On the book:
We discussed several useful aspects of the book. In general the consensus was that it would be a book we would keep on a nearby shelf for reference. It has lots of good reminders and several pieces of advice that could be boiled down to useful checklists. The details were popular, things like forms are very relevant to a designers daily life and Hoekman has some solid and thoughtful advice, especially his advice on making the forms more friendly and human. The simple things we forget when in the middle of a project are listed in black and white. People also remarked on the usability of the book and how that contributed to the likelihood it would be kept handy. You could find information based on the book design. It had easily identifiable chapter cover pages with large lettering. It also included a great index and clear chapter titles. The size and form factor were easy to physically manage and allowed for quick access to content.

On our discussions
Other than the book, we got into a discussion about wireframes. An ongoing dilemma for the UX designer, we discussed the appropriate level of detail for a wireframe. I recommended a post by Will Evans of SemanticFoundry that talks about them as Thinking Device.

Resources
We shared some additional resources:

Yahoo Stencils for Visio and Omnigraffle
EightShapes Unify Design System
Userability Design Frameworks podcast with Robert J. Hoekman Jr. (our book author) and Jared Spool

We discussed Hoekman and Jared Spool’s thoughts around design frameworks and systems in general. We also talked about prototyping. In the end it all gets very specific and contextual. We then discussed next steps for deciding a June book. I have two thoughts. Since wireframes came up and we spent some time there, Communicating Design by Dan Brown seems like a nice next book. The second thought, Seth Godin came up several times because 1) Hoekman references him frequently and 2) he is the keynote speaker at the 2009 MIMA Summit. So his new book, Tribes, is also a good one for the group this year.

Maybe we do both in that order. Let me know your thoughts in the comments on this page.

Big Thanks!
A big thanks goes out to Ivan Stegic of Ten Seven Interactive, maker of Periscope Gadget – the first ever app to integrate multiple Basecamp and Highrise account into your homepage, directly in Gmail and on your Windows Desktop using Google Gadgets. Jennifer Bohmbach was the very lucky winner of the Wilde Roast gift card.

“write scenarios, sketch mockups, spar w/ me and Bob Burns, prototype, test, play smart w/ technology, creative, pms” – Jay Morgan

Email jay_morgan at gage.com if this is you.

Look for Lori Baker and the “UX Meetup” table sign
Check the patio if the weather is nice

First, on the advertising side is Space150′s Mobile Marketing Workshop, it’s all afternoon on Monday Aug 11th with presentations from lots-o-places including; Nokia, Weather.com, and Yahoo!.

Then, on Tues we’re having the regular MNteractive User Experience Meetup at the Monte Carlo, 5pm. Topic: the mobile user experience.

No agenda, just a wide open topic. I’m hoping we’ll have respresentation from DoApps, FanChatter, Refactr, and everyone that’s working on low-bandwidth optimized or iPhone versions of their apps.

Update:
Big thanks to every that attended for making this our biggest event in memory, and to Kathryn Pfriem from The Creative Group for picking up the tab. It’s been a week and I’m still stunned with the conversation and mix of attendees.

In fact, because you’re such an awesome information architect – you know why you’d want to work there, who to contact, and how to contact them.

Hello UX folks –

The next Twin Cities UX Meetup group will meet July 1 at the Monte Carlo. The topic will be “What’s interesting to you about UX these days?”. Come enjoy some delicious Monte Carlo cocktails and chat it up with your local peers!

Look for Garrick, in the patio if the weather is nice
If you have questions, throw them in the comments.

Congrats Jay.

I do the same work, the difference is I’m biz dev, finance, project manager, marketing, as well as lead IA.

Business
• Get an Accountant.
  They’ll help you understand the tax implications of different business entity types, set up payroll, and make tax season a pleasure. That’s what accountants are supposed to do, be sure to find one you like. I like Lottsa.
• Define Your Rates
  What do you charge? I’ve found this to be a pretty easy answer. If you have no idea, there are 2 easy ways to get a ballpark on the market: if you’re in-house; find out what your vendors are charging you, if you’re not; ask around and don’t take ‘it depends’ for an answer – by unpacking ‘it depends’ you’ll get a better idea of actual vendor/client relationships.
• Define Your Services
  What do you do?². You’ve got to decide up front what kind of projects you want and more importantly the ones you don’t. Even more importantly – what it would take to work on a project you don’t really want. In any case, you have some idea of what you enjoy doing.
• Define Your Space
  Where in your house will you work? Make your space comfortable, adjust and arrange everything just the way you like it – make it the perfect office for you. If you’re just starting to work independently and you have a family – you need to declare office hours and set boundaries, for you and them.

