Should I know how to code? Should I not know how to code? Will I get a job if I don’t know how to follow? Oh, this is so confusing!

A common debate in the design world is whether designers should know how to code. This article is meant to tackle that question by presenting seven major chapters that current designers can answer to determine whether it would be an asset or a hindrance for them. Afterwards, the article provides some guidelines on what developers may want from their design team members and ways they can best support one another.

In this day and age, being unable to figure out how something works because you don’t have a technical background has become a bit of a stigma. Some designers say that they must be able to code or even that they need to know how to code to keep up with their peers.

So I’m dividing this article into a few chapters.

* Chapter number one is about some important ones that designers need to answer before they jump into coding.

* Chapter number two are some of the few things that designers should know about how developers think.

* Chapter number three will be some best ways that designers can be helpful to developers.

* Chapter number four will be about my career as a designer cum developer and how knowing how to code improved my life.

* Chapter number five are the advantages you will face or you will have as a designer if you know how to code.

* Chapter number six is the final decision on whether designers should or should not know how to code in 2021.

* Chapter number seven will be some some resources I utilized when I was just learning initially, which are not only free, but they’re also very efficient to know how to code, to know how to design, etc.

Six crucial questions that designers need to answer before they jump into coding.

So, should creative people be strong in technology?

The question packs a lot of emotional weight. Many designers feel like creative folks need something creative. Being good at math or science doesn’t fit into that equation. Even the tools of technology are sometimes seen as creatively stifling.

There are many, many more questions to ask about this topic. But here are some of the most important ones that designers need to answer before jumping into coding.

№1: What is your problem?

You will be more likely to succeed if you have a solid reason for learning code. It’s great to have some idea of how you might solve a problem with code, but it’s not always easy to figure out what your problem might be first. It’s helpful to consider the other side of the coin: what is doing just fine but requires an update?

№2: What would you like to do with it?

If your issue involves writing code because you want to modify certain aspects of something that already exists, then it might be more than just a hobby. On the other hand, if you don’t feel like others are getting their fair shot at something or you want to start up your own business by building customizations upon existing applications, then coding may be overkill. Asking yourself if your idea is worth sharing could also help determine if you need the skills.

№3: How will you do it?

Many different software tools fall into the category of coding. You may not know how you would tackle a problem using all of them. As mentioned in the second question, figuring out the best approach to solving your problem will help you formulate a plan and better understand what’s involved with learning to code.

№4: What would coding help you accomplish?

Many designers want to code because they want additional powers. But is it worth it? Designers should ask themselves if knowing code would help them take their design career in a new direction or if they simply want an extra tool in their toolbox.

№5: How much time could you commit to code?

If you spend a lot of time on coding, what would that leave out? In other words, what other work will it take away from you to learn code?

№6: What would it cost you to learn code?

Learning code costs money. It can be as little as a few dollars spent on an app for your mobile device or as expensive as hundreds of dollars spent on a class. Also, time is valuable. If you invest time into learning code, it should be worth it for you. So learn it in that way.

Few things that designers should know about how developers think.

If a designer decides that they should learn how to code, they may want to consider other ways that developers can help them as well as ways that other designers have been helpful to developers.

To begin, here are a few things that designers should know about how developers think:

№1: We value efficiency.

Developers want to work as fast as possible, and they know that stopping to explain something can slow them down. This is why there are very few “did you guys hear about the time ?” types of incidents in the software industry. (Or at least it should be.)

№2: We value creativity.

You may think that we’re stuck in an office all day putting out the same type of product for all our clients, but we’re trying very hard to make your product unique and special, and we believe that creativity and uniqueness is the only way to stand out from your competitors.

№3: We like experimentation and feedback.

We try things. We try new ideas. And we don’t succeed often, but we do it just to learn and improve our skills at problem-solving.

Best ways that designers can be helpful to developers

Given that, here are the best ways that designers can be helpful to developers:

1) Developers like to know what’s going on with the project (but not really). If you ask us, “Hey, how is the project doing?” we’ll likely give you an “excellent” response because we want to make sure everything is still working as planned. We know we can’t control the project, but we do our best to provide you with helpful and actionable feedback and suggestions so that you can make revisions and improvements.

2) We like to be involved. If we stop by your desk, we’d rather talk about your app. This doesn’t mean that we’re going to give you a detailed walkthrough of how everything works because if it were that simple, then nobody would ever need help. It does mean that when things go wrong or if there is an issue, we want to know about it to make sure everything is getting resolved in the best way possible.

3) We want to understand why things are going wrong. This is where we can offer some of our best insights into how your app works. We don’t just want to know about the problem; we want to see what you were doing when it happened and what you were trying to do.

4) We like feedback like: “ You did a great job on the design .” (or whatever interaction designers and developers use for this purpose)

5) We like people who say “thank you.” This doesn’t mean that we need constant positive reinforcement, but we do take pride in our work, and it’s nice sometimes when somebody else notices.

6) We like feedback like: “I don’t know what I would’ve done without you .”

7) We like to be supported and praised for our hard work. It’s nice when someone praises us for the cool ideas we’ve come up with. It’s even nicer when we can point out that idea and say, “yeah it was your idea.”

