Understanding Design2Code

The main challenge designers and developers currently face is the workflow required to build a designed product. A designer creates a project with a design board and then shares that design with a developer who then rebuilds it using developer tools. Given this workflow, there’s ample room for miscommunication and roadblocks with the back-and-forth required between the designer and developer to kick the project off. 

When a developer shows the designer the built product, it’s common for the designer to have feedback. The developer then goes back to the code to make those changes. Depending on what changes are being requested, there might be resistance from either party. This process can cause a lot of friction and it’s very time-consuming. The developer has to create different assets and make them look like the designer intended - and remake assets depending on the feedback and requested changes. 

Furthermore, down the road, a designer could change their mind or have an updated vision. When this happens a developer needs to go into the code to implement the requested changes. This can then lead to a crossroads - the designer isn’t completely satisfied with the outcome of the project and the developer is spinning their wheels trying to make the project match the designer's vision. Both are frustrated because they want to move on to the next task on their project to-do list. This is the crux of the problem Design2Code solves.

Design2Code shifts responsibilities and makes designers responsible for design implementation, something once limited to the developer’s scope. This is possible through emerging tools and technologies that create visual environments that can implement designs represented as code. A designer can now ask the developer to build a project and the developer will code it with checks in place. Once the project is built, if the designer wants to change something - such as layout, color, fonts, etc. - they can use a visual environment to update their design and use the developer’s checks to ensure it remains stable post-change implementation without having to go back to the developer and without learning to code. 

Wix’s Solutions

It's part of Wix’s culture to strive for excellence and move fast to deliver on the latest market trends and demands. Velo is a full-stack development platform empowering designers and developers to rapidly build, manage and deploy professional web apps  in the same environment. Designers work on the visual side and the developers add the business logic simultaneously. Designing the same project, not using different tools, but using the same tools the developer is using. This leads to a cultural change because these two roles become members of the same team.

Wix Studio is a developer-first advanced web creation platform for professionals and agencies to meet client requests using code and deliver full-stack web products at warp speed. Developers can create websites front-to-back and transition seamlessly between frontend and backend development, adapting Wix-made or third-party APIs per client with code. Developers can also work in the environment that suits them—whether online in a VS Code-based IDE, or locally via GitHub.

Additionally, Wix has a visual design tool called Codux. Codux is a visual IDE for React that allows developers to build and edit components visually and side-by-side with their project’s codebase. Changes can be made through code or with editing panels and are reflected instantly, for a faster workflow.

These solutions offer more seamless collaboration and designers are empowered to be more independent of developers eliminating tedious back-and-forths during project creation and execution. Designers can now make design changes themselves using the developer’s tests and checks to quickly and seamlessly update their projects and push them into production. This gives the designer more autonomy and frees up the developer to move on to their next project, and this will ultimately create a more efficient pipeline of projects for both teams at a fraction of the time and cost. 

Design2Code is being created from different angles converging together like a perfect storm. With the rise of friction between designers and developers, the level of autonomy Design2Code will give to designers and developers is set to be revolutionary.