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A Call to All UI Designers: You're being disrupted. There's millions of amateurs and pros moonlighting for extra cash all over the world, and they're all hung

A Call to All UI Designers: You're being disrupted. There's millions of amateurs and pros moonlighting for extra cash all over the world, and they're all hungrier, cheaper, and want to work whether it's for fun or for money. For every established designer who sneers at Skype's competition there'll be 1000 who submit and cross their fingers hoping a) their work reaches 10s of millions of people and b) Skype or others give them a job.

enra 16y ago
Yes like there are millions of people trained to be programmers that are hungrier than people in the Valley, so everything will be outsourced via elance. (No) I think everyone can choose how they go on with their profession, so if you don't like contests, it's fine not participate in them. I've participated in contests and even won few, but usually they've been for some non-profit or small a startup looking for a sticker design. The distinction here is that 1) I don't think Skype needs my help (they could hire anyone) 2) their contest is not about some funny sticker, but the UX of their core product 3) which leads to the fact that Skype doesn't take their UX seriously. Either they're willing to let anyone to design their core product without decent brief or experience with the problems and constrains or they're fishing for some ideas, which will not be implemented. (Anyway I would be happy with a world of more designers since still most products are crap)
bad_user 16y ago
This "disruption" you're speaking of has been going on ever since the nineties, when the web became popular. To many companies design and UX is something that anybody can do, especially software developers and managers/customers with strong opinions, so why hire somebody that does design/UX for a living? Also many other companies hire crappy designers with 2/3 mediocre websites in their portfolio and that are listing photography as their hobby -- for cheap. The end result is something you can see for yourself -- lots of crappy designs and unusable apps out there. And crowd-sourcing is the alternative to the above. But IMHO, a good designer is more valuable to user-facing applications than a good developer, and if you want your app to kick-ass, the designer must is a crucial part of the development process. So it's nothing new really -- good designers will always be paid handsomely, bad designers will have to work harder -- isn't that the same thing happening with software developers?
radley 16y ago
Yeah, we're not (being disrupted). The difference between doing a Skype redesign for a contest and doing it in a classroom or for a client is the experience. In the latter, you get constructive feedback - which you build upon over the years and directly makes you a professional. A contest doesn't teach a designer anything and provides the wrong kind of feedback: reinforcing wishfulness over strategy, accuracy, and insight. New designers have wishfulness in spades but lack the knowledge of how to turn it into a career. Experienced designers have learned the hard way that contests seem like a good idea but they're a terrible waste of time and emotion.

enra 16y ago

Yes like there are millions of people trained to be programmers that are hungrier than people in the Valley, so everything will be outsourced via elance. (No) I think everyone can choose how they go on with their profession, so if you don't like contests, it's fine not participate in them. I've participated in contests and even won few, but usually they've been for some non-profit or small a startup looking for a sticker design. The distinction here is that 1) I don't think Skype needs my help (they could hire anyone) 2) their contest is not about some funny sticker, but the UX of their core product 3) which leads to the fact that Skype doesn't take their UX seriously. Either they're willing to let anyone to design their core product without decent brief or experience with the problems and constrains or they're fishing for some ideas, which will not be implemented. (Anyway I would be happy with a world of more designers since still most products are crap)

bad_user 16y ago

This "disruption" you're speaking of has been going on ever since the nineties, when the web became popular. To many companies design and UX is something that anybody can do, especially software developers and managers/customers with strong opinions, so why hire somebody that does design/UX for a living? Also many other companies hire crappy designers with 2/3 mediocre websites in their portfolio and that are listing photography as their hobby -- for cheap. The end result is something you can see for yourself -- lots of crappy designs and unusable apps out there. And crowd-sourcing is the alternative to the above. But IMHO, a good designer is more valuable to user-facing applications than a good developer, and if you want your app to kick-ass, the designer must is a crucial part of the development process. So it's nothing new really -- good designers will always be paid handsomely, bad designers will have to work harder -- isn't that the same thing happening with software developers?

radley 16y ago

Yeah, we're not (being disrupted). The difference between doing a Skype redesign for a contest and doing it in a classroom or for a client is the experience. In the latter, you get constructive feedback - which you build upon over the years and directly makes you a professional. A contest doesn't teach a designer anything and provides the wrong kind of feedback: reinforcing wishfulness over strategy, accuracy, and insight. New designers have wishfulness in spades but lack the knowledge of how to turn it into a career. Experienced designers have learned the hard way that contests seem like a good idea but they're a terrible waste of time and emotion.