Do corporate firms need an in house UX team?

With the number of UX freelancers working in and around London, companies looking for some short term UX work (an overhaul of their website or a new mobile app, for instance) can find it easy to identify the right type of talent for them, for a matter of weeks or months.

However, with more and more corporate companies beginning to understand the value of dedicated UX staff, here we discuss whether bigger firms actually need to take on permanent staff, or whether they can get by on hiring talents as and when.

Yes

• UX’ers on hand at all times to ensure your product/service is as user-friendly as  possible
• Provide ongoing support and improvements
• Designers will truly understand the company, design history, and stakeholder preferences
• Saves money – paying for freelancers can rack up!

 No

• Fresh talent/ideas with every new designer
• Hire in designers/researchers from different disciplines when needed
• Hire in designers/researchers with experience from direct competitors

What are your thoughts? If you’re working in a corporate environment as a permanent UX’er, what are the perks of your job? If you’re a hiring manager thinking about employing some UX talent, feel free to get in touch to discuss your options with us.

Look forward to hearing your views. Please email me.

Time for a UX CV Makeover?

If you’ve been searching for a new job for a while and are finding it harder than anticipated to get traction with potential employers and recruiters, it might be worth taking an in-depth look at your CV to ensure this vital document is doing the best it can for you.

Design

Our main advice when designing a UX CV would be – don’t go over the top. Your CV should really reflect the current design trends of the day, so clean and easy to navigate. Whilst you may have fantastic motion graphics skills for example, basing the design of your CV around them can result in a cluttered, confusing user experience. You want to stay away from anything which requires a high loading time or interaction to ‘reveal’ key information.  ‘Concept’ CVs could be perfect for some companies, but we would suggest including a link to a separate plainer document, in case that suits the reader better.

 

Make it obvious

Sometimes, a recruiter or employer – when faced with a selection of CVs – will only have time to dedicate twenty or thirty seconds to your profile. You must aim to make your top skills and experience as obvious as possible. A good trick for this is utilising a summary of keywords or short sentences summarising all of the methodologies and tools you’ve used. If your skills and experience are lost within a large body of text, there’s a chance this important information could be missed.

Erase ambiguity

Go through your CV as a potential employer would. Is there any ambiguity about your skills, qualifications, experience or even what you’re looking for next? If something doesn’t quite add up or is hard to decipher, this is where problems may have arisen. Why not get a friend who knows the business to read over your CV in detail and highlight any areas they feel don’t match up with your profile.

Link everything

If your CV has piqued a hiring manager’s interest, the next logical step for them is to check you out, online. But wait – what if they can’t find you at the click of a button? Include a section with your portfolio, a password for the portfolio if necessary, your LinkedIn, Google Plus and Twitter.  The aim is to keep them on your profile for as long as possible, by making it easy for them to surf between social media and web sites.

Let me know your thoughts. Please email me 

Apple’s next move

One of the hot topics of the week has been the iPhone and iWatch. I've been an Apple man myself for some time; I swear by my iPhone and use the iPad religiously.

At times like this, I get all excited about the launch and sit there with my cuppa and biscuits waiting for it all unravel, although a lot of it goes over my head until I actually get into the forums!

Something I found quite useful with regards to the Apple iWatch:

http://www.stuff.tv/apple/10-things-you-need-know-about-iwatch/news   

I do find that as soon as the launches are done, all you seem to hear are the negatives..'it doesn't do this.. it doesn't have that..it's too big.. it's too small'.. but within the first 2 months of the release everyone who's anyone seems to have one!!

What is the general consensus among people out there at the moment with the latest releases?

I saw the adverts that were released by some of the competitors ... and the things that were said about the new Apple release being similar to what others have already done.  Is that not a classic Apple move, are people really surprised? Let others have a go, then release something that has a better experience for the user.

 

Most people will agree that Apple products have a great UX.  As an example, my dad is Lord of the Technophobes, but with the simplicity of use that the Apple products have, he's the absolute man in his little group of friends because he's got a few apps that they've never seen!

With the bigger screen, it's not going to fit in the palm of the hand like iPhone's have typically been known for - being able to hold the phone in one hand and swipe with your finger whilst on the go. It does seem to be the time for 'Phablets'.  According to Yahoo's Flurry Unit, Phablets have nearly quadrupled their share of app activity and doubled active users in the last 12 months.

Although there is a buzz around Phablets at the minute, it is a specific type of person who will want one. For the business user, the tech enthusiast and the holiday reader the Phablet is great, but getting one of those in your pocket on a day to day basis for those non business types, social users etc won't really be as appealing..?

What do other industry professionals think about the reaction of the competition? Is Apple slipping? Are competitors trying whatever they can to weather / offset the storm that the Apple brand stirs up at release? Will the bigger screens affect the experience? Will my technophobe father be all at sea with the new wave of products ha!

What comes next..

As always, would love to hear from you - please email me.

Educational opportunities for newcomers to UX

Some of us know what we want to be when we grow up from a very young age. For others, it can take several years and career changes before we decide on the path we want to follow. If you’ve made your mind up during your time at school then it’s easier to plot your educational trajectory and get that role you want through completing the correct undergraduate, BA, MA or PhD course.
But what can you do if you change your mind, mid-career? Whilst a lot of UX is design-based; there are the theories, the methods, the techniques and the best practises which are best picked up through attending a course or undergoing formal education.

The options these days are myriad; from going back to college or university full time, to taking a part-time e-learning course, to signing up for short courses, to attending training days.

For those of you who have founded your industry knowledge with a course of UX education – what worked for you? What didn’t? What provided the results you’d hoped for? What advice would you give to others looking to break into UX through education?

Looking forward to hearing your thoughts, as always! please email me

What to Wear in a Creative Interview

This is a question we often hear from design candidates we put forward for interview with our clients.

As much as we will try and advise based on previous experience/knowledge of the company, sometimes those going it alone could do with some information on the topic – so I wanted to touch upon this issue as it may be helpful for other industry professionals going into interviews.

As a rule of thumb, base your decision on the industry.

Is it a financial company? Highly corporate? If so you may need to wear a suit.

Similarly, if you will be meeting with clients on site as a large part of your job, it may be right for you to dress smartly in your interview.

For a creative agency, go smart casual! Express your creativity, but respect the fact you are looking to impress the person you’re meeting. A blazer over a more casual outfit can always be taken off at reception if necessary.

If you’re working in a design team as part of a wider IT company, you may need to be on the smarter side, too.

Hiring managers do sometimes have preferences, so if you can get hold of that information – do.

Try and speak with friends you may have within the company, or contact the HR department to ask in advance. Failing that, look online for press releases including photos of the team. “Meet the Team” sections of websites can often be really helpful in gauging what the accepted style is.

If in doubt, go smart. You can always backtrack from this if you end up working there, but you can’t make a second first impression.

Let me know your thoughts, please email me