Ask HN: How to get developers and UI designers to work well together

Generally, the further a design strays from native UI elements the more difficult it's going to be to implement in a way that covers edge cases well and is accessibility-friendly. Sure I can bodge something that looks like the mockup but it's not going to feel half as nice to use in practice because it required me to write a lot more bespoke widget code, and there are considerations that went into the stock widgets that the designer probably isn't taking into account.

In these situations a little bit of leeway to bend designs to be closer to the OS baseline help quite a lot (e.g. do you really need that custom typeface which isn't built for use in UIs? Probably not), and so I greatly value designers who have the skill to build around what's already there instead of trying to replace it outright. That kind of design work isn't as sexy but it's far more practical.

1. Changed designs offcycle without updating tickets.

2. Be oblivious/ambivalent to accessibility requirements of UI, or what standard user interactions with existing sites is like.

For 1, I don't even mind as long as the changes are small. There have been times that I've met with designers, we settle on a plan of action, I start working on it, and then they change the whole layout because of some sort of need from higher up. I wasted a few days working on a non-finalized design when I could have been working on something finalized. Solution was to make sure that the higher ups are in the initial design meeting so we don't get any surprises. Yes, their schedules are always packed and it means we have to push back meetings all the time, but it also generally means that we get 1 meeting to get everyone in agreement (even if it's agreement by force at the hands of the hippo)

For 2 there wasn't much I could do other than push back when they present a design that is inaccessible or a dark pattern. If it's an external application I always lean on "I'm trying to save us a ADD lawsuit", but it's always harder with internal tools. I get things like "We don't have any blind sales reps" or "no one at this company uses a screen reader" but I don't let up. Accessibility when done right doesn't just make an application usable to a group of people who would otherwise be excluded, but it also makes applications easier to use period. No I'm not going to rotate that text. No I'm not going to have the text be an svg unless it's a logo. No I'm not going to make the text that light on a light background. Designers generally don't like when they're told a design flat out can't be used but in my experience any application that is written without accessibility in mind, will be rewritten for accessibility.

There's always exceptions but this has been the bulk of my experience. Most designers I've worked with understand where I'm coming from which is a big help, I can only count on one hand the number of times the relationship has been outright adversarial.

I think this is what I am most sick of in most shops. Folks afraid to be vulnerable. And/or afraid to share their status / power by sponsoring other people.