Author: Michigan UXPA

User Experience Designer, University of Michigan MLibrary

Michigan UXPALeave a comment

Tweet: https://twitter.com/#!/MLibraryUX/status/158591442720272384

User Experience Designer
University of Michigan MLibrary, Ann Arbor

The User Experience (UX) Department at the University of Michigan Library is seeking a talented and enthusiastic UX Designer. The ideal candidate will be able to create beautiful and usable interfaces, have a passion for understanding users, strong problem solving skills, and be invested in improving the library web experience. The UX Designer will focus on interface design but also take part in the full range of departmental duties, including user research/usability, accessibility, and web analytics. The UX Designer works in a collaborative team environment and participates in all stages of development – from concept to implementation.

This position will be a FULL-TIME, TWO-YEAR term appointment with the possibility of renewal. See the full job posting for more information and instructions for applying.

Contact Suzanne Chapman (suzchap-at-umich.edu) with any questions about the position.

Direct link to job posting: http://umjobs.org/job_detail/65627/user_experience_designer

Cengage Usability Positions

Michigan UXPALeave a comment

Cengage Learning is a leading provider of innovative teaching, learning and research solutions for the academic, professional and library markets worldwide. The company’s products and services are designed to foster academic excellence and professional development, increase student engagement, improve learning outcomes and deliver authoritative information to people whenever and wherever they need it. Through the company’s unique position within both the library and academic markets, Cengage Learning is providing integrated learning solutions that bridge from the library to the classroom.

Position Title Location (click on each link below for details–opens new window):

 

Research Director – Usability Research & Consulting

Michigan UXPALeave a comment

Job Location: Livonia, MI

Description
Market Strategies is seeking a Research Director for the Usability Research & Consulting Group. The Research Director is responsible for developing relationships with current clients and prospects to generate new business, growing existing accounts, design and deliver custom research studies and ensuring that all deliverables given to clients meet or exceed expectations.

Responsibilities:

  • Develop business relationships with new and existing clients.
  • Prepare proposals for custom, projects involving high-end design.
  • Serve as the primary client contact for all project-related issues and oversee project teams.
  • Ensure the project and research design of each study meets the client’s objectives.
  • Manage project budgets to ensure profitability and, as determined on a case-by-case basis, specific revenue goals.
  • Conduct analysis and write reports.
  • Presents research findings

Requirements

  • Minimum 2 years of experience in sales of usability services or website consulting services, including direct client relationship and account management.
  • Minimum 4 years of designing, conducting and managing customer experience evaluation of website, software or hardware projects including recruiting, questionnaire design, moderating usability test sessions, analysis and reporting of results.
  • Ability to travel to client locations up to 40% of the time if necessary.
  • Strong written and verbal communications skills

Desired Qualifications:

  • Advanced degree in human factors-related discipline (cognitive psychology, industrial design/engineering, human-computer interaction, information science, etc.).
  • Experience conducting research within one or more of our core industry groups: Communications, Energy, Financial Services, Healthcare and Technology.
  • Experience in selling and/or conducting website analytics reporting services using WebTrends, Omniture, Google Analytics, or similar.
  • Familiarity with quantitative market research services: Brand studies, customer satisfaction modeling, discreet choice/conjoint, market segmentation, or messaging & communications.

Interested parties should direct inquiries to Shelly Wolfson, Corporate HR Manager, shelly.wolfson@marketstrategies.com, 734-779-6876.

Finding the Right Things to Measure with Web Analytics

Michigan UXPA2 Comments

MSU Communication Arts and Sciences Bldg. Rm 151, East Lansing

Thursday, February 23rd, 6pm

As a user experience professional, how can you use web analytics data to measure how well a site works for users and show the effectiveness of your work? This presentation describes a method for cutting through the complexity of web analytics by finding a way to link business goals to users’ tasks and then to specific, measurable behavior in analytics. This will make web analytics more useful to you and help you communicate more effectively with business stakeholders.

There are a wide variety of metrics available to you, from pageviews to bounce rate and more, and they are open to interpretation with regard to user motives. That’s where the concept of analytics goals comes into play, by giving you a way to easily measure how many users are performing certain actions.

It is essential to isolate specific actions that users could only have completed intentionally, ones where you can be reasonably sure they are fulfilling their own goals (and the business’ goals). This talk will discuss an approach to eliciting specific actions that are relevant to users and measurable with web analytics, and therefore appropriate to evaluating the usability of a website.

