[Sigia-l] JOB: Senior Interaction Designer

[David Heller]

Chad, isn't that the cart leading the horse or some other bad metaphor
of putting something as a requirement too early?

What I mean to say is that your design team is Swiss/German in spirit,
but should your Interaction Design team? Where would the balance come
from? Where would innovation come from if everyone thought the same.

Also, it sounds to me what you are talking about is not language but
style. Its like saying I don't think using Sarcasm is appropriate for
this form of discourse. Why not just let whoever is interested learn
this for themselves?

Also, wouldn't be a lot more valuable to have someone who understood
Cooper than this graphic designer? Shows me that "interaction design" is
subordinate to Visual design in your firm (at least in the SF office).
Why shouldn't the visual designers meet the interaction designers'
language set? By trying to create a place for "translation", you create
a crucible for new ideas.

Now, If I needed the job, I would probably just say, Oh yea! He's that
guy b/c I just researched him before I sent my cover letter and re-did
my wireframe portfolio to meet my new understandng of what you expect
from an applicant. Or I might say, wow! These folks are way too
interested in the visual for me to think that they are going to
interaction design seriously, maybe I should move on.

I realize that was a bit flamey, but I'm more interested in the concepts
that you are presenting than their actual application in method
particularly: 1. Where is the balance between visual and interaction
designers? 2. How can a company search for good communicators w/o being
too specific? 3. What is learnable after hiring, vs. preferred after the
fact? 4. What level of turmoil is appropriate between various team
members to encourage innovation (if at all)?

--  dave

-----Original Message-----
From: Chad Jennings [mailto:chad at method.com] 
Sent: Wednesday, June 18, 2003 11:32 AM
To: sigia-l at asis.org
Subject: Re: [Sigia-l] JOB: Senior Interaction Designer


>
>>> - you know who J. Müller Brockman is and if not you already like him
>
> However liking someone or something that you don't know seems like a
> dubious requirement for any job 8)

Humor aside. I would like to explain why I add the above line to our 
job postings.

(1) I have found that interaction designers, IA's, and our ilk who have 
an understanding of grid structures and the basics of typography create 
flows, diagrams, and wireframes which better communicate their 
intention and lack "chart junk". Brockman is most famous for his "Grid 
Systems in Graphic Design: A visual communication manual"

(2) At Method we must work closely with the visual design team.. this 
team is, how do I say, very grounded in the heritage of Swiss and 
German typography and design. To work best with them, we need to speak 
a similar language and hold a similar modernist design philosophy.

While abstract, the simple J. Muller Brockman comment  hints at the 
above job requirements, without being too heavy-handed.. although maybe 
it is better sometimes.. "just to say what you mean."

Cheers, Chad
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