Do Designers and Creative types care?
On the heels of my previous post regarding the call for sessions for Adobe MAX 2009, I’ve just learned that there is currently a huge disparity in the submissions. It seems that an overwhelming number of developer types are really, really interested in learning about Flex and Actionscript – which of course is good. But on the other hand, MAX is supposed to be a gathering of Adobe enthusiasts from all disciplines.
In other words, do designers and creative types care? Do you want to learn new techniques to improve your productivity or creativity? If so, it’s time to step up and be heard! Regardless of which product you work with – Photoshop, Fireworks, InDesign, Illustrator, Dreamweaver, there’s surely something that you’d like to know more about. Let’s face it, these are tough economic times and we’re all in competition to be better, faster, more creative, more productive than “the other guy/gal”. And knowledge is the single most effective tool in the tool chest.
The dev side of the house is letting their voice be heard – now it’s our turn. Come on, creatives, get the word out and get involved! Submit your ideas! Let’s make sure that MAX is also about the creative side of the house. I want to see sessions covering CSS, prototyping with Photoshop/Fireworks, Ajax from a designer’s point-of-view, and… what are your ideas…?
Head over to the MAX session and submission site now!
March 9th, 2009 at 11:21 am
I happen to be a born and bred designer who saw the writing on the walls back in the early 90′s while I was getting my masters in drawing / fine arts. At that point I had to teach myself programming and thankfully both my art background and what I’ve learned over the years has paid off with some choice jobs and employers. The company I am at now is stocked with designers (mostly graphic) who have almost no knowledge of programming at all, let alone the basics of Flash. For them, change is bad and any form of learning is worse. For example – to help with web design and production I have tried to show the joys of Fireworks to everyone, only to have most go back to doing page layout (with blocks of text) in Photoshop or Illustrator.
I think some of the problems fall into “it’s too complex”, even though most programs and languages are not once someone breaks that initial ice. Also I just don’t think the designers realize that it’s just another tool. When you become complacent then any form of change is scary and daunting.
I wonder if at the various Max events if a “3-legged” race / forum would be good – pair up a designer with a programmer so both can learn a little from each other, then work on a project together for end-of-show submission.
March 10th, 2009 at 1:53 am
It’s not “too complex”, just not complex enough. The creative types who have the unique ability to think in a nonlinear multidimensional fashion, also rely on visual aids in the development process. As a designer with an interest in RIA development, I find the development interfaces to be severely lacking in that respect. The closest things I’ve seen to a visual representation of linked data sources (like the navigation panels in Flex or Flash Develop) are crude at best, showing only file system structure with separate timelines and state definitions, without any visual representation of each files internal data links. The whole picture is only realized by hours of sifting through numerous lines of linear data (or watching a debugger spit it out one piece at a time).
Could it be a lack of motivation on the part of the design software developers? After all a developer looking out for his best interest would certainly do everything in his power to keep the development tools in the hands of the developers.
The frustrating part is not the complexity of the applications, but the fact that learning the basics of the development process is akin to reinventing the wheel – a most distasteful thought to a creative mind.
Some of us might chose to go through the process out of necessity, but till the tools become more intuitive, I can’t imagine many people with a creative aptitude being attracted to the field.
March 12th, 2009 at 9:13 am
I don’t follow this post. Designers don’t need to know how to code, that’s the job of the developer. Are you asking why designers don’t want to learn code.
Well, that’s good. They should be focusing on designing.
I’m a developer and I have a BFA so I know both sides. A designer works through visual feedback and intuition; whereas a developer worked through abstraction and theory.
Learning a new tool or program is an abstract thought process and provides no immediate feedback. Also, I find that most designers do not like to move outside of their comfort zone, whereas a good developer is constantly doing that.
I see it as:
Designers = ‘do’ers
Developers = ”think’ers
March 12th, 2009 at 10:25 am
@Alan – I think that you are correct about designers typically staying within their comfort zone. But that’s my point exactly – in order to grow and in turn remain competetive, designers need to learn new things.
Adobe MAX is the perfect venue for this – however very few submissions have been made for design-oriented sessions (up to now). I’m hoping that that will change and designers will submit their ideas for sessions.
April 3rd, 2009 at 11:24 am
I think in these tough times nobody wants to spend time money and effort to attend these events regardless if you are a designer or a coder. I find it ironic that a company like Adobe that promotes online technology is still pushing for old fashioned ways of reaching their customers. I have seen some of the Adobe presenters do their stuff on stage live and I think they do a great job but aren’t their efforts better utilized in more interactive and web based activities instead of flying around to see an X number of people at a time?
April 3rd, 2009 at 3:37 pm
I happen to be a born and bred designer who saw the writing on the walls back in the early 90’s while I was getting my masters in drawing / fine arts. At that point I had to teach myself programming and thankfully both my art background and what I’ve learned over the years has paid off with some choice jobs and employers. The company I am at now is stocked with designers (mostly graphic) who have almost no knowledge of programming at all, let alone the basics of Flash. For them, change is bad and any form of learning is worse. For example – to help with web design and production I have tried to show the joys of Fireworks to everyone, only to have most go back to doing page layout (with blocks of text) in Photoshop or Illustrator.
I think some of the problems fall into “it’s too complex”, even though most programs and languages are not once someone breaks that initial ice. film indir Also I just don’t think the designers realize that it’s just another tool. When you become complacent then any form of change is scary and daunting.
I wonder if at the various Max events if a “3-legged” race / forum would be good – pair up a designer with a programmer so both can learn a little from each other, then work on a project together for end-of-show submission.