Alex Dunae

A lot of it comes down to the fact that print designers usually have all the content before they design anything, This certainly true for books, book covers and the likes.

As someone who both designs and codes on the other hand it can be extremely interesting to collaborate with true blue print designers on a website because they often have no idea of the limitations/difficulties and thus aren’t burdened by them; I certianly learned a lot about graphic design form my collaborations with print designers and most of the print designers I worked with truly came to appreciate the difficulties involved in this medium we call web.

Your comment on content quite is interesting. In some cases I think that’s true: the fact that users (and site admins) can upload and edit content at will certainly makes for some interesting design challenges. At the same time, it’s all about templating. I think the skillset used in designing a long annual report (various photo placements, table styles, pull quotes, etc…) is similar to designing, say, a WordPress theme.

When working with designers from a print background on small brochure sites for their clients, I find they tend to lay out every single page quite precisely when templated styles would make much more sense.

Very interesting post. I have one question for you then. How about web designers who design for print? How about web designers who jump in and design business cards for their web clients? How about the reverse? Your thoughts? It does happen just as frequently.

I should probably clarify my post above. Designers are certainly a versatile bunch and many are quite adept at both print and online work. The main problem is when designers who aren’t versed in the web try to take on a web site. The reverse is most certainly true: a web designer with no print experience is going to have some fundamental problems (e.g. rich blacks, selecting stock).

That said, since you have experience in both, what do you think?

(I realize I’ve been picking on designers. To be fair, I should probably write about programmers moving between desktop to web.)

Hey Alex, I think it is great that you have opened this up for discussion. No criticism of you at all, only questions and things for us all to think about. I hope more people comment on this post of yours. It is an excellent topic.

My opinion is, that we all need each other, and the more time we would be willing to spend trying to collaborate with each other, and to learn from each other, and partner with folks who have skills we do not have … and not try to compete or gossip about each other (this happens a lot locally) … then it would be a win-win for all.

These days, I believe it is crucial for print designers to have some skill in web. It is a must. I do web because I like both. And, I am very aware of my limitations on the web, and am very ethical with clients. I do what I am good at, and I never promise what I cannot deliver. I have no problem asking for help when I need it when it is in the best interests of the client.

And, I LOVE programmers! I am amazed at what you all do, and value your skill tremendously. I love to partner with programmers.

Finally, bottom line is, the client gets to choose, not us. Really.

Ultimately, we’re all designers, and though some of the technical specs change, the principles of clarity and creativity — among a host of others — remain true, whatever the format. I think that “print” designers should certainly have a rough understanding of how the web works, just as “web” designers should have a rough understanding of how print works. However, it should only be enough to allow them to be aware of whatever differences there are (differences, not limitations — for those keeping tabs of my earlier posts/comments ;)) and to compensate for them accordingly. A print designer does not have to be an expert at web design, and vice versa; so long as both sides of the aisle have a decent idea of how each side works, then this is where collaboration between the two has a chance to shine.

I think we’re all generally in agreement. Good design follows certain basic principles (e.g. balance, follow, proportion) that apply no matter the medium. However, I put a lot of stock in understanding and then mastering the medium. I think I understand your view, Stuart, I just think we’ve just drawn our lines at slightly different places in the sand: mine puts more emphasis on the medium while you’re more medium-agnostic.

In the end, that’s the joy of our profession: its a young discipline and experimentation is necessary. The post above was about my specific experiences; I look forward to being proved wrong in the future.

Great Post!

I’d like to throw this into the discussion as well. My single biggest frustration (because usually I can rationalize design changes based on my knowledge of websites and how they work) is print designers who work on websites and continue to use Adobe Illustrator!

The time that this adds to production, especially when they continue to design using inches (!!!) instead of pixels.

I’d like to put it out there that Illustrator is fundamentally not meant for web design. Photoshop, for me is still the best tool for design and mock up of websites. When done properly you designs can then be translated “pixel perfect” into a web site.

Anyway, great post. I like your Classy Lists plugin as well.
Keep up the good work.

*ian

I hear you about the inches vs. pixels, and partially about the Illustrator files, though I’ve gotten fairly adept at extracting sites from AI files lately. Dialect’s design half, Nik, uses Illustrator primarily. I think he finds it quicker and it is (in my experience) much easier to align elements and flow text. That said, we still strive for pixel perfect. I think it’s just a matter of thinking creatively about your tools.