Interaction Design Business

The biggest problems
Chris Noessel, Itamar Medeiros, Kontra, David Malouf and 12 others
Aside from hate on User Centered Design, and perhaps more seriously, the looming global economy crisis, I'm interesting in hearing...

why the hate-on User-centered Design? (was practice vs. discipline & roles vs. people
Christina Wodtke, Jared Spool, Kontra, Tim Wright and 10 others
Lately a lot of senior folks seem to be railing on user-centered design. Now, I thought UCD was the idea of...

Article in Today's New York Times on Design and Design Thinking
Chauncey Wilson, mark schraad, Jared Spool
Today's Sunday New York Times has an article on design and design thinking. It is accessible at: http://www.nytimes.com/2008/10/05/business/05unbox.html?_r=1&ref=business&oref=slogin (Note, you might have...

September 2008

practice vs. discipline & roles vs. people
David Malouf, Andrei Herasimchuk, mark schraad, mark schraad and 31 others
Andrei said. "We won't truly agree on much of the larger picture until you change your stance that "interaction" designers need...

Why Understanding Business Models is Important to Ix Designers
Jared Spool, Steve Baty, David Malouf, Andrei Herasimchuk and 11 others
Interaction design is hard enough to do when the business model is clear. When the designer knows exactly how...

August 2008

Clients are funny
Marty DeAngelo, Will Evans, Nancy Broden, Matthew Nish-Lapidus and 24 others
Just thought I would pass along this little treat. I got an email about an hour ago telling me that our...

ING sues PNC over alleged similarities of Web sites
G. Jason Head, Jared Spool, Charles B. Kreitzberg, Jared Spool and 13 others
Interesting enough it has to do a bit with the user interface on the PNC Virtual Wallet site: "The site features several...

how to present UX to the whole agency
Jay Morgan, Sam Woodman, Jamie McAtee, alan james salmoni and 12 others
I just took the role of Director UX at a small interactive marketing agency, and i need to show/tell/present to them...

Activities of Usability team
Guillermo Ermel, Daniel Szuc, FoongYeen Chan, Melvin Jay Kumar and 3 others
Hello IxDA members! I'm trying to define common activities of a usability team... So I've made a list. Maybe there are some activities...

July 2008

turning freelance work into a sustainable design business
erpdesigner, Ron Edelen, Christine Boese, Vytas Gaizutis and 13 others
I'm at the point where I am looking for a job, but also doing a lot of contract/freelance work. In...

June 2008

Client education
Corey Pressman, Chris Heckler
Hey there, Do any of y¹all have a one-sheet or perhaps a tri-fold that you distribute to your clients to educate them...

Is blogging about work OK?
Prachi Sakhardande, Sachendra Yadav, Chauncey Wilson, Benjamin Ho and 3 others
Hi There Here's a question to all the avid bloggers on this list. How do you draw the line between what work...

Prototyping at Apple
Mitchell Gass, John Gibbard, Fred Beecher, Daniel Szuc and 2 others
There's an interview with the author of a new book about Steve Jobs at <http://machinist.salon.com/blog/2008/06/09/leander_kahney/index.html>http://machinist.salon.com/blog/2008/06/09/leander_kahney/index.html with some interesting information...

Legal Questions for a possible conference panel on Intellectual property
Chauncey Wilson, Duane Degler, Kontra
Hi, This is a lively discussion. I'm on the CHI2009 conference committee for usability and user experience and I'm proposing a...

iRise vs. Axure - Community response - Patent-free thread
Fred Beecher, Nancy Roberts, dave malouf and 3 others
First, my apologies to Andrei and anyone else who may be affected by having links to patents in their email. I...

Changing from Web apps to Enterprise software apps
Catriona Lohan-Conway, dave malouf, Rich Rogan
I have just started a project where I will be doing the UX for enterprise applications and wondering if...

The Can-Am Spyder
Andrei Herasimchuk, Steven Chalmers, Dante Murphy, pauric and 10 others
For reference, please see: http://www.portfolio.com/interactive-features/2008/02/Spyder http://spyderryder.brp.com/spyder-community/en-CA/Home.html http://spyderryder.brp.com/spyder-community/en-CA/BlogEntry.html?EntryID=bd44fe89-6630-4ba1-a75f-643f9bb3bfea http://spyderryder.brp.com/spyder-community/en-CA/BlogEntry.html?EntryID=23e0bed7-40c5-462d-860e-745cb8e10626 So, food for thought... How does someone who practices "IxD" achieve a similar level of quality...

