Unveiling the secret sauce: why “designers who code” craft better websites

“9:55 Creative is a design-led team” – sounds a touch pretentious, doesn’t it? Well, there’s a serious meaning behind it… so allow us to elaborate.

When creating new websites, many agencies have a graphic designer create the visual element, and a coder take responsibility for the build. This approach sounds logical – design and coding are different skills sets so it makes sense to play to team members strengths.

However, having tried-and-abandoned this approach in the past, we feel this often delivers an inferior result. Which is why all websites delivered by 9:55 team are designed and coded by the same person.

Here’s why…

It takes a designer’s eye to achieve the vision

Without being disrespectful to coders, their forte is code, not design. They rarely share a designers’ deep understanding of aesthetics and branding. Rarely will a pure coder deliver a site with the same visual appeal, user-friendliness, creative vision, and consistency as one built by the person who designed it.

Consistency and attention to detail

When a designer takes ownership for both the design and development of a site, they have total control over the look, feel, and ease of to use. Close is not close enough. Like the proverbial princess and the pea, they (should) notice even the smallest inconsistency.

Missed opportunities

A non-coder designing a site in isolation of technical input may be unaware of certain functionality and new developments the coding team can deliver.

Meet the “designers who learned to code”

Meet our website developers… in our humble opinion three of the best in the business. While different in background, style, and personality, all three started out as graphic designers who took it upon themselves to learn coding so they could deliver websites in keeping with their creative vison.

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Matt Lovejoy

A highly experienced branding expert. Matt recognised how websites were becoming a vital element of brand identity and, in the interests of offering a comprehensive service, taught himself to code.

His natural inclination to “figure stuff out” has led to him being one of the most proficient coders in the game, helping us deliver some highly challenging websites loaded with technical wizardry.

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Louise Glass

Who would have thought expertise in woven textile design would dovetail so neatly to the world of website design? Yet it makes sense… both have a visible surface layer underpinned by a “complex construction”.

Louise’s ability to translate her creative vision into complex weaving patterns gave her a strong foundation in the principles of creating visually appealing designs that could structurally work – and effective websites.

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Flo Rooke

Flo joined in 2016 as a Junior Designer, impressing with her professionalism, attention to detail, and “single-minded pursuit of excellence” (a line from her CV that turned out to be highly prescient!).

Already tuned in to the nuances of marketing, branding, and design, Flo’s enthusiasm for website design led her to study and learn coding. She’s now one of the best in her field and has delivered stunning websites for prestigious clients throughout the UK.

Unveiling the secret sauce: why “designers who code” craft better websites

Here’s why…