Beyond Personal Growth: How Coding Builds Designers’ Emotional Intelligence and Strengthens Teams and Products
For over twenty years, the question 'Should designers code?' has provoked discussion on various forums, at conferences, and on social media. Our experience working in both design and development has shaped our view of that issue—and the wider question product teams should be considering.
In design, the usual topic of discussion is learning HTML, CSS, or JavaScript to understand the constraints of implementation or build a portfolio. Although these are useful advantages, the conversation seldom goes any further. With digital experiences becoming increasingly involved and with generative AI emerging, there is now more to consider regarding how coding can enhance design practice. A valuable question is how it can increase our empathy for colleagues in other disciplines and for the people who use our products.
Learning to code can help develop both interpersonal and technical skills; for designers and creative leaders, it can sharpen problem-solving, improve collaboration, and foster an appreciation for the decisions other team members must make. As AI changes how we interact with technology, these human skills should continue to receive attention and investment.
Being involved in both design and development has taught us to consider the technical possibilities and limitations at every stage of the creative process and to seek advice from our engineering colleagues as early as possible. Adopting that approach has increased our empathy for our teammates and has improved the results of the product in three important respects:
By aligning product development with user needs
The combination of design and engineering shapes how users experience a product, and by strengthening individual skills and promoting collaboration across teams, we can develop the product from the user's perspective. People have a complete experience of the product when they shop, bank, book travel, look for entertainment, or manage their health; by understanding how the various components work together, designers can make decisions that meet those everyday needs.
This became especially clear in the Cellanome project, which enables scientists to capture the intricacies of cells and their interactions. Although it was entirely new to the team, close cooperation helped us identify ideas and improve the experience in just a few days. Together, we learned which boundaries were appropriate to push and how to build software that simplifies complex assays and captures dynamic biology.
The ability to adapt goes well beyond one platform; by working together through uncertainty, teams prepare to investigate emerging technologies such as generative AI and turn promising ideas into products ready for real use.
If designers and engineers work on their own, they find it harder to know what a completely new experience will feel like for someone meeting it for the first time. Dworkz's one-team model brings specialists from a variety of disciplines together around a common problem and the same objective: delivering the product.
It matters to users and businesses, too. To create an attractive experience, you need to combine excitement, usefulness, and ease of use. When design and engineering come together, this balance is achieved, and people have a reason to come back.
By encouraging deeper, more meaningful conversations
Considering a situation from the point of view of both a designer and a developer enables designers to gain a better understanding of the perspectives, limitations, and ways of thinking of their engineering colleagues. This common understanding means that lengthy explanations are less necessary and leaves room for more in-depth discussions—such as whether this interaction is appropriate for the task, if users can achieve their goals more easily, and how much refinement would make a meaningful difference. Such conversations help transform good products into outstanding ones.
Learning to write code improves understanding of how products function and, in turn, makes these discussions more productive; clearer communication also gives teams more time to experiment, iterate, and come up with unique solutions.
Based on our experience, bringing together design and development leads to more careful consideration of longstanding practices. As machine learning becomes an everyday part of work, human judgment and skill remain essential. As in Hollywood, discussions have emerged about the creative judgment needed to know what works and when to stop refining it. Likewise, product design requires the same level of discernment.
By strengthening the ability to anticipate what comes next
The most valuable aspect of roles such as Group Design Director is still being directly involved in design work. Although Design Director duties shift as a career advances toward leadership and guiding products through long-term change, the coding skills and problem-solving experience you gain still shape how you move forward. Working alongside both design and development teams helps one predict how others will implement decisions, understand them, and build on them.
Design systems make this clear. When designers understand the development process, they are more likely to take into account the need for maintenance, scalability, and the flexibility required to meet future requirements. On the other hand, these issues often get less attention when the main focus is on appearance and immediate functionality, since they affect staffing, team structure, technology investment, and how the organization operates.
When a business prepares for transformation, the design system should be established early. Designers with coding experience will better understand product complexity and help teams bring their vision to life.
The Value Goes Beyond Coding
The more experience we gain in design, the less useful it becomes to insist that all designers learn to code. If it benefited everyone, we wouldn't ask the question over and over again. The value of this approach lies in the different perspectives it provides; by understanding a problem from a variety of angles, you develop empathy and are better positioned to make good decisions as a team. To us, being a full-stack designer means having a broader understanding that supports experimentation, refinement, and long-term planning.
If you are thinking about learning to write code, ask yourself: "Will it help me to understand other people better, enable me to make more considered decisions, and allow me to create more human experiences?" And if your answer is yes, then you have a good reason for starting.
Dworkz is a UI/UX design and development firm based in San Francisco, focused on data-driven B2B SaaS companies. If you want to connect business opportunities with user needs in order to deliver impactful digital products, talk to us.
