Given the state of the miscommunication between Designers and Developers just before Drupalcon Paris, I’ve re-written the first half of my presentation to talk about the improperly-named “Designer vs. Developer” divide. Second half of presentation: For too long the Drupal community has lamented the lack of high-quality themes that are freely available. But the solution to this problem is much simpler than we’ve ever thought. We need learn how to communicate with the Design community and make Drupal dance!

1. MAKING DRUPAL DANCE!
DESIGN
4DRUPAL
TECHNIQUES FOR BEAUTIFUL, CORE-WORTHY DESIGNS
PARIS PRESENTOR
SEPTEMBER 3, 2009 JOHN ALBIN WILKINS ( JOHNALBIN )

2. Drupal 6 Core Themes
Themes
That Suck
Garland

3. Drupal 7 Core Themes

4. Designers vs. Developers

5. Designers and Developers
( This fighting is just a phase. )

6. New Community
Member Experiences
http://webchick.net/node/9

7. Bad Assumptions
“In most discussions, developers assume that
design proposals are ill-informed … about the
complications for the user.”
— Bojhan Somers
“And designers, in most discussions, assume that
developers are visually illiterate and uneducated
about UX matters. It’s a double-edged sword.”
— Jeff Eaton

8. Solutions
• There is no “Us and Them”.
• Instead of thinking that something is the
product of ill-informed decisions, ASK what
those decisions were.
• Be patient.
• Be welcoming.
• Improve the usability of the issue queue:
http://groups.drupal.org/node/26016

9. MAKING DRUPAL DANCE!
DESIGN
4DRUPAL
TECHNIQUES FOR BEAUTIFUL, CORE-WORTHY DESIGNS
PARIS PRESENTOR
SEPTEMBER 3, 2009 JOHN ALBIN WILKINS ( JOHNALBIN )

10. Collaboration Techniques
For making core-worthy themes
• Understand what Designers want
• Find a partner
• Communicating your desires
• The back and forth of the design review tango
• Dealing with missed cues and mis-steps
• After the dance

11. Understanding Desire
• Designers want to work on interesting design
problems
• Content shapes
• Developers want to work on interesting
technical problems
Finding a Partner
• groups.drupal.org/d4d

12. The Design Review Tango
• Communicate!
• Email isbest! Skype is better! Desktop sharing
works
okay.
Dealing with Missed Cues
and Mis-steps
• Apologize!

13. After the Dance
• Proposing it for inclusion in D7
• Write-upnew issue
create a
the motivation and
• Add a link to it from here:
“New default theme for D7”
http://drupal.org/node/293540
• If it doesn’t go into core,
Make it a kick-ass contrib theme!
• And remember… groups.drupal.org/d4d