Diving into Indie UX: The Wrong Way

We just wrapped up last day of the IA Summit 2012 in lovely New Orleans. I have enjoyed wonderful food, drinks, company and speakers including Stephen Anderson, Josh Clark, Chris Risdon, Greg Nudelman, Nadine Schaeffer and Dan Brown.

But one of the talks on Saturday, a panel called Taking the Plunge: Diving into Indie UX, left me gaping. The first section focused on design and design process and how it would be different if you are acting as an independent operator vs working within an agency or organization. I was shocked to hear the 4 panelists don’t collaborate with other designers or work with mentors because, as one said “I’m a good designer, I don’t need help“. Other comments about 16 hour days, spending 20-40% of time on non-billable tasks, deals taking 18 months to close, and not having repeat clients illustrated the wrong way to approach indie work, not a sure path to success.

I’ve been an ‘indie’ for about 7 years, but I’m no expert. I came to the session hoping to learn how other independent designers handle important issues like process, pricing, managing clients, finding the right clients. Instead I am alarmed that there may be a whole group of people out there posing as UX designers who don’t know their ass from a tea kettle and another set of professional, dedicated designers who could be very successful working independently now scared to try it.

Like I said, I am not an expert, but I have been successful, more so that I would have ever imagined. I have a group of 10 other ‘indies’ who work with me, many outstanding client relationships, a broad & deep portfolio in the space I’m interested in. If you measure success with dollar signs, I matched my salary from my previous Director of UX position in the first year and it has steadily increased each year. I like what I do and I hope to be in this field as it evolves over the next 7 years.

So I don’t know if this is the right way to dive into indie work, but I think it is a more balanced and professional approach than what I heard Saturday:

1. Clock your 10k

Malcolm Gladwell and other writers have noted the correlation between 10,000 hours of experience in a field and expert status. So you’ll need a bare minimum of 5 years designing before you have the skills, experience and exposure to go out on your own. But a normal desk job doesn’t get you 10k in 5 years. A full-time job + side projects might though- see #2. And making a web site in high school doesn’t mean at 20, you now have 5 years experience under your belt. I’m talking about design work in a professional environment, hopefully one where you work like a dog to learn everything you can about this field- see #3.

2. Ease into it

Keep your day job, and if you have the passion and time, pick up a side project for the evenings and weekend. This will help you learn important info about yourself that you’ll need to know before taking the full time indie plunge. How are you at:

• estimating
• managing timelines
• setting client expectations
• selecting and screening projects and clients
• taking criticism
• following through
• scheduling meetings
• saying ‘no’ (this was one of the good things Donna Spencer noted in the talk)
• working from home
• working remotely
• dealing with all the bs that comes with working from home
• negotiating your rate
• handling the bookkeeping

.
It might become readily apparent that you will thrive in this role or that there are some areas where you’ll need more experience or support.

3. Do anything to work with the best

Anthony Bourdain, author of ‘Kitchen Confidential’, has a newer book, ‘Medium Raw’. In this book he has a chapter titled “So you wanna be a chef”. He bluntly explains that if you are old (in restaurants that means over 30), fat, or have any health problems, to stay away. After this chapter designed to open your eyes about the real physical demands of cooking, he says if you do decide to go to culinary school, and manage to graduate, do everything in your power to work for the best. Whore yourself out to the best restaurants in Europe, just for the experience. Even if they don’t pay you, even if you sleep on someone’s floor for a year, it is worth it just for the experience.

Same thing applies in our field, but I’ll spare you all the cussing Bourdain uses to make my point. Go work with the best UX designer or agency that will take you. Intern for free, or volunteer to work on side projects just to get the chance to collaborate with experienced and talented people.
I was super lucky in this regard. In my first year as a designer, I helped hire my future boss, mentor, friend and co-author, Bill Scott. I spent 4 years learning from one of the best UI designers and developers in the U.S.

4. Don’t degrade or disgrace this budding industry

UX is an emerging field. Many companies know they need UX help but don’t know exactly what that will entail. If you have clocked your 10k, worked with the best, and successfully delivered a number of side projects on time, on budget, and the designs you made were well received by the end users (in testing and production), you may be ready to help these companies.

If you haven’t clocked your 10k, haven’t successfully delivered multiple projects on time, on budget, and received positive user feedback (in testing and production), and haven’t worked with the best, you likely do NOT know what you are doing well enough to represent our industry on your own. Go back and get the experience you will need to help your clients be successful. Because, ultimately, this isn’t about you making fat stacks while working in your pajamas, it is about making your client’s projects successful.

5. Get your ducks in a row

Legal

You need some type of legal entity. I’m not lawyer or accountant, so I won’t advise you as to what type. I have a LLC, and so do most the designers I collaborate with (who are in the US).

