Greetings Austin UPA members! Our December meeting will be a good one for anyone that is struggling to improve the user experience through better user feedback.  We will have a guided tour of the latest user feedback tool from OpinionLab, a leading voice of the customer service, during the first half of the meeting.

The second half of the meeting is a chance for YOU to share YOUR favorite user feedback tools! This will be a GREAT way to learn about tools that can directly plug you into the brains of your users! And as you know, gathering good user feedback is half the battle of a good user experience improvement project!

RSVP: Austin Chapter of the UPA Facebook events

Who: Austin Chapter of the Usability Professionals Association

What: Dec Meeting, Improving Your UX with better user feedback

When: Tuesday, December 6th, 2011, 7PM

Where: National Instruments, 11500 North Mopac Expressway Austin, TX 78759. Building B, Second Floor, Training Room 4.

NOTE: Main gate closes at 7pm. After that use the intercom to call the security guard and let them know you’re with the UPA.

Google Map of National Instruments (http://g.co/maps/jma2y)

Why: A critical component for improving your user experience is incorporating user feedback. There are multiple ways to gather user feedback, for example using website forms, online surveys or contextual inquiry. However, with the ever increasing utilization of multiple types of interaction devices (desktop, smartphones, iPads, etc.), how do you accurately gather user feedback both in channel and across channels?

The first half of our meeting will be a live online demonstration by OpinionLab. The second half of the meeting will be a chance for you to share YOUR favorite tools for gathering user feedback.

OpinionLab (http://www.opinionlab.com/) is a firm specializing in gathering user feedback as seen through their animated “[ + ]” buttons on some websites. OpinionLab’s client list includes Wal-Mart, Bank of America, Ford Motor Company, and many more. With real-time listening solutions for every brand touch point, OpinionLab invites consumers to share input in their own words, at anytime, from anywhere, helping organizations collect, understand, and leverage both structured and unstructured customer data.

This will be an interesting meeting for anyone that is looking to improve their user experience. We look forward to seeing you there!

We look forward to seeing you at The Austin Statesman at 7pm!

WHAT: FREE Seminar – “Fires, Education and Designing for Social Change – How the Austin American-Statesman utilized social media to inform a community during
Central Texas’ wildfires.”

FREE FOOD AND DRINKS: Provided by National Instruments!

WHEN: Thursday, November 10th, 2011, 7:00PM – 9:00PM

WHERE: The Austin American Statesman, 305 S Congress Ave, Austin, TX
78704

WHY: World Usability Day was founded in 2005 as an initiative of the
Usability Professionals’ Association to ensure that services and
products important to human life are easier to access and simpler to
use.  This year’s theme is “Education, Designing for Social Change”
and is an opportunity for the community to learn more about making our
world work better.

RSVP: SEATING IS LIMITED! Ensure you are able to attend this rare
glimpse into the leading Journalism Social Media group. RSVP at
EventBrite today! (http://austinupawud.eventbrite.com/)

MORE INFORMATION:

On Sept. 4, 2011, a major fire disaster erupted within just a few
hours, and swept across several parts of Central Texas.  Homes, pets
and livestock were lost and two deaths were attributed to the
wildfires. The Austin American-Statesman, through their reporting, web
and social media efforts, became THE source for the latest fire news.
Almost immediately, the Statesman’s Social Media Editor Maira Garcia,
sprang into action. The Statesman’s tens of thousands of Twitter and
Facebook followers turned to them for up-to-date fire coverage. The
Statesman became the leader in breaking fire news. Social media became
one of the primary ways for many in the community to stay informed
about a live and on-going disaster.

In this free World Usability Day seminar, Maira Garcia, the
Statesman’s Social Media Editor, will provide a rare glimpse into the
strategy and tactics surrounding the Austin Statesman’s disaster
coverage. You will learn how news was gleaned, vetted and distributed.
This is a very special opportunity to hear directly from those leading
the coverage how they did it, what they learned, and how education can
be provided by designing for social change.

The Austin World Usability Day Event, Nov 10th 2011: A FREE Seminar at the Austin American Statesman

“Fires, Education and Designing for Social Change – How the Austin American-Statesman utilized social media to inform a community during Central Texas’ wildfires.”

On Sept. 4, 2011, a major fire disaster erupted within just a few hours, and swept across several parts of Central Texas.  Homes, pets and livestock were lost and two deaths were attributed to the wildfires. The Austin American-Statesman, through their reporting, web and social media efforts, became THE source for the latest fire news. Almost immediately, the Statesman’s Social Media Editor Maira Garcia, sprang into action. The Statesman’s tens of thousands of Twitter and Facebook followers turned to them for up-to-date fire coverage. The Statesman became the leader in breaking fire news. Social media became one of the primary ways for many in the community to stay informed about a live and on-going disaster.

