ivantohelpyou

Speakers:

1. Jeremy Keith, Adactio
2. Kelly Goto, gotomedia
3. Chris Messina, Citizen Agency
4. Richard McManus, Read/WriteWeb (moderator)

The speakers explored the paradox of having to become a "hybrid designer," someone blurring the lines between designer and developer.

Some paraphrased notes and actual quotes:

(1) Many web designers come from the print world, where they have almost complete control over the layout and presentation of their work. It's not like that on the Web. Get used to it.

(2) "What do these new [hybrid] designers look like and how do we hire that person?"

(3) "You don't actually know where your content is going to show up." Could be on your website, in some feedreader, cell phone, bloglines or another website. So, make sure your mark (e.g. ivantohelpyou) is on your work (ivantohelpyou) outside of your blog (ivantohelpyou) template.

What's the key skill for the hybrid designer?

(1) "Communications."

(2) "It's curiosity."

(3) "Willingness to ask questions."


It's hard to get started as a hybrid designer, isn't it.

(1) Big companies like to pigeonhole you as a developer or UI designer, and aren't prepared for the hybrid. The more modern companies expect you to do absolutely everything. "It's tricky to find that '1.5' area" where you can start breaking out of your pigeonhole."

(3) "Find, if you can, one other kindred spirit." Pair up with a designer if you're a developer, or vice versa. Start designing interfaces on the screen to show developers what you're thinking, which is better than trying to explain what you want.


What about platforms?

(2) Go ahead, pick a platform/environment/toolset/"playground" such as Ruby on Rails, Drupal, among others.

(1) Toolsets lower barrier to entry. But it takes time to learn these tools. Learn from "view source" mentality. Closed systems don't allow this, and so they'll never have the same impact as open systems.

(3) Get fluency in the idea of mashups. Either DIY, or wait for someone to DIFY (Do It For You). An example of a mashup, particularly for web2expo attendees: conferenceer.com.

My thoughts:

The technology was the bottleneck. Now, frameworks allow rapid reproduction of massive sites that would have taken months to build by hand or rebuild using new designs. This means the new bottleneck (and therefore profit opportunity) is the design phase, matching the output of these automated tools to the needs, preferences and aesthetics of the end users. Developers, in order to make a difference, will have to dig deeper and deeper into the weeds. Designers can stay close to the customer where they belong.

See you on day two.

Labels: Web 2.0, web design, web2expo