You will need a standard MNDA, a consulting agreement, and a SOW template. And you’ll need a lawyer to review contracts before you sign them. I am serious, pay the extra money to make sure you are covered, you’ll sleep better at night.

Software and hardware

You need a time tracking system, invoicing system and file sharing system. You need a personal computer, and preferably a back up computer. I shouldn’t even have to mention this, but you need a secure backup of your work.

Financial security

You’ll need 3-12 months of living expenses in the bank. Trust me, you don’t want to be in the position where you have to take any job that comes along because you’re broke. Having some financial security gives you the freedom (and time) to screen prospective clients carefully and only accept projects that are closely aligned with your expertise and interest.

Public presence

You do not need a fancy office, amazing web site, logo, or business cards.

You do need a concise overview of your services and how you will work with your clients to provide value. I drafted a UX process years ago to help set client expectations about my role as a UX consultant, the deliverables, and what I expect from them during an engagement. Every client’s UX needs are different, so we don’t always follow this approach, but it is a good tool for the initial discussions. If you are going to freelance, you need a process or at least some case studies of projects you have been involved in.

You need a current portfolio. Be honest. Clearly call out what your role for each project was and who else you collaborated with. I would also recommend having a professional blog and authoring original content. Once you get used to writing, contribute to reputable UX blogs, like UX Booth, UX Magazine, UX Matters, etc..

References

Not all clients ask for them, but they should. Be able to provide references, preferably from pleased clients and colleagues. Again, if you clocked 10k, eased into this and worked with the best, this shouldn’t be hard to come up with. I had the luck of the lifetime when I left Sabre with a portfolio with dozens of desktop, web and mobile applications and their gold star recommendation.

6. Build a trusted team of collaborators

So I already mentioned that I was appalled that the panelists didn’t work with other designers, not even mentors. But as I thought about this more, I realized this is simple arrogance, not ignorance. UX encompasses a broad array of disciplines. A typical UX project we’re involved in includes:

• market research
• stakeholder interviews
• business strategy sessions
• user research
• information architecture design
• interaction design
• content development
• user validation/testing
• prototyping
• development collaboration
• project management
• visual design

And some projects require even more specialty work like video production.

I’m certainly not qualified to handle all of these roles myself, nor have I met any single UX person who is. Before I built my team of UX experts, I connected with fellow consultants who specialized in the areas I was weakest (ie. user research, testing, visual design, and prototyping). I knew which ones I could collaborate with who could be trusted to provide high quality work on time and on budget.

7. Provide a stellar Client Experience

Here’s an area I am still working on. After designing all these years, I forget that our clients don’t live and breath UX. They are new to the process, the terminology, the principles and the deliverables. They are looking to us for guidance to make their project successful.

One of the things we try to do, but should probably make a mandatory step in our process, is an on-site kick off meeting. We elaborate on our process, meet the stakeholders, then start looking at the business objectives for the project.

Once we’re up and running, we have standing design sessions, 1-2 days a week depending on the pace of the project. We also use Basecamp or myBalsamiq for file sharing and collaboration. Basecamp isn’t the perfect app for consulting, but the calendar does allow you to enter events and milestones. We’ve found that providing a really light weight project plan combined with standing weekly meetings, and the message board in Basecamp cuts down on random client emails at mid-night, or panicked calls asking when they can see the next version.

Don’t go crazy with the SaaS though, notes on Google docs, assets in DropBox, messages in Basecamp, project plans in Gantter, etc… just confuse clients. You’ll spend more time resetting passwords than getting design work done. Try to find one tool that is good enough, and stick with it, for their sake.

All in all, be professional

• Leave a reasonable amount of time to complete your work, don’t knock it out at 3am, or in a 16 hour day
• Respond to messages in a timely manner
• Treat clients’ questions and feedback with respect, you are the design expert, but they are the subject matter experts
• Educate them on UX methodology as appropriate during the project- note this is different than evangelizing UX

8. Get clients, not projects

This was the most troubling part of the talk, none of the panelists had significant repeat customers. They didn’t even talk about building client relationships. I have found the key to consulting is building client relationships, meaning, instead of taking 20 disparate projects a year, we have a half dozen clients that we work with on multiple projects.

The panelists spoke of 16 hour days (at the same time saying they bill by the hour which made me cringe) and how “you’ll burn out quick” like this. What I find to be most draining is ramping up on numerous small projects back to back. That is why client relationships are so valuable; it is easier to ramp up on projects within the same company, even if the work is for a different organizational unit. And we’re providing a great value to our repeat clients by reducing the number of hours need in the discovery cycle, since we already have some understanding of their industry and customers.