In this free World Usability Day seminar, Maira Garcia, the Statesman’s Social Media Editor, will provide a rare glimpse into the strategy and tactics surrounding the Austin Statesman’s disaster coverage. You will learn how news was gleaned, vetted and distributed. This is a very special opportunity to hear directly from those leading the coverage how they did it, what they learned, and how education can be provided by designing for social change.

WHAT:  Free World Usability Day Event, a Seminar sponsored by the Austin Chapter of the UPA and the Austin American Statesman

WHEN: Thursday, November 10^th, 2011, 7:00PM – 9:00PM

WHERE: The Austin American Statesman, 305 S Congress Ave, Austin, TX 78704

WHY: World Usability Day was founded in 2005 as an initiative of the Usability Professionals’ Association to ensure that services and products important to human life are easier to access and simpler to use.  This year’s theme is “Education, Designing for Social Change” and is an opportunity for the community to learn more about making our world work better.

RSVP: SEATING IS LIMITED! Ensure you are able to attend this rare glimpse into the leading Journalism Social Media group. RSVP at EventBrite today!

Greetings!

We have some very exciting news for this year’s World Usability Day, which is Thursday, November 10th, 2011. Our Austin Chapter of the UPA, in partnership with the Austin American Statesman, will be hosting a free seminar:

Fires, Community, Education and Designing for Social Change – How the Austin American Statesman utilized Social Media to inform and educate a community during the fires of central Texas

Please hold the date and time!

Thursday, November 10th, 7PM

More information will be coming shortly about this truly rare opportunity to learn directly from the team in the Statesman how they used Social Media to inform Central Texans, and the world, about the fire disasters we recently experienced!

More details, including how to RSVP to this limited seating event, will be coming very soon.

Hi all,

Here’s a recent job opening for an interaction designer sent to us from our friends at Mutual Mobile.

Interaction Designer

Mutual Mobile is looking for the best and the brightest Interaction Designers to join our User Experience team. We practice user focused design and pride ourselves in having a creative environment practicing methods of Lean UX and other techniques to iterate efficiently. In order to achieve this, Interaction Designers are paired one to one with Visual Designers and sit co-located with developers to encourage collaboration and moments of inspiration. We are looking for Interaction Designers who want to surprise and delight users with their simple, creative, and innovative ideas.

Responsibilities:

Have a current knowledge of mobile best practices, including the Apple Human Interface Guidelines.

• Have an understanding of Interaction Design principles and the ability to pick and choose from various techniques like wireframing, storyboarding and prototyping to provide valuable deliverables for communicating the user experience to clients and teammates.
• Have an understanding and ability to execute various testing methods for pre-design research and in-design usability testing.

What we’re looking for:

• You are an excellent written and verbal communicator who can present work clearly to clients, developers and other team members.
• You are a problem solver who enjoys working on a variety of challenges who can stay self-managed under deadlines.
• You intuitively understand what the end-user needs and can focus on converting that insight into designs that both the development and visual design teams can work with.
• You have enough technical experience that you can comfortably express and react to the technical and user interface limits of mobile and touch interfaces.
• You have a basic proficiency in Illustrator, and an advanced proficiency in a wireframing tool like OmniGraffle.

Please include any examples of mobile work that you have in your portfolio. Having an experience in mobile is not a firm requirement for applicants that have multiple years of industry experience.

Apply for this Mutual Mobile interaction designer job

A packed room of UX fans sharing and learning about cool UX tools

Our October, 2011 Austin Chapter of the UPA meeting on UX Tools was a hit! Over 20 fellow UX-fans shared and learned about many free and low-cost tools. Some of the very cool usability and IA tools demonstrated included:

UserTesting.com – An easy to use and relatively low-cost ($39 per participant) way to gather unmoderated usability testing data.

Feng-GUI – A simulated or automated way to gather information about what objects on a screen may be capturing human attention. Displayed results include heatmaps, gaze plot, opacity and AOIs.

Five Second Test – A simple and fast tool for gathering feedback about a design. An image of a website is displayed for five seconds, then your participant is presented with questions you create. Also includes click-tracking and navigation flow testing tools.

Maqutta - An open source project originally started by IBM that enables WYSIWYG interface design in HTML5, all through the convenience of your browser.

Obsurvey - A simple and FREE, yet easy to use survey tool for gathering qualitative and quantitative feedback.

Qualtrics - Another powerful survey tool that includes additional features including; a research suite, a website intercept tool, and the ability to obtain panels.

PlainFrame - A fast and easy remote testing tool useful for gathering information architecture and navigation feedback, plus the ability to record each participant session, clicks and more.

TreeJack - Another useful tool for gathering information architecture and navigation feedback.  Includes the ability to upload navigation via excel.

IBM Information Architecture WorkBench – A very cool tool, and very powerful, for developing complex information architecture maps and task flows. I also think this could be a dream tool for developing detailed, yet easy to navigate Use Cases

FlairBuilder - Another in the wireframe to prototyping tools that is becoming more common. This includes a free viewer that enables fellow team-members to leave comments.

