high performance developer designer collaboration

Tim  Fisher  Technical  Consultant  

CPoWeR  Lead  Architect  

Kate  Pricer  Visual  Designer  

CPoWeR  Lead  Designer  

November 5, 2011 1DevDay Detroit

Developer/Designer Collaboration

Kate Pricer Tim Fisher

Fisher-Price®

@tfisher @pricer_designs

•  Direct  Developer/Designer  collabora@on  does  not  have  a  significant  role  in  the  development  process.  

 •  Designers/Developers  oCen  in  different  departments.  

•  Designers  rarely  have  the  same  aFachment  to  full  product  lifecycle.  

Traditional Methods

Designer Takes the Lead

•  UI  for  a  site/app  developed  by  a  designer  in  isola@on.  

•  The  result  is  passed  to  developers  to  implement.  

•  Rarely  looks/func@ons  as  intended  

•  Misses  out  on  technology  opportuni@es  

Developer Takes the Lead

•  Developer  creates  ini@al  UI.  

•  Asks  the  designer  to  make  it  look  preFy,  create  fancy  buFons,  etc.  

•  Designers  not  being  used  to  full  poten@al  

•  Designer  does  not  have  equal  aFachment  to  end  product  

Over the Wall Collaboration

LPX-u11335223 © Fotosearch

The Challenges

•  Designs  do  not  take  advantage  of  technology.    •  Implementa@on  may  not  be  the  way  designer  intended  it.    •  More  and  more  design  relies  on  implementa@on  (HTML5,  

CSS3,  mobile  APIs,  etc)  

Fisher-Price® The Team

How We Collaborate

•  Side-­‐by-­‐side  collabora@on    

•  Instant  feedback/fix  cycles    

•  Technology  incorporated  into  design  

•  Design  incorporated  into  implementa@on  

 •   Individual  work  on  coding/graphic  with  instant  feedback    

•   Achieves  the  best  outcome  for  end  product  

Our Process

App/Site Conception - features - layout - flow

Graphic Design

Code Implementation

Really Cool Product

Challenging Tradition

•  Don’t  be  restricted    

•  Produc@ve  environment    

•  Going  against  the  grain  

Our Workspace

Benefits of Collaboration

•  Design  influenced  by  technology  •  Technology  adapted  to  design  

•  Developer  AND  designer  used  to  maximum  poten@al  •  Learning  environment  is  created  

Portfolio

Walk  Detroit  MakerQuest  iWish4Detroit  Art  Van  Simply  the  Best  CPoWeR  Incuba@on  Space  

Portfolio - Mobile

Portfolio - Web

Can This Work For You?

 -­‐  Don’t  try  to  duplicate  our  style      -­‐  Take  the  message  and  figure  

out  what  works  for  you  

 -­‐  Mobile  projects  are  ideal  for  designer/developer  collabora@on  

Questions?

Comments?  Concerns?  Remarks?