“thanks for the offer, but we do our own stuff.”

Today after returning from a great OCC Novi Sad meetup, Ilija, Darko and I were having a small chat about team work. We are all believers in small teams. The environment of small teams seems to be more productive and focused on work and results, instead of time wasting and management.

On my way home this got me to think about how this attitude works for us in our team. Over the time that Superawesome exists, we have gotten numerous offers for .psd to xHTML/CSS slicing and coding, but we always said “thanks for the offer, but we do our own stuff.” OK, so here’s one more argument why I think coding your own xHTML/CSS is so important—not only to you as a designer for the Web—but especially to your clients.

The Common Scenario

Usually the story goes like this: The designer(s) make the mockups, hand it over to the frontend coder(s) and they slice it up and send it back to the designers for a review, some back and forth is done, and finally the static pages are forwarded to the backend developers.

The “I Do My Own Shit” Scenario

Now pay attention to this, as it is the whole point. The handsome & admirable xHTML/CSS capable designer for the Web every mother would like to have for a son makes the design mockups. But wait, he only makes the really essential ones, that set the style of the site focusing on key elements only. Gets approval on those, and starts coding, designing the site along the way directly in xHTML/CSS, instead of pushing pixels for days on end until the .psds are perfect.

The Obvious Benefits for the Client

1. *It saves money*—because less time is needed to be put in. Not everything needs to be drawn out and mocked up for the frontend guy, as he already knows the ins and outs of the design.
2. Faster progress—because there is no middle-men, it’s a one man show, or a well played small team show. No going back-and-forward, just straight ahead baby
3. Did I mention it saves money? Well it does, and that’s exactly what it comes down to in the end, most of the time anyway.

The Drawbacks

The only drawback of this method that I can possibly see is that it’s not suitable for large productions because everything is taken care of by a single person or a very small and well formed team.

How We Do It?

We are a small team, that goes in our favor (we like to think.) As we progress deeper into the project, we think ahead, design everything as if that person would do the xHTML/CSS themselves. Also, in the end, we kind of know each-other’s styles and conventions, and that’s another benefit of a small team.

At Superawesome, I am usually responsible for the frontend stuff. But Petar—who is usually in Photoshop—knows his way around in the code very well, and that’s an irreplaceable quality because he knows what it takes to transfer a design element or an entire layout into code. That is what makes our process so much more streamlined and efficient, as all of us we both design and code, not do just one or the other.