Cacoo - A handy online tool that enables quick visualizations of diagrams, work-flows and information architecture. Real-time collaboration is another useful feature for those with disperse teams.

Partial UX Tools List

The amazing thing is the above is just a partial list of the UX tools that our meeting attendees thought might be of interest, but there are plenty more! The past few years has seen an explosion in the types of usability, IA and wireframing tools that practitioners can use to create and share designs.

Based on the great interest and excitement our attendees expressed in this topic we will look forward to doing a follow-up meeting on UX tools sometime in early 2012. We hope to see you there!

Our October Austin UPA Chapter meeting promises to be a good one, because YOU are going to be the meeting! That’s right, YOU get to brag about what UX tools you use to help you with your projects!

The format is simple, we’ll all take turns bragging about tools that we use, and just like any good shopper knows; the cheaper and the easier-to-use, the better!

You’ll hear about such interesting tools as “TreeJack, FenGUI, 5 Second Test, UserTesting.com” and plenty more! Not seeing your favorite tool? No problem, just share yours with the rest of the attendees. We’ll have a computer and projector so you can share your favorite with your fellow UX-ers.

Free food and drinks! And even more good news, you’ll have FREE Food and Drinks, which are provided by the good folks (and our hosts for this event) Apogee Results, the Online Marketing Authority.

RSVP on FaceBook

WHAT: October Meeting – UX Tools Bring and Brag

WHEN: Tuesday, October 4th, 7PM

WHERE: 8701 N Mopac, 1st Floor Conference Room (Left through the front door, down the hallway and last door on your left)

WHY: This is a GREAT chance for you to network, learn about (and share) some useful, cheap and effective UX tools designed to make your life easier, and to have some FREE food and drinks.

We will look forward to seeing you there!

Howdy all!

Here’s a job posting directly from yours truly! I’m becoming ever more busy with projects, to the point where I need some freelance contract work from a usability analyst.  Here’s the details…

Usability Analyst Job Description

Job Type: Contractor

Job Description

We are currently seeking an experienced usability analyst on a contract basis to conduct user experience research, expert reviews and usability testing aimed at optimizing the user experience and increasing the conversion of websites, landing pages and microsites.  The usability analyst participates in all phases of the usability testing process, which include:

1. Working with our clients to understand their project objectives
2. Providing expert reviews (heuristic evaluations) of websites, landing pages and microsites
3. Developing a usability test plan which addresses the client’s objectives
4. Facilitating projects such as one-on-one usability sessions and focus groups to obtain user preferences and feedback
5. Analyzing and documenting the results discovered from the usability sessions as PowerPoint deliverables

Desired Skills & Experience

The usability analyst should have a prior history of creating heuristic reviews of websites for B2B and B2C websites, landing pages and/or microsites. Familiarity with developing usability testing protocols, common best practices for usable design, and the user-centric methodology are helpful. The usability analyst will be evaluating websites based on Analytics data, coupled with the application of usability testing tools such as 5 second test, automated eye tracking, click tracking and other interaction data. The usability analyst will then couple this data with evaluations of the client’s website based on variations between the existing user experience and common best practices. The output of this research will be PowerPoint and related documents with screen captures and commentary that clearly highlight optimization opportunities for the client’s site.

The usability analyst:

• Gathers, analyzes, and documents user feedback, either through direct interaction with the user (1 on 1 usability testing) or through website data capture and analysis
• Conducts expert reviews (heuristic evaluations) of websites against common best practices
• Facilitates testing sessions including utilizing tools (GoToMeeting, Morae, Camtasia, etc) to record and scribe sessions either in-person or through remote methodologies
• Presents analysis of feedback and recommendations to client based on improving the user experience to improve tasks and or conversion
• Provides assistance and expertise to internal staff and clients in support of deliverable completion and successful project conclusion

Required Skills:

• At least 2 years of experience as a Usability Analyst, Usability Researcher or similar role in a professional environment
• Proven track record of consistently producing deliverables that are well-written and contain helpful information, providing solid and actionable recommendations for the client
• Expertise at capturing the essence of usability issues and clearly communicating them with non-technical audiences using screen capture, PowerPoint documentation and commentary
• Experience with an extensive variety of Usability methodologies and involvement in running a variety of tests, according to methodology and industry
• Detail-oriented, with the ability to multi-task, including excellent written and verbal communication skills
• Self-starter who is comfortable with minimal day-to-day guidance and independently managing deadlines
• Proficiency in Microsoft Word, Power Point, Excel, and virtual meeting software tools such as Adobe Connect or GoToMeeting, experience with Camtasia or Morae a plus
• Good analytical and quantitative skills and the ability to make sound recommendations and decisions based on observed user behavior and prior experience

Company Description

Apogee Results is a complete online marketing company providing professional services across multiple online marketing disciplines. As a large independent marketing services agency we recruit top talent in the areas of search engine optimization, pay per click advertising, social media, website effectiveness, quantitative research and web analytics. Through client collaboration, intense focus on bottom-of-the-funnel metrics, and in-depth industry expertise, we help our customers take their marketing programs to higher levels of performance and effectiveness to generate significant returns on investment.

