What designers actually need to know about coding

We’re currently living in a time where designers pressure themselves to become unicorns. Start a podcast. Become a “thought leader”, whatever that is. To stand out in a saturated market, designers are expected to widen their skillset. One of the more sought-after talents is coding.

The best sign of this is what happens when you type “should designers” into Google. Six of these top hits ask about whether designers should learn to code. It’s clear that there are many people worried about this.

Designers don’t get taught how to write code because they aren’t interested in becoming a developer. There’s overlap between the two careers, sure, but you don’t need to practice one to be good at the other.

As a designer who can code, I’ll always recommend coding to anyone (because I love it!) but there’s a lot of miscommunication around what designers actually need to know to succeed in today’s marketplace.

You don’t need to be able to write code to be a great digital designer. But you do need to understand the basics of how digital products are born and maintained. Artists know how to mix paints to get different colours. Chefs…