Do front-end engineers need to master design skills?
Jason Lee
45 replies
A large part of the job of a front-end engineer is to draw the interface. These interfaces are generally created by professional UI/UX. As an engineer, do you think you need to master these skills?
Replies
Richard Gao@richard_gao2
Depends on what the company's needs are and the size.
In a new startup, the front-end engineers may wear many hats, so not only is it possible they'll need to have design skills, they might need to have backend skills as well.
As for needs, some companies just don't need complex UIs. For example, an ecommerce store that sells one or a few products, where the UI is just shipped to using a shopify template. In that case, front-end engineers would definitely learn design skills themselves, since it would be simple to master due to the simple UI.
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@richard_gao2 I very much agree with your point of view, whether it is necessary depends on the actual project situation.
@richard_gao2 I believe in all cases the Front-End engineer would benefit from having basic UI/UX knowledge to be able to have a good collaboration with the designer. When I used to be UI/UX designer I discovered that when we can relate to each other's challenges (Front End with design), we are willing to listen more carefully to each other.
@richard_gao2 @ana_maria_ghita A UI/UX designer to answer this question will make the conclusion more convincing, thank you very much!
I am not a programmer, but I guess front-end engineers do not need to have design skills.
However, it can be beneficial to have a basic understanding of design principles and how they apply to web development.
Also, having a great eye for design and the ability to create aesthetically pleasing user interfaces can be a valuable asset.
@henrymiller I agree. You need to understand enough about design concepts to identify what's going on, and to properly apply the design to your end product.
@henrymiller @bruceliao Understanding design principles is a very important thing, the only problem is how to measure it, how to judge that a front-end engineer has a good judgment on design principles.
@henrymiller I agree. In my Product Design background I've always worked better with Front-End peers that had basic UX knowledge and had an eye for details.
Understanding the basics is important but it’s not important to master design skills.
We did not have many frameworks for front end 15 to 20 yrs back. But most companies are using react and engineers have started specialising in it.
Nowadays design is winning deals, I would pay more for a better and simple design. So it’s important to understand design trends and adapt to it.
@hari_pragdish With the development of the Internet today, design has indeed occupied an increasingly important position, and there are also very professional talents in this field. It really takes a lot of time for front-end engineers to master complete UI knowledge.
@jason_lee_3282 True. A simple structure that I am planning to implement in my startup is.
Design team should document a short video on the why's and thought process behind choosing that particular design. They should also host regular KT sessions with engineers to explain the trends in UI / UX.
This ensure that developers know the 'why' and the basic knowledge of the design while not spending too much time learning design
@hari_pragdish A company with a founder like you is awesome, you bridge the gap between UI/UX designers and front-end developers, a job that very few people do except in roles like yours.
If you are a tech founder, then you should. Since you wouldn't be able to hire a designer for your project at the start. But if you are asking from a job perspective then no. You will always have a designer on the team who will do it for you.
@manas_sharma I agree with you. At different stages of entrepreneurship, we need talents with no skills. In the early stage of entrepreneurship, front-end engineers need to master more design skills, but after the product becomes mature and complex, professional UI designers are still needed to participate.
Similar to Art, development is means by which a programmer expresses himself/herself.
If the product is at an initial stage, a frontend programmer will be of great value add if he is able to express himself with fantastic UI/UX, without the need for a designer. Hence it is needed to master the skills.
@manoj_radhakrishnan1 Added value is a good term. In other words, it can be described as a compound talent in cross-fields.
Need to master simple design skills, but it is not important, what is important is technical ability and thinking
@vincentchinc There are some trade-offs to be made, time spent improving technical skills and no time learning design skills.
It is true most teams have designers as well as front-end devs, but as a front-end dev, mastering design skills makes your workflow easier. Imagine experimenting all the ideas in Figma and testing out prototyped features before investing in the development.
Front-end engineers should at least have a good understanding of layout, typography, color theory, and user experience design. It also helps that the front end engineer has experience with design tools such as Adobe Creative Suite (Photoshop, Illustrator, etc.) or Sketch, which, at my previous company, the front end engineer needed to use to cut diagrams.
Maybe they shouldn't, but it certainly won't be superfluous :)
Yes, Definitely. Not for the sake of your company but to enhance your skills.
@trevor_george It’s a great work ethic to be responsible for yourself!
I don't think it is necessary. It's like asking if a construction worker / painter / carpenter needs to have interior design skills.
But that's not to say that it's not good value-add to bring to the table. A front-end engineer that have good eye for aesthetics and UX can spot design flaws during implementation and offer constructive criticisms to fix or enhance a design and help the company produce a better product. No company would turn down a front-end engineer with design skills because it's a rare and highly valuable combination.
@taishiling I can get this information from your answer: front-end engineers with design ability are very rare, and we should try our best to retain such talents.
Absolutely. In the same way, UX designers should also learn to code. Being a design engineer may sound like a myth to some (or not) because it seems impossible to move seamlessly between the chaos of creativity and the logic of code. But it's not only possible but necessary, especially now with the rise of Artificial Intelligence and the uncertain future of UX jobs.
Reasons
- A better collaboration with other designers and engineers.
- When you have both skills you learn how to build holistic experiences.
- It feels great to know what you've designed is possible, and not just another Dribbble shot.
The gap between design and code is limited to one's imagination; they're really two sides of the same coin.
@jason_lee_3282
You don't need to be a designer/developer to get a job, but it makes you better at what you do. One thing you might want to learn from coding as a designer is to understand how systems work both in concept and practice. Programming is rich in abstraction, logic, and object-oriented design, and these are some of the many concepts that designers use to solve big problems. We already come across them in design terms from reusable components to design thinking, but software engineering does it with a very direct and logical perspective. As a designer, you want to think like an engineer - because it is a must for designers to be versatile in thinking.
Anything worth mastering is difficult. Coding is difficult for non-coders, and design for non-designers; so, depending on learning style, programming language, etc. it could take months to years to master. The focus can shift from being an expert to knowing enough to make important decisions (and keeping up with the dev nerds). Also, "high-level" product design interviews are focused on how designers use these in their thought processes to take design decisions that will either build or sink the company.
So learning to code is not required for many UX jobs; some teams might prefer just a Figma expert, and besides, you might never even join the dev team to write code anyway. But I can say for certain that it makes these concepts easier to understand, provides insight when you design a product, and sets you apart from other designers/engineers.
depends but having basic knowledge about will really help