How to work effectively with engineers as a designer?

People often view these two professions as two complete opposites. But the reality is, engineers and designers are meant to work together. Designers are creative and engineers are logical thinkers. The designer-engineer relationship can be very effective if the two want to work together. We are here to tell you all about how you can work effectively with engineers as a designer and vice versa.

Have understanding for each other

Mutual understanding and respect are important. Not just for the designer-engineer relationship, but for any relationship regarding and not regarding work. In order to work with someone effectively, you need to understand that their job isn’t easy. The same way your job isn’t easy. No matter what you do, you are there for a reason. And people who you work with have to respect that and so do you.

In this case scenario, designers have to understand that the job of the engineer is hard and that it takes time to do it the right way. So you as a designer have to have this in mind at all times. Because you are the one who designs and they are the ones that make what you designed. So making a complicated design will require the engineers to work much more. So it’s best to keep it simple yet effective. Both opinions are important and mutual respect is the key to work effectively.

Keep the design simple

In order to work effectively with engineers as a designer, we suggest you keep your design simple. By simple we mean you should use common styles such as pre-defined margins, colors, and other classes that engineers use to make development faster. The same way logos must have certain qualities to be good, websites need some common styles.

Using common styles in your design will show the engineer that you have respect for their work and that you don’t want to make it too hard. You can make an amazing website using common styles. But adding some custom ones here and there won’t hurt them. So if you have the need to do so, feel free. Just don’t do it too much. Use the custom styles for special occasions or when it’s absolutely necessary to use them.

Listen to their feedback and take everything they say into consideration

Some engineers are often pretty decent designers and they know what they are talking about. So to work effectively with engineers as a designer you need to listen to their feedback and opinions. Engineers want to be heard when the design is what we are talking about. They might have some ideas that would never cross your mind. As far as we know, their feedback is often on-point and very helpful. You don’t have to use every idea that they give you of course, but at least show some respect and add some of the suggestions to your design.

For example, if you are making a website for a moving company such as bestcrosscountrymovers.com, ask your engineer what they think about what you can add to make the website much better.

It’s important to listen to their feedback.

Designers have to understand programs engineers are working with too

In order to be a good designer, you have to know the basics of the programs the engineers are working with. So make sure you understand the basics of HTML, CSS, and JS before you start working with engineers. Knowing at least the basics of these three programs will allow you to understand better what the engineers are working with. This will also help you gain the understanding that we talked about previously. And this will also help you stay “humble” while creating the design. The engineers you are working with will also gain more respect for you as you show interest in what they do too.

If you’ve ever moved alone you know how hard that is. So when you hire assistance when moving out of Florida, you know how hard it is for your movers to do everything the right way. It’s the same with engineers job. Try doing all that they do alone and you will see how hard it is.

Don’t distract the engineer

Working as an engineer requires a lot of focus. The job is hard and demanding even if you only use common styles. Everything has to be perfect. So distracting your engineer while he is doing his job should never happen. Engineers need to stay focused and not bothered by others. So if you are planning to have any meetings, make sure you schedule them at the beginning or at the end of the day. Having meetings during the day while the engineers are working isn’t good for their concentration.

Don’t distract your engineers while they are working.

Don’t make one change at a time

The worst kind of distraction for the engineer is when designers want to make one small change at a time. To work effectively with engineers as a designer, you need to be patient. So if you want to change the color of the button, hold that thought for a while until you run into something else you want to change. Then after you’ve accumulated a few minor changes, you should propose the change to the engineer. They will do the same if they feel like the website needs a redesign.

Conclusion

A lot of understanding and listening is important to work effectively with engineers as a designer. When you learn how to do just that, this type of working group will be the best of the best. So follow our tips and you won’t have any troubles when working with engineers as a designer.