May 2008

Does Forrester know about interaction design?
Fredrik Matheson, Dmitry Nekrasovski, Mario Bourque and 15 others
I was just reading through Forrester's report "The Seven Tenets Of The Information Workplace" by Erica Driver and Connie Moore. Among others,...

Introducing design to a dev team for the first time
Martin, Itamar Medeiros and 13 others
Hi all, I am currently the tech writer for a team that develops several products that are used internally within the company....

Resources for new usability managers
Elise Edson, Daniel Szuc, Chauncey Wilson, Margaret Hanley and 3 others
Hi folks, Can anyone recommend coursework, books or other resources to help managers understand how to handle IxD / usability professionals and...

Ideas Worth Stealing [Plug]
Will Evans, Jeff Howard, David Cortright, Itamar Medeiros and 3 others
I just wanted to point out Robert H's blog - and specifically his article about reinventing the About Us section...

April 2008

how to position a new "beta" feature -- examples?
Meredith Noble, Oleh Kovalchuke, Dante Murphy and 4 others
I imagine this might be a tough one, but you IxDAers never fail me, so here goes. Can anyone think of any...

Information architecture also a form of interaction design?
Erik Bazuin, David Malouf, Itamar Medeiros
Hi there Im wondering... Is information Architecture also a form of Interaction Design? Greetings erik _________________________________________________________________ Express yourself instantly with MSN Messenger! Download today...

Usability Testing Facility in NYC
Maria Pereda-Ramon
Hi there, My company is looking into renting out a lab to perform usability testing in the New York City Area. We...

Raising awareness for Interaction Design in a corporate IT company
R. Groot, Jared Christensen, Itamar Medeiros, Petteri Hiisilä and 4 others
Dear all, my question is simple in its former but probably less so in its answer. Therefore I would like to ask...

Best practices to evangelize UX design?
Suba Periyasami, Robert Hoekman Jr, Daniel Szuc, Bruno Figueiredo and 3 others
What are some of the strategies that you have used to evangelize UX and usability practices in your company? The following are...

User research ROI graph
chiwah liu
Hello, I would like to show in a very simple way how user research and usability can be usefull for business. So...

February 2008

Thoughts on Alan Cooper's Keynote
charlie at cognetics.com, Troy Gardner, Will Evans, Alan Cooper and 63 others
When Alan Cooper delivered the opening keynote at Interactions08 this morning, I was once again struck by how sensible his view...

Internal social knowledge bank - a tool to use?
Johan Sjöstrand
Hello. I've been trying to build up a knowledge bank for our interaction design dept at work. Right now it's...

January 2008

Looking for Usability Recruiting Firms in Western Europe
Lori Baker
We are working on a project that plans to start testing in Germany, France, Spain, Austria and Belgium specifically and I...

Ratio of designers to developers
Billie Mandel, Rich Rogan, Bryan Minihan, Nasir Barday and 15 others
Hey fab folks - So I was at dinner the other night with the technical publications manager here at my company,...

Book proposals to look at
David Malouf, Benjamin Ho, Kim Bieler, Ari Feldman and 8 others
Hi Gang, I know there are quite a few writers here. Any chance one of you might be able to send me...

November 2007

Negotiating with difficult {clients|coworkers} suggested readings
Alan Wexelblat
Periodically we all confront problems of negotiating with clients who want unreasonable things, or coworkers who seem to be opposed to...

Hourly rates?
maya gorton, Spina, Andrew, Dan Harrelson, Barbara Ballard and 12 others
Hi there, How do you calculate hourly rates? Is there a formula that can help you extrapolate from a yearly salary? I have...

October 2007

A List Apart web design survey results - Blogging
Matthew Nish-Lapidus, Oleh Kovalchuke
This survey is always incredibly interesting. I'm sure a lot of us on this list participated, and the number of...

Working in an Agency v/s Innie
Vishal Iyer, Ari Feldman, Dante Murphy and 19 others
What's your experience been? What are the pros & cons with regards to design process, org structure, work environment, career pathing...

Interview Questions - For interviewing a team lead/mgr
David Shaw, Joseph Selbie, Susan Doran, Cindy Alvarez
Hi All, I know there's been discussions before about interview questions, but I don't think there's been discussion on this kind. ...

