Capilano Suspension: Bridging worlds, simple elegance
I spoke with a headhunter last week who is looking for designers who have experience using Expression Blend to enhance the usability of line-of-business applications.
The demand for designers who have worked on Silverlight or WPF projects currently exceeds supply.
The adoption of those two “XAML-based” technologies has been accompanied by a growing community of developers that have adopted the new frameworks, often “wearing the designer hat” to get the job done.
But a designer who understands how to craft solid XAML markup using Blend’s visual toolset thinks differently from either a developer, or from a designer whose thinking is not informed by the basics of Silverlight and WPF.
Designers needn’t give up their existing tools, but to optimally contribute to a Silverlight or WPF project, their thought process should be informed by these technology frameworks, both when working with their existing tools and with Blend.
Yes, we’ve all heard of these highly coveted “dev-igners,” who bridge the dev and design worlds with the simple elegance of the Capilano Suspension Bridge, but these are unicorn-esque in rarity.
So the good news is – if you’re a designer who does know Expression Blend, I know people who are looking for your skills!
[p.s. shameless plug - Empowering designers to wield Blend like a paintbrush (in ways that I can't) has become one of the greatest joys of my work. If you're a designer (or know a designer) interested in mastering Blend, and learning the basics of Silverlight/WPF in the process, send me mail through the blog. Maybe you'd be interested in a crash course.]
CodeCamp Toronto: Silverlight Beyond MIX09 →← MIX09 Inspirations: Back to the Drawing Board
Steve VanHove says
We were awarded a project for a GUI for a major initiative by one of our clients, and we needed to learn Expression Blend to start work. Now we are in the design phase for the project and feel comfortable enough to look forward to getting more work with Expression Blend!
June 8, 2009Russell Robinson says
Hello Steve,
May 7, 2010How’s it going? I just came across your article about Designers & Blend. I am a designer and have been designing, mostly for Print, but have recently teamed up with a group that works, almost exclusively, in Silverlight. I had worked with them in the past, creating icons, layouts, etc. They liked the work enough to hire me as a Freelance designer to help on large project. I am fairly comfortable with Blend, but I would love, to pick your brain to see where I stand. And drumming up new business can’t hurt.
Thanks in advance!
Russell Perkins says
Hi Rob!
I see you know folks who are looking for Expression Blend designers! I am a front end WPF/Silverlight designer with 3 years of experience in iPhone, Xbox 360, Facebook, and web using this software, although my overall design industry experience is about 10 years (photography, motion graphics, UI design).
Best,
August 14, 2011Russ
Kayla says
I’m a UX person with some dev background including formal coursework in C#. I’m trying to figure out how to use EB4 for UX design and though I’ve learned a lot, I can’t get to where I need to be.
August 17, 2011I saw something about a crash course, but it goes to a broken link.
What would recommend for a UI person to get up to speed?
The particular bane of my existence is trying to lay out some data grids that have combo boxes in some columns.
Great blog!