In summary

You can’t become an ‘indie’ UX designer until you have proven yourself as a ‘successful’ UX designer and have the portfolio and references to back you up.

I’d love to hear more tips from other successful independent designers; I’m sure there are many topics I’ve overlooked here, so chime in with your own experiences.

Mobile Design Pattern Gallery eBook Released

Get it for $20 on the O’Reilly site, format ePub, mobi or PDF. Please rate it and leave a review, I appreciate all feedback.

The print book should be available next week. I’ll be signing copies at SXSW @ 1:30pm March 13, at the Expo Hall.

Designing for Android 3.2 & 4.0

Here are some excellent resources if you are designing an Android smartphone application for Gingerbread or Ice Cream Sandwich.

Galleries

• My Mobile Design Pattern Gallery has hundreds of screnshots from iOs, Android and other OSs. I also posted a presentation of The Best Android Apps
• After spending months compiling screenshots for the book, I just found this rockin’ Tumblr site with hundreds of screenshots specific to Android, Android Niceties
• 150 Top Andorid Apps, Editor’s Pick. Note, not all of these have a great UI, but it is definitely worth browsing
• As stated, AndroidPttrns is a shameless copy of pttrns.com, the site that catalogs iOS screenshots. Android Pttrns don’t have a lot of material yet, but I’m sure it will grow over time.

Pattern Libraries

• Android Patterns
  
• 4orth Mobile Design Patterns Wiki

Stencils/Templates

Zurb’s excellent OmniGraffle Stencil

Android 4.0 PSD

High Density PSD from Teehan + Lax, June 2011

Stencil for Visio- Nope can’t find one. I’ll say it again, the Visio community needs to get it together and starting making high quality stencils and sharing them. If you know of a Visio stencil for a current version of the Android OS, please comment and share.

Keynotopia for prototyping. I have bought and used this bundle for iPad prototyping and it works well. I haven’t tried it for android apps yet.

Glypish Icons are really useful for low and high fidelity mockups

User Interface Design Guidelines

Android Design

Blogs/ Articles

• Android UI Patterns
• 10 Tips for Android UI Design
• Icon Design

Books

• Mobile Design Pattern Gallery: UI Patterns for Mobile Applications
• Best Android Apps. Keep in mind, best refers to functionality, not best UI design. I pulled the best UI examples from here into my gallery.
• Mobile Design & Development by Brian Fling, free book. This has a really good chapter on Mobile IA.
• Mobile First by Luke W. This is more focused on mobile web, but should be read by all designers tackling mobile design challenges.

Presentations & Videos

• Must Watch, Android 4.0 Design Tips
  Android 4.0 UI Design Tips

  View more presentations from Justin Lee

The Language of Interfaces

I don’t know where I’m getting the free time to click through Slideshare over the past week, but here’s another presentation I enjoyed. I think they did an excellent job highlighting how a product’s interface (not just copy) can influence our behaviors.

Does It Have Legs- Heuristics for Information Architecture

Great talk from Abby the IA. Fresh style, clearly expressed. Can’t wait for the poster she’s making.

jQuery Mobile Graffle Stencil

Had to whip up an OmniGraffle stencil for jQuery Mobile. I submitted it to Graffletopia, but it isn’t live yet. You can download it here in the meantime. Just put in the user name > Library > Application Support > OmniGraffle > Stencils folder and unzip.

Another great resource to help in your mobile web design projects is the Glyphish icon library- free and inexpensive icons for your mockups.

UXpert Team- Cross Platform Design and Development Solutions

Happy new year! I’m excited to say our group is continuing to grow, not just with more clients and projects, but in our experience as designers. In 2011 we had the good fortune to lead the design for

One thing that was common across many of these projects was the need for a comprehensive cross platform UX solution.

So we’re offering something new this year, a complete design and development solution for classic web apps + mobile  web apps + installed apps for smartphones and tablets.

We’ve pulled together designers and developers from our little group to build the UXpert Team. Our team includes:

• a senior UX designer
• a creative lead
• 2-4 very experienced developers to code the user interface and provide integration support

So if you have a project that needs expert help, our first opening is mid-January. Email me for details.

Update: we are booked until fall (Aug-Sept) 2012.

Testing the iPad at the North Pole

Happy holidays to all of our followers, clients and friends.

Update: Apparently this is actual footage for testing at the South Pole.

Cloudera Manager’s “Fantastic Interface”

We’re proud to have worked with Cloudera’s team and our friends at Projekt202 to design Cloudera Manager, the industry’s first end-to-end management application for Apache Hadoop. Read more on Tech Crunch.

