Ovi Demetrian JrApr 14
Matthias Ott

✍️ New post: Design and Engineering, As One

A #longread about a man with a stopwatch, a school in Weimar, and why the gap between design and engineering isn’t an accident.

https://matthiasott.com/articles/design-and-engineering-as-one

Design and Engineering, As One · Matthias Ott

We inherited our product processes from a 19th-century steel works. Frederick Winslow Taylor separated thinking from doing, managers from makers, designers from builders – and a hundred years later, most digital product teams are still running on that model. The gap between design and engineering isn’t an accident. It was designed in. And it can be designed out.

Matthias Ott – Web Design Engineer
Apr 14 at 12:42pmWeb
Show threadTyler StickaApr 14
@matthiasott *Love* this one, Matthias
Show threadMatthias OttApr 14
@tylersticka That makes my day! 😊🙌
Show threadKoosApr 14
@matthiasott nice one! Although I studied industrial design engineering, after switching to web stuff it took me long to realize that I still am a design engineer. Many orgs incentivize or even force making a clear choice between design and engineering. They just want replaceable robots. It’s time to make design engineering a thing in web design!
Show threadCagatay GedikApr 14
@matthiasott I read your articles for the first time and I absolutely loved it. I think most of what you said applies to iOS or Android as well; it makes me feel like we need design engineers on our app side too.
Show threadMatthias OttApr 15
@cagataygedik Thank you, glad you enjoyed it! 🤗 Yes, you’re right – this is equally true for other areas of digital design (engineering).
Show threadOllie BoermansApr 15
@matthiasott @tylersticka dreaming of a Bauhaus for the web
Show threadMichaelApr 15
@matthiasott I've been thinking about software in the Bauhaus tradition on and off for a while now, and this cleanly gets to the heart of it. Thanks for writing it!
Show threadMatthias OttApr 15
@mhp Thank you, Michael! I’m really glad you liked the article! 😊
Show threaddamianwalshApr 16
@matthiasott Hits the nail squarely on the head. But I can’t help feeling a bit sad the role needs to be paired with another discipline to legitimise it (see also Product Designer). Adding another specialism seems to add to the general confusion and fragmentation. Maybe I’m getting old, but Web/Digital/Interaction Designer used to be reasonably well understood/respected/compensated catch-alls. Businesses could hire for it and know the person would understand the medium they were working with.
Show threadClaudio RimannApr 16
@matthiasott This is so good, love it! Thanks, Matthias.
Show threadChristian TietzeApr 16
@matthiasott the heck :)
Show threadMatthias OttApr 16
@ctietze Hope you also find the reset button 😂
Show threadChristian TietzeApr 16
@matthiasott did it store that from a previous session? I was terribly confused :D
Show threadMatthias OttApr 16
@ctietze Haha, I’m sorry. 😇 Yes, it saves the current state in localStorage, also to preserve the settings across pages. But I guess I should add a timeout so that people who played around with the mixer aren’t confused when they visit the site again after some time… 😅
Show threadmrtnvhApr 17
@matthiasott Yes, yes, yes! Amazing write-up, thank you for this!