Job: Senior Information Architect at Kobo

Location: Kobo Inc., 135 Liberty St. Suite 101, Toronto, Ontario

Work downtown at one of Canada’s most exciting startups and help us design experiences on the web and for smartphones, tablets, desktops and eReaders

The responsibilities of the Information Architect include designing user interfaces, informing functional specifications, performing competitive reviews and creating flows, wireframes and process maps. You will be able to visualize concepts quickly and clearly and will work closely and collaboratively with the User Experience Team.

Key Responsibilities

• Conceive, design and prototype useful, usable, and compelling user experiences and user interfaces (represented by scenarios, paper prototypes, storyboards, wireframes, site maps, screen flows, etc.
• Document user interface requirements
• Apply domain knowledge, user interface design best practices, and knowledge of emerging UX related presentation/gestural technologies.
• Bring strong design, conceptual and problem-solving skills to translate conceptual ideas (business needs and user goals) into simple yet meaningful user interfaces.
• Assess data from multiple sources (product requirements, tech constraints, UX research, web analytics) and synthesize it in order to develop efficient user scenarios, taxonomies, classification schemes, navigation systems, design patterns, etc.
• Create and effectively present UX deliverables (wireframes, workflows, paper prototypes, etc.) to explain and negotiate design solutions to key stakeholders.
• Develop competitive assessments and perform site/application/device reviews.
• Help define, request and incorporate relevant and recent UX research and data from customer feedback to appropriately inform design decisions.
• Help define UX performance metrics.
• Upholding UX guiding principles and style in project execution.
• Create, maintain and share project documentation and UX guidelines after project execution.

Key Qualifications

• Minimum of 3 years in interaction design in a product development context.
• Embraces and champions a collaborative approach that brings good resolution decisions to tough design questions and issues.
• Ability to successfully execute multiple projects and tasks simultaneously.
• Ability to quickly visualize concepts through sketching or other rapid prototyping methods.
• Ability to help define site strategy, concept, content, and features.
• Willingness to try alternative approaches to a challenge.
• Experience developing user personas, functional specifications and wireframes.

To apply, please visit: http://hire.jobvite.com/j/?cj=oayLVfw8&s=uxWaterloo

Job: UX/Web Designer at TribeHR

TribeHR is an early stage startup in Waterloo, building a refreshingly simple Human Resources application for small and medium business. If you’re looking to see the fruits of your labor used and loved by customers and if you’re excited by the idea of participating in the creation of a new company, we are the place. Our team hustles, and we’re looking for people who are up for the challenge of keeping pace.

We are looking for a creative UX/UI designer to continue to build the company’s brand online and offline in the field of human resources software. We’re looking for someone who already has experience designing successful web applications. We have a high performing team and if you enjoy the thrill of working with a group that will push you to do the best work you’ve ever done, then you might be the right person.

This person will:

• Maintain existing designs and interfaces
• Help define new experiences, workflows, and architectures for new features
• Conduct user research and testing
• Apply principles of interaction design to designing UI, behaviour, and page layout
• Generate simple, creative solutions to usability problems.
• Write scenarios, sketch storyboards, draw wireframes, and create production-ready design specifications
• Implement new application and website designs

We iterate quickly and this role will have the opportunity to influence the rest of the development team and product direction. The ideal candidate will have:

• A passion for design and user experience.
• Examples of work that demonstrate your abilities in interaction and visual design for the Web.
• Solid understanding of UI design principles and user-centered design methodologies.
• Strong communication and presentation skills.
• Hardworking, flexible, and effective in multi-disciplinary teams.
• Expertise with design tools such as Adobe Photoshop, Illustrator, InDesign, etc.
• Fluency in HTML, CSS and JavaScript.

Experience designing for mobile apps and web pages will be an asset. Interested? Apply here.

Update: June 2011 event location changed to the Google office

The location for our next event, “Pixels Everywhere!” by Bob Rushby, has been moved to the Google office. If you haven’t yet visited The Hub, here’s your chance to check out this amazing new space!

Thursday June 16, 2010
5:30 to 7:00 pm
Google Waterloo
151 Charles Street West, Suite 200
Kitchener, ONT
[Map]

(January 2010) Is user experience becoming a commodity?

Monday January 18, 2010
5:30 to 7:00 pm
Accelerator Centre
Meeting Room #2
295 Hagey Blvd., Waterloo
[Map]

In November, Kem-Laurin Kramer of Research in Motion (RIM) wrote a provocative article for JohnnyHolland magazine that opened with these words:

After 10 years in the field, I woke up one day to realise that my service as a UX practitioner had become a commodity. Usability had become the “in thing” and everyone could do it and show that their products were better than the competition. Usability as a buzzword, populated Product Lifecycle processes in many organizations. So it comes as no suprise when the general attitude of stakeholders these days is one of a shopper saying: “One McUser Experience with usability fries please.”

