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Sadly, "designer" is a poorly-qualified term. When I hear someone say that it's hard to tell whether they mean a graphic designer or a UI/UX designer (or possib

by ender7 14y ago

Sadly, "designer" is a poorly-qualified term. When I hear someone say that it's hard to tell whether they mean a graphic designer or a UI/UX designer (or possibly even a product manager or something). And yes, there is a huge difference between the two. UI/UXers need to have extremely strong graphic design skills (and for 98% of the projects out there, they will be good enough by themselves), but for a perfectly-tweaked, masterfully perfected paint job to layer over the final UX, you should hire a graphic designer for a final pass (Apple does this, for example). Similarly, graphic designers, if asked to design UI, will usually produce something that looks gorgeous and is completely unusable (or, more frequently, completely ignores the corner cases that end up being deal breakers). Or perhaps you mean _product design_, which involves a terrifying gestalt of UI/UX design, technical design (eng), and market planning/vision (management, PM, ...?). The person (or people) in charge of that varies by project and company, but in the most successful cases seems to be either someone who is good at all three or a 2-4 man group of representatives from the three domains.

timr 14y ago
"Or perhaps you mean _product design_, which involves a terrifying gestalt of UI/UX design..." Terrifying, indeed. The people who obsess over terminology are, in my experience, often the same people who bring the least practical talent to the table.
- ender7 14y ago
  Are you arguing that there is no difference between UI designers and graphic designers? It may all seems like "silly design stuff" but I promise you -- there's a big difference between the two. For example, UI designers usually need to be able to code (if perhaps only rudimentarily). Or perhaps you're implying that there is no difference between UI designers and product designers? Admittedly, sometimes those are the same person, but usually the person who fills the PD roll is a manager or CEO (if at a startup). They'll certainly consult with the UI designer (and eng), and they may design most of the product with the UI designer. Or they may not. Not necessarily the same job. It really depends on the people and the company. If this seems like bullshit to you then...I'm sorry? That's how most of the industry works (at Google, at Apple, at ...). There are not these strange creatures called "designers" who do everything and have all skills (some do exist! but they are shockingly, painfully rare. And they're usually not in charge, so it's hard for them to do product design).
- deleted 14y ago
  [deleted]
- aptwebapps 14y ago
  Maybe you meant something more specific, but you seem to be implicating yourself. Here's what you said above: "If a UX designer produces mocks and designs, they're a designer. If they produce software prototypes, that's called an engineer."

by ender7 14y ago

timr 14y ago

"Or perhaps you mean _product design_, which involves a terrifying gestalt of UI/UX design..." Terrifying, indeed. The people who obsess over terminology are, in my experience, often the same people who bring the least practical talent to the table.

ender7 14y ago
Are you arguing that there is no difference between UI designers and graphic designers? It may all seems like "silly design stuff" but I promise you -- there's a big difference between the two. For example, UI designers usually need to be able to code (if perhaps only rudimentarily). Or perhaps you're implying that there is no difference between UI designers and product designers? Admittedly, sometimes those are the same person, but usually the person who fills the PD roll is a manager or CEO (if at a startup). They'll certainly consult with the UI designer (and eng), and they may design most of the product with the UI designer. Or they may not. Not necessarily the same job. It really depends on the people and the company. If this seems like bullshit to you then...I'm sorry? That's how most of the industry works (at Google, at Apple, at ...). There are not these strange creatures called "designers" who do everything and have all skills (some do exist! but they are shockingly, painfully rare. And they're usually not in charge, so it's hard for them to do product design).
deleted 14y ago
[deleted]
aptwebapps 14y ago
Maybe you meant something more specific, but you seem to be implicating yourself. Here's what you said above: "If a UX designer produces mocks and designs, they're a designer. If they produce software prototypes, that's called an engineer."