IC Creative – We’re looking for a new UX Recruiter to join our team!

Join Us! IC Creative are looking to expand our team of User Experience recruiters. Headquartered in Reading, we are accessible for those based in the Thames Valley area or those looking to relocate outside of the city.

We are looking for someone to focus on the lively contracts market - someone with similar sector experience, ideally with a knowledge of User Experience, User Interface, Interaction Design and Usability recruitment. Those with experience in a similar field - Digital Design, Web Design/ Development, Creative markets - could also be really interesting for us.

This role would suit you if you have 1-3 years within UX / Digital recruitment and are looking for something new. Perhaps you have held a resourcer role and are looking for a step up. Perhaps you are just looking for a change of scene.

We have an excellent client base, traditionally across the UK and Europe but increasingly across Asia and the US as well. We work with a number of large technology firms, e-commerce companies, design and UX agencies, and big names in mobile communication and design. We also benefit from operating as one arm of the very established IC Group - technical and electronics recruitment specialists. So, we have access to numerous clients you may not expect!

We would appeal to anyone looking for a friendly, supportive environment. Whilst we do have targets and goals, we believe in positive mentorship rather than strict KPI driven work processes. We would rather see you hit your targets because you're happy to come into work and want to excel yourself on a daily basis than because you spent fifty hours on the phone last week. You will see what we mean when you come in for an interview.

We really are lovely folk, definitely not your typical recruiter types - although we can put on suits and venture into London to wine and dine clients when we need to!

Your role will revolve around:

• Liaising with clients, ascertaining their business needs
• Business development activities
• Resourcing for established roles
• Managing the full recruitment cycle from send out to offer accept and aftercare
• Attending meetings, conferences, etc
• Contracts focus - previous experience on this side of things will be preferred

Alongside your basic salary you can expect a very generous commission structure, flexible benefits, free parking, free fruit, drinks and snacks, and lovely surroundings (like seriously, we have Shetland ponies out the front). Salary £20-30k plus commission.

To apply, please send your CV and covering email to Sam Emmett

The Next Big Thing: Your Thoughts

Last week we posted about The Next Big Thing – what we will look back on in twelve months and think “Ah yes! That characterises 2014”.

Here are the top replies we received by email and as comments on LinkedIn:

• A further acceleration towards minimalism – less text, colours, navigation
• Wearable design, and thus -
• New types of interfaces requiring new design innovations/solutions
• A change in colour schemes – from pop brights to subtler, dreamier colour palettes
• Easy fill online forms – improving usability and conversion rates

And, those which will be seen to continue from last year:

• Flat Design
• Tiles
• Blur
• Parallax scrolling

Let me know if I’ve missed anything, or if you have other ideas about where UI design is going next!

 

You can email me here 

The Next Big Thing

Now we’re over the holiday period and well into 2014, I wonder what the new UI design trends of the year will turn out to be? What will we be looking back on in our ‘Rundown of This Year’s Design Trends’ articles? Which ones are we going to want to forget, in years to come…? (I’m still a sucker for skeuomorphism but I’m aware it’s less than cool now!)

Without being a designer myself, I occupy a birds-eye vantage point – looking in on hundreds of portfolios a month. I see constant flux in what’s hot and what’s not, what gets pushed to the front of portfolios and what get relegated to the back – what helps to win awards and what has become a bit ‘meh’.

All I know is whenever I’m confronted with something new, I think “wow this couldn’t get any better” – but then six months down the line it does. I’m sure you’re the same – looking back through your work from months, or years back (mostly comprising of blood, sweat and tears) and realising how soon it has become outdated or cluttered.

I wonder, too, if changes in design mentality are the conscious decision of one or two genius designers which then catch on, or a ripple effect reaction to the type of products and platforms in vogue at the time? Are trends fabricated and perpetuated by designers, and the rest of us (the user base) merely pawns to the changing tides? Or, with the constant iterations and usability studies refining and re-assessing interactions – are the users the real creators?

Perhaps any designers out there could give me a sneak peek into the next big thing for the coming year? I’d love to know!

 

Please feel free to contact me at Sam Emmett.

UX Crash Course

Hi all.....

I came across this article earlier today and found it a very useful read.  A good read for those looking to get into the UX space and equally good for those just topping up knowledge.

http://thehipperelement.com/post/75476711614/ux-crash-course-31-fundamentals

Hope you enjoy it!

Please feel free to contact me sukhi.kang@ic-creative.co.uk

The Interview…

As a contractor you probably spend more time interviewing for your next contract than you do onsite at your current one in the few weeks leading up to the end date!! Permanent candidates will be asked to move heaven and earth to attend interviews, and then be made to wait until things get signed off before we can even move forward. It is however the part of the process that can’t be missed!

I’ve had some great stories from clients and candidates about interviews, some have been done within 15 minutes and offers out, some have gone on for hours because the client wants the candidate to refer back the ‘user’ at least once!

As the designers and the interviewers you’re the guys that have the technical knowledge, but sometimes you can forget about the person/s that are in the interview room with you. Being a UX interview, I’ve spoken to a few of my clients and done some reading to see what I can muster up, here are a few points that can hopefully help..

