[Sigia-l] Programming IAs was: Little things an IA MUST know/do

[Mark Burgess]

>Programmers generally don't make good designers. Designers generally 
>don't make good programmers. They have two very different mind sets. 
>Again, there are exceptions to this, but those are extremely rare.

To a certain extent, I'd agree with that. Folks who are happiest 
doing programming won't be as happy making pretty pictures, and 
vice-versa. It really depends on what sort of design you're talking 
about though. Original, conceptual, beautiful Communication Arts 
-type stuff is less suited to a programming mindset than the more 
analytical design tasks that need to get done in UI work. The 
top-notch print designers I know aren't particularly good at making 
usable Web sites (they are good at beautifying them, but not 
architecting them).

But the question is not "Can a designer make a good programmer?" -- 
it is, "Can some programming experience make a designer better at 
designing?" To that question I'd have to say yes. If the designer is 
involved in creating software, they should be able to at least 
understand what it is they're making an interface for. They should be 
able to talk comfortably with their programmers. They must be able to 
see the project as a computer program, not just an abstract 
user-interface problem.

It's not only programming that can improve the design, either. Sales 
experience, help-desk experience, etc. can contribute to better work 
too. Even leisure activities can inform design in unexpected though 
relevant ways. And of course spending time doing the tasks that the 
end-user will be using the software for (payroll, database 
maintenance, whatever) can't do anything but help the design.

The inverse is true too, of course. Programmers can make better 
programs if they have some experience designing with the user in 
mind. Even if a programmer's work is well away from the program's 
front end,  their code can be more readable, easier to maintain, etc. 
if it's occasionally looked at as a design problem.


-- 
Mark