Comments on: Who are we … I am not a Developer

By: Gary Barber

Gary Barber — Sun, 03 May 2009 02:10:56 +0000

For those interested, those business cards.

Well as fate will have it the printer took over 18 days to print them and then screwed up the resolution on the print job to the point that the cards are not usable. The entire print job was trashed. Needless to say I will not be using this unprofessional printer again, nor recommending them to anyone.

So I still have to get new business cards. Maybe I’ll review the job title… again!

By: keith

keith — Tue, 14 Apr 2009 09:19:38 +0000

I’ve worked for over 8 years as an interaction designer for a fairly large (ahem* web-Internet company) … and disappointed that it’s not just clients but internal staff/managers who need to be educated (especially when they assume roles without understanding the responsibilities)…

so when people ask I say ‘digital plumber’

@James

By: Gary Barber

Gary Barber — Tue, 14 Apr 2009 06:27:38 +0000

@Tom – I can understand the just nodding. Sometimes I’m tempted to put weird title just so it gets client’s eyebrows raised.

@James – Yeah, problem with website planner is people think you only do the spec send, not the interface design. It just does say all of it. Mind you I don’t think there is an easy answer.

By: James Bull

James Bull — Tue, 14 Apr 2009 06:21:35 +0000

About two years ago, a couple of other people and me thought up the designation “Website Planner”. It seemed to be a generally understandable term and cover a multitude of specialist skills.

My business cards and email signature describe me as a Website Planner and Content Writer.

One of the challenges with “Designer” is that it can mean so many different things. Visual design? Interface design? Experience design? Database design? But then, that also gives you the opportunity to explain and educate, which is a good thing.

By: Tom Voirol

Tom Voirol — Sun, 12 Apr 2009 23:57:42 +0000

Thought-provoking post, Gary. I struggled with my designation on the business cards as well and find myself explaining a lot, like you pointed out.

Thing is, 90% of people call anyone who’s in any way involved in building websites a “web designer”. Sometimes I just give up and nod.