Talented designers aren’t trying to make something look pretty, cool or custom for the sake of it. Just like good engineers aren’t saying something can’t be done because it never has been done. One does not exist to make the other’s work harder.
You can gain respect and advance collaboration by living in each others world a bit, or a lot. By treating your team member like a client you can begin to understand his/her challenges and approach. A talented designer that understands engineering principles, the way he/she might approach a problem, and the reasons why, will profoundly benefit the team. Understanding engineering resourcing issues, how long a development task should take, or what work is even possible is incredibly helpful in a creative environment. The same goes for an engineer that understands design principles.
You don’t always have control over the team that’s assembled. In some cases, you might need to educate people on why the work you do is imperative, as well as the reasons for the decisions you make. Put in the time. This should be easy. There are strong reasoning, research, and design principles that go into any good designer’s work, while strong logic, analysis, architecture, and best practices go into any good engineer’s.
Education also happens organically when someone is being challenged. The work is better when the group is smarter. It’s important to ask constructive questions, to ask “why”. Listen. Teach. Question. Share in