This week in UX-Clinic: who to hire
This week in the UX-clinic discussion forum: Topic #2 – Who to hire, design or usability?:
I’m a web development manager for a new, but very popular web service. I’ve lobbied successfully for a headcount to help with UX/design/interface issues. Until now everything (prototypes, heuristic evaluations, etc.) has been done by me or one of the 5 programmers.
The challenge is this: what should I hire? I think I have 4 choices: a designer type, an IA, a usability engineer, or someone that does some of everything.
What questions should I be asking myself and my team to determine the best way to use the one UX headcount that I have?
– Shopping in the UX candy store
Of course, someone who can do a little bit of everything would be the best answer. Don’t hire someone that only focuses on function (usability engineer), and don’t hire someone that only focuses on form (designer)- instead, get someone that knows about functioning form.
A designer that believes the goal is the customer experience, not chromed, flashy, edgy, creative design by itself, or a usability engineer that is creative and has an eye for design and can find the balance will get the best results IMO