Steven, Jason, and others looking:
1. Fresh out of school, an agency is just not the place to work. Not only
would I recommend trying for an inside position - I would try for one in
something like a company's marketing department; then as you gain
experience, you can begin to insidiously practice good IA/IxD or whatever
path you really want to follow within that role as you learn to evangelize
your process to those around you. The pace, deliverables, and client-facing
facts about agency work cannot be understated, and even "junior" people in
Agencies tend to have at least 3 years experience.
2. I agree with Dan that besides the hygiene issue (some normative
baseline), I want to be wow'ed. Take a existing Fortune 500 site, rip it
apart, and tell me all the things wrong with it, and then offer some ideas
about how you would: restructure the navigation, re-label the taxonomy, and
then do it. You could even be just a bit iconoclastic -- for instance take a
guru in our field, and there are many, that can talk the talk, but their
sites are pretty bad by most objective UX standards. Help them out -
redesign a gurus site and explain why yours is better. Email me and I will
point you to some :-)
3. The language of your portfolio must be perfect, and professional.
Caroline's article is a little harsh - but I agree. I have tossed resumes in
the trash for a misspelling ("I am a very detial oriented person," was
written on one resume")
4. A key part of our field is understanding the audience, understanding the
user. When you design your portfolio - it is not for your friends. Look at
the types of places you really want to work - and mimic the tone, design,
language. Create your portfolio for the place you want to work. I once
really wanted a job as an IxD for a company in town. I redesigned their
entire site, with critique, and sent it with my resume and a cover letter
describing what I had done, and why I wanted to work with them.
5. The proof is in the pudding. The thing about our field is that there are
a lot of tangible deliverables. Even if it's just a hobby site of yours -
create a complete site (or application), with wireframes, sitemaps,
navigation structure, task flows and narratives. This really doesn't take as
long as it sounds.Feel free to email me if you need ideas. -- ~ will "Where you innovate, how you innovate, and what you innovate are design problems" ------------------------------------------------------- will evans user experience architect [EMAIL PROTECTED] ------------------------------------------------------- ________________________________________________________________ *Come to IxDA Interaction08 | Savannah* February 8-10, 2008 in Savannah, GA, USA Register today: http://interaction08.ixda.org/ ________________________________________________________________ Welcome to the Interaction Design Association (IxDA)! To post to this list ....... [EMAIL PROTECTED] Unsubscribe ................ http://gamma.ixda.org/unsubscribe List Guidelines ............ http://gamma.ixda.org/guidelines List Help .................. http://gamma.ixda.org/help
