Bridging Design and Development with Jerimie Lee

Join us for an insightful episode of Ruby for All, where Andrew and Julie have a discussion with special guest, Jerimie Lee, a Senior Product Designer at Codecademy. Jerimie shares his journey into the world of EdTech, and his experiences in the health tech industry. The conversation touches upon the evolution of design roles, the importance of understanding product mechanics, and the differing experiences of product and UI/UX designers. Jerimie also delves into the significance of accessibility in modern design, the iterations within the product design process, and the necessity of effective communication between designers and engineers. Listen in to learn more about Jerimie’s tips for successful designer-developer collaborations and his take on evolving product design trends. 

[00:00:51] Jerimie introduces himself, describes his role and mentions his previous experience in health tech and marketing, and his previous role at Dispatch Health. 

[00:01:49] Andrew asks about the difference between a product designer and UI/UX designers. He explains that product designers focus on both user experience and the product development environment, and Andrew and Jerimie discuss the role evolution. 

[00:04:53] Julie asks what it takes to become a UX/UI designer/ product designer. Jerimie explains that there are many ways, and he shares how he came into design. 

[00:06:40] Andrew shares his background in graphic design and how it influences his work as a developer. They discuss the advantages of developers having design knowledge. 

[00:08:41] Julie appreciates Andrew’s design input and discusses her challenges as a non-designer. Jerimie shares his opinion on learning design principles. 

[00:09:53] Jerimie suggests that understanding basic design principles can go a long way. He mentions the Nielson Norman Group’s, “10 Usability Heuristics for User Interface Design,” as a helpful resource. Andrew and Jerimie discuss the 80/20 principle and the subjectivity of design. 

[00:11:50] Jerimie discusses the importance of designing for web and digital interfaces and how they more rules compared to print.  He mentions accessibility guidelines and how they influence design decisions, and he emphasize the value of building efficient systems and making things work from a usability perspective. 

[00:12:42] Jerimie and Andrew discuss the growing importance of accessibility in design and Jerimie mentions that Codecademy is working on accessibility tickets.  Andrew shares his experience with discussing HTML specs with designers and engineers.  

[00:13:43] Jerimie emphasizes the importance of designers understanding semantic HTML and technical constraints. Andrew and Julie share their perspectives on designers and developers collaborating effectively. 

[00:16:35] We hear about some challenges of communication when engineers may not be fully aware of the design and product process. Jerimie shares an example of engineers providing negative feedback during the exploratory phase. Julie talks about the impact of such feedback on team dynamics. 

[00:18:29] Jerimie emphasizes the importance of open-ended and constructive feedback from engineers and discusses the need for soft skills in communication. 

[00:19:54] Jerimie mentions the value of understanding technical limitations and finding solutions that circumvent them. Andrew and Julie share their approaches to conveying technical limitations when collaborating with designers. 

[00:22:27] Julie acknowledges her lack of front-end technical knowledge and how she and Jerimie often compromise when discussing detail, and Andrew ends to explain technical details to designers to show respect and maintain clear communication. 

[00:23:15] Jerimie discusses how engineers shoul