4 ms·

UI design is inherently a waste of time for artists.

whateveracct 5y ago
Tech is, quite frankly, a waste of time for everyone. That's why they pay you so much to turn your life into gigantic market caps.
- saiojd 5y ago
  Why are you on a tech site if you think tech is a waste of time?
  - whateveracct 5y ago
    I like technology but dislike tech. Plenty of good technical discussions on here. I'm in tech because they pay me big bucks to basically do nothing, and as I rise the ranks, I can do even less and get paid more. Can't pass on a gravy train.
    - saiojd 5y ago
      Just curious, do you mean that you dislike what the big corpos happen to be doing, or do you mean "I dislike it all, I just happen to like learning the stuff + it pays". (I'm not sure I see the difference between "technology" and "tech")
- pb7 5y ago
  Tech pays a lot because there's a lot of money in tech. Most people in tech are underpaid relative to the value generated, in part because a lot of people enjoy working in tech.
  - whateveracct 5y ago
    Most tech jobs pretty much demand your entire life's focus. Partially due to the mental demands, partially due to office culture. Luckily with remote work, it's becoming easier to do 10-20hrs for the same pay 40-60 (accounting for commute and other incidental costs) used to get. So I can finally use my technical skills to benefit myself way more than what I'm selling to my employer for the first time in many years. In a way, this transition to remote work is making it so I can clandestinely get a BigCo to finance my longterm career & personal software dreams ;)
    - pb7 5y ago
      >it's becoming easier to do 10-20hrs for the same pay 40-60 For what it's worth, I did exactly this for years even in the office. But I agree, remote makes this way easier for everyone.
illumanaughty 5y ago
Seems like a rather broad statement. As an artist in UI design I disagree and think it's a fantastic meeting point of artistry and engineering.
- nicoburns 5y ago
  I think the point is that UI design isn't really art. If you're interested in both, then great! But they're about as similar as fiction and non-fiction writing.
  - bryik 5y ago
    > UI design isn't really art Who are you to say what is and is not art?
    - nicoburns 5y ago
      I mean sure if you want it to be art then it can be. But that's not typically its primary purpose. And the skills required to make a UI good for its primary purpose (usable, easy to understand, etc) are quite different from those required to make good art. In other words, a UI as an artifact might be art. But UI design as process is different to the creation of art as a process. You could do both, but they're mostly orthogonal.
    - shadowlight 5y ago
      I have little respect for "artists" who do UI because the job requires little skill. Sites and exposes like the parent of this entire thread serve to inflate the worth of people who do this stuff. Painting the mona lisa is talent. Arranging text and pictures with flat colored geometric elements is NOT talent. The idea that the still life painting is even comparable to some website design is laughable. It takes a lot of skill to be able to create that painting, it takes almost no skill to devise the layout to that site.
      - PhasmaFelis 5y ago
        > I have little respect for "artists" who do UI because the job requires little skill. It requires little skill to do it badly, and it's easy to get away with doing it badly. That's not the same thing. This is like people who read some cheesy superhero comics and declare that comics can't be real literature.

Tech is, quite frankly, a waste of time for everyone. That's why they pay you so much to turn your life into gigantic market caps.

saiojd 5y ago
Why are you on a tech site if you think tech is a waste of time?
- whateveracct 5y ago
  I like technology but dislike tech. Plenty of good technical discussions on here. I'm in tech because they pay me big bucks to basically do nothing, and as I rise the ranks, I can do even less and get paid more. Can't pass on a gravy train.
  - saiojd 5y ago
    Just curious, do you mean that you dislike what the big corpos happen to be doing, or do you mean "I dislike it all, I just happen to like learning the stuff + it pays". (I'm not sure I see the difference between "technology" and "tech")
pb7 5y ago
Tech pays a lot because there's a lot of money in tech. Most people in tech are underpaid relative to the value generated, in part because a lot of people enjoy working in tech.
- whateveracct 5y ago
  Most tech jobs pretty much demand your entire life's focus. Partially due to the mental demands, partially due to office culture. Luckily with remote work, it's becoming easier to do 10-20hrs for the same pay 40-60 (accounting for commute and other incidental costs) used to get. So I can finally use my technical skills to benefit myself way more than what I'm selling to my employer for the first time in many years. In a way, this transition to remote work is making it so I can clandestinely get a BigCo to finance my longterm career & personal software dreams ;)
  - pb7 5y ago
    >it's becoming easier to do 10-20hrs for the same pay 40-60 For what it's worth, I did exactly this for years even in the office. But I agree, remote makes this way easier for everyone.

illumanaughty 5y ago

Seems like a rather broad statement. As an artist in UI design I disagree and think it's a fantastic meeting point of artistry and engineering.

nicoburns 5y ago
I think the point is that UI design isn't really art. If you're interested in both, then great! But they're about as similar as fiction and non-fiction writing.
- bryik 5y ago
  > UI design isn't really art Who are you to say what is and is not art?
  - nicoburns 5y ago
    I mean sure if you want it to be art then it can be. But that's not typically its primary purpose. And the skills required to make a UI good for its primary purpose (usable, easy to understand, etc) are quite different from those required to make good art. In other words, a UI as an artifact might be art. But UI design as process is different to the creation of art as a process. You could do both, but they're mostly orthogonal.
  - shadowlight 5y ago
    I have little respect for "artists" who do UI because the job requires little skill. Sites and exposes like the parent of this entire thread serve to inflate the worth of people who do this stuff. Painting the mona lisa is talent. Arranging text and pictures with flat colored geometric elements is NOT talent. The idea that the still life painting is even comparable to some website design is laughable. It takes a lot of skill to be able to create that painting, it takes almost no skill to devise the layout to that site.
    - PhasmaFelis 5y ago
      > I have little respect for "artists" who do UI because the job requires little skill. It requires little skill to do it badly, and it's easy to get away with doing it badly. That's not the same thing. This is like people who read some cheesy superhero comics and declare that comics can't be real literature.