This presentation will be grounded in real-world examples. It is geared toward people familiar with analytics, but it will be understandable for the analytics-curious, with just enough of an introduction to web analytics to provide context.

Attendees at this session will:

  • Understand what can be measured with web analytics and what cannot be measured
  • Choose measurable user behavior that reflects the usability of a
    website as well as business goals

About Our Speaker

Michael Beasley

Michael Beasley is the user experience team lead at Pure Visibility, an Internet marketing firm in Ann Arbor, Michigan, USA. He has built their UX practice and incorporated web analytics heavily into UX activities. Mike earned his MSI degree in human-computer interaction at the University of MIchigan School of Information, has been active in his local chapter of the UPA (even serving as president in recent years), and is the author of a recent article on web analytics for User Experience Magazine.

When

Thursday, February 23rd
6:00 PM — Networking
6:45 PM — Announcements
7:00 PM — Speaker
8:30 PM — Wrap up and more networking

Location

MSU Communication Arts and Sciences Bldg. Rm 151, East Lansing
East Lansing, Michigan 48824

Campus Map
Google Map
Visitor parking is available in the structure just south of the Communication Arts and Sciences building on Red Cedar Rd.

Cost

Current students $5
Usability Professionals’ Association members $8 through Feb 15, $10 after that
All others $15 through Feb 15, $20 after that

Register

Register online at Guestlist so we know who’s coming and how to plan for refreshments. We’ll also take payment (cash or check) at the door. Questions? Email events {at} michiganupa dot org.

Introducing the 2012 Board

Michigan UXPALeave a comment

The Michigan UPA is proud to introduce its 2012 officers. We will run a leaner organization in 2012, with only 3 officers. However, we are confident that these committed individuals will lead us to another successful year for this chapter!

This year, we were unable to gather enough candidates to hold an election. Although we have found members for our 2012 board, it’s not too late to get involved! The Michigan UPA’s event planning and communications rely on help from our local usability community. Please consider contacting us to discuss ways to help.

The 2012 officers are:

Mike Elledge

Mike Elledge is Associate Director of Usability/Accessibility Research and Consulting (UARC) at Michigan State University. Mike performs a variety of activities at UARC, including client development, project management, user testing, focus group facilitation, and training. His interests include accessibility in web design and course management systems, and he has been active in the Sakai (sakaiproject.org) and Fluid (fluidproject.org) community source projects. Earlier in his career, Mike worked in consumer marketing and advertising for well-known companies such as Quaker Oats, Borden, Wells Rich Greene and Campbell-Ewald. Mike has an MSI from the University of Michigan, an MBA from Columbia University in New York, and an AB from Vassar College. He has been active on a number of boards including the CIC IT (Big Ten + One) Accessibility & Usability group and the Vestry at Christ Church Cranbrook.

Mike says: “The MIUPA has done a great job bringing together usability professionals in Michigan for interesting and informative sessions. I’d like to help.”

Timothy Keirnan

Timothy KeirnanTim observes people trying to get something done and then helps create tools for them to do it even better. Having worked for many years as a UX consultant after obtaining his master’s in Scientific Communication, he currently works inside an IT organization where he assists the design & development process from beginning to end.

Tim is a member of the Human Factors & Ergonomics Society as well as the Usability Professionals Association. He co-founded the Michigan UPA chapter, has been its Secretary as well as President, and has given numerous presentations on UX research and design over the past 15 years at various local and international events.

In 2005, Tim created the podcast Design Critique: Products for People, which encourages usable designs for a better customer experience. Now in its sixth year, Design Critique episodes feature product reviews, method discussions, and author interviews in a wide-ranging format that can only be called eclectic. Check out Design Critique at http://www.designcritique.net.

Dave Mulder

Dave Mulder is a user experience designer for Libraries, Computing and Technology (LCT) at Michigan State University. Dave participates in the design, development, and evaluation of major institutional webpages, including the university’s homepage (www.msu.edu) and the university’s mobile website (m.msu.edu). His interests include usability research, mobile UX, and mobile web accessibility. In his free time, Dave works as a product designer for SoapBox, the company he co-founded in 2011, and volunteers time time to non-profits seeking an improved web presence. Dave graduated with a BS from Michigan State University in 2006, and is completing an MA in 2011. He is an active member of Lansing IxDA, Hackers & Hustlers, and regional GiveCamp events.