Apogee Results is located in Austin, Texas and has performed work on behalf of many large and smaller sized clients, across both B2B and B2C disciplines. Clients we’ve worked with include many marquee brands, Fortune 100 companies, and Inc. 500 companies in local, national and international businesses.

For Immediate Consideration

For immediate consideration, please forward your resume and hourly rate expectations to:  hiring@apogeeresults.com with the Subject Line “Usability Analyst.”

Our September Austin chapter of the UPA meeting was a good one! Paul Janowitz and Kristen Gray of Sentient Services hosted a meeting devoted to eyetracking and learning about the latest trends in user experience research: social community via icanmakeitbetter.com.

Paul Janowitz of Sentient Services speaking about eyetracking and UX research

Over 20 UX and usability fans came to Sentient Services and were treated to sandwiches, free beer and drinks and some serious networking. Paul provided a review of eyetracking, including when eyetracking is useful, and when it’s not the right tool.

As you might imagine, it’s the background information gathering (can you say “Personas?”) and actual questions the research wants answered that determine how successful eyetracking will be. The well known phrase “bad data in, bad data out” certainly applies to eyetracking. Good to know that the basics apply to eyetracking just like any other form of UX research!

Eyetracking Data:

What are questions that eyetracking can answer? Paul indicated that eyetracking is useful for gathering data such as:

• What elements or objects are attracting attention
• Which of those SHOULD be attracting attention?
• Which of those should NOT be attracting attention?
• How long do people spend gazing at objects?
• What paths are people typically taking when reviewing a page?

What are questions that eyetracking cannot answer? Paul provided a list including:

• Which design do people like better?
• What do people think about the Brand?
• How do I make people stay on the page longer?
• Why are people not completing their purchases?
• How bad does my website suck (ok, I added that one!)

UX Research:

For the future of research, Paul provided us with an overview of his latest tool, simply titled ICanMakeItBetter.com. Paul’s latest creation, he shared with us, was inspired by air conditioning (I kid you not!). Paul told us he had recently purchased a new pick-up truck.

The old truck had air conditioning vents in the back for his kids to use (something that’s VERY important in a place like Central Texas with heat above 100 for over 80 straight days!). However, his new truck, he failed to note prior to purchase, did not have air conditioning vents in the back. He didn’t realize that until after he had purchased his truck, and his kids asked him,

“Daddy, where’s the air conditioning for us?”

Paul’s attempts at contacting the Dealer, then the manufacturer, to ask “What happened to the air conditioning in the back, and how do I get a truck that has it?” revealed that air conditioning vents in the back were simply not part of the new truck features! Something mission-critical for Paul and his back-seat passengers was left off the design consideration. Paul’s feeling was…

“There’s got to be a tool that allows me to communicate with the manufacturer, that they can use to gather user feedback for making design decisions.”

But there wasn’t, or at least not one that had enough function and features to make it fully research-useful.

So, Paul created one!

ICanMakeItBetter

Paul’s new research tool is called ICanMakeItBetter. To summarize, it’s a research tool (ala social and community communication portal) that couples users who are interested in a topic with companies and researchers who want to document and be connected with feedback from those users. ICanMakeItBetter.com enables sharing of information using the latest social tools, but adds to that by providing a private and controlled community that helps ensure no “bad data in, bad data out.”

ICanMakeItBetter.com can be used to create a user community that researchers can interact with, document, and ping for responses and data that help make better and more informed design decisions. The service is a SAAS model (Software As A Service) and comes in two business models; either a self-run tool that you manage, or a full turn-key community that Paul and team will set up and run for you.

Paul shared with us that interest is taking off for this new tool among many corporations, and that’s a good sign for research and the future of improving things in general!

If you’ve not checked out ICanMakeItBetter.com I suggest you head over there and review it, you may find that it’s a useful tool for gathering a community of users that you can use for your own research.

A BIG Texas-sized Thank You to Paul and Kristen for being such gracious hosts, and for the knowledge they imparted with the rest of the Austin UPA chapter. We’ll look forward to hearing more good things from Sentient Services and ICanMakeItBetter.com

Mark your calendars, our September meeting of the Austin chapter of the UPA is one not to miss!

