"interactive designer"
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- randomname
I just got an email from someone who asked if I knew any "interactive designers" looking for a job. Does this just mean web people, or is it something more advanced or specific?
- qoob0
Something very advanced AND specific
- CanHasQBN0
Specifically, 2advanced?
- Frosty_spl0
It means you build banners all day.
- BattleAxe0
it means Flash is back
- zoozoo0
it's a designer that specializes in interaction with a device or computer.
User interfaces, websites, menus.
- qoob0
It's a designer that specializes only in the interactive aspects of a given design. So for instance, when we need a button on a webpage, we call in the Interactive Designer.
- monolith0
interactive designer is not really making buttons in essence. Interactive designer is meant to design/develop rich user experiences that deal with animations, user interactivity code and overall UX. A regular web designer makes a button on the web page and is in charge of creating graphical assets as well as html. Interactive Designer is doing front-end experience that involves interaction, animations, JS/CSS animations and Flash. His/her duty is to bring everything to life and unlike web designer, it is expected to know JS/Jquery/CSS and Flash.
"It means you build banners all day."
Yes, that is most likely what people looking for interactive designers assume these days.
- monNom0
nobody responds to 'banner designer' job postings
- ouchmonospaced
- am I wrong?monNom
- u wong! u wong! lol.akrok
- I remember seeing 'GFX DESIGNER' ads when I was job hunting. Made me cringe.orrinward2
- ukit20
I think everyone who works on web stuff should just call themselves interactive designers. Too many meaningless and overlapping job description terms in this industry.
"Web designer" Sounds like something from 10 years ago
"UX designer" Corporate marketing-speak. Really just means "web designer who is not stupid"
"Interaction designer" Means the same as UX, but easily confused with interactive designer
- dbloc0
it's just another name for a web guy.
- canuck0
That's what my job title is at work :(
- Frosty_spl0
At my agency:
Interactive designer = builds out banners that the interactive art director designed
Interactive Art Director = designs banners
UX designer = designs wireframes
- Sounds like a shit job.meffid
- Hit me up if your agency needs help! That's what I do. Davi@davi-t.comfyoucher1
- thats craptOki
- NONEIS0
It's more abstract - and potentially misleading due to word abuse. I'm an interactive designer - but I rarely work on web anymore. Kiosks, instalation experiences and mobile apps are the majority of my work.
- tOki0
My experience is (which i thought is the norm):
AD's = direct/middle mangement
Designers = creative/design
Flash developers/animators = create bannersSo i'm the interactive AD (essentially CD) at the agency I work at. I hire interactive designers, they are expected to have an understanding of how the technologies work but not to implement them. They're job is to create a visual representation of a specified function that users interact with. So yes I expect you to know html and css, but will you ever have to write a line of it? Probably not. Has a designer here ever built a banner? No. Do we help prepare assets and artwork for projects? Yes. We have front end developers, flash developers, animators for the rest...
Here all designers are also expected to have skills in UX, as the design department does all the information architecture. As the agency grows, we will start a dedicated UX team, but for now this arrangement works well with 4 designers on staff. The logic being if you can't understand and convey information/functionality, how can you design it in a user friendly way?
- monolith0
The whole problem stems from the fact that everyone wants to call themselves something fancy even though they don't belong in that category. So they pollute and mix industry recognized and well established titles with what they "feel" they should be called.
Web Designer or just designer in today's work is basically a production artist who puts together graphical assets in an organized manner and expands and details designs that Art Director supplied.
Interactive Designer's role is to imagine and visualize and sometimes create in simpler terms how the user experience and rich interactivity will happen. They are creating how users will interact and get to specific content designed by web designers.
Interactive designers need to know more about technology in general than web designers. Web designers are really required to know graphical tools and somewhat HTML/CSS. Interactive Designers have to know one level up and understand technologies that are used to bring that interaction to life even though they don't necessarily build the thing.
Interactive Developer is a more modern term that describes those who actually bring those interaction designs to life and are usually interactive designers with software engineering skillls and understand languagues like JS/Flash and all the the tools/languages in bringing this front end rich experience to life.
Web Developer is a person who can do a job of interactive developer (but they are usually less creative and are mostly dealing with mostly technical side of development) and deal with the widest range of technologies, from front-end languages and tools to back end stuff such as PHP, Python, databases, more advanced JS and so on.