Getting into interaction design

Hi Bob,

I'll echo Fred's advice: How is your portfolio? Most design firms and
internal IxD departments put a lot of weight on this, not only as a way of
seeing your work product, but also as a means of ascertaining whether you
can competently tell a story (visually *and* narratively in the case of IxD)
about your users, your processes, and your design output. Unfortunately, I
think there is a bit of pigeonholing in the industry about Psych/HCI PhD =
academic- or usability-focused as opposed to design-focused candidates, so
you need to go to some extra trouble to go against stereotype. Figure out
how to best tell your story in a compelling (style + substance) fashion, and
half your battle will hopefully be won!

Good luck,

Robert.

Robert Reimann
IxDA Seattle

Associate Creative Director
frog design
Seattle, WA

On Mon, Aug 4, 2008 at 12:36 PM, Bob Dickson <bobdickson1969 at gmail.com>wrote:

> Hi all,
>
> A couple of questions to put to the readers here.
>
> I have a degree in psych and a PhD in HCI both from good universities
> and want to get a steady position in this field. I've done industrial
> work (human factors multi-company collaboration into commercial
> aircraft cockpit design - assessment and some design) and commercial
> work (workflow apps both desktop & web-based, scientific desktop app,
> oil exploration app - design, assessment, development) and educational
> (commercial VLE - assessment). This last one was a 3 year project
> though it also involved research into other professional learning
> issues (CPD etc) which was a good learning experience. The scientific
> app's project lasted for about 5 months, the aircraft for about 2-3
> and the rest were for a few weeks each. It's not a vast deal of work,
> but it's varied and I think I have learned a lot more than if I just
> did e-commerce webapps. Besides, I took this work because I really
> enjoy working in this field and want to gain as much experience as
> possible.
>
> But when ever I apply for a regular job, I am always told that I am
> too academic and am turned down for interviews. IMHO, only my degree
> and phd are academic (and then the phd was applied research). The rest
> have all been for profit-making organisations except for a participant
> in the aircraft project (a government organisation).
>
> What am I doing wrong? In IxD, is being seen as "too academic" a kiss
> of death for an applicant? If so, the only experience I can get are
> projects like these so what's the best way to break out and get
> something substantial to prove that I can do this job well? I can't
> afford to retrain and go back and take a masters.
>
> All the best,
>
> Bob Dickson
> ________________________________________________________________
> Welcome to the Interaction Design Association (IxDA)!
> To post to this list ....... discuss at ixda.org
> Unsubscribe ................ http://www.ixda.org/unsubscribe
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>

> Here's a question for you all along those lines. What's a good way
> to create a new portfolio, when all your past work was company
> confidential? (i.e. I cannot use any of it)

Here's what I'd suggest: Look around the web or your computer or where
ever and identify poor interfaces. (American Express billing UI is
particularly bad. Or Facebook or GMail ;-) Then design better
alternatives as a personal project. Just do it. Go through the paces:
sketches, flows, wireframes, visual comps, etc. That can help serve as
a demonstration to others of your interest, ability, with real-world
digital products, and so forth. Yes it's time consuming, but this
approach may help those who may lack sufficient work experience or
have lots of confidential work.

And It's good self-practice. Besides, if you really want to be a
designer, then you gotta put the time/effort into it to prove your
passion and desire. Plus the act of going through this for yourself
will be a nice test to see if you really want to do this stuff daily
(minus of course all the crazy team dynamics and client issues!)

Finally, this may be timely and relevant here, I just wrote this over
the weekend on the essence of being an IxD:
http://www.ghostinthepixel.com/?p=136

Hope this helps...

Uday Gajendar
Sr. Interaction Designer
Voice Technology Group
Cisco | San Jose
------------------------------
ugajenda at cisco.com
+1 408 902 2137

In a situation like this, make it up.
I don't mean lie -- I mean create a few projects that are very much "like"
the ones you've worked on in the past with your IP locked down, and present
your solutions for the non-existent but very possible ACME Widget Inc.
Like Uday said, it's going to be very time consuming, but it would not only
showcase your talents in terms of the solutions you are capable of
producing, but any future employer couldn't help but recognize your
initiative if you've presented your portfolio as a completely fictitious
combination of mockups in lieu of breaking (and therefore respecting) your
existing IP shackle.

