(August 2011) BrewUX 2: More beer, more pizza, and new friends.

This month we’re meeting once again at the Red Baron Lounge, located on-site at the Brick Brewery in Uptown Waterloo. We’ll have a couple of brief presentations about UX happenings around town — and plenty of time for meeting new faces, talking shop, and raising a few glasses together. This is a private gathering for UX Waterloo, in which you can sample just about everything the brewery has to offer.

Where and when

Thursday August 18, 2011
5:30 to 7:30 pm
Red Baron Lounge at the Brick Brewery
(Entrance at the side of the building near the front)
181 King Street South
Waterloo, ONT
[Map]

RSVP required

You must RSVP to attend, as this is a licensed event. We’ll be checking names at the door. Sign up early before it’s sold out!

Please thank our sponsor

Our thanks to Brick Brewery for sponsoring this @uxWat event! To show our appreciation, please visit Brick on Facebook and “Like” them, or tweet a quick thanks to @BrickBrewery on Twitter.

BrewUx July 2011

Job: Product Designer at Desire2Learn

Product Designer

Desire2Learn makes industry-leading web-based enterprise eLearning systems. Our products are used by hundreds of clients to deliver accredited courses for both on-campus and distance education programs. Our applications deliver material to millions of users worldwide every single day.

Product Designers are responsible for taking requirements from Product Management and refining and translating them into detailed functional specifications that support the overall product strategy. The Product Designers will work with clients, partners, as well as stakeholders from several business units to ensure functionality meets the needs of our targeted markets. Additionally, the Product Designer will assist the Product Manager with assessing cross product and operational impacts of proposed development projects.

Division/Department: Product Development
Type of Position: Full-time
Location: Kitchener, Ontario

Main Duties

• Researches market trends, competitive offerings and industry standards to ensure that designs are informed and complete
• Facilitates user-centered design process by conducting focus groups, running surveys and interacting with our user community
• Refines and details user and functional requirements as laid out by the Product Manager
• Conducts design reviews with internal and external stakeholders
• Initiates and manages communications with these parties, escalates to Product Manager when needed
• Creates and maintains detailed production-level functional specifications
• Creates detailed product designs to meet functional specifications
• Utilizes mock-up tools to prepare product prototypes
• Works with Architecture and Quality Assurance to ensure feasibility of detailed design
• Works with Usability Specialists to ensure adherence to best practices, define usability testing requirements and make appropriate design changes based on design reviews

Work Experience Recommendations

• 1-3 years of experience directly related to the duties listed above
• Superior technical writing skills
• Strong analytical, communication, and interpersonal skills
• Familiar with web technologies and Software Development Life Cycle
• Knowledge of web services and distributed web-based systems
• Familiar with Web 2.0, JavaScript, AJAX, XML and other leading-edge web technologies
• Proven experience managing people and projects an asset

Education Recommendations

• Bachelors degree or equivalent in a technical field with high academic achievement

This is your opportunity to make a big impact in the area of next-generation eLearning applications! Candidates that have the combination of skills and abilities as outlined are invited to submit their qualifications in confidence today.

Apply now!