RSVP on Facebook

What: September Austin UPA Chapter Meeting, Eyetracking and Research, Sentient Services

Where: Sentient Services, 205 Brazos Street (corner Brazos and 3rd in the uShip building)

Date: Tuesday, September 6th, 7PM

Eyetracking example

Eyetracking is one of the rather rare subjects in UX that seems to polarize practitioners. Some can’t live without it, some say they can’t live with it. Whatever your beliefs, now is your chance to explore the latest in eyetracking and research, and witness a live demo from long-time eyetracking expert and researcher Paul Janowitz, founder of Sentient Services and ICanMakeItBetter.com.

Paul Janowitz and Sentient Services will host a very special meeting. Learn about the latest in eyetracking research, watch a demo of the system in action and learn how advances in eyetracking are helping improve user experience optimization. In addition, Paul will present his latest research tool, ICanMakeItBetter.com, a community, research and innovation tool that Paul believes will vastly improve the ability of researchers to gather data to help improve products and services.

In addition, Paul and Sentient Services will be serving refreshments including beer and munchies. Yes, that’s right, free beer! Got your attention?

Don’t miss this rare opportunity to learn about the latest and greatest in eyetracking and research. Mark your calendar and we will look forward to seeing you there!

Paul Janowitz Biography:

Paul Janowitz

Paul specializes in quantitative and qualitative market research, user experience research, product development, branding, social media and marketing strategy. Prior to founding Sentient Services in 2003 Paul was a Research Director for The Gallup Organization, a founding employee of a leading technology research consultancy acquired by Market Strategies International and branding director on the agency side. His work spans worldwide brand launches to new product development, customer engagement, usability and market research for companies around the globe.

Paul specializes in providing innovative business intelligence driven by cutting-edge research and deep industry expertise. He has extensive experience in industries spanning technology (software, hardware, emerging) advertising, interactive, social media, healthcare, automotive and education. Clients and friends along the way include Intel, Yahoo!, IBM, HP, Dell, Aetna, The University of Texas, Microsoft, Sony, SAP and many others.

From this depth of experience Paul brings unique insights into how the marketplace reacts to and consumes products and services.

Paul holds a MA in Government (human behavior and research methodology) and a dual BA in Economics and Government from the University of Texas at Austin. Paul is actively involved in the Austin community as the founder of AustinProBono.org and through working with LifeWorks, The Trail Foundation and other local charities. Paul frequently guest lectures and writes about research, emerging technology, branding and usability.

Event Details:

Description:
November 10 is World Usability Day, and the Austin UPA officers were thinking of doing a project on something usability related in our community. We’d like to brainstorm some ideas and start organizing the project at the happy hour.

When: Tuesday, August 2, 2011, 7 pm – 9 pm

Where:
Opal Divine’s Marina (near Fry’s)
12709 North Mopac, Austin, TX

RSVP on Facebook

Hope to see you on Tuesday!

When: Tuesday July 12, 2011, 7 pm – 9 pm

Where: National Instruments
11500 North Mopac Expressway
Austin, TX 78759
Building B
Second Floor, Training Room 4

NOTE: Main gate closes at 7pm. After that use the intercom to call the security guard and let them know you’re with the UPA.

RSVP on Facebook

Hope to see you on Tuesday!

by Lawrence Najjar, Ph.D.
TandemSeven, Austin, TX, Principal User Experience Architect

Tuesday, June 7, from 7pm to 9pm

• Location: Apogee Results (1st floor conference room of the Atrium building)
• Address: 8701 North Mopac Expy, Austin, TX 78759
• (Enter building from the front doors, go down the left hallway. Go right when the hallway turns right, the room will be near the far end, on the left side.)

RSVP on Facebook

Join us for an interesting presentation by Lawrence Najjar, Ph.D., Principal User Experience Architect, TandemSeven.  We look forward to seeing you there!

To remain competitive, e-commerce user interfaces need to evolve as customer behaviors and technologies change. This paper describes several new user interface features that designers may want to add to their e-commerce offerings. The features include social media connections, storefronts on social media sites, automated product recommendations, dynamic product customization, dynamic product contextual simulation, flash sales, and mobile commerce.

Attendees will learn about innovative user interface design concepts, then we will discuss the concepts and their ability to meet users’ needs.

This presentation is for a paper that was accepted for presentation and publication by HCI International 2011 in Orlando in July.

Lawrence Najjar, Ph.D.

Dr. Najjar has over 25 years of user interaction analysis and design experience. He performed user analyses and iterative user interface design for an Abbott Laboratories’ clinical trials data portal, 1-800-Flowers BloomNet florist order entry system, Campbell Soup Company’s global corporate intranet (named one of the year’s 10 best intranets by Nielsen Norman Group), Career Education Corporation’s online student portal, Chubb Insurance Company’s agent extranet, Citigroup’s Portfolio Manager Desktop application, Experian’s integrated credit reporting application, Girl Scouts of the USA’s employee intranet, and Orbitz.com’s international pricing. He also performed usability evaluations at Campbell’s and Orbitz.com.

