Daily Brad, the blog

The Omniture UI team is growing continually, and we’re always looking to get some talented people on-board. It seems the UI designer is one of the most difficult to find. Someone who is not only talented in the aesthetic realm (our highly graphic applications depends on creativity and innovation), but who is also adept at creating easy-to-use interfaces for a highly technical and complex web-based software. And someone who’s willing to work in Orem, Utah. (Utah rocks!)

Here’s the latest job description we’re getting out there for a new hire. If you’ve got questions about the position or what it’s like to work at Omniture, drop me a line.

User Interface Designer Job Opening

Omniture is looking for an innovative, visual UI Designer with a strong sense of graphic design, layout, color, and usability. The ideal candidate will have an appreciation for sleek and usable interfaces, a solid understanding of the design process for web applications, strong technical know-how and a great attention to detail.
The UI Designer will work closely with product managers, researchers, engineers, and technical writers to visually and creatively take product ideas to concept by rapidly prototyping through conceptual sketches and mockups. The UI Designer will continually refine concepts to reflect input from internal and end-user testing. This is a high-profile role in a company that places high importance on creating a web product that combines cutting edge graphic technique with an easy-to-use interface.

Description

• Take direction to implement the creative vision and overall look and feel for projects based on design objectives, product requirements, functional specs, and an iterative feedback process.
• Assist in defining and developing the user experience for Omniture’s award-winning web-based products. Work with product manager and engineers in drafting initial concepts.
• Convey design ideas via storyboards, and prototyping tools.
• Create deployment-quality mocks and prototypes on tight timelines.
• Maintain graphic standards and corporate branding throughout the product’s interface.
• Review completed projects for consistent and correct look and feel.

Qualifications

• 2+ years of professional web design experience with an emphasis on creative, visual, and interaction design.
• Prefer web product design experience.
• BA/BS or equivalent in Graphic Design or related field preferred.
• Understanding of graphical web design principles, typography, composition, and iconography.
• Ability to set conceptual design and product direction from functional requirements.
• Ability to collaborate effectively with a group of creative individuals to produce highly polished and professional finished works.
• Ability to accept and design against feedback in an iterative development process.
• Ability to produce effective ideas under tight timelines.
• Strong written and oral communication skills.
• Strong computer skills and a demonstrated expertise in Adobe Photoshop and Illustrator.
• Comfortable in Microsoft Windows environment.
• Willing and able to contribute to the creative spirit and teamwork of the company.

I had an “ah-ha!” moment over the past couple days. CSS is awesome!

Perhaps it’s the fact that I’ve been so focused on the aesthetic design of websites for so long, and not how they’re engineered that I took CSS for granted? (I have always been able to surround myself with excellent programmers who’ve spoiled me.) So maybe the power of CSS hasn’t sunk in due to the fact that I’ve never gone in and tweaked it for myself?

But now I get it. CSS is awesome! (Did I say that?)

I’ve been blogging for a couple years now off and on, and really took what Wordpress does for granted. I enter the content, click publish and Worpress takes care of the rest. I was never concerned about the look of my blog (if that wasn’t obvious enough with my hats-off approach to the default template), nor did I think how a “blog tool” could translate into a content management system for a regular website. (Though the thought had crossed my mind) I always thought I’d get some help (the excellent programmers I mentioned before) in making any content I created in my blog work - somehow - in a future design of my portfolio site.

Now that I’ve considered how to implement and populate content into bradmccall.com in the easiest possible fashion (remember, I’m not a programmer), I now have an answer to the age-old question - what came first, the chicken or the egg? (Insert drum roll here) It’s doesn’t matter.

When I coded my first website in 1994, (did I mention I’m not a programmer?) I created every page individually by copying and pasting code on similar designs. I designed the chicken, cloned it repeatedly, and then designed each of the eggs one-by-one.

In 1999 when I designed the first (and current with the date of this post) iteration of bradmccall.com, the engineer who programmed it used CSS on each page to format the text. I got a feel for how this allowed me not have to constantly copy and paste long font attributes tags when I went in and tweaked parts (though you still may find some here or there). This simplified the production of the eggs considerably, but still left some of the chicken cloning process.

In 2003 this same engineer introduced me to PHP with a new website I created for a small side-business called SpinHouse. Now it seemed that the chicken could be randomly assembled and the mother chicken managed from one place. (Cloning on the fly?)

Now comes along Wordpress and the full realization of content management meets CSS. I can create all the eggs I like - in any fashion - and adopt them to any chicken I’d like. The content does not depend on the design, nor the opposite. It doesn’t matter.

Well, so much for writing about an ah-ha moment in the morning. I think I’ll grab some breakfast - scrambled eggs anyone?

2008 is one of the first years in a long time that I’m not taking a trip to celebrate my arrival to this world on January 31st. For those of you who know me well, you’ve already been asking, “where are you going for your birthday?” This year I decided to stick around town and enjoy this snow we’ve been having instead of lying on a sandy beach somewhere. Years past have been gloomy, gray and cold and it has been nice to escape to Florida, Cancun, Acapulco, Hawaii (all trips in years past). But while this year we’ve had plenty of the cold, in contrast to years past, we’ve also received plenty of the white stuff. I mean lots! It’s a nice change - I love the snow!

