Should Developers Learn Design?
Most people in the tech industry tend to fall into one of two paths: design or development. But limiting yourself to one or the other may be hurting your career. The fact that people gravitate towards one or the other makes sense when you think about it. Some people are more creative and artistic, while others are more technical.
That isn’t to say, however, that designers can’t be developers, or that developers can’t be designers. That couldn’t be farther from the truth. In fact, it’s my belief that every aspiring developer out there should take the time to learn at least the basic principles of design.
Knowing how to build a visually appealing and effective user interface will be of great benefit to you as a developer, and has the potential to greatly increase your earning potential.
There are numerous reasons why picking up some basic design skills would benefit you as a developer, but for today’s article, I’ll only be focusing on what I consider to be the top 3.
If you have some additional thoughts on how design skills could be of use to you as a developer, feel free to list them in the response section below!
Reason #1: You can make more money
This first reason is probably the biggest reason most people want to learn design. After all, who doesn’t enjoy making more money? If you know how to leverage your skills to your advantage, pairing design with development will give you a decent upper hand over people who specialize in only one or the other.
Some may consider the prospect of learning design as a developer (or vice versa) to be too hard, but you’d be shocked at how easy it actually is. Spend some time experimenting with an application like Figma, and trying to replicate some common web designs you’ve seen in the past. Before you know it, you’ll have no problem designing your own applications.
Your designs don’t have to be overly elaborate, but if you’re freelancing as a developer, people will pay you good money to not only design their site but to develop it as well. Being effective in both design and development will allow you to make a fair amount of money as a freelance developer.
Not only will this improve your potential income as a freelancer, but it will also improve your potential income as a full time employee as well. Most employees will consider having someone skilled in both of these fields to be of great benefit, and you can use this to your advantage when negotiating a salary.
If you are just starting out as a developer, the concept of negotiating your salary can seem daunting, especially if you are dealing with numbers that are higher than anything you’ve made before. I will talk more about this in an upcoming article, so make sure to follow!
Even if you aren’t interested in working in a design capacity, there are still other benefits to learning the principles of design as a developer beyond making money.
Reason #2: You can make your own projects look more professional
If you’re like most developers, you’re probably always thinking of new project ideas you want to work on. Even if most of them end up being stored away in a notepad and forgotten about, occasionally there will be that one project that you just have to work on.
The project can be simply a portfolio filler, or it can be for a new product you’re launching. Regardless of what type of app it is, being able to build it from scratch with your own designs rather than having to pay someone else to design it for you will be a great benefit. Not only will this save you money, but it will also allow you to build exactly what you want.
By creating applications that look more professional, not only will potential employers be more impressed, but any products or services you create will also draw in more customers.
Visually appealing designs will cause people to stick around your website longer, and improve your chances of conversion (buying your product, subscribing to your service, joining your mailing list, etc). The benefits of learning the principles of design far outweigh the “costs” associated with the learning itself (time, sleep, immediate income, etc.).
Being effective with design will not only improve your prospects with potential employers and customers, but it will boost your own confidence when working on projects. Being able to look at something you have built and be proud of not only its functional aspects but the design as well feels very rewarding.
Reason #3: You can increase the value you bring to the team
Understanding the principles of design will not only make you more effective as an independent developer but will also improve your ability to work on a team with designers involved.
Being able to speak their language and understand the process they’re involved in from their point of view will improve your ability to relay your concerns as a developer to the designers.
Having a more clear line of communication between your developers and your designers will reduce the amount of time it takes to push a project into production. Having everybody on the same level reduces the chances of there being any confusion when relaying project requirements.
Not only will this reduce the amount of time it takes to build products, but it will also make the process far more enjoyable. Having designers and developers on the same page will allow them to talk more in-depth about the project requirements, and how specifically to approach individual tasks.
Conclusion
With just these 3 reasons listed above, you can already see why learning design as a developer would be of great benefit. not only for the reasons stated above, but also because it is enjoyable.
Taking your own projects through the stages of design, development, and production will feel very rewarding, and by the end you will be left with something you’re proud of that you can show off to employers, family, or friends.
I’d love to hear any additional reasons my readers can think of why learning design would be beneficial to them as developers. Feel free to leave them in the response section below.
If you found this article helpful, be sure to give some of my other articles a read!
