[ux_designer]

This contributes to the problem the article illustrates. You outsource your design, as you put it the "logos, color and layout selection, or a new look for something," and then say that the PM and engineers wing the UI and UX?

So you outsource your design and art, and then don't even really have a resource, outsourced or not, for user experience.

Also, it's quite a shame that you're associated designers with being "hip and not passionate" and "specializing and not being an adequate generalist."

Imagine if your post was reversed, and described why design-based startups can't find good programmers. All the pejorative "this vs. that" statements you could write about a programmer and what their "environment encourages."

[irahul]

> Imagine if your post was reversed, and described why design-based startups can't find good programmers. All the pejorative "this vs. that" statements you could write about a programmer and what their "environment encourages."

I imagined it. And?

There are places where programmers are treated as commodity, and there are places where programmers are prized possessions, and same holds for design, business, sales or any other stream of work. If I feel that all I need is someone to do a $25 logo because basically I don't give a shit about the logo and code is what that matters, it's totally my prerogative. I am under no obligation to appease random people's sense of entitlement.

If you run a design shop or are one of those "idea guys" who need a code monkey to do the easy job of coding so that you can work on the hard parts, would I do it? Fuck no. But that doesn't mean there aren't people who would do it or you are wrong to have such expectations.

I don't know why people feel that the whole world owe them something, and complain about being prosecuted when their perceived debt isn't paid.

[wpietri]

We don't "wing" the UI and the UX. We design it. We outsource specific, discrete pieces of other kinds of design that we aren't good at. My point there is that, as the article suggests, we aren't looking for a unicorn designer.

Also, take a deep breath and read what I wrote again. I didn't say that designers in general had those problems, just that the environment at agencies encourages those traits. I stand by that. Programmers who work in particular environments can also have problems adapting to startups, but this article isn't about hiring programmers.

[astrofinch]

Their homepage looks all right...