Member-only story
Building a Common Language for Designers and Developers
Originally published on Scalable Path by Christi on May 29, 2018.
Imagine you’re on a call, discussing the latest app designs when you notice that not everyone is working from the latest design file you sent. Their version has different color buttons and the wrong copy. “Wait a minute, let me resend it” you say, and open your ‘Mocks’ folder. In it, you’re greeted by a long list of elaborately named files where, after previewing a dozen and sorting by date, you eventually send over the most recent:
Landing_pg_v2.4_final_proper_final_v1b_last_one_i_promise.png
Clearly, this isn’t an efficient way to work. Yet for an industry that prides itself on innovation, this is still the norm for many design teams. Collaboration tools between designers and developers have been a problem for a long time. Until quite recently, the process had barely changed in a decade! Each year, companies waste millions of dollars on mistakes that could have been avoided with better collaboration tools. The frustration at this stagnant and outdated process is perfectly encapsulated by Alex Schleifer, the VP of Design at Airbnb, “Here is the simple truth. You can’t innovate on products, without first innovating the way you build them.”
