“When you don’t create things, you become defined by your tastes rather than ability. Your tastes only narrow & exclude people. So, create.”
― Why The Lucky Stiff

There is one thing I learned during the UX/UI bootcamp at IronHack that I would never thought it’s gonna to happen two years ago. Basics of HTML and CSS seemed far away to the range of my interests. But as it was the part of the curriculum, I accepted the challenge.

So, does UX designer need to know how to code?

After the 2,5 week experience of coding my first website I think, that it depends on want kind of designer you want to be. I will summarise my learnings here:

1. UX designers don’t necessarily need to code at an expert level, but it’s ideal for one to learn enough to establish an understanding and appreciation. I can see why it is especially important for career transitioners trying to break into the UX. The more skills you bring to the table, the higher chance you will get hired.
2. Designers and developers must work together. If designers and developers work together on projects from start to finish, the result is a more cohesive web project with great aesthetics, user interface and clean code. There is less work and rework during the collaborative process, hopefully resulting in a project that can be completed in less time.
3. Once designers can understand what the developer is capable of creating, they foster focus on the mission and goals of the design project.
4. Work closely with your developer, you will save everyone plenty of time!
5. Ask for help along the way. If you are not sure if a specific font will work on a website, ask.
6. Provide design elements in usable file formats and at the appropriate resolution and size for web use.
7. Learn how to handoff designs and styleguides with accurate specs, assets, code snippets — automatically with Zeplin or Avocode. That’s the bare minimum-must.

This is the website I managed to code during the experience. Thanks to our great teacher Michael my horizons opened. Now I can not only understand that the developer-design combo must cooperate, but I can as well think of couple of new projects to put what I learned by coding into practice.

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At the beginning of project I was curious what is the secret behind actually creating the platform once it is designed. I’m glad that happened and that I got to understand, why designers and developers need to create together, and why is it essential to understand each others process.

What is your opinion? Do UX Designers need to know programming? Let me know in comments!

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