So to take advantage of the white stuff, I’m going snowboarding. Yup, hitting the slopes this weekend. I typically head to Brighton with my friend Jonathan, but we’ve also talked about trying somewhere new this time. In pulling up to check the weather for my birthday and the day after on KSL.com, I was surprised to find it was going to be a toasty day (and for the low none-the-less!):

So other than the oceans boiling and every living thing cooking in their skin, I think it just might be a good day to hit the slopes. I’ll be sure to grab my SPF 10,000 - wish me luck!

Another first happened for me at the Omniture holiday party last month. While the party itself was another great event filled with awards, music, dancing, food and general merryment, I think one of my favorite parts was seeing my handy-work on ice.

At the entry doors to the party stood an ice sculpture of Omniture’s logo, flanked in the rear by green lights. Since this was a Brad McCall first (Having a logo I designed carved in ice), I thought I’d mention it in my blog and put up a couple photos.

Watch Omniture this year… it’s going to continue to great things! (Meanwhile, I’ve been feverishly working on the next iteration of my online portfolio. If you think that having the same portfolio online for over 6 years is a shame, well, I’d have to agree with you.)

For those of you who know me, you’ve probably seen that I haven’t updated my blog in a while. You’ve also probably noticed that my Linkedin profile shows me back at Omniture. Or if perhaps you haven’t noticed any of that, yes, I’m back at Omniture. After working nearly 5 years and being a one man show designer, I took a job at Cymphonix, a job that was converted into a contract position after a year. I started contracting with Omniture in March of 2007, and was hired on in August.

Things have changed significantly since I worked for the green machine by way of employee count, their public status, their client base, their product line, and much more. It’s like working for a completely different company - other than the fact I still get to see my brand influence all over the office. My title is “Senior UI Designer”, and since I’ve never been one on throwing titles around, I think it works just fine.

Speaking of User Experience (which I’ve blogged about before), I found a recent user experience pretty comical. I opened up my MSN Messenger to find an ad at the bottom showing none other than Alyssa Milano. Tell me what “user experience” you think is broken in this one:

Here’s a clue: How beautiful is THAT picture of Alyssa?!?

So what happens when your client is late in paying you? What do you do to handle this? Biting the hand that feeds you is no way to get more to eat. (Or more design work in this case.)

I recently had a contract client that was late in paying their invoice, and I thought that this would be a good post for feedback through my blog. Having expressed in advance that I was a stickler for payment on time to each of my clients as I sign them, most of them have always been prompt in payment. Typically most companies ask “terms” with each of their vendors, with 30-45 wait periods until payment. But as a freelancer (NOT a vendor), I’ve found that even with the deposit before a job begins, there’s no way that I can give them these kind of terms. I make it clear up front that a check must be cut on completion of the project, and if they won’t agree these terms, I walk away.

Standard terms for my invoices are 30% down and the rest due on delivery. (When the final project is delivered by email or CD/DVD) It is noted right on my invoice that after 10 days the invoice will be overdue (late) and a late fee will be incurred. My clients appreciate this “grace” period, and most of the time it has not been necessary to add a late fee. But once-in-a-while I’ll be working with someone new who doesn’t know the internal processes of their company, or doesn’t have a good working relationship with their accounting department and things get stopped-up. How do you politely handle this?

Here’s how I went about it this last time: The day the grace period ended (Day 10), I sent an email inquiring about the status of the check, and asked if I needed to submit a new invoice with a late fee included. There were no threats, no “warnings”, I just politely asked if they needed more time by telling them that this “time” would appear as a line-item on a new invoice. The check was ready the following day. I didn’t even have in mind what kind of late fee to charge - a standard amount or a percentage of the total?

As a freelance or contract designer, we get to handle accounting, new business, account management and all those things that are normally handled by another person in a agency environment. I don’t like dealing with the money, I don’t like change orders, and most of all - collection is the bane of my freelance existence. How do you make this a smooth process? What kind of terms you provide your clients and how about late fees? Do you have them?

So I was thinking about the concept of “taking pride in your design” the other day while sitting at IHOP. I was staring up at a sign hanging from the ceiling that was advertising their latest and greatest (mostly sweet) combination of breakfast foods and the thought came to my mind - I wonder if the person that designed that sign is proud of it? I wonder if they see it hanging in their local IHOP and say “I designed that!”.

It got me thinking of the first few things I designed that were actually not school work, and people actually spent money to have them printed. Since my internship was for Salt Lake Magazine (Salt Lake City Magazine at the time), one of my first designs was for a postage paid reply card. You know what these are, those annoying bits of cardstock that are constantly falling out when you’re flipping through a magazine in an airport waiting for your flight. But something to be proud of? Not exactly. But as it was one of the first few things that were actually printed of mine, I glowed when it came out in the magazine, and put a copy in my portfolio.

Now that I’ve designed literally thousands of things, I think back and wonder - am I proud of everything I’ve designed? How about you? Do you glow at every design you see in the world that originated in your head?

