It’s not just an obsession with making things look good, but it’s the belief that good design enriches life, that design matters. It matters that the look and feel of an application support the work. It matters that the person at the keyboard enjoys the experience, that they have fun using the tool. We’re providing the writer with a work environment, and we want it to be a compelling, enjoyable place to be.

And then there’s our designer, Robby Shaver. We knew that in order to succeed, we’d need someone of Robby’s talent and experience, so it was a happy day when he decided to join us. Robby sits literally in the middle of the office, a totally open desk area that everyone has to pass as they go from office to office, or to the single conference room, or the tiny kitchenette, or out the front door. More often than not, one of us is sitting with Robby discussing his designs and looking at alternatives. And every passerby is likely to add a thought, or ask for a glimpse, or trade stories with Robby. Throughout, Robby remains as open as his work area, accepting passersby naturally and without any friction. You get the feeling in Robby’s work and demeanor that he has the capacity to absorb all kinds of ideas, process them, and somehow make use of them in his design.

One of the most interesting aspects of Robby’s approach is his willing to let go of design ideas that for some reason fall short of his expectations. Many designers are reluctant to relinquish an approach and instead of trying a different way, continue to refine and contort the idea until they reach some level of satisfaction. But when an idea doesn’t work for Robby, even in the most peripheral way, he sets it aside and tries a different approach. Another keyword to describe Robby’s approach is patience - which is not to imply passivity, because he’s working all the time, but he certainly allows room for designs to evolve.

Design as Collaboration

How do we create and sustain the kind of design culture here, especially when there’s one designer and six developers? It would be easy to say it stems from Rick’s obsession, or Robby’s zen-like manner of absorbing and repurposing ideas within an elegant design sensibility. But that would not capture the full picture.

The development and QA team have as much to do with the quality of design as Robby. In other environments, it’s often the case that there is tension between design and development, even devolving to a power struggle that developers often win. Or sometimes there’s detachment, when developers might say something like, “they’ll design it, and we’ll figure out how to build it”. Either case sub-optimizes the end result.

At Virtual Ubiquity, the development team has great respect for design, and it’s the ongoing conversation between them that allows Robby to understand what’s possible, and involves the developers in the process. It’s a virtuous cycle, and developers often contribute excellent design ideas (part of the payback of using Flex is that the richness of the environment encourages creative explorations).

The result is creative and exciting interchange that produces great results. And it’s fun.