The Innocent Statement

A small rant on being both Creative and Technical; is it possible to be good at both? Is it worth it? (Written in a rush, sorry for any errata – or if it just doesn't make any sense)

Can a person be a Creative and a Techie without 'spreading the butter too thin'?

A lot of this industry is split into two kinds of people, the ‘creatives' and the ‘techies'. After conversations with Andy Clarke on MSN I am inclined to agree that sometimes these two people are best kept separate. After all, there is so much to learn on both sides, if you try to do both you run the possibility of wearing yourself out. Spreading the proverbial butter too thinly!

I sometimes wish I could take that advice and just focus on one side or the other, but unfortunately for me, this is not possible. My job needs me to try my best to keep up with both. I don't claim to be a creative in the same league as some of the other famous creatives on the web (you all know the names), but I do like to consider myself a techie with a big soft spot for things that look nice.

I am a perfectionist! I love my front-end code (XHTML, CSS, JavaScript) to be as close to validation as I can get it (and within time constraints) as mush as I love my backend systems to be efficient and well built. When I can I try to use one to help me achieve the other.

In a project that I/we have been working on for Intersport UK (Sorry, can't show you anything yet. It is a closed system) I have tried my best to get my ASP.Net platform to produce nice and clean XHTML code. This has caused many headaches, and a few late nights, but I have learnt a lot about .Net in the mean time. In the process to override some of the bad HTML that visual studio produces I have created a simple template engine that brings me closer to the concept of separating content and structure than I have ever reached before.

However, I have not been able to get the front-end up the level that I really wish it was at. The main problem I find is the way that asp.net uses JavaScript to handle post backs, and other functionality. There is nothing wrong with using JavaScript; it is just the way that they use it. Why does Microsoft have to hurt me so much? Why couldn't they have kept all the JavaScript in one separate file and used the DOM to add the ‘onClick' events and ‘onChange' events!? I will not rant on about that too much, because it is something that a lot of people have ranted about before me, I am sure.

Despite the hardships that come along with being a techie with a creative inclination, I wouldn't change. I like being able to understand both these worlds, and to be able to see the possibilities of both worlds as well. I think my leaning will always be towards function before form, since I started off as a programmer, and not a designer. I think that this is a healthy attitude to have since all good design is moulded around the functionality that is needed, and not the other way around.

The problems I face in the future are keeping up with all of this. I think eventually I will have to choose one route to specialise in, and then leave the other for another specialist comes. Until then, I will have to put much time and effort into keeping up with the designers and the programmers of this world. I greatly underestimated the importance of design when I was first starting out, but now I value it as one of the aspects that separates the boys from the men (or girls from women).

The companies out there that can provide both stables backend systems with great functionality that are usable and efficient will always be in need. The companies out there that cane provide great design that enhances the functionality of what ever is being designed, while thinking of usability and accessibility will also always be in need. Yet, the company that learns to do both, that company will not only be in need, but it will be in demand!

I hope.