Go to www.myaudi.co.za to see it.

We're super super excited to also have Jodi Levine join us as a business analyst with vast experience, specialising in process design.

Welcome guys!

BTW, we're still looking for middle weight UX Designers. If you're interested please contact jason@jh-01.com

We're delighted to be building further in this vertical. Thanks DRAFT!

Photo's from our last meet up and the one in Cape Town can be found on our Facebook group

We'll update when this goes live.

jh-01 is looking for:

1. two middle weight user experience designers (information architects, interaction designs, etc)
2. a really talented graphical interface designer who loves and respects UX and UCD (with over 5 years experience)
3. someone special to head up and run the Fine Content Company

Submit CV's here

Since the start of this year we have created content for Pam Golding Properties, the Hotel-Yeoville project and (through and for) Ogilvy Interactive in Cape Town - Audi and Media24.

If you need research, content strategy or content development then get in touch. Oh - and when we talk about 'content' we mean more than just words and more than just the Web.

We're also looking for a special person to run this division (sales, marketing, operational, etc), so if you're it or you know someone who may love this opportunity then please get in touch with us.

There are two nice parts to this project: one, performing ux design on a deeply complex piece of software (read: rubix cube) problem where a user centric approach is helping immensely and two, the build will be following the Agile process with ux as part of the mix.

We're also delighted to have met the wonderful and talented guys from Information Logistics working on the project.

Thanks to Mike Stopforth for the invitation. Mike has asked us to present in two months again at the 27 Dinner on the topic of user experience design. See you there.

My page on the site can be found here http://www.rosenfeldmedia.com/zeitgeist/people/detail/143/jason-hobbs where amongst other things it notes that I was mentioned in an article on bad breath (hmm - I don't recall that ;)
Jason

I presented for the third year running on a project we've been working on called Hotel Yeoville which ties into the Internet cafe research we've been ingaged in for the past 2 or 3 years. You can find the presentation on Slideshare here: http://www.slideshare.net/jh01/hotel-yeoville

IA & policy
While in Miami I was interviewed by Olga Howard on the topic of the relationship between or potential influence that could be made by information architecture on 'policy'. This has close ties to the Hotel Yeoville project where we hope the outcome of the online community will be an influence on policy, city planning and design of the area. This interview is available in several parts on YouTube:
Part 1: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S8ydHFpvNLM&feature=user
Part 2: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M3oZNV4KHcg&feature=user
Part 3: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s7t29Q8mcso&feature=user
Part 4: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=11wQhPjNMYg&feature=related

The summit is many things: it is the excitement of being around like minded people, it is the presentations, it's the keynotes and reflecting some kind of zeitgeist, it's arguments, discoveries, chatter in the hallways, learning and making new friends. The extroadinary thing is following all this and staying in touch with friends. It seems like the IA community is finally coming out of its identity crisis post the last two conferences, post the arrival of Web 2.0 and post the rise of IXD (interaction design). Andrew Hinton's closing was great: it addressed where we are as a community (of practise), where we're hoping to go and where we've come from. My only complaint is why this didn't come sooner? Why did it take so long for us as a community to respond? Why have we been so insecure? We're fab - as a community, a practise and a discipline. Andrew seems to see UX in the same way that I do. IA is one part of a mix of desciplines and practises that can positively contribute to the design of the user experience. But it is one of several that add to it and one person can be doing more than one thing (IA, IXD, Usability) and one person can work as an IA with others doing other things (IXD, Brand, Usability, Interface, etc etc etc) to create the design of the overall experience.

With the rediscovered confidence of the community back in check post the web 2.0 drive-by the big question on many people's minds is 'where to next for IA?'. There was a lot about real world stuff coming into the sphere of IA in the form of learnings (service design, retention based tactics), there was an increasing emphasis on UX (more and more, slides didn't just say 'IA' they said 'IA / UX' meaning that either our role is broadening, the understanding of it's reach is broadening or over-all, the digital practisioner is required to become more savvy, aware and experienced in the multitude of different parts that come together to make up the UX. And we along with the user who we so vehemently protect are a big big part of it.

