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Ask HN: Reasonable expectations for designers?

3 points by anonemployer ↗ HN
I've worked with and hired several graphic designers who all claimed to know HTML/CSS/JS. They have all produced beautiful .psds of their designs, and offered to help implement it.

However, without fail, when it comes to actual code, they disappoint. For example:

-They never know how to use any sort of source control (so I have to manually merge things together every night).

-Their Javascript is always spaghetti code, and demonstrates a profound lack of understanding of scoping, closures, the libraries they use, and the JS object system.

-They insist on going and modifying the .css files for libraries we're using. Often the CSS they write is repetitive and brittle.

Am I being unreasonable to hope my designer can both code and do graphic design? Should I be hiring a separate 'front end developer' to help implement the designer's vision? (I can do 'front end coding' myself, but have other things to attend to, which is why I need to 'outsource' some of it).

If these mythical creatures do exist - how can I find them?

(I'm a regular here but am just posting under a different account)

3 comments

[ 2.9 ms ] story [ 14.3 ms ] thread
mbrubeck
I've been a front-end engineer for 8 years, and I haven't yet worked with someone who was a truly top-notch graphical designer and an expert-level programmer. (I'm sure there are some out there, but they're not easy to find.) The best projects I've worked on have always split that work between at least two people, though the exact division of labor differs. Sometimes the graphic designer just hands raw Photoshop files to the developer to implement from scratch, while in other cases the designer does the basic CSS and markup and the developer provides tools/frameworks and does integration work.

I think the best situation is to hire a web developer and a designer who already know how to work together as a team. Web development agencies can provide that. Or hire a freelance developer who can subcontract or recommend a designer.

inerte
I've upvoted you and would like to add some things. Being a programmer is a whole job. You can't expect someone to be awesome at design and know how to use source control (properly), bug/issue, javascript, browser incompatibilities, w3c validation, etc, etc.

Other fields of work are the same, btw. Architects can use hammers but I'm pretty sure only a few could handle a pneumatic drill properly and with safety.

The designers probably said they knew front-end coding because whatever they had to do previously was good enough for the past clients. The OP has higher standards, which now requires a professional to do it (shameless plug, I'm available for freelancing work).

replicatorblog
If front end work is important to your company and you want to invest in that competency I would suggest a little on the job training. I've been teaching myself a little more coding and the hard thing for designers is knowing what good code is. Design school training doesn't really get into many technical subjects, so sharing some websites, books, etc. with some of those ideas fleshed out would help a lot. If you can spare the time a code review would be another approach that could pay huge dividends over time. Imagine the situation was reversed, you knew how to use Photoshop passably, but were weak on aesthetics. What would you be looking for helpwise.

If it isn't so important, then I would hire a front end engineer and outsource design work. You can find passable designers easier than passable engineers, IME.