CodeNewbie Community 🌱

Cover image for [On-Demand Talk] Developing Beyond Code

[On-Demand Talk] Developing Beyond Code

Brownie on September 24, 2021

About this talk "Developing Beyond Code" through design saves companies a lot of money, time, and resources. But there are still be ...
Collapse
 
stevenyholm profile image
Steve Nyholm

Thank you for your talk. Wow, you covered a lot of material. Can you explain more about UX research? Is it more qualitative (interviews) or quantitative (surveys) or something else? What tools are commonly used? How much of the UX job is doing research?

Collapse
 
victorybrown profile image
Brownie

Sometimes you need to have a blend of both. Each approach can be used to back up the latter. User interviews, questionnaires, customer feedback are tools for conducting user research.

Well it depends on the company, if the user is the core of the product, definitely more time would be spent researching on the value of the product to the users.

Collapse
 
stevenyholm profile image
Steve Nyholm

Very helpful information. Thank you for taking the time to answer my questions, both during the live-streaming speaker discussion and in writing.

Collapse
 
nadreamer profile image
Nad

Thank you for the insight into the product development cycle.
My question is how to improve communication between devs and designers? For example in situations where the design might be difficult to implement?

Collapse
 
victorybrown profile image
Brownie

Usually designers who have done proper research, have a reason for adding certain features. They may sometimes be difficult for the developers to implement but it doesn’t mean it’s not implementable. Constant communication and proper representation of research findings could help developers see another angle and a better way to implement them.

Collapse
 
nadreamer profile image
Nad

Thank you for the reply :)

Collapse
 
callumreid profile image
callumreid

Do developers often become designers if they are front end focused, or is it a different path from the start?

Collapse
 
stevenyholm profile image
Steve Nyholm

I think people usually have a focus, either more developer or more designer. It's helpful for frontend developers to understand design principles and for designers to understand some code (HTML,CSS, maybe JavaScript). However, some front end developers only focus on code and some designers only focus on the visual design.

Collapse
 
victorybrown profile image
Brownie

True. Which is why most companies currently look for designers with basic front end knowledge.

Collapse
 
victorybrown profile image
Brownie

I think I’ve heard of the term UI engineers they basically fix design errors with code. This doesn’t mean they fully understand the whole design thinking process.

Collapse
 
mahyellaw profile image
MJ Torres

thank you for sharing your knowledge especially about design and the importance of working in teams. i've always been amazed by the works of UX/UI designers and that the process of bringing out a product takes a lot more time than one would think. maximizing the quality of a product's design always seemed complex and time-consuming for me, but when you broke it down to many small parts, it gave a clearer image of the process! :D

loved your talk, cheers <3

Collapse
 
victorybrown profile image
Brownie

Thank you. I’m glad I was able to break it down. Sometimes even I get confused by all the big words πŸ˜‚

Collapse
 
callumreid profile image
callumreid

What are some ways to get into design for someone coming from a more code-based background?

Collapse
 
victorybrown profile image
Brownie

Do a lot of personal study, research, find a mentor or a community of designers to be a part of 😊

Collapse
 
callumreid profile image
callumreid

Thank you!

Collapse
 
fizzybuzzybeezy profile image
fizzybuzzybeezy

Thank you for discussing the importance of development beyond code!

What are some challenges designers face when getting user experience (UX) right if the stakeholders aren't getting feedback from the end users? Perhaps that's more of a organizations issue rather than design issue.

Thanks again for sharing your ideas and knowledge.

Collapse
 
victorybrown profile image
Brownie

Yeah I mentioned changing your approach. What’s your strategy to getting feedbacks? How long has it been since you switched to the new trends? What’s new in the design market? How can you include that in your Products Development? When you have these figured out, you would be able to draw up a new strategy.

Collapse
 
fizzybuzzybeezy profile image
fizzybuzzybeezy

This is a great list of ways to respond to the issue!

Thank you for the thorough and thought provoking response @victorybrown !

Collapse
 
elleon003 profile image
elleon003

When you are first starting out with an idea, what are the best avenues for user research?

Collapse
 
victorybrown profile image
Brownie

Well it all depends on the project. You could start with close friends and families, or send out surveys to random group chats. Note that these surveys must have a description of what you’re trying to pass or develop. The right customers would be drawn to fill it.

Collapse
 
elleon003 profile image
elleon003

Cool, that helps. Thank you!

Collapse
 
muditabaid profile image
Mudita Baid • Edited

Thanks a lot Victory for the wonderful talk.
I think most of us don't think about design as we already have designers in our team. I feel irrespective of, if a person is a designer or not, everyone should think atleast a little like designers. So, being a backend engineer, how can one develop their mind to think of design also?

Collapse
 
victorybrown profile image
Brownie

Well firstly I’ll say build your visual skills. Train your eye to differentiate between good design and bad design. A good way to get started on this is by identifying areas on products you use often, that you think could be done better. It could be the color, font size, icon size etc. while working on a project you can volunteer to be a user. That way you get a picture of what you’re working on. Opinions are always welcomed but they need to be backed by proper research and data.

Collapse
 
srivera12 profile image
Sarah Rivera

Thank you for all of the detailed information and suggestions!

Collapse
 
victorybrown profile image
Brownie

You’re welcome😊

Collapse
 
debrakayelliott profile image
Debra-Kaye Elliott • Edited

This is a great talk. Good design is very important. It's part of the "initial attraction" that draws a user in to take interest in an app/ a product/ a website.

Collapse
 
danniemo profile image
Daniel Majesty Owiri

Thank you. Great information.

Collapse
 
victorybrown profile image
Brownie

I’m excited you found it worth your time. Good to have you here. Thank you

Collapse
 
austinxduong profile image
austinxduong

I love your talk Victory, will always have a designers heart πŸ€—

Collapse
 
victorybrown profile image
Brownie

Thank you πŸ₯³

Collapse
 
noviicee profile image
Novice

That was indeed a great talk. Thanks Brownie. You really covered a lot of material. Would love to learn more about UX research.

Collapse
 
victorybrown profile image
Brownie

Hi thank you so much @noviicee . You can start by getting articles on getting started with User Research and UX design. There are several articles on Medium that could point you to a great start. You could also get a course on it too.

Collapse
 
noviicee profile image
Novice

Thanks for the tips @victorybrown . I am surely gonna read lots of articles and might end up getting a course too! ;)

Collapse
 
ckn00b profile image
Christian New

This was a great talk @victorybrown . As a junior, I mostly sit through these sorts of meetings and take plenty of notes!

Collapse
 
victorybrown profile image
Brownie

Hi @ckn00b if you notice something that might be off, a good place to start is by saying. You could always refer to your notes, conduct more research, draw insights and pitch it to the teamπŸ˜‰