It’s a total double standard, designers are expected to code whereas coders are never expected to design. Why? Because coders can’t design; you can’t learn design whilst at work, they’d need to go back to college for at least 3 years. It’s nice if you know some basic HTML if your area is web based to give yourself more options but most of the designers here seem to ignore the fact that half of design is print based. I went straight from college into a publishers and had no need for coding. You don’t NEED to learn it! Otherwise they would teach coding in design courses but they don’t. It’s a totally different discipline.

When I have needed to design things for web like e-creatives, you talk to the coder and make sure what you’re doing is easily for them to code. If designers start coding everything too, then not only is there no jobs for web coders anymore as the two totally different jobs have merged together but the more time they spend coding and learning how to code, the less time they’ve spent being bloody top notch designers.

I know designers who boast about how they can code too, they are not very good designers. Once you learn both, your abilities in one have to take a back seat. That is a fact and I’ve seen it so many times. To anyone here saying they know both and that you NEED to, I’d not only say that you haven’t been in the industry very long, but I would also challenge any of you to design something as good as “design only” designers do. As if you think you’re great at both, then your artistic talent has taken a tumble and you haven’t even realised it.

Like I said, if you want to learn some basic HTML then go ahead IF your area is web design but it’s not necessary and companies and employers commenting here who expect it are not living in the real world. You wouldn’t expect an architect to start shovelling cement and work a crane. If you think car designers have any clue about how to fix and engine then you are deluded. You cannot be a master at both!

If you think that designers have to be great at coding, then you HAVE to, on that basis say that designers should be a master at print making, screen printing, carpentry and anything else that involves designing. It’s not all about web you know! Printers print, that is what they do, coders code, designers design.

Like a previous comment said, companies are trying to catch up to technology and don’t even know if they need a coder or a designer or a DTP so they end up hiring someone who can do as much as possible just in case they need it as they don’t want to hire 3 people who will do their job brilliantly when you can hire 1 person who’ll do the same poorly.

If you had showed me code when I started college and they said “that’s how to design a poster” then I would have quit and become a full time photographer. This isn’t the matrix, get real!

First of all this article is written by a “kid” who, although is making decent points, is far too young and inexperienced to make the assertions that he is making.

“Coding, mark-up, programming,” whatever general terminology that you want to use ultimately doesn’t matter here. What dose mater is that “design” and “coding” are two VERY different skill sets. One is left brained and the other right brained. There is not way around that fact. Also, the idea that coders and designers have to be at odds is childish and unprofessional. A talented team is a great team, period. And the digital space is far too large and ever-expanding so as to think that anyone person can master enough to be self-sufficient.

I have yet to meet someone that is great at both. And, just because you rip of the code from sites that you like then alter it slightly (or don’t), dose NOT make you a designer and it certainly doesn’t make you both! In actuality, that is the definition of a “hack”.

As a designer I will happily concede that we need to understand code in at least a basic level and certainly understand which design practices are pro-web and which ones might cause issues in the digital space, and thus avoid them. However, to think that anyone can keep current and be a “pro” at both for life is beyond unreasonable. And, honestly why would you want to?

This article is supporting a trend in the creative services (agency) world, which has gotten WAY out of control. And it is a negative trend for the creatives that work within the industry. It is however beneficial in a superficially financial and short term way for the those on the business side.

The truth is that most agencies are 10+ years behind the times and are still catching up to the web, all while the social networking/app/mobile revolution is in full swing. They are all running to bring in talent that really can’t be at a professional level in most instances as the technologies haven’t been around long enough to be mastered. So there is a lot of perfecting on the job. That is why there are all these job descriptions that were seemingly written by idiots with no real understanding of what they are talking about or what they are ultimately in need of. This is why they want all of us to know as much as possible.

And to Ken’s point. He is quite correct that agencies/companies are all ways finding ways to charge their clients for the salaries/production costs of 10 employees all while employing only a few so that they can pay themselves as much as possible while keeping their costs down. And, for the record, don’t think these type of agencies are going anywhere or will be around for long, because they won’t be. An even worse practice is outsourcing the work to “freelancers”. And all of you who think freelance is such a great thing are ultimately undermining yourselves and the industry in the long run. If you are not charging a B2B cost for your services (and I’m SURE none of you kiddies are) you are enabling the very MBA grads who are decade after decade encroaching on your financial worth and turning you all into “art slaves”. So, make this ridiculous argument now and see what happens in 10 more years where you all have to learn and know even more than what you do today.

There is a bigger picture going on here, lets grow-up and get beyond the bravado. As it really serves no constructive purpose.

Jack of all trades, master of none, indeed.

Specialize. It’s what Jesus would do.

The more skills you have….the better the end result can prove to be. Get stuck in I say all you designers out there, chew on some code and see how it can open many doors to good design, and great functionality.

Using mark-up is simply knowing how to layout your work out properly in it’s medium, the same way you would know this information in any other field of design.

I am a freelance consultant that has been both Creative Director at big agencies and lead developer, and I can tell you that XHTML/CSS is not hard and is a core part of building a good ‘design’ (designing a website is not just about the way it looks…)

Architects know about materials (but of course can’t build), car designers understand aerodynamics (but of course don’t engineer cars) and print designers understand print restrictions (but of course don’t run know the intricacies of being a printer).

Lazy Photoshop only designers need to improve the integrity of our jobs by becoming professional designers. The web is not all visual (for many it’s not at all) and the design process is a lot more complex than just “that looks nice”. Simple.