Designer Must Have when Working for a Startup(blog.stylej.am) |
Otherwise you get the average startup designer that's more of a developer in disguise.
I believe visuals are also a very subjective matter, and belong much more to the "talent" side of things, than to the "knowledge" one.
I'm genuinely curious to get your feedback / more explanation of what you mean when you say we (Ginzametrics) "don't even go close to having decent visual design."
We're always working to improve our design so if you are willing to share specific feedback, I'd love to hear it. Drop me a line at hello@ginzametrics.com. Thanks!
It is?
Independent thought and ingenuity trumps everything on this list, I'm afraid. The stuff there is price of admission; you're not even a designer without it in your toolbox.
A far better book on usability is "Don't Make Me Think" by Steve Krug.
While this may be a good list if you want to read up for a month, this does not cover years of art theory, learning how to choose your battles, developing a refined sense of taste, pure objectivity, and a myriad of other skills that are subtly nuanced into almost every project.
I'm sorry, a good designer's "Must Haves" cannot be encapsulated in a list.
While startups tend to look at results (the ones that survive), agencies tend to look at the customer, at least most of them.
I actually believe that most designers coming from an agency would be eaten alive in a startup, along with their "photoshop skills". This people don't even know what UX means, never conducted a usability test (usability = I look at the website and say what I think), and definitely don't read HN.
When I could link the book's website, I did it.
I mean - take Mint, which has been widely praised for its design. Would a designer have been able to produce it by cobbling together half-understood components from other sites?
I'd really like to hear more about why you don't think a designer needs to be able to understand what design is. I'm curious about how you think he'd even be able to successfully emulate other sites if he doesn't understand what to emulate and why.
I just don't think studying these concepts makes you better. Designing makes you better. Practice and good feedback. To me, UI and UX can read like buzzwords on a resume. I'm not saying they're not important components. I'm just disagreeing with how one should learn them. Perhaps I could have been more clear in my original comment.
Ever read Blink? Or those studies about how people make an unconscious decision about a website in less than a second?
Style and polish expresses a level of quality (at the very least) and can also communicate the type of site. Is this a kid-friendly Disney site? Is it a serious financial tool? Is it a mysterious stealth mode startup?
I think that sums us both up nicely ;)
Yeah, design includes style but isn't just style, that's what we're both saying I think.