At BMC Software, he designed graphical user interfaces for desktop and mainframe applications and wrote a corporate accessibility user interface style guide. As a consultant at iXL and Viant, he helped create Home Depot’s online store, reorganized NASCAR.com, and developed a parts order extranet for GE Power Systems customers. While at IBM, Dr. Najjar helped redesign the US air traffic controller user interface and improved the usability of several engineering management software products. At GTRI, he worked with state and federal governments to build a wearable computer for poultry processing plant quality assurance inspectors, analyze a city-wide highway traffic management system, design software testing tools for fighter jets, and improve the accessibility of advanced photocopiers.

Dr. Najjar is very active in the field of user interaction design. He published over 75 professional papers, 24 invention disclosures, and gave dozens of presentations at professional society meetings, industry lunches, and academic classrooms. Recently, he published a paper on e-commerce user interface design in the “Handbook of Human Factors in Web Design.” His Austin UPA presentation will cover his paper on advances in e-commerce user interface design for the HCI International 2011 conference.

Najjar has a Bachelor of Arts in Psychology from the College of the Holy Cross in Worcester, Massachusetts. He also has a Master of Science and Ph.D. in Psychology with specializations in Engineering Psychology from the Georgia Institute of Technology.

We’ve been advised by a recruiter that there’s a San Antonio, Texas opportunity for a Usability Analyst for a 12 month contract assignment.

According to the recruiter, the qualified candidates will have the following qualifications:

Design Skills / Knowledge:

• Create high-level and/or detailed user interface specifications consisting of deliverables such as wireframes, navigation designs, user flows, user interaction rules, and working prototypes to effectively communicate design ideas from concept through final design
• Design user interfaces with the goal of optimizing and enhancing user efficiency, effectiveness, and satisfaction
• Successfully communicate conceptual ideas, design rationale, potential usability challenges, and details of the user experience (UX) design process to team members and clients
• Define solutions from the user’s perspective while effectively balancing business goals and objectives
• Document, communicate, and advocate design solutions through dialogue with internal staff, written and verbal presentations, and UI specifications
• Act as a liaison between business users, developers, and testers to ensure the delivery of user interfaces that are consistent with usability and UX design principles
• Work within established standards, guidelines, and paradigms for existing applications

Other Roles and Responsibilities:

• Provide user experience direction and support across multiple projects and applications
• Actively communicate status and issues to project managers and users
• Assist in socializing the user experience team’s activities, roles, and responsibilities to both technical and non-technical groups within the organization
• Participate in the gathering and/or validation of user requirements

Qualifications:

• Bachelor’s Degree (preferred)
• Minimum 3-5 years experience
• Strong knowledge of user interface and functional design
• Superb communication skills (verbal, written, and presentation)
• Able to work independently and collaboratively
• Demonstrated knowledge of Visio, Photoshop, HTML, CSS, and JavaScript
• Excellent communication skills
• Demonstrated ability to work with IT and business

For more information, please contact the recruiter for this position:

Michael Serene

Michael.Serene (at) sapphire.com

Greetings all you UX fans!  Join all your fellow Austin UX fans at next month’s Austin UPA Happy Hour!  The Happy Hour will be from 6:30-9:00PM at J Blacks and we’ll be in the private room area, on the right, near the back.  We’ll be toasting all things User Experience, chatting about Usability, IA, Wireframes, Remote Testing, Life, Pets, Fun and a whole bunch more! Join us, hoist a drink, nosh on some yummie food, and network with your fellow Austin UX fans.

We look forward to seeing you there!

What: Austin UPA Happy Hour (no host)

When: Tuesday, May 3rd, 6:30PM – 9:00PM

Where: J Blacks Feel Good Lounge, 710 B W 6th Street, Austin, TX 78701 (512) 433-6954

Why: To have fun and relax, enjoy being with your fellow UX fans, and hang out.

Here’s a new job that was just sent to us by an Austin UPA supporter, Bestica.  Please contact Harvinder at Bestica for more information.

Bestica, nation’s leading User Experience Design staffing firm, is actively seeking a Usability Professional/Specialist for its client in San Antonio, TX.

Job Responsibilities:

• Identify suitable usability strategies and activities that fulfill the business needs.
• Generate a road-map as to how a specific usability session/activity will be conducted and execute the set plan
• Set usability test goals, recruiting criteria, create questionnaire and carryout specific usability activities/sessions.
• Analyze the usability sessions, create reports of session findings and present the outcome and recommendations to the management in desired time-frame.

If you, or somebody you know in your network of influence, are available and interested in exploring this dynamic opportunity, kindly send in a copy of your resume or a kind referral to harvinder@bestica.com.

