skills/expertise/experience (was: Re: [thelist] a weird quest ion)

Warren Neily Warren.Neilly at seagatesoftware.com
Thu Jan 18 13:47:40 CST 2001


Interface design has been around for a long time. I think that if someone is
claiming to be an interface designer they would have to back that up with
some examples and or credentials. When I attended design school, interface
design was an integral part of the four year design diploma. I think it is
safe to say that we are all becoming a little more savvy in recognizing good
usability whithin a a piece of design. We still have a long way to go before
we have an established and extensive set of rules like those found in print.
Let's not forget that the rules of print have had 500 years or so to evolve.
Raw talent certainly works, some people just have an uncanny instinct for
creating great usable design. 

Warren


Warren Neily, Multimedia Designer | eBusiness Team, Seagate Software Inc.
warren.p.neily at seagatesoftware.com | direct line 604.893.6309 |
www.seagatesoftware.com


-----Original Message-----
From: Erika Meyer [mailto:erika at seastorm.com]
Sent: Thursday, January 18, 2001 9:49 AM
To: thelist at lists.evolt.org
Subject: skills/expertise/experience (was: Re: [thelist] a weird
question)


>i've seen a crapload of resumes (and CVs, portfolios, etc) come
>through lately from people who claim to have experience in, or be
>experts at, content-management systems, usability, interface
>design, coding, etc...

I'm curious: what would constitute, oh, just to pull one out, an 
expert in 'interface design.' ?

Would you have had to have done some years at Xerox PARC... have been 
on the original Macintosh design team... or would a few years of 
hacking web sites do it?  Would you need some software and/or CD rom 
experience in addition to web design?  Would you need a degree in it?

I see this a lot: "5+ years experience in interface design."  I 
always wonder if I have had to have been designing application 
interfaces for 5 years, or if my experience making construction paper 
christmas cards and English 100 handouts would count.... or how about 
the books I've read on the subject?

I mean, sheesh, on my first computer, this was the interface:

<interface>

C:>

</interface>

(And I wonder: why the carat?  Why not just a colon?)
GUI design is still a pretty new field.

And what about raw talent?  Does anyone give a damn about that?

I'm just wondering.  Because from the EMPLOYEE perspective, a lot of 
EMPLOYER'S are asking a heckofalot... for relatively modest 
compensation.

Erika

erika at seastorm.com

---------------------------------------
For unsubscribe and other options, including
the Tip Harvester and archive of TheList go to:
http://lists.evolt.org Workers of the Web, evolt ! 




More information about the thelist mailing list