The Peer-to-Patent Project
Morten Hjerde, W Evans, Kam Stewart
The patent system today is a joke. Its badly broken, and we suffer for it. Both in our work as IxDs...

Target.com Loses Accessibility Law Suit
Daniel Yang, Joseph Selbie, Alok Jain, David Malouf and 51 others
Since today seems to be an introductory day, I'm relatively new to the list as well. I noticed there was...

Rockstars and Professional Development (was: Hiring Strategies)
David Shaw, Jeff White, pauric, Chauncey Wilson
Hi Will, Yes, I've seen that too. Unfortunately, with the current state of the market how can someone hire rock stars...

September 2007

Hiring Strategies (was: Potential interview questions...)
Dan Brown
I wonder if we might broaden the conversation to talk about general hiring strategies. Though I haven't read it, Joel Spolsky's...

Best sources for design process
Wilson, Russell, Robert Hoekman Jr, kun
Can anyone point me to what they consider the best sources for information on design processes (i.e. how design integrates with development...

Green Card process
Mark Hines, Ryan Lum, Alok Jain
An IA on my staff is in the process of applying for a Green Card. As her manager I'm working with...

August 2007

throwing out some knowledge to the group...
Joe Davidchik, Chauncey Wilson, M S, Chauncey Wilson and 2 others
... particularly in a hungry market. I was recently put in the position where I was asked to sign something saying that...

July 2007

hourly rates, price and value
Mark Schraad, White, Jeff, Akanowicz Ron, Ari Feldman and 51 others
The recent discussion about hourly rates for contracting interaction design struck me an extremely limited take on 'how much we...

Contract Rates going at $150 - $250/hr ??
Hooman Anvar, Tom Dell'Aringa, erpdesigner and 26 others
Hope everyone had a nice holiday... Today I talked to a recruiter that is looking for visual designer/interaction designer combo. Not really...

June 2007

IP question (was: Apple iTunes Flipbook Pattern)
Vishal Iyer, pauric, Will Parker
Does anyone know what does (or doesn't) the IP cover? On a more general note, is it possible to patent Interaction...

May 2007

How to consult as an IxDA?
Wilson, Russell, Michael Tuminello, Robert Hoekman, Jr., Jeff Howard
I was recently asked how to get started doing contract/consulting work as an IxDA (what type of business entity to form,...

ROI
johan.dermaut at belgacom.be, Donna Maurer, Henrik Olsen, Jarod Tang and 11 others
Hi all, Can someone please, p l e a s e, PLEASE help me. I'm looking for exisiting, actual, examples of ROI...

April 2007

A List Apart Survey
David Shaw
I didn't see this come across the wire yet, but if you have time, go take the survey at http://alistapart.com/articles/webdesignsurvey ....

Bringing on a Consulting Group
Joe Davidchik, Alok Jain, Chris Bernard, Bernie Monette and 6 others
Could use some advice here. Our Sr. Management group has decided to bring on an outside consulting group to "help" with our...

February 2007

What constitutes (design) career 'nirvana'?
Bret Hekking, Ari Feldman, Vermette, Joan, Mike Hickman and 6 others
For those of you who have worked for/with frustrating or unsupportive organizations in the past and have nonetheless been able to...

need help evaluating the value ($) of an application
diego bauducco, Kiesel, Jeffrey (User Experience), Jeff Axup, Ari Feldman and 2 others
Dear List, my friend was approached by a company to buy one of his online applications. His app. is quite successful and...

January 2007

Tag clouds, distractions, purposes
Alan Wexelblat, Joe Lamantia
The comment about tag clouds being distracting reminded me of this recent cartoon: http://xkcd.com/c214.html A point I'd like to add here is that...

Disability Coverage for Independents
Hooman Anvar
Hi, After years of being on my own, I've recently taken advice to buy disability insurance. I am wondering if any of...

Mobile Application Development in Japan
John Grøtting, Barbara Ballard
We are working on a pitch for a company that is centered around e- commerce for their website in Japan....

General & Professional Liability Insurance
Theo Mandel, Ph.D., dnp607, Barbara Ballard, leo.frishberg at exgate.tek.com and 3 others
I’m an independent software usability consultant (sole proprietor, LLC). One of my large clients requires me to have both General Liability...