I think I’m most proud of the things I’ve designed that are most true to my original concept, and weren’t clouded by excessive client micromanagement. Concepts that seemed to match the clients needs exactly, and resonated with the client as such.

As I’ve been doing some contract work for Omniture lately, I’ve had the opportunity to see first hand how one of my brands has been carried beyond my original creation. After working there nearly 5 years and creating their brand from scratch, it was hard to let it go and send it out into the world. But with talented people, and a CEO who cares about the brand, it’s maintained itself and even grown into an amazing presence. I’m proud of that.

What are you thoughts on this topic?

It seems that my post about IKEA, including the Okland construction logo was quite popular with the search engines, and many of you come across it by typing “IKEA Utah” into Google. So I just wanted to share in the excitement about being the first state in the Mountain West to get one, by linking to their press release on it’s opening date (less than a month away). Here’s a snippit:

DRAPER, UT, March 6, 2007 – IKEA, the world’s leading home furnishings retailer, today announced that its future Draper, UT store will open at 9:00 AM on Wednesday, May 23, 2007. IKEA Draper will be the Swedish company’s first store and restaurant destination in the Mountain West and 30th in the U.S. (In the meantime, customers can shop online at www.IKEA-USA.com, or at stores in Tempe, AZ; Covina, CA and West Sacramento, CA.)
“Due to the progress made during the fall and the snowy winter, we are confident the remaining construction milestones and interior build-up process will be complete by late May,” noted Paul Janzen, store manager of the future IKEA Draper. Janzen added, “now our primary objective is to continue hiring and training the nearly 350 Utahns who will be joining the IKEA coworker family before we open.”

The bad news is that I’ve been a bit of a slacker on posting to my blog, but the good news is that I have been very busy. (Always good news for me, never good news for clients that want to get on my schedule.) But there are a couple things I’d like to mention today.

New Designers Added
First of all, I’ve added a couple of links to the list of Utah Graphic Designers that are of note:

The Utah Graphic Artists Forum Launched
I received an email from Wade (mentioned above) telling me about the new Utah Graphic Artist Forum that was recently launched. Here’s an exerpt from the email: (I figured I couldn’t say it much better):

Now officially launched, I present a gathering place for local graphic artists. My purpose is to promote and support the development and expression of graphic arts and to facilitating and ecouraging conversations and interaction between graphic artists in Utah, in an environment free of dues or obligations. I hope to provide something of value to members involved in all forms of the graphic arts, including illustrators, photographers, graphic designers, typographers, user interface designers, and web developers.

Both working professionals and students are welcome and encouraged to participate, discussing current events and trends, historical topics, theory, techniques, technology, business, and/or employment.

Features include a forum, mailing lists, an IRC channel for chat, job announcements, RSS feeds, syndicated calendar events, and plans to meet periodically for socials and workshops. Membership is free and open to anyone interested.

Visit, participate in and support this worthy effort of uniting us creative professionals here in Utah. It looks like it already has over 40 members, and will continue to grow.

The other day I had a co-worker looking at my LinkedIn profile, and said “Wow, you have so many Recommendations”, and after explaining how they came to be there, I thought of blogging about it.

Early last year I had a friend who had just laid off send me a request to write him a Recommendation on LinkedIn. Knowing full-well his talent and the work that he did when we worked together, I was happy to. That was when I learned about LinkedIn’s built-in ability to request Recommendations.

At first I thought it silly to ask someone to say something nice about me in writing. But as I began to request Recommendations from a few of my former colleges and contract clients, I found it was an excellent way find out from others just how good a job I do/have done as well as let potential clients or employers know what it’s like to work with me. It was testimonial, or validation of my work.

The LinkedIn feature of Recommendations - and how you used these Recommendations in gaining new business or obtaining a job - can be just as valuable an asset to your portfolio as the designs you put in there. Sure, your design work is excellent, but how is it to work with you?

Here are a couple excerpts from the recommendations others have given me:

“Having hired and managed several large, national agencies when I worked on the Pizza Hut, Pepsi and Blockbuster brands, I was surprised (and impressed) that I was getting top agency results from a team of only one person, Brad McCall…”

“…He is extremely versatile, delivering best-in-class results for every project he took up…”

“…It’s hard to believe so much talent can fit in one person…”

“…I give Brad my highest recommendation and look forward to any project that I can collaborate together with him on again.”

“…The first version [of the product user-interface] started winning awards before it was even out of beta, and the feedback on the second major version has been every bit as positive, even though the degree of complexity was much higher. Excellent to work with, good business sense, and creative work that is second to none.”

“…He is easy to work with, insightful and very good at what he does. His knowledge of color, layout, and visual impact are incredible. Though his work speaks for itself, I gladly endorse Brad as well.”

“…Brad is a valuable asset to any project he is a part of.”

“…Brad has a built-in desire to add value to every project and company he is involved in…”

“Brad is the most effective person I have worked with at communicating through design…”

“…Brad has an amazing capacity to do it all, in copious amounts with consistency, quality and with a great attitude…”

“Brad’s work was some of the best I’ve seen. It was creative, artistic, and professional.”