On January 18, Kem will lead us into a deep dive on this question of whether our practice has become commoditized. Are we producing goods or services that lack differentiation? Is it a problem that user experience is concerned with aesthetics? Can anyone do our job?

Hope you can join us for what’s sure to be a lively, perhaps even heated, UX Group get-together!

RSVPs requested

If you’re hoping to attend, please help us anticipate numbers by RSVP’ing to Wanda Eby at Communitech. Thanks!

(November 2009) What will have a big impact on user experience?

This month we want to explore the factors and issues that will have an impact on user experience design in the near future. As the world goes mobile, what does it mean for users? If everything is accessible, how can it all be managed? What does the move from point-and-click to tap-and-pinch mean? Bring your own issues and questions, and share them in a group discussion with our inquisitive and curious UX community. If you have online videos or other resources to share, let’s have a look at them.

If you hope to attend, please help us anticipate numbers by RSVP’ing to Wanda Eby at Communitech. Thanks, and hope to see you! Oh, and please let people know about this group and this event.

Thursday November 19, 2009
5:30 to 7:00 pm
Accelerator Centre
Meeting Room #2
295 Hagey Blvd., Waterloo
[Map]

(September 2009) Design Interactionary: Get hands-on and have crazy fun with a series of extreme design challenges!

Thursday September 17, 2009
5:30 to 7:00 pm
Accelerator Centre
Meeting Room #2
295 Hagey Blvd., Waterloo
[Map]

In February of this year, we enjoyed a visit from Scott Berkun, who filled the RIM Theatre for a lively discussion of the myths of innovation. This month, Scott’s with us again in spirit as we kick off the 2009-2010 season with a fun event that he first imagined almost 10 years ago: the design interactionary.

What is a design interactionary?

In a design interactionary, small teams of typically 4 people work together on solving a design problem. The catch? You have only 10 minutes. The pressure of producing a completed design concept in only 10 minutes is, as you might guess, quite insane. But it’s also insanely fun!

This event was originally designed to take place on-stage during large conferences. Audience members could witness design teams work through their challenges live, one team after another. Judges would score each team’s efforts and declare a winner. If you’re curious to learn more, check out this essay on Scott’s website.

How we’re adapting the interactionary format

We’re changing the event format slightly, to make it more suitable for a smaller group in which everyone can participate. Our plan is to form teams of 3 or 4 people. We’ll still get only 10 minutes per design challenge, but the teams will work simultaneously. There’ll be no scoring and we’ll have no judges aside from other participants, since we’ll be presenting our final work to each other.

We hope to complete at least 3 design challenges. They’ll be fun and won’t require any specialized knowledge, so everyone is welcome to participate!

Want to suggest a design challenge?

If you’ve got a great idea for a design challenge, please email it to uxgroup (at) gmail (dot) com. We’ll keep the challenges secret until the last minute!

RSVPs requested

If you’re hoping to attend, please help us anticipate numbers by RSVP’ing to Wanda Eby at Communitech. Thanks!

Video of Scott Berkun's February 2009 talk in Waterloo

Last February Scott Berkun was in Waterloo and gave an entertaining talk to a full house of designers, developers, and anyone else interested in hearing about Scott’s experiences. The result was a talk in which the audience engaged in a wide-ranging discussion with the speaker. UX Group stalwart Henry Chen has uploaded a video of the event. Enjoy! (Sorry about the lack of embedding. Couldn’t seem to make it work!)

[Vimeo http://vimeo.com/6249357]

What's the state of UX in Waterloo Region today?

Is it in its infancy? Is it maturing into a well-practiced and well-respected discipline? Is it all grown up? Is it all these things at once? Where is it going?

Come on out and talk with fellow UXers about your take on the state of UX in Waterloo Region. Bring some stories that shine light on your experience and that can help others better understand where UX stands.

This month we’ll be meeting on Thursday May 21 from 5:30pm–7:00pm in the comfortable upstairs lounge at Whole Lotta Gelata in Uptown Waterloo (120 King St S, Waterloo).

If you’re hoping to join us, please send an RSVP to Wanda Eby at Communitech, so we know how many couches and chairs to commandeer.

Hope to see you there!

4 tensions between Agile development methods and User Experience Design

In last month’s workshop on Agility and User Experience, Declan Whelan identified four tensions that teams may struggle with when integrating agile and UX. The crowd split into groups to discuss these tensions and explore some ideas for managing them.

Many thanks to @ericamhc for taking the following notes from each group’s brief presentation — and for sharing them with everyone here.

Tension 1: Advocating for users vs. stakeholders.

First recognize that stakeholders = users. Each are important and must be satisfied to achieve business success.

Investigate and express people’s assumptions about business goals and user goals. Connections will be clearer when both of these elements are understood well.