Senior Usability / User Researcher Job Requirements:

• 4+ years of usability experience for web applications.
• Expertise in various usability strategies and techniques, such as usability testing, heuristic evaluations, focus groups, card sort technique, performance evaluations, ethnography research, and participatory design.
• Proven track record of planning, facilitating, debriefing and analyzing Usability sessions and creating and reporting results of these sessions.
• Excellent communication and presentation skills.
• Experience presenting usability findings to different levels of management.
• Solid experience and keen interest to train others and provide performance evaluation on facilitating skills.
• Ability to work in a collaborative team.
• Availability to work evening hours.

But in the real world, the situation is often a bit different.  Clients consult usability experts with a goal in mind – more sales, greater visibility of ads, and so on.  These goals can sometimes seem to be diametrically opposed to what the typical user wants.  So how do usability experts serve two masters, the client and the user?

This is a place where it can be helpful to think of the user experience in terms of the rewards it offers.  Allowing the client’s agenda to dictate the user’s experience can leave users feeling frustrated and lacking in control.  But by providing reinforcement for behaviors that the client is hoping to see, users can be encouraged to act in certain ways in a manner that respects their autonomy.

In psychology, a technique known as shaping is used to teach animals complex behaviors.  In order to get a dolphin to jump through a hoop, for instance, a trainer first rewards simpler but related behaviors.  He’ll lower the hoop into the water and deliver a fish when the dolphin swims close to it.  Once the dolphin knows that swimming close to the hoop is a good thing, the trainer will then start to reward the dolphin for swimming through the hoop.  Once this behavior is learned the hoop can be gradually raised until the dolphin is consistently jumping through the hoop.

Of course, users are not dolphins, and any thought of “training” your users is antithetical to the philosophy of user advocacy.  But like the dolphin, users can be encouraged (or discouraged) at various steps along the path prior to arriving at the ultimate goal.

One site that excels at encouraging users is BustinBoards.com, a purveyor of custom skateboards.  On the Build-A-Board section of the site, users can select board shapes, paint jobs, and wheels, all while getting instant previews of what the finished board will look like – and even a performance meter displaying the board’s stats.  Despite having no pre-existing interest in skateboarding, I was motivated to spend several minutes on the site exploring options and perfecting my virtual board.  Of course, every time I finalized a decision and clicked on to the next area, I was one step closer to the check-out.

It can be extremely valuable to take the time to identify the steps required for users to complete a desired behavior – such as completing a purchase – and to focus on reinforcing them at each step in a way that makes sense for those users.  Of course, reinforcing a user doesn’t require bells and whistles (or fish).  It can be the simple reassurance that he is in the right place and completing his intended goal.

By paying attention to how users are rewarded along each step of tasks, particularly those that are especially important to clients, designers can increase successful outcomes for clients without sacrificing user experience.

Here’s a message from the International Usability Professional’s Association:

The Usability Professionals’ Association is happy to announce that the 2011 Salary
Survey is now open. This is the fifth installment of this semi-annual assessment of
trends in user experience salaries and industry practices.  Simply put, the UPA
Salary Survey is *the* best-known and most-referred to salary survey in the user
experience industry. It’s open to all user experience professionals, not just UPA
members.

Please help your field by taking this anonymous survey. To take the survey,
follow this link:

http://www.surveymonkey.com/s/UPA2011SalarySurvey

Thank you in advance for your support!

2011 Board of Directors
Usability Professionals’ Association

What:

Our next Austin UPA Meeting will be YOUR chance to share your thoughts about the interesting items you heard while attending the 2011 SXSW. We’re calling it the SXSW Recap, and it’ll be a great way to learn about the latest UX ideas and practices from talks or work sessions at SXSW.

When:

Tuesday, April 5th, 6:30PM

Where:

National Instruments (Building B)
11500 North Mopac Expressway
Austin, TX 78759-3563
http://www.ni.com/contact/map2hq.htm
Second Floor, Training Room 4
Mapquest Map

NOTE: Main gate closes at 7pm.  After that use the intercom to call the security guard and let them know you’re with the UPA.

SXSW Recap Meeting Details:

Whether you attended SXSW or not, this is a great opportunity to learn and share good ideas from the excellent speakers at SXSW.  If you attended sessions you think are of interest to your fellow members, come prepared to tell us all about it!

To allow everyone a chance to speak, we’ll ask you to prepare in advance a short summary of things you found interesting, informative or useful!  Here’s the format we’ll use:

1. Your recap is limited to 10 minutes maximum
2. Please answer the 4 “Ws”:
   1. WHAT session or sessions did you attend?
   2. WHAT was interesting about it?
   3. WHY did you find that interesting or useful?
   4. WHERE or how might we apply this new or interesting idea?
3. If you have a visual example that was provided in the session, please feel free to bring it along to show us.
4. Let us know in advance which session you would like to share:
   1. AustinUPA [at] gmail [dot] com

Because the main gate closes at 7pm, please plan on arriving no later than 6:30pm.  We will start our SXSW recap meeting promptly at 6:30 and look forward to seeing you there!

