We’re in the process of making a few changes (big and small) to our company website. It’s an ongoing project but one of the immediate changes we’ve made concerns the blog and it’s address. After the redesign of the site, the blog is now integrated directly into EdenWeb.ie and will no longer link out to this WordPress site. This means all future blog articles will be published directly on our sites’ new blog.
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Despite the recession, there are still a lot of companies out there seeking talented web professionals. A few weeks ago we were contacted by a company that has an urgent requirement for someone in the User Interface / Usability / Information Architecture space and we said we’d help get the message out.
If this role isn’t suitable for you, perhaps you have a colleague in the industry that might be looking for a change of scenery and would be interested. Details are below.
Overall Purpose of Job:
The overall role and responsibility of the User Experience Manager is to oversee the development, management and maintenance of the User interfaces for our products
You will specifically focus on the structural design for our websites across all platforms email and applications, while implementing user-centred design methodology. The role will incorporate Interface Design, Usability, Information Architecture, NPD, Prototyping, Wireframing, SEO, Web Statistic Analysis. An understanding of User journeys, Internet Usage, Internet Trends and Technologies are essential. You will also help to ensure that our brand is upheld through great design standards.
Main duties & responsibilities:
- To create specifications for and manage the testing & implementation of development projects in accordance with the objectives of the online business channels
- Assist in the management and development of the User Experience Team
- Be a brand guardian, ensuring output for the design team meets the brief and the brand expectations
- Ensure the usability of all online products are of the highest standards ? content, navigation, usability, search engine optimisation and technical implementations
- To ensure that our product usage is tracked effectively and usage is reported across the business
- Ongoing market analysis? identifying competitive trends, new UI developments and standards and internet usage trends
- Understanding implications for our business of changes in internet technology and legislation
- Monitoring and taking advantage of e-Commerce technologies and industry trends
Experience/Background:
- A good eye for strong design and branding
- Ability to manage and develop other people
- Ability to work under pressure and on own initiative
- Superb organizational skills
- Good understanding of business technology
- Bachelors or Masters Degree in a business or technology discipline
- Experience working with an online brand desirable
- iGaming experience is a major advantage
- Agency is an experience is an advantage
If you are interested, please pass along your details to us and we’ll connect you with the organisation involved.
One of the greatest things about attending NCAD (all those years ago!) was the exposure you had to a huge range of creative disciplines. So, wether you were studying Visual Communications, Fashion Design or Craft, it’s likely that you had friends and mentors across Painting, Sulpture, Industrial Design and Photography. You got to see what they were creating on a daily basis and often a visit to another department within the college would spark ideas for your own projects. EG a book cover design you were working on might involve a visit to the Craft dept. to photograph some coloured metals for the books background. Instead of using some DTP software for the book title, a friend’s work over in Sculpture might have inspired new ways to create some interesting typography.
The point is, their work and creative field pushed yours and you became a better designer for it. So last week when we received a call from Dublin City Council asking us if we were interested in information on a new networking initiative specifically for the creative industy in Dublin, we signed up to ‘CreativeD ‘ almost immediately.
If you’re involved in the creative sector, then this is an invaluable opportunity to be involved in something focussed specifically on your industry whose remit is to
“define, develop and promote creative businesses and ensure that individually and collectively the creative industries become a significant force in our new economy.”
The first event is held in October at the Digital Hub and is titled ‘Capitalize on your Creativity’.
Details on CreativeD can be found on the Dublin City Council Web site. I think it’s a great initiative by DCC and a welcome development for Irish Creativity.
I just spotted a Google Streetview Car pass by the office window. I’m suprised that they’re down here in ‘rural’ wicklow but it was a nice suprise all the same. Rachel managed to take a snap…
Another nice suprise was Typeform in Dublin arriving seconds later to deliver scans of the next 150 paintings that we are getting ready for the Texaco Children’s Art Competition website. When I mentioned the Google car, he said there were a few of them pottering about!
Big thanks for Fergus for the tip off here. This looks like a great opportunity for a designer who wants to work with Ireland’s best Property Portal. Daft.ie are looking for a talented GUI/interface guy or gal on a contract basis and working remotely also looks possible. If work at EdenWeb wasn’t so busy with current clients and we were looking to expland, I’d be calling DAFT right now!
Click the screenshot for full details.
Contract/Freelance Web Interface Designer
Conicidentally, I worked with Eamonn in a Software company just before he left to head up DAFT. I was creating icons and GUI designs for his Engineering team at the time and can confirm that you will be dealing with some very talented people who know their interface design! Now that he is managing DAFT, I’m not sure you’ll be dealing with Eamonn himself but I’m certain there will be a keen eye cast on any GUI developments. I’ve always maintained that one of the reason the DAFT web site was streets ahead of other Irish property portals was it’s clean front-end design and usability. With a founder who has a background in Software Engineering and a familiarity with GUI design, I think DAFT’s website has benefitted right from the start.
Anyway, good luck if you apply. It looks like a great gig to have on the books.
Melbourne-based SitePoint.com have a great book offer at the moment in aid of the recent Melbourne bushfire victims. You can now buy any 5 of their web design books (in PDF format) for the price of 1 and 100% of the money will go to the Australian Red Cross Victorian Bushfire Appeal 2009. The range of titles available are to numberous to mention here and span everything from designand coding to project management and business.
Sitepoint book offer
And if you are based in Europe and thinking of buying 5 SitePoint books then consider purchasing another 5 for someone else. The EUR to AUD exchange rate is so good at the moment that it’s practically 2 AUD to every EUR anyway. My mistake – the price is US Dollars, not Austrlian Dollars
Best of luck tonight to EdenWeb client Aer Arann who have been shortlisted in the Best Travel & Tourism Website category. We redesigned the homepage a few months ago (Case Study coming soon) and made some significant improvements to the design, layout and usability of the homepage and site in general so it’s really rewarding to see that work recognised and up for an Award.
Among my favourite enhancements were three that I felt stongly were missing from the original site and vital for Aer Arann
- RouteMap Quick View so you can quickly see where Aer Arann fly to without leaving the homepage
(this may not be live on the current site as we explore some new banner sizes) - A ‘Why Fly Aer Arann’ panel to highlight Aer Arann’s unique selling points and their fantastic customer service
- Reduction overall of ‘noise’ and a layout based on a cleaner grid system
- Larger ‘featured routes’ banner to highlight sales, new destinations and similar Aer Arann offers
In total, we explored about 6 concepts, whittled them down to three of the strongest and then settled on our favourite which was then designed and developed further in May 2008.
We also redesigned the Aer Arann booking engine and imporved the user interface with a new simple 3 step online booking process (reduced from 6 steps). More on both of these later but in the meantime, best of luck to Aer Arann and all the shortlisted companies in a very competitive category and industry.
I’m helping a friend get two very basic holding pages together for her choir prior to an appearance on the Late Late show this Friday.
I’m hoping to get these two tiny sites Googled and indexed by Friday. Finger’s crossed!
I’ve just been really impressed by the customer service over at Mactivate in Dublin. My Macbook battery packed up while I was working remotely and their service department couldn’t do enough for me. They set me up with a brand new battery and told me to come back on Monday when they’d have a replacement ready for my other one. I’m not sure they were impressed to see Vista running when the laptop powered back up but Ill be back on Monday for my other battery, a copy of OSX Leopard and another drool at all that gorgeous Apple hardware.