Explicitly connect user needs to business goals. Avoid advocating for user needs that don’t serve business goals, because they won’t be considered valuable. This doesn’t mean that “usability” should be sacrificed: it means that we need to express the value of improved usability in terms of business goals.

Consider employing user stories (and other methods such as personas) to represent users as “real people”. While you need not formalize these tools, you can sketch them up to help the team connect product and feature ideas back to the needs of users.

Encourage stakeholders to observe usability tests. This brings to life how important usability is to customer satisfaction — and ultimately to metrics such as return on investment.

Tension 2: Balancing technology vs. usability

Take inspiration from popular and effective interfaces that demonstrate strong technology and usability. Our example was Google Maps: while your interface need not mirror these examples directly, they can provide ideas and concepts of what works well and what can be improved upon.

Make key functions simple, especially when constraints of budget and time exist. Focus on the most important and most often-used tasks to ensure they are as simple as possible.

Make interface methods transparent and instinctive. Strive to reduce cognitive load by understanding how people think. Resources: Don Norman’s The Design of Everyday Things and Steve Krug’s Don’t Make Me Think.

Encourage developers to observe usability tests. This can be a valuable feedback loop in the agile process. Usability tests are excellent for highlighting the impact of interface design issues.

Tension 3: Designing up front vs. just in time.

When considering whether to produce documentation at the beginning of a project or just-in-time as you go, consider drafting high-level mock-ups broken into smaller components. Components should be easy to edit and update in response to changing priorities and lessons learned. Take advantage of existing frameworks or tools, even low-fidelity choices such as whiteboards and magnetic interface elements.

Keep teams in physical proximity so discussions are easily joined by other members. This encourages frequent communication and collaboration, which is essential when up-front deliverables aren’t provided. Consider using Skype or other web meeting tools in case you cannot physically be close.

Try building low fidelity mock-ups and prototypes. Consider what tools will meet your needs in the simplest and quickest ways. Paper prototypes and quickly-sketched personas can be very effective, even if they’re never formalized as artifacts. Consider whiteboard sketches, Post-Its, JavaScript frameworks… whatever you think will work. Some people feel that wireframing tools such as Visio may be too detailed and not creative enough for exploring exciting new interface ideas, so don’t let your tools restrict you.

Tension 4: Specifying what to build vs. how to build it.

Keep the vision of what you’re building in mind: focus on the Cathedral, not the bricks. Define the “what” at a high level before deciding upon details of “how” (technologies, designs, etc.). If possible, complete the vision for your Cathedral before the Agile development process begins.

Open communications right from the beginning and make an effort to keep those communications open. Camaraderie is key. Team-building exercises can be instrumental in helping members to communicate, whether they’re designers or developers.

Consider use cases, user stories, and other very lightweight deliverables. However, spending time on them too early or making them specific in terms of tasks can prevent team members from learning as they go throughout the process. These must not restrict you or take up too much time. Jeff Patton suggests a tool called story maps, which can help teams keep their sights on the bigger picture even as they get busy with bringing the details to life.

(November 2008) Agility and User Experience: The Final Frontier

Thursday November 20, 2008
5:30 to 7:00 pm
Accelerator Centre
Meeting Room #2
295 Hagey Blvd., Waterloo
[Map]

Last year, at our 7-Minute Soapbox event, Declan Whelan gave one of the night’s most popular presentations, titled “Tips for integrating user experience and agile development” (if you missed the event, check out the video here). We’re happy to announce that in November, Declan will be exploring this topic far beyond a 7-minute time limit. So if you enjoyed his earlier teaser, be sure to join us next month!

Event description

These are the voyages of star-struck UX’ers. Our mission: To explore strange new worlds. To seek out new ways to meld UX practices and agile development. To boldly go where no UX’er has gone before.

Well, perhaps a tad over-stated. But as agile development crosses the chasm and becomes mainstream in many organizations, there are significant challenges to putting in place effective user experience practices.

Declan Whelan will provide an overview of agile principles and practices, highlighting the potential dissonance that can arise when they’re combined with traditional UX methods. He will then draw on practices used by UX professionals on agile teams to show how these challenges can be overcome. Be prepared to rethink what you currently do to provide a leaner, more iterative approach that will deliver incremental value to stakeholders and users.

We’ll have plenty of time for discussions. So whether you are currently doing UX on an agile team, just testing the waters, or trembling in the face of working with agile teams, come on out. It is indeed a bold new frontier!

About the speaker

Declan Whelan is an active software developer and agile coach. He is also a professional engineer with twenty-five years of experience in a wide range of software industries including the financial, medical, educational, and manufacturing sectors. He has started three technology companies and has consulted with many other technology organizations in Canada.

Declan is a certified Scrum Master and a member of the IEEE Computer Society, Agile Alliance, and Scrum Alliance. His focus is on working in the trenches with teams to deliver better software value, quality, and time-to-market through agile principles and practices.