Here’s a new job posting that was recently forwarded to us.

Art Director, Dell, Global Site Design

Job Description:

Responsible for the development and execution of global creative solutions

Work on interactive design projects that meet both user and business objectives while maintaining and supporting the brand

Assist the Associate Creative Director and the Creative Director in team management, project delegation and ensuring quality deliverables; partner with Account and Project Management teams on daily deliverables

Partner with information architects, UI developers and business stakeholders, and collaborate with Art Directors, the Associate Creative Director and the Creative Director to execute the work

Ability to help guide strategic execution of projects, partner effectively with teams and influence the evolution of design systems

Mentor and manage junior design teams, provide ongoing constructive feedback and conduct formal performance reviews

We are seeking:

• 8 – 10 years of design experience with focus in digital and from an accredited design program
• Thought leadership, the ability to help guide strategic execution of projects and collaborate internally and with outside agencies
• Resourcefulness, dependability, proactiveness
• Ability to present and sell work with sound rationale
• Advanced understanding of typography, kerning, leading, grids and visual layout and design systems
• Solid understanding of basic HTML/CSS code, methodologies and the technology and platforms that support online design
• An online portfolio demonstrating a strong design foundation
• Ability to think outside the box and consistently meet deadlines
• Ability to create strong user-centric designs and visually interpret business objectives

Contact:

Renee G Diaz
Interactive Design Agent | Austin & San Antonio Markets
ph: 512-366-3110

Our March 1st meeting of the Austin Chapter of the UPA was a great chance to receive a sneak-preview of Amanda McGlothlin’s very interesting upcoming SxSW talk, “Designing for Android.”  The well filled room of attendees heard the latest news about best practices and future potential for Android designs.

Amanda McGlothlin speaking about designing for Android at the March UPA meeting

As Creative Director at Mutual Mobile, an Austin-based company focused on developing applications for mobile, Amanda had a lot to say about the comparisons of design considerations between iPhone and Android experiences.  Overall, her challenge to those creating Android experiences is to consider the strengths implicit in the expanded opportunities Android can present, while carefully noting best practices for selection and interaction expectations.

Amanda also noted that observation and research into who the target users are, and what their expectations may be for utilization of the application can greatly enhance design efforts.  And in that same regard the partnering of designers and developers early in the process can smooth out the flow and increase the efficiency of creating and developing new applications.

Attendees at the Austin UPA chapter meeting

The attendees had a lively discussion with Amanda after her talk, asking questions related both to development as well as to design.  The overall impression from questions by attendees is that designing for Android is near top of mind for those developing mobile applications, and hearing about the latest design considerations was very helpful.  Amanda also shared some thoughts on the future, and where mobile user experience designers should be focusing next.  High in her consideration set is the quickly-growing tablet UX, and what that will mean for designers and developers in the near future.

After Amanda’s talk and the Q&A, I took the opportunity to introduce myself and the new Austin chapter board to the attendees. We went around the room and asked the attendees to introduce themselves, and talk about what topics they would be interested in learning more about.  The general consensus seemed to be that user research techniques, design and development considerations in the UX space and educational opportunities to learn more about best practices ranked high in interest. We welcome your comments and suggestions on topics of interest you would like us to cover this year.

Last, but certainly not least, we thanked our out-going President, Julie, for her amazing one-woman effort to expand and grow the Austin UPA Chapter.  Julie, you have made a big difference in the UX community and we thank you for your time, energy and commitment.  The new board has big shoes to fill!

I urge all of you to please contact me or any of us here at the board with your thoughts on how we can promote UX locally and regionally.  We are very excited about continuing to grow the sharing of knowledge and best practices about UX with you!

Cheers for now, and I look forward to seeing you at the next meeting!

Craig Tomlin

President, Austin Chapter of the UPA

Location: Apogee Results
Address: 8701 North Mopac Expy, Suite 400, Austin, TX 78759 (Enter building from the front doors, go down the left hallway. Go right when the hallway turns right, the room will be near the far end, on the left side.)
RSVP on Facebook

It’s time to stop creating “Android versions of iPhone apps” and start creating apps made especially for the unique technological and design features of Android. What many designers are approaching as challenges – the multiple devices, the buttons, the lack of rules and constraints – others are taking as an open invitation to innovate without bounds. Most users aren’t comparing iPhone and Android apps side by side, and neither s…hould the designers making them. Whether you’re porting an app or creating something original, this session explores why you should approach Android with fresh eyes and stop designing with iPhone in mind.

Amanda McGlothlin is now working as the Creative Director at Mutual Mobile, Amanda has more than eight years of professional visual design and user interface experience working at advertising agencies such as T3 and Clutch Creative and as a creative consultant. Known for passionately promoting simplicity in design, Amanda guides the design vision of the company, providing the team with art direction and user experience direction that serve our brands, technology capabilities and end users.