User Experience Design Professionals :: Salary and Levels
Steven Keith, Máirín Duffy, Michele Marut, Dmitry Nekrasovski and 15 others
I am increasing the size of a user-centered design team am considering additional UXD folks. I am curious about your ideas...

December 2006

Community design?
Sunandini Basu, Dante Murphy, David Malouf, pauric and 9 others
Hi Just curious: In my company (an internet media company) design happens over a group session involving writers and business people, and of...

Web Design Business Numbers?
Dan Brown
[I'm cross-posting. Many apologies.] A friend of mine is looking for data on the web design industry. Here are her questions: 1-I'm looking...

August 2006

selling aesthetics
Dustin Kirk, Dan Saffer, mark Schraad, Yury Frolov and 3 others
Aesthetics play an important role in a user's experience. I'm curious to know what best practices there might be for...

April 2006

Interview Question
Suba, Dan Saffer, John Vaughan, Mischke, Ali and 7 others
Hi all, I have a question regarding interviews related to Interaction Design position. When you are asked to...

March 2006

Are online portfolios useful?
Narey, Kevin, Niklas Wolkert, Terrence Wood, David Heller and 20 others
Of course this is broadly subjective, but whilst a little dated now, I think this is pretty tidy example of a...

October 2005

going rates for work
skyburn, Dan Saffer and 2 others
I want to know how much you are getting paid! *Just kidding* My company is looking at some staffing ramp-up, based on...

September 2005

Design Team Status Meetings
Gerard Torenvliet, Mauro Cavalletti, Pradyot Rai, Lisa deBettencourt and 3 others
Do any of you work on design teams that conduct really good weekly status meetings? I've been tasked with designing...

July 2005

Intellectual Property and Usability Testing
Richard Zobarich, Todd Warfel, Doris Lamontagne and 10 others
Hi, May I have your advice please? I would like to explore issues surrounding Intellectual Property and Usability Testing. I am currently...

Management seminars
Wendy Fischer, Richard Zobarich, David Heller
I am interested in taking a seminar on Management and was wondering if any body has taken such a seminar...

May 2005

usability testing firms in NC?
Wendy Fischer, mstempsk at lexmark.com, Barbara Ballard
Can anybody recommend any usability testing firms in Raleigh/Durham, NC? -Wendy Fischer ...

ROI on Interaction Design - financial analysis
Wendy Fischer, Peter Merholz, Daniel Szuc, Jared M. Spool and 11 others
I am waiting on my new copy of Cost Justifying Usability - An Internet Update. I am also reading...

April 2005

Interaction Design jobs
Anjali Arora, NYU, Wendy Fischer, David Heller, Petteri Hiisilä and 7 others
Hi, I was wondering if you could point me to good sources to look for interaction design jobs, now that I...

February 2005

Estimating for iterative design
Narey, Kevin, Peter Boersma, Peter Boersma and 2 others
I currently give time/cost estimates for iterative design based on a minimum of two iterations of a prototype and then demonstrations...

January 2005

What won't be outsourced
Elizabeth Buie, Manu Sharma, David Heller, Anirudha N Joshi and 32 others
David Heller writes: >What won't be outsourced ... Ever? Classified or otherwise sensitive government projects. Possibly also, proprietary company projects. Elizabeth -- Elizabeth Buie Computer Sciences Corporation Rockville,...

Business+Design
Jess McMullin, Manu Sharma, Dan Saffer, Ted Booth
Thanks for raising the topic - it's something we're spending a lot of time on lately at nForm. Right now, Rotman Business...

October 2004

Interview exercises
David Heller, Listera, Listera and 15 others
Hey there folks, As I've said earlier, I'm in the process of interviewing folks and I'm really interested in the types...

RE: Payment for Testing for participants?
Wendy Fischer, Ockler, Sarah, Marko Hurst, Jared M. Spool and 6 others
How much would one expect to pay a user (it would be a developer) for a two hour usability test?...

Usability Budgets
Sunit, Dmitry Nekrasovski, Listera, Coryndon Luxmoore and 27 others
Hello there, I need some stats on the budgets allocated to the interaction design/ usability process in a typical project (Online application/...

March 2004

Reminder About Salary & Consulting Rate Survey
Pabini Gabriel-Petit
Hello To those of you who have already participated in our 2004 Salary & Consulting Rate Survey for Usability & HCI Professionals,...