It’s one of those topics that gets brought up time and time again: does a web designer have to know how to code? Lots of good points have been made for both side of the argument, but I honestly doubt there’s an objectively right answer. The answer each individual arrives on is derived in part from the value they place on generalization over specialization.

One essential fact for me is that code is, basically, the medium from which a website is built. I always think…Isn’t mastery of the medium an essential part of any art?

On the other hand, one person can’t do everything! For example, think of two hypothetical designers:

1. Designer A splits his time and efforts between code and design.
2. Designer B focuses only on design.

It might be that “Designer B”, who focuses on design alone, will consistently outstrip “Designer A”‘s design skills.  I’m not so sure that’s a fact. But it certainly sounds reasonable.

Then again, maybe being able to accurately gauge the quality of all the parts of the finished website — essentially, being a specialist in the web — would make Designer A’s skills more relevant to design for the web.

It’s definitely, in part, a question of specialization or generalization.

Specialization is for Insects

A human being should be able to change a diaper, plan an invasion, butcher a hog, conn a ship, design a building, write a sonnet, balance accounts, build a wall, set a bone, comfort the dying, take orders, give orders, cooperate, act alone, solve equations, analyze a new problem, pitch manure, program a computer, cook a tasty meal, fight efficiently, die gallantly. Specialization is for insects.
Robert A. Heinlein

The Assembly Line

In the early 1900′s Henry Ford made use of a system called an “assembly line” to manufacture his vehicles.  The assembly line is sometimes credited for making cheap mass manufacture possible!  One of its defining characteristics is the use of “semi-skilled” employees whose sole responsibility is to perform a single task the same way hundreds or thousands of times a day.

While efficient, the assembly line is notorious for its negative effects on assembly line employees: boredom, repetitive motion injury, and a sense of alienation — not to mention that phrase “semi-skilled”.  You see, an employee working to manufacture a car, but trained only to fit nut 362 onto bolt 9B, doesn’t know how to build a car.  He is not really an automotive engineer.  Even though he builds cars every single day!

From a business perspective, a factory of low-skill employees is smart and efficient.  But is that what we really want to be as web designers?

(The assembly line had a number of positives as well, so I’ll mention it again in the section “Master of None”.)

Jigsaw Puzzle

You see, a web site is reliant on the successful integration of many disciplines.  What is an individual web page?  It’s light from a computer monitor attempting to communicate with and solicit interaction from a viewer.  It’s in the form of a virtual (not actual) file which appears to be located at a rewritten url, rendered by the browser based on HTML, CSS, and images returned after an HTTP request made to a server — after being assembled by a web programming language.

A website is a jigsaw puzzle.  If someone hands you a single piece of a puzzle, do you know exactly how it will fit and what picture it will form after the entire puzzle is assembled?  You might be able to guess, especially if you have a critical piece.  But you don’t understand the whole picture yet.  So you may find that what you thought was a rabbit is actually a duck.

So what? Your piece is critical.  All of the pieces are critical.  And they have to fit seamlessly.

The Vacuum

There’s an art cliche that “art does not exist in a vacuum.”  I’m not sure that’s ever been as relevant as it is today to the art of web design.  I can’t stress this enough: the interdisciplinary web designer is the only web designer.  It is not possible to contribute effectively to the final product by focusing only on one piece of the puzzle to the exclusion of the puzzle itself.  The business goals, marketing department, content writers, IT, designers, information architects, et cetera must communicate and integrate to create a successful web presence.

How often in this field do we hear (or say) something like, “The entire process of building this site was ridiculous.  I couldn’t get content from marketing.  So I ended up forced to tack an extra button on the menu, since they later decided they wanted a new section.  Then sales came in and wanted extra ad space everywhere–and when I said there wasn’t room, my boss (who’s from IT, not design) told me to ‘just make the margins smaller, there’s too much wasted space anyway.’  Then the developers told me the limit on this bit of text was 3 times what I thought and apparently they decided on their own ‘to just make the font smaller’!”

Try almost every time?  Now, it would be fair to say that part of the problem in that scenario is that no one is listening to the design expert about, you know, the design.  But there’s another important point: an aesthetically pleasing mock-up can’t trump changing business needs.  Unlike print graphic design, web design is an organic thing.  It’s a rare web site that is finished “and sent to the printer” never to be touched again.  A web designer has to be prepared for that.  Not for his vision being ruined, no, but he has to be prepared to adapt.

Web design is done in the opposite of a vacuum.  The environment for web design is more like a storm; debris flying everywhere and gusting winds.  A web designer must be as dynamic as his environment and his medium.  Generalization contributes to that flexibility.

