4 ms·

Here's a problem I have all the time as both a designer and a developer - When I am first building a project the dev is obviously important, fun to do, and esse

by ecaroth 15y ago

Here's a problem I have all the time as both a designer and a developer - When I am first building a project the dev is obviously important, fun to do, and essential to get right to use as the framework for the whole project. BUT the design is the outlet of all your vision, the face of your new baby, and something you think about in your sleep. How did you / do you stop obsessing about getting design perfect and tweaking every detail, and shift focus to development instead. I find myself pounding out dev code for a couple days till a piece is functional, then reworking the design of that feature for a week. How do you manage both, especially when you are working on an early stage and/or solo project?

dariusmonsef 15y ago
Make it work REALLY well... It only has to look ok. And I don't mean that the UX is broken, but that the UI can lack polish. This is what CL looked like when I launched it: http://web.archive.org/web/20050105024335/http://www.colourlovers.com/ http://web.archive.org/web/20050105024335/http://www.colourl... The most relevant quote to this is the one about if you're not embarrassed by what you release, you waited too long.
alexkearns 15y ago
I am the exact opposite to you. I find the design much more fun and it is what I do first. I will usually pretty much have the design worked out before I start any dev work, which is perhaps a bit odd given that I am a much better coder than designer.
- ecaroth 15y ago
  My process usually goes like this: design main page with 20 iterations, code 20% of project, redesign main page, code another 20% of project, redesign main page again and make some additional pages, etc... It's a vicious cycle - though I don't think I am a bad designer by any means I think my designs just always grow stale in the couple days I take off from design to program.
  - alexkearns 15y ago
    I think you're being a perfectionist. But I can empathise. If a design is not inspiring you, it is difficult to conjure up the mental effort to code it into a reality. Having said that, you are iterating too much. 20 times for one page is way too much. And then redesigning from scratch again. Better to have a half decent looking product completed than a beautiful one half complete.
  - alexkearns 15y ago
    A tip. Don't think too much about the design or the coding. Instead, think about the product you're making. Make it the focus of your imagination and energy. Imagine it complete. Dwell on the people who will be using it. Dream of all the money that will be coming in. I find, at least, that when your focus is on the product and completing it, you get less distracted by redesignitus. You are more willing to put up with minor design issues or slightly imperfect code because your primary goal is not to create an amazing design or do beautiful coding (though both are good) but to release a product. I hope that makes sense!

by ecaroth 15y ago

dariusmonsef 15y ago

Make it work REALLY well... It only has to look ok. And I don't mean that the UX is broken, but that the UI can lack polish. This is what CL looked like when I launched it: http://web.archive.org/web/20050105024335/http://www.colourlovers.com/ http://web.archive.org/web/20050105024335/http://www.colourl... The most relevant quote to this is the one about if you're not embarrassed by what you release, you waited too long.

alexkearns 15y ago

I am the exact opposite to you. I find the design much more fun and it is what I do first. I will usually pretty much have the design worked out before I start any dev work, which is perhaps a bit odd given that I am a much better coder than designer.

ecaroth 15y ago
My process usually goes like this: design main page with 20 iterations, code 20% of project, redesign main page, code another 20% of project, redesign main page again and make some additional pages, etc... It's a vicious cycle - though I don't think I am a bad designer by any means I think my designs just always grow stale in the couple days I take off from design to program.
- alexkearns 15y ago
  I think you're being a perfectionist. But I can empathise. If a design is not inspiring you, it is difficult to conjure up the mental effort to code it into a reality. Having said that, you are iterating too much. 20 times for one page is way too much. And then redesigning from scratch again. Better to have a half decent looking product completed than a beautiful one half complete.
- alexkearns 15y ago
  A tip. Don't think too much about the design or the coding. Instead, think about the product you're making. Make it the focus of your imagination and energy. Imagine it complete. Dwell on the people who will be using it. Dream of all the money that will be coming in. I find, at least, that when your focus is on the product and completing it, you get less distracted by redesignitus. You are more willing to put up with minor design issues or slightly imperfect code because your primary goal is not to create an amazing design or do beautiful coding (though both are good) but to release a product. I hope that makes sense!