Congratulations Cloudera on the release and the great press so far. Here’s my favorite quote:

“We were treated to demos of Cloudera Enterprise 3.7 at Hadoop World, and it really blew us away with its functionality for total lifecycle management of Hadoop Clusters. That lifecycle management includes planning, creation of clusters, management of their health, control of access, logging/auditing and many other tools, all put together in a fantastic interface.”

-Bob Gurley, SYS-CON Media.

Mobile Web Option: Backbone.js

I was speaking with some of our developers last night about a mobile web options like jQTouch, jQuery Mobile, Sencha Touch. And then we started talking about Backbone.js. I first heard about Backbone last week from a prospective client who mentioned they use it with PhoneGap to create their apps. I guess I’m late to the table on this one, but in case you haven’t seen Backbone.js either, check out these great examples from their site:

Jérôme Gravel-Niquet has contributed a Todo List application that is bundled in the repository as Backbone example.

DocumentCloud

The DocumentCloud workspace is built on Backbone.js, with Documents, Projects,Notes, and Accounts all as Backbone models and collections.

LinkedIn Mobile

LinkedIn used Backbone.js to create its next-generation HTML5 mobile web app.

Flow

MetaLab used Backbone.js to create Flow, a task management app for teams.

AudioVroom

AudioVroom is a free music streaming app that allows you to listen to your Facebook friends like radio stations.

Foursquare

Foursquare is a fun little startup that helps you meet up with friends, discover new places, and save money.

Do

Do is a social productivity app that makes it easy to work on tasks, track projects, and take notes with your team.

Groupon Now!

Groupon Now! helps you find local deals that you can buy and use right now.

Basecamp Mobile

37Signals used Backbone.js to create Basecamp Mobile, the mobile version of their popular project management software.

Slavery Footprint

Slavery Footprint allows consumers to visualize how their consumption habits are connected to modern-day slavery and provides them with an opportunity
to have a deeper conversation with the companies that manufacture the goods they purchased.

Trajectory

Trajectory is an agile software planning tool used to discuss wireframes, record decisions made, relate user stories and bugs to discussions, and track your progress and plan the future.

SoundCloud Mobile

SoundCloud is the leading sound sharing platform on the internet.

Pandora

When Pandora redesigned their site in HTML5, they chose Backbone.js to help manage the user interface and interactions.

CloudApp

CloudApp is simple file and link sharing for the Mac.

SeatGeek

SeatGeek‘s stadium ticket maps were originally developed with Prototype.js. Moving to Backbone.js and jQuery helped organize
a lot of the UI code, and the increased structure has made adding features a lot easier. SeatGeek is also in the process of building a mobile
interface that will be Backbone.js from top to bottom.

Talking Points Memo: Baroque

Baroque is the editor currently powering the homepage of Talking Points Memo.

Grove.io

Grove.io provides hosted IRC for teams.

Kicksend

Kicksend is a real-time file sharing platform that helps everyday people send and receive files of any size
with their friends and family.

Shortmail

410 Labs uses Backbone.js at Shortmail.com to build a fast and responsive inbox, driven by the Router.

Battlefield Play4Free

Battlefield Play4Free is the latest free-to-play first person shooter from the same team that
created Battlefield Heroes.

Salon.io

Salon.io provides a space where photographers, artists and designers freely arrange their visual art on virtual walls.

Quote Roller

Coding Staff used Backbone.js to create Quote Roller, an application that helps to create, send, organize and track business proposals with ease.

TileMill

Our fellow Knight Foundation News Challenge winners, MapBox, created an open-source map design studio with Backbone.js: TileMill.

rround.me

rround.me uses the HTML Geolocation API to discover tweets, YouTube videos, Instagram photos, Foursquare spots, and other happenings
posted by people close to you.

Blossom

Blossom is a lightweight project management tool for lean teams.

Insta-great!

Elliott Kember and Hector Simpson built Insta-great! – a fun way to explore popular photos and interact with Instagram on the web.

Decide

Decide.com helps people decide when to buy consumer electronics.

Trello

Trello is a collaboration tool that organizes your projects into boards.

BitTorrent

BitTorrent used Backbone to completely rework an existing Win32 UI.

Fluxiom

Fluxiom uses Backbone.js and HTML5 to deliver a seamless upload experience from the desktop to the cloud, including drag and drop, live previews, partial uploads, and one-click sharing.

Chop

Chop is a little app from ZURB that lets people slice up bad code and share their feedback to help put it back together.

Blackcomb

Opzi used Backbone.js to create Blackcomb, a web-based platform for collaboration applications.

QuietWrite

James Yu used Backbone.js to create QuietWrite, an app that gives writers a clean and quiet interface to concentrate on the text itself.

Tzigla

Cristi Balan and Irina Dumitrascu created Tzigla, a collaborative drawing application where artists make tiles that connect to each other to
create surreal drawings.