• You’re interviewing for a User Experience role- so take yourself out of the interview for a second and think of the client as a user and you’re the product. Have an understanding of the needs of the client, and how you will get them to their goal.
• This leads on to the next point quite well, as controversial as this may sound, designers will get to the same end product/ deliverable as another (some by hook or crook and others by loving what they do and being darn good at it), but it’s the process and the methods that will make you stand out and fill clients with confidence
• When you’re asked to take your portfolio with you to go through it, it’s not just a matter of plugging it in and saying ‘I did that.. I did that.. I helped do this.. I drew that..’ take the client on a journey. It’s all about the user experience here, if the interviewer has been taken on a journey through your portfolio, they’ve understood how you approached the task, the problems you came up against, the methods you used, how you thought outside of the box when you came up against hurdles and how you got to the deliverables, the client is seeing the product in action. This is a good user experience for them, they’ll invest in the product..

For example..

Buying a car	Hiring a UX Designer
Do your research (internet)	Do your research (Linked, Xing)
Watch videos and screen (youtube, forums)	Go through online portfolio / PDF
Go to a showroom to have a look	Skype / telephone interview
Test drive	Face to Face interview and expanded portfolio review
Question the salesman	Ask the interviewer questions
Decision	Decision

Obviously this is quite watered down, but my point is you wouldn’t buy a car without going through the process, you’re putting your hard earned money into something and you want to be made to feel excited about what you’re doing. Be the Aston Martin in your interview, you’ve got to the interview stage because you’ve passed through the previous phases.

If you turn up, it’s your fourth interview of the week, you’ve got a Dominos on order, hoping the delivery man doesn’t turn up in the middle of Eastenders then it’s not worth you being there. If you are there, you’ve done the research and have a genuine interest, show the passion you have in your work, sell yourself as that top end vehicle and give them the best test drive they’ve had (bit cheesy, I just got really caught up in the writing).

Just a few pointers, I’m more than happy to go into more detail over phone or email if you have any questions or pains about interviews.  Please feel free to contact me at sukhi.kang@ic-creative.co.uk

 

Smarter Energy Controls – a Usability Perspective

Shorter days and colder nights, winter is upon us. Many of you may be fighting the temptation to stick the heating on, leave the lights on and run hour-long hot showers upon crawling in from work. Don’t even mention the mould spiralling out of control in the coldest and dampest rooms…  the wet towels which remain forever wet….at a time when it’s way too cold to even consider opening the windows,  cranking the heating up and tumble-drying EVERYTHING is the only way to combat the feeling that you’re living in a cave. On top of this, you’ve got to have the TV on constantly as you’re certainly not going to be venturing outside for the next three months.

Maybe this is why winter is the most pertinent time to put some real thought into energy saving behaviour, and where UX practises can help guide us all in saving the pennies and the environment.

The Department of Energy and Climate Change (DECC) have recently commissioned a report on the Usability of Smarter Heating Controls; co-authored by Steven Wall and Filip Healy.

In the report, the specialists address the effectiveness of the technology users interact with to control energy flow throughout their homes. Taking into account demographics, impairments, education level and even smart-phone ownership, this report provides an interesting insight into the usability of heating control products currently on the market and provides recommendations for key requirements to keep in mind for future development.

With climate and economic change at the forefront of our minds, this proves to be an important piece of research which simultaneously provides insight, and emphasises the scope and relevance of the application of usability studies.

Please feel free to contact Sam Emmett to discuss all things UX.

New Year, New You: Find a New UX Job in 2014

What is it about the New Year which spurs people on to begin their job hunt afresh?

Certainly it has something to do with the idea of a “new year, new you” – a time when everyone around you is making resolutions to change one thing for the better. The past year has become a measurable increment of time which you can reflect back upon – languishing for weeks, or months in a less-than-ideal job is excusable, but when this period of stasis reaches a whole year you realise it’s time to do something about it!

Reasons for stagnating in a role which is comfortable – but not challenging – are myriad; proximity to home, a good enough pay packet, a friendly team wherein you have lots of friends. What people tend to realise come January is that you can always strive to achieve more. The New Year acts as a kick-start to move your life on and achieve something you can be proud of!

A lot of the time it’s not even the case that there’s anything amiss with the job or company you’re in. Over the last twelve months you will have changed; grown, learnt, and adapted – what suited you back when you started is not the best fit for the new, improved 2014 version of you.

So, invest some time in reassessing your current needs. Would you like to climb up the career ladder? Would you like to manage a team? Would you like more experience designing for a specific platform? Would you like to try contracting? Do you think you should be earning more money to support your lifestyle? Would you like to relocate, have you always dreamt of working in Paris, Berlin, Hong Kong….?

From our clients’ point of view, January is the perfect time to go on a recruitment drive. With everyone nicely rested from the Christmas break – now’s the ideal time for hiring managers to invest some effort and reshuffle their schedules to incorporate interviews and meetings with potential new team members. New projects are on the horizon – and more pairs of hands will be needed. On top of this, new budgets are being released and hiring roadmaps are being drawn up for the coming months.

If you want to take the initial steps towards a new career move, feel free to pick up the phone and call Sukhi or Sam at IC Creative on +44 (0)1189 881150. Alternatively, have a look through our current jobs which we advertise here.  With a searchable function; you can easily find the type of role you’re looking for or register your interest with a few simple clicks.

Hope to hear from lots of new UX’ers in 2014!