UX Design is hard

I spent a bunch of time today (between coughing fits) building screenshots for an application prototype I’m working on. Whenever I try this, I’m reminded how hard it is to build a usable application, no matter how simple it seems at the outset. I don’t claim any great gifts at the discipline, but whenever I take a fresh swing at the task I’m reminded how much I respect the skills of the great UX designers I’ve worked with in the past, and how much their efforts contribute to the overall quality (and ultimate success) of the final product. Back-end developers get all the glory while the front-end folks are dismissed as “coders-lite” with fancy sneakers, but over the years I have come to value a gifted front-ender as much as the deepest of full-stack devs.

P.S. – He’s now a fancy-pants art photographer, but the all-time best I ever worked with was Bernie de Chant from way back in my Adjacency days. All of the gifts, none of the attitude, and the most massive work ethic ever. Big ups, Bernie.