In February, I wrote up a quick recap of Rudy Pataro’s talk at eTail in which he mentioned that most retail companies aren’t taking advantage of Web 2.0 technologies (ok, maybe technologies isn’t the best word here, but you get the picture) like AJAX & RSS. If you look at any of the main shopping comparison engines, you wouldn’t use ‘innovative’ or ‘easy on the eyes’ to describe the UI. In fact, they are mostly set up to quickly and efficiently monetize clicks.
If the shopping search engines concentrate on the user experience, though, the design and general user interface will change. Maybe Yahoo! is going to take the lead:
Yahoo! is looking for a Visual Design Lead with strategic and innovation expertise to help us change the way that people think about shopping. In this role you will collaborate with other designers, researchers, product managers, and engineers to conceptualize and develop the visual presentation for our Yahoo! Shopping products. Online shopping is growing fast, and this position is a unique opportunity to help shape the way people find the right product at the right time for the right price.
Read the detailed job description. Ok, the link isn’t working. Here’s the rest of the description…
Responsibilities
- Lead Innovation workshops to generate design concepts
- Produce storyboards, scenarios, design prototypes
- Participate in concept testing
- Presentations of design ideas to our management team
- Work with design and engineering to determine how to execute the design across the site
- Refinements of your designs through rapid, iterative testing
- Final visual design elements, layouts, and assets
- Lead cross-property design projects and ensure design consistency with other Yahoo! properties
Qualifications
- Candidate must have examples they can show that demonstrate strategic creative thinking and be able to articulate why those chose the way they did to meet strategic objectives.
- Candidate must have been Lead Designer or Art Director on numerous complex projects
- Candidates must have a solid understanding of user-centered design principles, careful attention to detail, as well as ability to grasp multiple product requirements
- Bachelor’s or Master’s degree in Graphic Design, Information Design, Digital Media Design or other visual arts
- 5+ years experience as a key member of a UI team participating in the complete product development lifecycle of numerous successfully launched web projects
- Must demonstrate strong design skills including screen layouts, information design, and typography, and must have a great eye for detail
- Have excellent interpersonal and communication skills
- Ability to work independently as well as in cross-functional groups
- Works well under pressure and able to meet aggressive deadlines
- Ability to prioritize and manage work to adhere to critical project timelines in a fast-paced environment
- Must have solid grasp of graphic and web design principles and good understanding of current web technologies (html, dhtml, css). Working knowledge of Flash desired.
- Experience with ecommerce or online shopping is a plus.
Related Posts:
Web 2.0 in Retailing – Fry’s – February 23
