What do you think about Clear?

What do you think about Clear?

**EDIT** After using the Clear app for a few months, I’ve grown to like it quite a bit. The team did an amazing job in predicting / gambling that users would grow into learning the App UI etc.

I might be alone in thinking this, but the Clear app feels like it tries too hard to be different. An app that requires that many instructions for gestures and how to use the interface tells me the team might’ve gone too far trying to re-invent the wheel. More specifically, I found the long swipe vs short swipe annoying. The ‘pull to create task’ is brilliant but having such a similar gesture to navigate sections didn’t do it for me. However, I have a lot of respect for the team for pushing the boundaries and shipping.

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What would qualify someone as a junior UX designer, apart from years of professional experience?

What would qualify someone as a junior UX designer, apart from years of professional experience?

I think the answer depends on what you mean by UX designer. Knowledge of HTML/CSS is not a core skill of a UX designer in my mind, but obviously others have different viewpoints. Job titles in this field tend to be a clusterf*ck, with a lot of people slapping UX onto theirs because it’s the in thing to do.

From my point of view, a UX designer focuses on interaction design and information architecture, e.g. using research (either your own or done by user researchers) to understand the user goals and needs, creating user models such as personas, scenarios, or task analysis, and using that information to inform the behavior and interaction design of a webside or application.

So, I would say that a portfolio that includes sample wireframes, site maps, user models, and other ux deliverables (e.g. http://semanticstudios.com/publi…) is what you want to shoot for.

The best way to move into UX design is to do it sideways from a ‘bordering’ discipline such as front end dev, visual design, or business analysis. If you already have a job or experience doing one of those things, you can start looking for opportunities to do more “ux-y” work, and before you know it, you’re a ux designer!

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What would qualify someone as a junior UX designer, apart from years of professional experience?

What would qualify someone as a junior UX designer, apart from years of professional experience?

At 37signals, we don’t have “UX” positions but we do hire UI designers.

I look for three key things (besides good character, the most important):

  1. You are very comfortable with HTML/CSS (at minimum) and you can build your ideas.
  2. You can write well.
  3. You have good taste and intuition about what matters in a design.

A selection of sample projects (personal/hobby projects) will demonstrate #1 and #2.

For #3, people can develop skill but they don’t develop taste. It’s there or it’s not. When your taste is higher than your current skill level, you can bridge the gap by talking about who you love, who’s work you look up to, and what gets you excited.

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