What We Enjoyed Reading This Week

Learning how to design for the web is ageless?

Do we need to be, forever young?
Lots of things change as we age. We let go of our naivety on subjects of time estimation for task completion, we’re wiser with decorative element choices, smarter with white space usage, more stubborn with colour pairings, much less accepting of change in layouts, and generally much more cringey when reviewing other people’s work.
When we’re younger, we’re full of energy (that is more annoying than infectious to the ‘older’ lot), we put a lot of people’s livelihoods at stake with our “fresh ideas” and “young mind”. We also tend to not realise how complex a task is until we get into the thick of it, but usually find a way to smart mouth our way through it.

Play to your strengths and improve upon your weaknesses —
No matter when you choose to get into the design field, there’s always something new to learn, a new technology to adapt to, a far more superior and complex looking software to work with. To avoid being intimidated by the sheer wealth of knowledge and guidelines available on the subject, streamline your learning process to play to your strengths and improve upon your weaknesses. This could mean anything from doodling your notes, or having your midnight snack when practicing a new technique. Do what works for you, when it works for you, just as long as you’re able to learn and understand what you’re getting yourself into.

Forward March!
Getting into the field has no age restrictions or mandates, but stagnancy does. As a general practice, once you’ve mastered something or you feel you’ve mastered it and your employer is willing to put a designation to it, create opportunities for others to grow the same way opportunities were created for you to grow. All philanthropy aside, it saves your time and energy, which you can then spend ideating upon the next big thing or experimenting with new things. Let’s face it, no one was born perfect, some people are better at one thing, and others at another, what needs to be done is bring these people together to complement each other’s highs and lows. Once you’re old enough to know exactly where you fall short, seeking out someone complementary becomes much easier.

To code or not to code, that is the question

Painting with pixels — in Photoshop or code?
Design is an abstraction, which is somehow brought to life using various methods, depending on where they’re going to be seen. Since there are no hex values or pixel measurements in real life, but they exist on our screens. We need to understand and embrace the tools that are used to create those designs. Once we’re familiar with what the tools that render the design are capable of, can we create better, engaging, platform appropriate designs. Else there’s always the gaping void of “not enough” and “a tad bit much” on either side of the tightline, ready to swallow our work and sanity whole.

Need to know v/s good to know — a difference that changes lives.
It’s not necessary to know how to code to be a great designer. It is however necessary, to have a good sense of balance in a composition, know the right colour pairing to elicit a certain emotional response, pay attention to visual hierarchy, know what the user wants, and be able to create a good user experience. Code has little to do with knowing these things, and a lot more to do with how these things are executed. So it’s not mandatory to code, but it’s good to know just how far you can push the boundaries of what’s already done, to tip over to the fabled land of what can be done.

TL;DR: As a designer, each age has its benefits and coding know how is optional.