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Comment by simplekoala | Hacker News Reader

I didn't realize the author is a designer till I went to his about me page. Pretty awesome that he can write some serious code. Respect.

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Also his article on building your own little programming language is equally awesome. Probably going to be my next project, thanks for giving some pointers!

/edit: link to blog post: http://rsms.me/2012/10/07/mylang-tutorial1.html

Wow - he is also the designer brains behind the Spotify brand, which has always been impressive to me.

And now at Facebook. The best designers also code but creating your own programming languages and VMs... respect.

Rasmus, since you're reading this thread, I'm curious. If I understand correctly, you did the Spotify brand and looks as it stands. My compliments! What, then, has convinced you to move to a large and very much designed-out webapp like Facebook? I mean, it's not like the Like button and the blue Facebook bar weren't there before you came - this suggests that you downgraded from setting up an entire brand to doing a page here and a button there. But I bet that's not the case, because in that case you wouldn't have gone, right? Note: this is not criticism, quite the contrary: I can't imagine what Facebook has competent designers to offer and I'd like to know. (I wondered the same when they acqui-hired the Amsterdam design consultancy Sofa)

Actually, we have some of the most talented designers I've ever met. Now, I'm working on things other than those you are bluntly describing. Most design work has been with special projects as well as our "native" apps. However, for the time being I've dedicated myself to software engineering around something I find very exciting. I probably said too much already.

It's interesting to hear you remark on your co-designers as, until now, I'd always assumed that the site was largely designed by it's developers. I know that would normally be unheard of for a portal the size of Facebook, but of all the sites I visit, I find Facebook to have the most confusing layout.

There's a weird mismatch of navigation features from hidden drop down lists, dialogue boxes and content that redirects to whole other pages; I'm never quite sure what onclick event will return what result. Plus the general layout of the site seems cluttered and counter-intuitive too.

Now this might just be me. I don't know what level of user testing Facebook performs before pushing features live, but I might be one of those small few who are just beyond help. However being a developer of similar age to yourself - I've spent my whole working life with badly designed developer tools and usually manage fine. Where as Facebook -a tool for the masses- seems to be one of the few exceptions that genuinely stumps me.

In many ways, that site's design is an "anti-rsms"; it seems to be the polar opposite of the design principles you adopt in your own projects (eg a clean methodical layout with clear separation between content and navigation tools). And while I'm discussing your own talents, I just was to commend you for what you've achieved despite choosing a non-traditional path into IT (ie straight to work rather than studying at Uni). Having trod a similar route as yourself, I know from experience that it can be significantly harder. So I can only imagine how much hard work and dedication you would have needed to be where you are now. Kudos.

Thanks for the heads-up anyway! :-)

Yes, you said too much already.

There was a "spotify" or music service thing leaked from facebook js code a while back. So what you are saying facebookers will integrate even more closely with spotify. Listen to music in the browser with friends? Yey.

Wow! He's aaaaaaaawesome!

Wtf? Sure, making a decent VM that can actually do something is no empty feat, but that just means that he's not only a designer but also a programmer. It's not like you're stamped "designer" on your forehead at birth and that's it, you know.

I have a friend who can code and bake excellent pie. Amazing!!

Being good at two things is more impressive than being good at one thing. Making a full featured VM is something that even lot of professionnal programmers can't do. The implication that you are "stamped" something at your birth was totally absent of GP's post.

Yeah. Also, I reckon there are some actual production VMs less well designed than this one (for instance, the one Second Life uses for scripting).

Most designers can hardly FTP files to their server. Using the terminal is a terrifying idea. Writing code is a mountain of difficulty. I only know because I went through it myself.

Thanks.

As a developer very keen on honing my design skills, your work has been an inspiration. Thanks.

That really warms my heart. Thanks for letting me know I can be an inspiration.

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