Marketing
• Domain/Email Address
  Buy the [YourBusinessName].com, set up email there. Stop giving out Gmail, Yahoo, or GeoCities addresses. That’s pure silliness.
• Website
  Yes, you’ll need one of these – specifically a blog, to help people understand your approach and personality. Your resume, portfolio (images from past projects), bio, and current photo should go here. Being able to say “It’s on my website” when someone asks for any of those things relieves a great deal of stress.If you’re an IA in MN, feel free to make MNteractive.com that blog.
• Comment Elsewhere
  You need to be involved in the conversation online and off. Online, find blogs that you enjoy reading and leave an intelligent comment with a link to your website.
• Events Around Town
  Find all the local marketing, usability, product design organizations’ websites and put their monthly events and meetups on your calendar. Meet these people. Then, do the same for tangentially related groups like programming language user groups, and anything else that sounds interesting.
• Do I Need Business Cards?
  That’s your call. I don’t have any. Maybe I’ll get some later, I dunno. Lately, I’ve found blank index cards more effective for jotting down information about the people I meet and what we talked about. Are they an effective replacement for business cards? You’ll have to ask someone I gave them to.
• Follow Up with People You Talk To.
  It’s easy. Email or phone, pick the one you’re most comfortable with, but do it. I don’t know how many times I’ve heard an independent lament about not getting a project and they admit to not following up.

Mandatory Reading
• Seven Day Weekend – Ricardo Semler
• Free Agent Nation: The Future of Working for Yourself – Daniel Pink
• The Project 50, The Brand You 50, and anything else by Tom Peters
• Million Dollar Consulting – Alan Weiss
• How Much Should I Charge? – Ellen Rohr
• Getting Things Done – David Allen

Hardware
• Apple MacBook Pro 17″.
  No question. It gets noticed by clients and I like the big screen for working comfortably while on the road, and it will do whatever you ask it to. You’ll also need AppleCare, and a spare charger.
• A backup plan.
  At minimum, you’ll want an external drive that stays in your home office. My external drive backs up to the cloud. This is great for providing fairly easy access to archived projects without having them on your work-a-day machine.
• Noise-canceling headphones.
  I find them great in helping attain and maintain focus – especially on airplanes and if you have small children in your household.
• A mobile phone that you like
  At minimum, it should have an easily accessible un/mute and speakerphone toggle. So many don’t. The rest of the stuff (email, web browsing, camera, Bluetooth, etc) all optional.

Software
• Apple’s iWork Suite & NeoOffice
  Used effectively together, you’ve got near-100% compatibility with MS Office for a small fraction of the price. Personally, I use spreadsheets and presentations far more than word processors (that’s what email is for).
• Mail, Calendar
  Whatever works for you bestest.
• What ever your clients want your work in.
  I’ve created wireframes in almost every application out there and I wouldn’t purchase any of them if not for that being the preferred application for a specific client.

After this, it comes down to your own organization, sales, and resource management skills.

Good luck.

1. Anyone that works for themselves knows this is a misnomer.
2. This is one of my least favorite questions. It assumes a singular perspective about work that doesn’t represent my reality. Currently, when I someone asks me this question, I pretend they asked, “Tell me about a cool project you’re working on?”

Core Responsibilities

• Develop IA solutions that meet business goals while keeping user needs at the forefront.
• Collaborate with copywriters, graphic designers, and developers, to design effective solutions.
• Create site maps, wireframes, and page flows for complex, transactional, CMS driven websites.
• Confidently present proposed solutions to a varied audience.
• Seek out and assimilate usability research and site analytics into proposed solutions.
• Participate in research efforts to create and conduct usability tests.
• Participate in project processes including change requests, testing, estimating, and scheduling.
• Work with IA team to provide inputs into the overall IA strategy.

Qualifications

• Minimum of 3-5 years of information architect experience.
• Experience working on large e-commerce websites strongly preferred.
• Experience designing sites that integrate CMS driven content.
• Broad understanding of the Web and associated technologies.
• Extremely detail-oriented with strong analytical problem solving skills.
• Flexible individual able to work in a fast-paced, demanding environment with aggressive development schedules and multiple project responsibility.
• Team-oriented, proactive, and able to work independently.
• Excellent communication (verbal and written), organization, and interpersonal skills.

Personality

• Possesses a passion for interactive media and a desire to stay current with industry trends.
• Self-starter who takes ownership in developing professional skills.
• Knows how to create a balanced, client-facing, trusted-advisor relationship.

To see a full description and apply for this position, please see the job post on BestBuy.com