The difference between a Designer and Developer…

The difference between a Designer and Developer, when it comes to design skills, is the difference between shooting a bullet and throwing it.

Scott Hanselman

UPDATE: Calm down everyone, I didn’t mean to be snoddy. This quote also works the other way around, at least what I am concerned regarding my development skills. And of course, there are developers out there that are fantastic designers. I was taking this quote much lighter than most of you. I just thought it was a funny analogy.

12 Comments leave a comment below

  1. You could also say, “The difference between a Designer and Developer, when it comes to *technical* skills, is the difference between shooting a bullet and throwing it.

  2. Completely agree, Theo! (Right, John?)

  3. I always find that developers REALLY LOVE rounded corners.

  4. While I agree with this statement mostly (I know some developers who have a good sense of design and some designers who have none), it’s a little ironic coming a few posts after the outrage of the design profession being called snooty.

  5. LOVE IT! Hopefully Adobe will find a way to make a true WYSWYG software for a designer. Too much convergence at the moment.

  6. As a developer who wishes he could make things look nicer I agree entirely. Occasionally maybe the bullet will catch a tail-wind, or you’ll get lucky and hit an eye or something, but mostly it’ll just bounce off.

  7. That’s a pretty weak statement. If it’s true now I doubt it will be true for long as the education of web professionals improves. Design is about solving problems, developing is about solving problems. There’s a huge overlap.

  8. Depends how hard you throw the bullet.

  9. @Herman

    They already have. I forget what its codenamed, but its in the works.

    I don’t mind developers not having design skills, but my current beef is with them taking on projects, bringing me in to design, but not managing the client and having content available for me (and him) to utilize to do the project right. I guess thats just the “looks at parts” and not the whole tendency.

  10. As an drone in the IT field, my experience has been that it is really amazing when designers and developers can get together. Any product with both is 10 times better than with either alone.

  11. A solid grasp of your tools is most important.

    An interaction designer should be able to translate ideas into code, just like a graphic designer needs to be able to convert them into visuals.

    And to recycle this quote once more: “[design is] not just what it looks like and feels like. Design is how it works” – Steve Jobs

  12. SO True!
    Everyone to his/own her profession!