Ask MetaFilter questions tagged with userexperience

Are there needles in this haystack?

Other — Mon, 17 Aug 2009 13:24:20 -0800

I'm looking for user interface shops or departments within companies that do a particular kind of work, and that hire a particular kind of role (even if they have no jobs open right now). Do you know if they exist, and whether they're common or rare? Or, do you know how I can find out? What I'm looking for is defined by two things -- the kinds of interfaces the company creates and the kind of role I would have.

For the kinds of interfaces, examples of what I'd like would be the screen that a nurse uses to run a machine, or the pda application that a sales person uses to manage their road-trips. I like working on interfaces where:
-- The users have a goal to accomplish besides exploring the interface itself. So, not brand websites or information databases.
--The users really need or want to do the task; it's not something the company has to convince them to want to do. So, not most retail sites or marketing-related work.
--The goal is focused and concrete. So, not sprawling system or multi-purpose application work.
I think that embedded systems are more often good examples of this kind of interface than websites or PC applications, though I wouldn't rule those out if they satisfy the description.

For the kind of role
--I love gathering requirements and defining offerings through qualitative ethnographic research and analysis of the functions of comparable products.
--I love figuring out the logic and architecture.
--I don't mind qualitative usability testing.
--I don't mind some specification/documentation.
--I don't do any visual design.
--I don't do any quantitative testing, market testing, or ergonomic stuff like eye-tracking.
--I don't do any coding, not even in something like Flash or html.
So, I'd need a user experience role on a team where others are responsible for both the visual design and the techie parts.

Is defining the work and the role as above so narrow that I eliminate just about every position I might ever find? Or are there lots of potential matches? Do you know of any in particular? Or, do you know how I could find out, including for companies that aren't currently hiring?

My wife and I live in northern California now, but we're open to some other parts of the US. I can stay in my current, good job and out-wait the economy indefinitely.

No, really, I am so awesome!

dame — Wed, 27 May 2009 16:44:01 -0800

Hints for punching above my weight in the job search? Particular focus is UX/IxD/IA work. Like may folks, I am looking for work these days, and most of the positions I am finding are a little beyond my situation: They want either 3+ years experience or a masters and 1 year. I have not quite 2 years in these types of positions, and 9 overall.

The thing is I am, like every other person out there I am sure, a really quick learner and a very capable thinker. I taught myself this stuff and anyone who worked with me would attest my knowledge is strong and my ability to figure shit out is awesome. I know I can do a lot of these jobs, but how do I get them to let me tell them that?

Life of a user experience consultant

Anonymous — Fri, 27 Feb 2009 08:01:55 -0800

What's it like to be a user experience consultant?
I have been pondering leaving my company as a user experience manager and consultancy is an option. I have been working with a large company for over 5 years so I have a fair idea of what it's like as part of an in house team. I want to get an idea of what the world of consultancy, or a consultant for an agency, is like. What are the general pros and cons? Are you a user experience consultant now and love it? I'd like to hear about it. Did you used to be one and would never go back? Why?

It would be additionally great if you can give advice specifically about the London area. Even more specifically, I would need to apply for the highly skilled worker programme (currently under a sponsored permit) before making such a move but I'm assuming that's all I need?

Help me be employed in Cleveland

chesty_a_arthur — Wed, 14 Jan 2009 08:14:05 -0800

ClevelandFilter: advice for Web product manager/UX person moving to the Cleve without knowing anyone local and hoping to have a job sooner rather than later. Pretty much self-explanatory. The Arthur family is likely to be moving to Cleveland for Mr. Arthur's job. I'll be trying to find full-time and/or freelance work, and am pretty flexible within my field -- I've got business, information science and UX expertise. Any organizations or techniques you can recommend for networking in Cleveland?

For the record, my current methods include:

-Obviously, applying to posted jobs
-Trying to hook up with local recruiters, if any appropriate ones exist
-LinkedIn networking (Introductions, etc.)
-Actually finishing up my About Me freelance site
-Looking for volunteer opportunities to build my freelance portfolio
-Finding meetup type... meetups where i can, um, meet up with folks in similar areas
-Avoid making Cuyahoga-on-fire jokes that will date me and make everyone hate me

Your thoughts and suggestions will be invaluable.

Help me find IA and UXD educational resources.

Mister_A — Fri, 30 May 2008 07:57:26 -0800

Please recommend resources for learning more about and staying current on user experience design and information architecture. I am particularly keen to hear about books, periodicals, and educational web sites on the subject, but live training is a possibility too. Cheap is good, but I don't mind paying. I have some technical knowledge, but not advanced technical skills, so technical jargon is OK, but I prefer to learn more about current concepts and theories in IA and UXD, as I supervise the design and development of sites.

Interaction design: do I need to be an artist?

saraswati — Sun, 30 Dec 2007 16:01:26 -0800

Conflicted about a career in interaction design, please help! I'm really interested in interaction design but I'm hearing a lot of confusing things from different people about how important a graphic design background is. My interest is more in HCI/human factors/user research and my artistic skills are fairly lacking. I can do rough interface sketches, but more advanced graphic design stuff escapes me.

To anyone working in the field already: are there people working in design with these kinds of interests alongside the artists or is it more typical that the designer is a combination of my interests and artistic ability and my kind are the "analysts" doing user testing on prototypes and crunching numbers? I know it probably varies a great deal between companies but I'm hoping to find a general consensus so I know where I stand.

Thanks!

Cool E-Commerce?

Work to Live — Wed, 03 Oct 2007 12:17:39 -0800

Etsy.com displays products in interesting ways. What are some other unique e-commerce experiences? Etsy allows visitors to shop by color or view items in reverse chronological order. Maybe not the most usable ways to shop, but certainly unusual and fun.

What are other sites that are thinking outside the box (or breaking it entirely) when it comes to product display, shopping cart and/or user experience?

What kind of graduate programs focus on User Experience Design?

rschroed — Tue, 06 Feb 2007 12:18:00 -0800

What type of graduate programs focus on User Experience Design or HCI? Everyone seems to have a different name for it, and university sites are hard to navigate at best. I'm less interested in computer science degrees, but perhaps that all that is out there?

Art Museum Web Redesign

warhol — Sat, 31 Dec 2005 21:36:46 -0800

Redesigning an art museum website (content / design / strategy / the whole shebang). What would you expect to see? What would you like to see that they're not doing? What would totally blow your mind? What do you know they'll include that you just don't care about? And, on a slight tangent, best web examples for art museums? Not the content that resonates for you, but rather kind of information and how it was executed. Thanks!