Periodicdesign

Update: Roles have shifted a bit, so there will be a higher level Experience Architect position being hired. Thanks to all that applied. There are more positions coming.

Well, I said I would let you all know when Siteworx was hiring again, so here you go.

Experience Architect

Siteworx, Inc., an Internet application and development company located in Reston, VA, works to transform clients’ business objectives into powerful interactive solutions. Utilizing strategy, technology and creativity, Siteworx creates fresh, functional solutions that serve many industries.

The Experience Architect will be responsible for performing a lead role in the research and design efforts for Siteworx’s client applications and large-scaled websites. This position requires working directly with client stakeholders to develop strategies and specifications to improve the performance, usability and effectiveness of customer and user facing interfaces. You will use information gathered from client meetings, best practices, and competitive analyses to develop, site maps, wire frames, requirements and specifications which represent the layout, flow and organization of complex Web sites and Web applications. You will work closely with the client and the Siteworx technical and visual design groups.

Applicants please note this is not an opening for a graphic designer. Photoshop designs do not meet the qualifications listed below. All applicants must be able to provide samples of user interface diagrams/wire fames. Specifications and requirements are a plus.

Key Responsibilities

• Meet with clients to gather requirements based on existing business processes
• Research the competitive landscape and make recommendations relating to website organization and information hierarchy
• Document strategy by developing site maps, wire frames, representing website and Web application layouts
• Interface with the internal creative and technical staff to ensure that website designs meet both client and end user needs
• Develop navigation and interaction systems
• Develop nomenclature systems
• Experience changing the Web presence of large or multinational companies

Qualifications

• User focused, highly motivated, organized, able to multi-task, and work under tight deadlines
• Excellent client-facing consultative skills including the ability to lead client meetings
• Deep knowledge of user-centered design principles and information architecture and information design
• Knowledge of general business strategy and specific knowledge of Web strategy
• Ability to analyze business requirements to define and improve applications and business processes
• Experience with a large-scale websites or Web-based applications
• Portfolio that includes examples of wireframes and specifications
• Familiarity with industry tools for generating flow diagrams, wireframes, and specifications

If you’re looking for a career where your contribution will be recognized and rewarded, if you share our philosophy that hiring the right people is the secret to success, and if you believe in working hard and having fun with a team that enjoys doing the same is for you — we want to talk to you!

Update: We have hired someone for this position. Thanks to all that inquired. I’ll let everyone know in the future if we hire again, which may be soon.

The company I work for is currently hiring for the following position:

Experience Architect

Siteworx, Inc., an Internet application and development company located in Reston, VA, works to transform clients’ business objectives into powerful interactive solutions. Utilizing strategy, technology and creativity, Siteworx creates fresh, functional solutions that serve many industries.

The Experience Architect will be responsible for performing a lead role in the research and design efforts for Siteworx’s client applications and large-scaled websites. This position requires working directly with client stakeholders to develop strategies and design specifications to improve the performance, usability and effectiveness of customer and user facing interfaces. You will use information gathered from client meetings, best practices, and competitive analyses to develop, site maps, wire frames, requirements and specifications which represent the layout, flow and organization of complex Web sites and Web applications. You will work closely with the client and the Siteworx technical and creative staffs.

Key Responsibilities

• Meet with clients to gather requirements based on existing business processes
• Research the competitive landscape and make recommendations relating to website organization and information hierarchy
• Document strategy by developing site maps, wire frames, representing website and Web application layouts
• Interface with the internal creative and technical staff to ensure that website designs meet both client and end user needs
• Design navigation and interaction systems
• Design nomenclature systems
• Experience changing the Web presence of large or multinational companies

Qualifications

• User focused, highly motivated, organized, able to multi-task, and work under tight deadlines
• Excellent client-facing consultative skills including the ability to lead client meetings
• Deep knowledge of user-centered design principles and information architecture and design
• Knowledge of general business strategy and specific knowledge of Web strategy
• Ability to analyze business requirements to define and improve applications and business processes
• Experience with a large-scale design or redesign of a website
• Extensive portfolio that includes examples of wireframes and specifications
• Familiarity with industry tools for generating flow diagrams, wireframes, and specifications

If you’re looking for a career where your contribution will be recognized and rewarded, if you share our philosophy that hiring the right people is the secret to success, and if you believe in working hard and having fun with a team that enjoys doing the same is for you — we want to talk to you! Please email your resume and sample UI Diagrams/Wireframes and Specs to jobs@siteworx.com or you may contact me directly with questions.

I have just not had time to update things on my site as of late. Work has been crazy. More on that later. You now have a means of contacting me.

You know, the web is a huge place. I mean, ha…uge. The down side to this hugeness, is finding what you need, when you need it. Over the past few months, I’ve been thinking to myself about the concept of tagging and what it does to help the user. Now granted, tagging is nothing new and anyone who blogs, knows of Technorati, Flickr and the like, knows what tagging is. My point is this; tagging seems to be growing and at an exponential rate. I read many feeds everyday and a few have been growing in the sense of how you get to the information at hand. Thomas, has been doing this for as long as I’ve known him, but others, such as Dan, James, Brian and Rob have taken on this tagging technique as well (Jared seemed to be heading in this direction for a while). Maybe they have been doing it for a while and I have just now noticed, but the concept works well with finding data and similar concepts tied to the same data.

The popular CMS, WordPress, allows for the categorization of the content on ones site. It does this through “Categories,” which seemed like an odd term for the information at hand. When I first saw this word, I thought to keep things simple and that the less categories, the better. Now I’m seeing differently, that these categories serve well as tagging and at large expanse, need a better place than in the sidebar of WordPress. The list can become rather long and almost unmanageable. Finding data in the lists and sub-lists can be somewhat tiresome and mind numbing at best.

I really like the idea of tagging in a CMS as opposed to categorization. I think along with my redesign will come the expansion of my categories into a tagging system along with a way to manage those tags. Does anyone have any plug-ins or ideas to make the integration of tagging easier? If so, I’d like to hear them.

A friend and colleague of mine, Thomas Vander Wal, made the New York Times today in an article titled, “’Folksonomy’ Carries Classifieds Beyond SWF and ‘For Sale’,” which is quite an interesting read. Thomas was my boss when I worked at FHWA in 2003 and 2004. He has since moved on (October 6th, 2005) from INDUS and FHWA to start his own consultancy, InfoCloud Solutions, which, from my understanding, is still in the process of final business paperwork.

Thomas focuses on all things information based and how users relate to their digital life around them in the form of their “Personal InfoCloud.” More on this subject can be read about on Thomas’s “Personal InfoCloud” site, and on his personal/professional site under “Off the Top” which is a place of frequent thoughts, ideas and musings.

Thomas coined the term “Folksonomy” in late 2003 when it first appeared in del.icio.us, a social bookmarks manager. His work has raised eyebrows in the technology community and has put people, mainly developers in the beginning, on a new path of thinking and how individuals truly use, not just web, but the information that surrounds their lives. Thomas has spoken at several conferences on this subject including Webvisions 2005, BayCHI and MIT, just to name a few.