Tags to Richness

In 2010 Wired magazine published an article about the death of the web.  Basically it was pointing out the fact that the mobile market was the next big thing and people were moving away from the web.  What I can’t wait for is the day when Wired announces the death of development.  By that I mean the day when software development is so cheap and easy that most companies will finally put design first.

I realize that some companies put design first already, but they are few and far between where I come from.  Most of the companies I have worked for here in Utah don’t work that way.  Think about it from the small town, small business owner’s perspective.  If I want to start any kind of electronic based business (and I don’t really know what I’m doing) what’s the first and most important hire I’m going to make?  The engineer of course.  That’s because at the end of the day if I don’t have someone who can actually build what I want built then I’m totally wasting my time.  And so the viscous cycle begins. 

The vast majority of development today isn’t easy, so I have to hire a very talented and experienced person.  These people are not common and aren’t cheap.  When I finally find my guy most of my budget goes towards his or her salary.  To make a long story short, after hiring an accountant, marketer, customer service rep, lawyer and so on (all extremely critical roles for a business), my money is all spent.

Case in point, I have my current design job primarily because I was originally considered as a flash developer.  I had to make my current position as an interaction designer into what it is after I got hired.

Software development hasn’t been around nearly as long as other industries.  But if the history of the construction industry is any indicator, someday development will be so refined that almost anyone can do it with just a little education.  And then on that day, when development skill is a dime a dozen, perhaps designers won’t be such an afterthought as they are today.

Recently I was given a small budget to hire some freelancers to help with the large backlog of design tasks we have.  Below are some of the steps I used to find the right people.

1. Posted on a design specific job board

I ignored the general job boards like workforce services, craigslist, hotjobs or monster.  I went straight to authenticjobs.com, a very well known job board in the design community.  My second and third choices would have been jobs.37signals.com and krop.com.

2. 30 seconds and three folders: Yes, No, Maybe

I didn’t read the emails I received.  Instead I scanned them for a link to a portfolio.  Obviously if there wasn’t a link to a portfolio I threw the email in the No folder.  If there was a portfolio link I clicked through and could tell within 30 seconds of looking at their work samples if this was a Yes, No or Maybe.

3. First paid task is a test

You really don’t know what someone is going to be like and what their skill is until they actually do a job for you.  So I would hand the freelancer I was considering their first task, paid of course, and the result would tell me what I was getting into.  If the result was so-so I might ask for a second task and decide from there whether to keep them or move on.

My boss has a favorite question he always asks potential designers he is hiring.  The question usually starts with him showing the designer an existing page or design from our current website or product.  He then asks how they would improve the design.  If they immediately start into the colors, layout and aesthetics then he has his answer and he doesn’t hire them. He calls this kind of a designer an agency designer (his term, not mine), because in his experience there are too many creative agencies that are more interested in doing work that will make their portfolio look good rather then add to his company’s bottom line.

The answer he is looking for goes more like this.  When he puts the design in front of the designer and asks them how they would improve it they immediately answer, before anything else, “what is it you are trying to accomplish?”  That tells him that they understand there is a business reason behind every design task and that the business reason dictates whether the design is successful or not.  This is the kind of designer he wants to hire, because they understand that a design is only “good” if it creates direct or indirect financial success for the business.