On Mon, Aug 4, 2008 at 3:58 PM, Mark Ahlenius <m_ahlenius at comcast.net>wrote:

> Hi,
>
> Here's a question for you all along those lines. What's a good way to
> create a new portfolio, when all your past work was company confidential?
> (i.e. I cannot use any of it)
>
> Can you suggest some projects to do on the side perhaps, which are
> meaningful (i.e. useful), but can then be shown as portfolio experience?
> Perhaps this will take too much time to do, not sure.
>
> thanks
>
> mark
>
>
> Robert Reimann wrote:
>
>> Hi Bob,
>>
>> I'll echo Fred's advice: How is your portfolio? Most design firms and
>> internal IxD departments put a lot of weight on this, not only as a way of
>> seeing your work product, but also as a means of ascertaining whether you
>> can competently tell a story (visually *and* narratively in the case of
>> IxD)
>> about your users, your processes, and your design output. Unfortunately, I
>> think there is a bit of pigeonholing in the industry about Psych/HCI PhD =
>> academic- or usability-focused as opposed to design-focused candidates, so
>> you need to go to some extra trouble to go against stereotype. Figure out
>> how to best tell your story in a compelling (style + substance) fashion,
>> and
>> half your battle will hopefully be won!
>>
>> Good luck,
>>
>> Robert.
>>
>> Robert Reimann
>> IxDA Seattle
>>
>> Associate Creative Director
>> frog design
>> Seattle, WA
>>
>>
>> On Mon, Aug 4, 2008 at 12:36 PM, Bob Dickson <bobdickson1969 at gmail.com
>> >wrote:
>>
>>
>>
>>> Hi all,
>>>
>>> A couple of questions to put to the readers here.
>>>
>>> I have a degree in psych and a PhD in HCI both from good universities
>>> and want to get a steady position in this field. I've done industrial
>>> work (human factors multi-company collaboration into commercial
>>> aircraft cockpit design - assessment and some design) and commercial
>>> work (workflow apps both desktop & web-based, scientific desktop app,
>>> oil exploration app - design, assessment, development) and educational
>>> (commercial VLE - assessment). This last one was a 3 year project
>>> though it also involved research into other professional learning
>>> issues (CPD etc) which was a good learning experience. The scientific
>>> app's project lasted for about 5 months, the aircraft for about 2-3
>>> and the rest were for a few weeks each. It's not a vast deal of work,
>>> but it's varied and I think I have learned a lot more than if I just
>>> did e-commerce webapps. Besides, I took this work because I really
>>> enjoy working in this field and want to gain as much experience as
>>> possible.
>>>
>>> But when ever I apply for a regular job, I am always told that I am
>>> too academic and am turned down for interviews. IMHO, only my degree
>>> and phd are academic (and then the phd was applied research). The rest
>>> have all been for profit-making organisations except for a participant
>>> in the aircraft project (a government organisation).
>>>
>>> What am I doing wrong? In IxD, is being seen as "too academic" a kiss
>>> of death for an applicant? If so, the only experience I can get are
>>> projects like these so what's the best way to break out and get
>>> something substantial to prove that I can do this job well? I can't
>>> afford to retrain and go back and take a masters.
>>>
>>> All the best,
>>>
>>> Bob Dickson
>>> ________________________________________________________________
>>> Welcome to the Interaction Design Association (IxDA)!
>>> To post to this list ....... discuss at ixda.org
>>> Unsubscribe ................ http://www.ixda.org/unsubscribe
>>> List Guidelines ............ http://www.ixda.org/guidelines
>>> List Help .................. http://www.ixda.org/help
>>>
>>>
>>>
>> ________________________________________________________________
>> Welcome to the Interaction Design Association (IxDA)!
>> To post to this list ....... discuss at ixda.org
>> Unsubscribe ................ http://www.ixda.org/unsubscribe
>> List Guidelines ............ http://www.ixda.org/guidelines
>> List Help .................. http://www.ixda.org/help
>>
>>
>>
>
> ________________________________________________________________
> Welcome to the Interaction Design Association (IxDA)!
> To post to this list ....... discuss at ixda.org
> Unsubscribe ................ http://www.ixda.org/unsubscribe
> List Guidelines ............ http://www.ixda.org/guidelines
> List Help .................. http://www.ixda.org/help
>

I'm a recruiter, and I'm going to chime in about having a portfolio it's
essential. Online portfolios are preferable; nobody wants huge PDFs, etc.
clogging up their inboxes. You can password protect it if necessary.

