Comment by James Sanders on "Ask Anything UI/UX and Design Systems to this group of Amazing Devs"

How is designing for developers is different from designing for other kinds of audiences? I keep hearing things like DX. Is it for real?

To me from a design perspective, Developers are another kind of user. I want to understand motivations, expectations, needs, pain points etc. in tools that developers use so that I can design a better experience for them.

I think DX might be a different term than this but really what I'm talking about is looking at developers as users that can vary a lot! say, a developer that is a part-time dev while they take on a parenting role is going to need something slightly different experience-wise to a full-time dev who is not a parent. Not all devs are the same and the experience of their tools needs to take that into consideration :)

It has its nuances for sure 😅

From what I see, developers are very picky people with a lot of options, so the expectation of quality is really high. At the same time, this audience really appreciates a job well done!

If you care about them, they pay it back :)

Developers are also a part of the audience we design for. However, just like Eriol & Sid have earlier said, devs yet being part of the audience, are unique users having their own preferences, expectations, needs, etc.

Designing within the developer ecosystem is real; it is important to consider the peculiarities of these people, what sets them apart, and what brings them together; the things they care about, what they need to facilitate their processes, and perform effectively too!

It's important to understand the moving parts that make the "designing for devs & various audiences" work.

Developers normally have different requirements than other users :). Some of the UI can be obvious with developers (Github repo for example) but not friendly with non-tech person. Also, like Sid said, developers tend to be picky, and for me particular, like to be impatient when it comes to dealing with things outside of coding. So designing for developers need to take into consideration how useful and easy for them to navigate around (Netlify is a good example for this), or else they won't use and even bass the product publicly. But if you do it well, developers are the first ones to celebrate and appreciate them ;)

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