On Engineering and Design: An Open Letter

Microsoft Research Principal Scientist Bill Buxton calls for engineers and user-experience designers to learn to appreciate one another

I mentioned Bill Buxton a few times in class this week. Here's an excellent piece by him on the need for engineers and designers to appreciate each others' expertise. If anyone is still wondering why I wanted project teams to have a mix of backgrounds and perspectives, here's great justification for it.

"Well-intentioned engineers often ask me how they can become designers, or how they can "do" design. A typical question might be something like this: "Can you please share guidelines for maximizing user experience while designing a UI? For instance: When should I use radio buttons instead of drop down bars [to minimize clicks] and so on?"

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