Think about marketing yourself in a way that addresses the misconceptions
potential employers are having about you - your resume might need some more
work. For the right opportunities, a PhD will be a big plus, and an
education in psych/HCI can be an even bigger plus. Think about how you're
marketing yourself - you might not be emphasizing your "real world"
experience enough and the success of the projects you've worked on. If
you've gotten through two touch programs, you've obviously got problem
solving, strategic, organizational and analytical skills that everyone wants
to see. You've also had to do a lot of presenting and teaching, which are
also valuable skills.

For a design oriented job, employers prefer candidates with formal design
training; with your background, human factors, content organization and
architecture, usability, etc. might be areas to stress.

If you need to build your portfolio, it might be a good idea to a volunteer
project or two for a not-for-profit cause.

HTH,

Marilyn

On Mon, Aug 4, 2008 at 3:36 PM, Bob Dickson <bobdickson1969 at gmail.com>wrote:

> Hi all,
>
> A couple of questions to put to the readers here.
>
> I have a degree in psych and a PhD in HCI both from good universities
> and want to get a steady position in this field. I've done industrial
> work (human factors multi-company collaboration into commercial
> aircraft cockpit design - assessment and some design) and commercial
> work (workflow apps both desktop & web-based, scientific desktop app,
> oil exploration app - design, assessment, development) and educational
> (commercial VLE - assessment). This last one was a 3 year project
> though it also involved research into other professional learning
> issues (CPD etc) which was a good learning experience. The scientific
> app's project lasted for about 5 months, the aircraft for about 2-3
> and the rest were for a few weeks each. It's not a vast deal of work,
> but it's varied and I think I have learned a lot more than if I just
> did e-commerce webapps. Besides, I took this work because I really
> enjoy working in this field and want to gain as much experience as
> possible.
>
> But when ever I apply for a regular job, I am always told that I am
> too academic and am turned down for interviews. IMHO, only my degree
> and phd are academic (and then the phd was applied research). The rest
> have all been for profit-making organisations except for a participant
> in the aircraft project (a government organisation).
>
> What am I doing wrong? In IxD, is being seen as "too academic" a kiss
> of death for an applicant? If so, the only experience I can get are
> projects like these so what's the best way to break out and get
> something substantial to prove that I can do this job well? I can't
> afford to retrain and go back and take a masters.
>
> All the best,
>
> Bob Dickson
> ________________________________________________________________
> Welcome to the Interaction Design Association (IxDA)!
> To post to this list ....... discuss at ixda.org
> Unsubscribe ................ http://www.ixda.org/unsubscribe
> List Guidelines ............ http://www.ixda.org/guidelines
> List Help .................. http://www.ixda.org/help
>

Hi Bob,

One other thing that can help is once you've completed your portfolio,
see if you can get a critique to get constructive feedback. This will
only help to make it that much stronger.

Good luck!
David

On Aug 9, 2008, at 12:21 PM, bobdickson <bobdickson1969 at gmail.com>
wrote:

> Well thank you very much everybody for the useful replies. It's
> obvious looking back, but no, I did not have a portfolio. Since then,
> I've been burning the midnight oil and put one up with what work I
> could (in between changing the nappies of my new daughter Louise and
> feeding her - she was born only a few weeks ago!). It certainly makes
> me feel more confident that I can show my work visually and though
> it's brief, it's something. Uday - I liked your article: Doing this
> job is like walking a knife-edge with science and data on one side and
> art and beauty on the other.
>
> The "too academic" criticism was surprising to me because I am
> primarily an artistic person but re-reading my resume I can see where
> it comes from. I always enjoyed drawing, painting, music and
> photography when I was growing up, but fell into science as a way of
> getting discipline and understanding. Art is not enough to really
> understand people; and science cannot usefully recognise beauty.
>
> I guess there is a little bias against PhDs as Fred pointed out. All
> I can do is show my work and hope they will look at the person behind
> the qualifications. For what it's worth, I've known some idiots
> without PhDs too. ;-)
>
> And Marilyn - I never thought to put those types of skills into my
> resume. Thanks!
>
> All the best everyone and thanks again for the advice.
>
> Bob
>
>
> . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
> Posted from the new ixda.org
> http://www.ixda.org/discuss?post=31809
>
>
> ________________________________________________________________
> Welcome to the Interaction Design Association (IxDA)!
> To post to this list ....... discuss at ixda.org
> Unsubscribe ................ http://www.ixda.org/unsubscribe
> List Guidelines ............ http://www.ixda.org/guidelines
> List Help .................. http://www.ixda.org/help