The Medium

Imagine a web site design that uses no markup and and does not render in a browser: what is it?  I’m personally not sure, but it’s definitely not a web site.  I’ve heard the argument that if designers aren’t around to push the limits of what’s currently possible in the browsers (somehow this “constraint busting” requires Photoshop), then all websites will look the same forever.  This argument incorrectly assumes that such creativity is something the technically inclined are incapable of exercising within the browser itself.

Would a web designer (without any knowledge of paper, ink, printing processes, et cetera) be better qualified to design a revolutionary magazine than a print designer who is thoroughly versed in the medium?  The web designer will have knowledge in common with the print graphic designer.  Some of the web designer’s skills will transition smoothly from one medium to the other.  They may even be familiar with some of the same software!  Nevertheless, there’s going to be a lot to learn when attempting a different medium for the first time.  It will require a paradigm shift.

Just as there is no painting without paint, there is no web design HTML and CSS.  A designer who knows nothing about search engine optimization will find their site trumped by one who does.  Beautiful graphics are tinsel if the content is itself unknown.  Without image optimization, well-written JavaScript, and solid server-side development…  Well, who is going to patiently deal with broken functionality or wait 5 minutes to appreciate pretty menu graphics?

Certainly, a hypothetical team of specialists with solid rapport can produce incredible work through collaboration.  Certainly, a graphic designer can learn the medium of the web.  These facts are not under debate.  My assertion is that web design is an interdisciplinary field which requires breadth as well as depth; that good web design is technology and art in harmony.

Renaissance Men

A man can do all things if he will.
Leon Battista Alberti

I’ve said that “the divide”, looked at from one perspective, is a question of personal values — the question is, “specialization or generalization?”  And it certainly is a question of personal values which can only be answered subjectively.  Today it seems that many dismiss the renaissance notion that “a man can do all things if he will” in favor of the idea that if a man tries, he is a dilettante and not at all serious about mastering his claimed skills.

I personally find this rather tragic.  Graphic design itself relies upon color theory and typography.  Both of these are deep, specialized subjects in themselves.  Then there is drawing, itself a study and a specialization.  Not to mention a historical grounding in art and commercial design!

In fact, it’s the expert-level knowledge a designer has about these and many other subjects (including psychology!) that makes him a good designer.  He is a expert in the specialty of design only because of his breadth of knowledge about the many things that influence successful design.  Enter the web.  There’s a breadth of web-specific knowledge a web designer needs to know.  Such as code.

I’ll stop here on this one, but I highly recommend you read about experts, it’s pretty darn interesting regardless of the direction of your bias (generalist vs. specialist).  Especially this part:

An important feature of expert performance seems to be the way in which experts are able to rapidly retrieve complex configurations of information from long-term memory. They recognize situations because they have meaning. …[P]eople not only acquire content knowledge as they practice cognitive skills, they also develop mechanisms that enable them to use a large and familiar knowledge base efficiently.

Master of None

A few years ago someone pointed out to me that being called a “jack of all trades” wasn’t necessarily flattering.  I was stumped.  ”Why?” I asked.  She recited the quote: Jack of all trades, master of none! It eloquently described a concern of mine — by having many interests I didn’t feel I had enough time to devote to any one of them.

Practice most certainly does make perfect. There have been some fascinating articles and books published over the last few years about both genius and hard work. If it truly does take 10,000 hours (5 years, assuming a consistent 8 hours a day on weekdays) to become master of a craft and there are only 24 hours in a day, perhaps a generalist will always be third best at each of his skills.

The Assembly Line

Now back to the assembly line.  The popularity and success of the assembly line was merited because, let’s not kid, there are many ways this benefits a business.  If all you’re doing is watching closely to make sure the nut and bolt look sound and are fitted together well, you’re cheaper to train.  You’re less likely to miss problems.  You can devote all of your energies to becoming the best nut 362/bolt 9B fitter in the world.

Mass manufacture is an imperfect analogy for web design and development.  And I’m personally suspicious of argument by analogy.  However, it’s important to recognize that there are valid business reasons for (a) conceptualizing a web site project sequentially and (b) delegating small parts of the whole to specialized employees.  I consider it a valid argument in favor of specialization.

Relevance

If you’re talking about traditional design, code and a basic understanding of the technology are tangential subjects.  Maybe a web designer’s time is better spent studying art, typography, color theory, psychology, etc. than code?

Ofttimes Better than One

As it turns out, there’s another variation of that “jack of all trades” quote.

Jack of all trades, master of none, though ofttimes better than master of one.

Obviously, my personal values put me on the generalist side. You don’t have to agree, but I hope this post at least provided food for thought.