[IxDA Discuss] What sets the 'best' interaction designers apart?

[Cian]

To be slightly provocative, I'm going to suggest a different reason
why coding skills might be useful.

Somebody who can't code in some environment, has no way of prototyping
their ideas beyond static screen shots. Is there not a danger that if
somebody cannot prototype, explore their ideas beyond this level, then
they will be not fully understand the medium. I guess a good analogy
for me would be a filmmaker who had only ever worked with storyboards
- sure they're a useful prototyping tool, but there are significant
and important differences between a storyboard and a finished film.

How can you understand interaction, if you have never directly created
interactive systems?

Cian

On 2/5/07, Ari Feldman <ari1970 at gmail.com> wrote:
> i agree. the more you know about the particular limits of a given
> technology, the better.
>
> of course, the best interaction designers don't do things in a vacuum - you
> take a pass, run it by the developers and other constituencies (as
> required), make revisions and then set things into motion.
>
> the worst thing is when you have designers who know nothing about what's
> possible (technically) and they design things accordingly.
>
>
>
> On 2/5/07, Todd Zaki Warfel <lists at toddwarfel.com> wrote:
> >
> >
> > On Feb 4, 2007, at 4:10 PM, Jared M. Spool wrote:
> >
> > > If it's collaboration, as you say, and not service, then learning
> > > coding/technology-platform skills can only help, I would think, in
> > > that it gives you a short-cut for communication and a deeper
> > > understanding of the issues on both sides of the fence.
> > >
> > > As the management of the group, you could say, "Designers design,
> > > developers develop, ne'er the 'tween shall meet."  But, I don't see
> > > that as an effective management approach.
> >
> > I'm one of those people who doesn't believe you have to code to be a
> > great designer. I do believe that understanding the frameworks your
> > development team is using, or even being able to code in them (if
> > even a little bit) makes you a better design. Speaking from
> > experience, it gives you the ability to push back on issues when Dev
> > says "Um, we can't do that." By knowing the environment, you can say
> > "What if we did X? Wouldn't that work?" And if you really need to,
> > you can show them a working prototype and say "We'll, I know this
> > isn't final, and it's nowhere near as good as you guys can do, but
> > here's a prototype of doing X."
> >
> > Not a necessity, but definitely a benefit.
> >
> >
> > Cheers!
> >
> > Todd Zaki Warfel
> > Partner, Design & Usability Specialist
> > Messagefirst | Designing Information. Beautifully.
> > ----------------------------------
> > Contact Info
> > Voice:  (215) 825-7423
> > Email:  todd at messagefirst.com
> > AIM:    twarfel at mac.com
> > Blog:   http://toddwarfel.com
> > ----------------------------------
> > In theory, theory and practice are the same.
> > In practice, they are not.
> >
> >
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