8) We’re happy to help. So, don’t be afraid to ask us anything, and we’ll do our best to help. Just let us know what you need, and we’ll do our best to answer it.

9) We like to believe that we’re good at what we do. We like to know that our hard work is appreciated, and it’s nice when somebody else finds value in the product we created for them.

10) We like to be thanked. It feels good to be thanked for the work you’ve done, and it feels even better when you get a “thank you” from somebody who matters: like a client or a co-worker or another team member. So, thank developers if they help you out and thank them again if they go above and beyond for you.

My career

I started as a freelancer, and I almost thought I could make a career out of it. The same year I was in between career decisions, somebody asked me to make a website, so I used to sit in the computer lab all day trying to grasp the concept of coding, learning basic HTML and CSS, and then starting to learn things like JavaScript, jQuery. While I was learning to code, I was also making the website side by side, so it was really good practice.

I got a lot of encouragement when I got freelance gigs, and many people appreciated my designs and code. Towards the end of my school, I knew I had to make a full-time career, so I asked one of my friend’s parents, who were into tech and design, to give me some guidance, and that is what they did exactly. They told me that UX is the next big thing. It has recently entered the Indian market, and it can change the face of the world.

Advantages of learning code

Now let’s talk about the advantages you can have and the advantages I had personally being a UX UI designer who knew how to code.

Advantage №1

Number one was a whole new horizon of career options. Sometimes what happens is that a career that is started with a bang might not be the best career option for you, and at this point, if you know how to code, you can always transcend from UI design into things like web design or things like front end development, where you’re designing and developing applications and since you already have good knowledge of design, coding something will be even simpler and easier.

Advantage №2

Number two, it’s got to be an unfair advantage in a workspace. Often what happens is that designers don’t know how to code. So talking to developers, communicating with tech people becomes very difficult, especially when they are speaking a different language and you are speaking a different language. It has often happened to me that a developer is trying to explain something, and I’m the only designer understanding what he’s saying. I’ve often also gotten into arguments telling them what a better option is and whether they can implement something or not.

Advantage №3

Now, let me tell you a little secret. A lot of developers will try to get out of a situation by saying it’s too difficult to implement. Knowing how to code, you can always argue that something is simpler than it looks, and a lot of times have one argument, so that’s another advantage as well.

Advantage №4

Number four, Knowing how to code also gives you a great appreciation for the products you’re designing. Often, when we’re designing something, especially when we’re beginners, it’s hard to know what can be implemented, how it will convert from this design into an actual full-fledged product, and what goes behind the scenes. First of all, knowing how to code helps you know what you can implement and how you can make a development process easier and efficient. It also helps you analyze what an application will be like, look like and feel like when it’s ready. It gives you a whole new appreciation of what goes behind the scenes and how an application comes to life.

Advantage №5

Another great advantage that I found very useful is that things like Web Flow, Editor X or even Bravo studio will have a smaller learning curve if you already know how to code. Trust me; when I started developing no-code tools, there was a lot of jargon.

Should designers know how to code

Now let’s move on to whether you should start learning how to code and how difficult it will be for you.

The basic languages are always going to be super simple. Learning CSS, HTML, even JavaScript might only take a day or two if you just go through and brush through some of the cool courses that I will be mentioning later during this article. CSS is so simple colour red with 100 pixels, margins 24 pixels, font family sans serif. All these properties are things we already know as designers, so we just need to understand what a particular syntax is, and you can already implement a lot of these from design to code, and it’s easier to understand for designers like us.

See, at the end of the day, UX UI designers will never need to code but understanding the platforms you’re designing for. If you’re designing for Android and you don’t know anything about Android Studio Kotlin and the various other frameworks being used for Android, you will never really get to know what you’re creating for; it’s like someone who owns a sweet shop is diabetic; it’s as crazy as that.

Before we even get to the next segment, there is a difference between knowing code and writing code.

• Knowing code is when you know the principles of code, the syntax, how a particular platform works and how a certain function or technicality can be implemented using code.
• Writing code is when you have to solve problems on the coding side of things, the development side of things, or even the back end. Those are not what you need to learn as a designer. You want to grasp the concepts of coding, the concepts of development, the concepts of tech rather than understanding every line of code. So know the difference, and this will help you out a lot.

How can you start learning how to code and understand the concepts better?

Granted, actually doing a coding project will help you understand code more than anything else. A platform like Team Tree House is where I started from. Team Treehouses a bunch of practical, very easy to understand videos and courses that you can take up. They have a seven or 14-day trial, and it’s brilliant. You can start with the trial and understand things like HTML, CSS, Android, and iOS. Also, they have much more than just coding and design. They have UX, product, business, marketing, and so much more.

There are also some Duolingo style applications for your phone itself, where you’re quizzed on coding and development principles, and I can’t remember them off the top of my head, but they’re there for both Android and iOS, and you can learn on the go. Just simple exercises, quick things to understand, and they’re teaching you side by side. So it’s a win-win.

Conclusion

So the final decision from my end is yes, you should know how to code if you’re a designer. Again, you should know how to code, but don’t practically do it if you get what I mean.

Thanks for Reading!