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About this talk
If you're a developer who's going to work with designers in any capacity, then chances are high that at some point you'll be presented with a design system. Understanding your way around that system will improve your understanding of how designs and prototypes are meant to be translated into code, as well as making your life easier by providing quick access to resources. A lot of devs hear the word "design" and immediately tune out, but that's a mistake! Learn what's in a design system, how they improve design/dev collaboration, and how you can get the most out of this incredible resource.
Talk Recording
Slides
🌈 Comment below and ask me questions — I might just answer them during my live speaker discussion!
About me
Hi! I'm Kathryn Grayson Nanz. I graduated with a BFA in 2013 and took my first job as junior graphic designer at a small ad agency. While there, my Creative Director warned me to never let anyone find out I could code because I'd be stuck doing it forever. I ignored this and it turns out he was 100% right — but I've never been happier. I currently work as a dev advocate where I help people build web apps in React, design/maintain component libraries, and stop back-end devs from writing CSS.
This on-demand talk is part of CodeLand 2022 — a virtual conference brought to you by CodeNewbie & DEV on June 16 & 17, 2022.
Oldest comments (32)
Woahh.. most waited talk😍🤩🤗
I love design !!
A little off topic but what is a developer advocate? and how did you become one?
A Developer Advocate is a type of software engineer that focuses on the relationship between a development tool and it's dev users. You might have also heard the title called Developer Relations or Tech Evangelist (although that one is – rightfully, IMO – fading in popularity, haha).
As part of my day-to-day, I speak at conferences, write blogs, work on documentation, record videos, create demos, stream on our Twitch channel, and talk to our users wherever they are (Twitter, Slack, our forums, etc). It's an incredibly fun job and combines a lot of the stuff I enjoy: coding, teaching, writing, streaming, and conferences!
I was extremely lucky to be recruited for my current job, so I don't think I have a typical "getting into DevRel" story – but I was referred by someone at my now-current company and the team lead reached out to me to see if this was something I'd be interested in. Obviously it was!
Before I was approached, though, I was already doing lots of blog writing and conference speaking, which gave them many examples of my work. If you're thinking about moving into Dev Advocacy, I'd recommend creating content: blogs, videos, streams, talks, whatever you enjoy most. Those things were all huge benefits to my career even before DevRel.
I am new @ this new journey, in my opinion Design is such a vast topic that is an upcoming and important concept and trend. I could see that colors have changed in new sites as well some of the ones involved directly in Cyber, DevOps, Health care and many others...
Exciting
Wow, Great talk!!!
I love working with my designers. It has really made me have a better eye for things. I am able to make suggestions and collaborate. In the end, we come up with a stunning user friendly site.
That was fantastic! Especially for someone like me that hasn't really dipped into design.
I'm presumed that companies already use some sort of design system to keep communication and consistency in touch. I might be in for a surprise!
Hello! Based off the talk and some of the chat in the Discord earlier (especially your comment "you don't have to be a master at everything, but it's nice to dabble")
My question is how would you recommend someone that has mostly/only been in the development/IT side to learn basic design in general (and/or UI/UX design, I am unsure how the different types of design is classified)?
Thank you again for the talk!
Hey there! There are a few resources I'd recommend:
But mostly, you just gotta start designing stuff and practice practice practice! I wish I could say there was a magic wand, but there's not. The more you do it, the more you will learn and improve!