The Designer Who Codes

I recently read an article by Garry Tan, which can be found here. Titled The Value of the Designer Who Codes, it explains how designers who are also engineers can be very successful.

I completely agree with the article, which provides multiple examples of how this is true. One such example was a conversation between late Apple CEO and co-founder Steve jobs and Apple engineer Chris Espinosa in the early stages of the company’s Mac OS. Jobs was dissatisfied with the way the first calculator application looked, and finally Espinosa put together a program that allowed Jobs to design the calculator himself. After designing it to his perfection, this version of the calculator was used for fifteen years as a part of the Mac OS. The article goes on to say how powerful that anecdote would be if it were about one person instead of two. “What if the design vision of Steve Jobs could be in the same brain as the engineering excellence of Chris Espinosa?” the article asks.

According to the author, “the designer who codes” is most valued within effective software teams in the Silicon Valley. This person builds what he or she knows what people need, but builds it in a way that it is aesthetically pleasing and goes hand in hand with its function. Here, the article gives the example of Silicon Valley start-up Quora. On lead designer Rebekah Cox’s team, everyone else is also an engineer. What I found most interesting is that the designing doesn’t happen in a different program like Photoshop. It happens within the code.

According to Cox, "Knowing the technology better means more productive arguments when there are disagreements because everyone speaks the same language." In my opinion, this is absolutely true. When the basics of the design are sorted out, it doesn’t really matter which language is used to code it, because everyone else knows it anyway.

Facebook also runs its design team in this way. Click here to read the article I wrote on Facebook trending down.

The article concludes by saying the combination of design and engineering results in magical experiences for the user. 

Facebook Trending Down

There is an article on CNN (found here) about the dip in the usage of Facebook. The writer of the article, Doug Gross, interviewed many teenagers about this, and noticed that Facebook is "trending down with teens".

It’s kind of funny, in my opinion. Just a few months after Facebook first began, it hit its first million users. And, until date, it is described as the “most used social network” (as in the picture below).

According to the article, Facebook usage is winding down, especially with teens. It’s true that teens are beginning to use newer means of social networking, such as Tumblr, Instagram, Vine, or Snapchat. This is what the article hints toward.

At the same time, I believe it could be a matter of age.

I made a Facebook account soon after I turned thirteen, and I still use it a lot. I log into it almost every day, even when I knew that I wouldn’t have anything to look at. The teenagers interviewed for the article are in their late teens, one being eighteen years old and another being sixteen. Both described their Facebook use declining, but is it because of other sites or because of their age? My own sister, aged seventeen, doesn’t use her Facebook account that often, but she doesn’t use that many other social networking sites, the exception being Tumblr. The age increase could lead to a Facebook decrease because of the increasing work load that older teenagers face.

I, on the other hand, as I mentioned, log into my account every day. It has become a pattern for me. I check Facebook as often as I check my email. I don’t use any other social networking sites as often I as I do with Facebook. I have a Tumblr account but I barely check it. I agree with Nicole Uvieghara, as she said in the CNN article (describing Instagram), "It makes you feel relevant and wanted because of the number of followers a person can have and the likes you can have on your photos.” Although I don’t use Instagram, I believe my limited use of Tumblr is attributed to the fact that I have no followers on the site. On Facebook, though, I have over 200 friends. Granted, we all don’t interact on the site on a daily basis. But there are some people on Facebook that I do interact with a lot, with likes and comments or messaging.

I definitely agree with the article on CNN, that new social media sites are drawing the attention away from Facebook, but maybe that’s not the only reason.

Confessions of a New Techie

As a part of the tech crew, we have to understand that every aspect of the show we work (except for the acting) is happening because of us. We help with set change to make it more realistic. We help with lights and sound to set the mood. We help with the filming. But at the same time, we have to be ready to let the actors take the credit. To be honest, without the tech crew, every play or musical put on would not be veryaesthetically pleasing.

The actors do a fabulous job. It takes skill, and hard work, and practice, and time to be a good actor. They are amazing. Without them, what’s the point of a show at all? But the lighting, music, stage crew and camera crew, work with the actors to help make the show they are acting in even better. While nobody wants to watch a play or musical with no one on stage, at the same time, no one wants to watch a play or a musical where there aren’t lights to accentuate the actors; sounds to give effect, stage to make it look realistic.

The show goes well. The audience applauds. Although no one knows I’m up there, I know they know I helped. It was very gratifying for us to be mentioned in the program.

Even though many people are indifferent to the fact that without the tech crew, the show wouldn’t have the same ambiance, it is fun to be in the shadows. I used to love being in the limelight as a child, but I have changed, being a part of the tech crew. It is exciting to be backstage or up in the booth where no one can see us, wearing all black. It is exciting to know that the fate of the whole show rests in our hands as we press a single button, or switch to the next camera, or put the prop on the correct spike.

We make the show come alive. We do it so naturally it’s like breathing – you don’t notice you are until you do. Now I know why movies like Life of Pi and The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey have won or been nominated for a ‘best visual effects’ Academy Award.

It’s because of the awesome tech crew.