Contribution of Designers and Developers in Today's Applications

Do you know people spend an average of 4-5 hours everyday on their mobile phones? They spend their time on several web-based and app-based applications. But why are we so engaged with the applications? The reason is the features of the applications and the value they provide. Usability, good design, and easy navigation are examples of an application's features. Adding value can be considered as the service that an application provides to the users. For example, Google Maps provides a location-finding service. This is a significant benefit for travelers in finding places in the cities/countries they visit. As a result, this application provides value service to travelers. There are many other location-finding applications that provide the same service, but Google Maps is preferred by users due to its design simplicity and user-friendly functionalities. Due to such features and services, many applications have now become part of our daily routine and have made our lives so much easier.

Now, let's demonstrate with a question: what is the first factor that keeps us on a website/app as first-time visitors? I would say the visual presentation of the website/app. I'm sure you also prefer the design of an application. Then, if we like the design, we stay on that website/app, explore it, and try to find a common ground between our requirements and the services provided by the website/app. In short, the appearance of an application is the first preference of the user, which falls in the scope of designers. And when we talk about the easy working of an application's functionalities, we refer to developers for this task. Remember, there are many entities involved in an application development process, but the two most prominent and important are designers and developers. They are in charge of an application's significant work and success.?

If I interpret designers and developers work in technical terms then?designers are individuals who are responsible for an application's look and feel. How an application will be designed, the color scheme, alignments, font styles, font types, layout, etc. is handled by designers and proper user research is conducted to complete this work. Designers engage the users with the application's services. Designers are mainly classified as UI Designers and UX Designers. Both do the same work. The only difference is the complexity of design details. Developers, on the other hand, are in charge of the website's logical part. For instance, what will happen when a user clicks button. Taking both the designer and developer roles in one scenario, let's say that I fill out a login form and click on a submit button, the form is submitted and I log in to the website. In this case, everything in the form, including text, input areas and buttons styling is the work of the designers. And login after clicking on the button is the work of the developers. So, designers and developers as a whole, make much of the work and success of the applications. In an application's development, first comes the work of the designer and if the design is complex, it'll create complexity in the developer's work too. That is the reason in many cases, minimal design is appreciated as it overall reduces the complexity.

The success of an application depends on user satisfaction which can be measured through surveys, feedbacks or simply looking at the traffic analytics of a website. A repeated number of customers shows that they have found an application easy to use. Its alternative can be noticed if there is a website of a well-known brand. The brand receives a substantial amount of traffic in physical stores but not on the website. This can be due to the complexity of the design or logic. Users either dislike the website's design or find the website's operation too complicated.

So, both designers and developers should make applications keeping in mind the "User". Successful applications know the customer's requirements for which they first do research before building an application. Because it is important to know for whom we are making an application.

Conclusion

If?I?summarize?the?whole?subject,?I?would?say?that designers are the ones who are responsible for making first-time visitors stay on the website and the developers are the ones responsible for making those first-time visitors convert to customers by providing simplified, less complicated, easy to operate functionalities of the application. So as a whole, users, designers, and developers are connected to each other from an application's development process to its success. And all these three entities are, at their core, connected to the user research. Designers and developers should keep this mind that they are developing applications for the users with different perspectives. So it is their responsibility to make applications accessible and relatable for all type of users.