[combat sheep]

Does anyone else feel like they are crossing over from a web designer to a web developer, in the sense that you find more sense of a achievement building the backend than you do the front.

Recently I have been finding myself not concerned with learning new designs and new trends for frontend designs but purely concerned with new functionality for backend uses, There was a time when I would sit for countless hours doing visuals of mock-up designs just in the hope I would use them one day, my own templates and cms system visuals, but now I find myself doing nothing but typing code, experimenting and building applications for the fun of it.

Alot of you will be thinking it's good to be better at both, I understand, I too like to see a good front and backend to a website, It gives you a sense releif.

With talk of html 5 and php 6 and RoR it seems web development is becoming more and more and will continue to blossum, but where does the design stop and the development begin, where does the creativity end and the functionality initiate. Should it be as one or should they be two.

Confused.

[D856C]

I would sit for countless hours doing visuals of mock-up designs just in the hope I would use them one day

I think we're moving in two directions -- coding of Rich Internet Applications (RIAs) and Interaction Design. Doodling in PhotoShop for someday is taking a back seat to a formal design methodology targeting a specific user persona acting within a scenario.

"Creativity" for its own sake isn't design -- it's art, self-expression. That's why, when an article like Flash: 99% Bad comes out, there's all this gnashing of teeth. Graphic artists feel their self-expression being put upon.

Design is based around connecting user needs and business goals together. Design is specifically about working in multiple dimensions, and within constraints and requirements. And interaction design is far more than "doing layouts."

That means less PhotoShop and more Fitt's Law. ...Fewer splash pages and more getting to the point. ....And much less designing for other designers and a whole lot more concentration on writing as part of the designer's job.

The code doesn't work unless it works for humans. Design that doesn't further the user's goals will get in the way. As web sites get more like desktop apps, both code and interaction design are going to have to mature together.

[RaelRode]

Many clients expect designers to be able to do their backend aswell as the front. Thats why many designers are learning PHP, ASP and other coding languages. Another factor why people learn thigns like PHP is because there is lots of money to be earned form offering coding services. Also because some of the "great" software used on websites has become so expensive, people just think its easier to make their own, and so they do and get so much satisfaction they merge it all together.

[combat sheep]

Originally Posted by D856C

I think we're moving in two directions -- coding of Rich Internet Applications (RIAs) and Interaction Design. Doodling in PhotoShop for someday is taking a back seat to a formal design methodology targeting a specific user persona acting within a scenario.

"Creativity" for its own sake isn't design -- it's art, self-expression. That's why, when an article like Flash: 99% Bad comes out, there's all this gnashing of teeth. Graphic artists feel their self-expression being put upon.

Design is based around connecting user needs and business goals together. Design is specifically about working in multiple dimensions, and within constraints and requirements. And interaction design is far more than "doing layouts."

That means less PhotoShop and more Fitt's Law. ...Fewer splash pages and more getting to the point. ....And much less designing for other designers and a whole lot more concentration on writing as part of the designer's job.

The code doesn't work unless it works for humans. Design that doesn't further the user's goals will get in the way. As web sites get more like desktop apps, both code and interaction design are going to have to mature together.

you have answered this question before haven't you

[djeglin]

I totally agree. Job titles and descriptions are changing to suit the times now. Apart from in small agencies, you dont tend to get "web designer" jobs much any more. Instead you have "interaction designers", "user experience architects" and the like, as well as all the dev. roles.

I myself am a UI developer - I'm expected to be a user experience architect on one hand, with knowledge of usability and accessibility and HCI, but on the other hand I do end up working with the backend teams to iron out the creases. Luckily I dont have to know too much about how the back end stuff works, because thats not my thing.

All this seems to have come about because of the realisation that the internet - The way it works, the way content is created and who is creating it, and the way in which we, as users, interact with the internet is - Is changing.

Big companies (such as the one I work for), are suddenly starting to realise that they need to embrace the new paradigms of content and interaction on the internet. More and more people are becoming more web-savvy, and finding that they have the ability to contribute to communities and actually create content for the internet in their own way. Despite the fact that many of these large companies still dont quite "get" the whole "web 2.0" as a philosophy and content paradigm as opposed to a set of technologies, it appears they are starting to focus on the user more, and their own needs as a company less. This leads to traditional roles needing to change as this focus shifts, hence positions like mine where as a designer I need a focus on usability etc.

Its true, too, that there is a crossover between design and development happening again, and I think that is largely down to it becoming much easier to develop a dynamic website. Technologies like xml have made it very easy to use and manipulate data on the web, and so I think a lot of designers are realising they can do more than just making things that are pretty to look at. At the same time, though... I dont think we should go and bundle these 2 very different disciplines together too much. They require different mindsets and different strengths. A "jack of all trades" will never be as effective in either as a "master of one".