🎙️ What the Heck is a Design Engineer? (with Dave Darnes)

Design engineer. UX engineer. Front-end dev with opinions. What does it all mean?! In this episode, we sit down with Dave Darnes to untangle the ever-evolving world of design and development (And Dave is our first non-Font Awesomer on the pod!). We talk about why job titles keep getting weirder, whether "engineer" is a fair title for folks who work on the web, and how design systems can bridge the gap between teams. Plus, we explore the future of the role — will tools like Figma and AI replace design engineers, or will the internet always need humans who can actually build things?

🚀 Tune in for a fun, insightful, and slightly existential conversation about the intersection of design, dev, and the titles we give ourselves.

🏆 Key Takeaways

• Design Engineer: Job Title or Existential Crisis? Dave breaks down the blurry line between design and development and why this role exists.
• Gatekeeping vs. Open Web: How the internet has democratized career paths—and why some job titles might be a shield against skepticism.
• The Future of Design & Dev: Will tools like Figma and AI squeeze out design engineers, or is there always a place for people who build with craft?
• Design Systems & Developer Relations: Why advocacy (not nagging) makes or breaks adoption.
• Rockstar/Ninja/Unicorn Titles: Just ... don’t.

⏱️ Episode Breakdown

🕛 00:00 - Meet Dave Darnes – 🇬🇧 UK-based designer/developer, father of sick children (but still here for the podcast).

🎤 02:30 - The Legendary "David Darnes" Callout – A completely necessary and extremely fun moment of podcast magic.

🛠️ 06:45 - What is a Design Engineer Anyway? –  The Venn diagram of design and development overlaps in weird ways.

📛 12:15 - Why Job Titles Get Messy –  Specialization vs. generalization and the need to impress hiring managers.

🏗️ 18:30 - Engineer as a Title — Does It Matter? –  Structural engineers hold up buildings; do web engineers hold up the internet? (Kinda, yeah.)

🔄 24:00 - The Evolution of Design & Dev Roles –  How web components, CSS variables, and other tech are shifting expectations.

🥕 30:45 - How to Get People to Actually Use a Design System –  Hint: Be more carrot, less stick.

🤖 35:00 - The Battle Between Figma & AI –  Will design engineers survive the encroaching automation?

🔄 40:30 - If You Had to Rename 'Design Engineer'... – Dave's answer is almost annoyingly simple.

🔗 Resources & Links

• Check out Dave’s work: https://darn.es/
• His blog on design systems: designsystems.wtf
• Is 2025 the Year of the "Design Engineer"? 
• Submit your own “David Darnes” callout on his website (seriously, do it).
• 🎶 The Podcast Awesome theme song was composed by Ronnie Martin: https://ronniemartin.org/
• 🎵 Music interstitials by Zach Malm: https://muzach.bandcamp.com/
• 🎛️ Audio mastering by Chris Enns at Lemon Productions: https://www.lemonproductions.ca/ 
• "After School Keyboard Club" https://pixabay.com/music/video-games-after-school-keyboard-club-casio-vl-tone-80s-chiptune-retro-151684/
  
  
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• 🌤️ Bluesky: @fontawesome.com
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• 📸 Instagram: @font.awesome

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