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Can developers be more than awkward sweat-panting-wearing-binary-speaking-basement-dwelling nerdites who catalog Star Wars figurines and reminisce about marathon DnD games? Is this the typical flash/flex developer stereotype? Is this yet another thing to battle against when we've been silo'd into a particular role that people associate particular traits and attributes to? Developers are not creative for they are inherently 0/1. Developers can't communicate. Developers don't understand design. Developers are not literate. Developers don't talk to clients. All this, I find so completely ironic. I can name serveral very exceptional developers who went to school for graphic design and could easily hold their own when it comes that. Flash development is a world where so many developers, were actually designers. They wanted to introduce prettty to interactivity and had to learn the development perspective to do so - this is just one thing that makes the Flash development community unique. And those developers, who were once designers, might not take on the design side for quality control. Let the best person for the job, do the job, but just because we are not doing that job, don't assume we don't understand the job. Some Flash developers really do have that myriad of skills that they bring to the table, making them so much more than just the dude who makes stuff work at the end. I struggle with the developer stereotype and people are amazed and suprised when I do something exceptional outside of my prescribed role. I'm not a designer - and I know my skill set enough, not to pretend that I am. I do, however, have a background in Journalism/English - so this means, I do understand typography. I do understand layout. I do know when there is a typo. The stereotype we have to battle against kinda cracks me up. We're not supposed to be "creative". Yet for years, I have blank books that I've been filling with visual reference - be whatever it may. I'm on my 45th journal - books I just write in and throw away when I'm finished. I can name a song on the first few notes. Yet, I also have a list of 112 applications ( and counting ) in a notepad text file , waiting to be explored and created. Does that make me the type A developer to be kept in the basement? Stereotypes are fun kids! I guess I should be thankful for the set of expected behaviours I can choose from - it certainly makes meaningful interaction that much easier. " No. Yes. Awkward. Like my s'pants?".