And lastly, although belated, Boxes and Arrows have finally put up interviews with a selection of IA's from last years Las Vegas Summit. I'm in there somewhere... http://www.boxesandarrows.com/view/meet-your-peers

So, until next year then (or perhaps sooner in Amsterdam at the EuroSummit)... Jason

+ The Greater Good SA launched their new website www.myggsa.co.za. jh-01 worked throughout 2006 with them in re-inventing the relationship model to be used in this channel between givers and receivers. This non-profit is a leader Internationally in the space of 'online giving marketplaces'. This launch included jh-01 presenting the concept with members of the GGSA at this years Sangonet conference in Johannesburg.

+ We were asked to advise another non-profit, the Home Coming Revolution, to critique their website and explore what the appropriate user journey for a returnee could look like. Given the huge problem of the drain brain in SA we jumped at the chance to assist.

+ In March, Jason attended the IA Summit in Las Vegas to present the outcomes of the Internet Cafe research. The paper was entitled: "Communal Computing and Shared Spaces of Use: a Study of Internet Cafes in Developing Contexts" (download the audio for this presentation at http://www.iasummit.org/proceedings/2007/communal_computing_and_shared). He also presented a second paper addressing the issue of practising and promoting IA in environments where it is unknown and unappreciated. The paper was entitled: "Annals of experience: hacking it alone or the importance of being earnest or being mercenary"

+ At roughly the same time we successfully won the pitch to redesign the South African Airways website. The deadline was absurd, so our solution was to refresh the look & feel and put in a place a more customer centric architecture which we could continue to develop upon in a phase 2 roll-out. The delivery was a success (the website generated record sales the day it went live) and although far from perfect (in the user experience and technical delivery) we have received very positive feedback.

+ This year marked the start of our relationship with Ford and Mazda SA. We embarked on two initial pieces of analysis: a competitor / benchmarking analysis and a statistical analysis. Following this we have begun work on the regional (Asia-Pacific and Africa) redesign of the Mazda website. For this we conducted in-depth customer interviews, dealer visits and interviews and CRM workshops. Out of this we have created the user journey for the website and the online CRM plan.

+ We have had an amazing year with Pam Golding Properties, our longest standing client. We completed the in-depth information architecture design for their new website and worked extremely closely with their business analyst in developing the functional specification. The project sponsor has moved on and jh-01 has been asked to step-in in representing the businesses interests in the project - a compliment and show of trust that we deeply appreciate. Additionally, we are piloting a new content creation offering ('The Fine Content Company') on the Pam Golding Properties website project.

+ More on Pam Golding: Phil Barrett has begun work on redesigning their Intranet (Goldnet) for jh-01 (we'll also be offering assistance with the interface design). Later in 2008 we'll be working together to create the user experience design for an integrated platform of systems to run off the Intranet, Goldnet.

+ Just a few months ago we won the Virgin Mobile SA pitch (with Saturn). This will be our second chance to assist them with their user experience design in 2008.

+ And then there's Microsoft SA. Following an introduction by Phil, we have begun working with Microsoft to deliver user and customer experience solution to their larger corporate clients. Our first project is with Standard Bank (a visioning of how branches should function in the future) and it looks like we might be helping Liberty Life too.

+ Our interest and investigation into communal computing and shared spaces of use continued with us helping artist Terry Kurgan and urban developer John Spiropoulos (of Kagiso Urban Management) in a cultural and needs based intervention into the area of Yeoville. One product of this project will be a (real) community website that will be the default home page on computers in the Internet Cafe's in the area. We assisted with the research, user experience and information architecture for the website.

+ Jason was invited to participate in a panel discussion at the Johannesburg Art Gallery as part of the Africa Remix exhibition. The discussion investigated and debated issues relating to art and technology in Africa

+ jh-01 launched the SA UX Forum. This has been coming for several years but it is the first public and open user experience centric forum in the country and has assisted in broadening awareness of the field and stimulating conversation between practitioners.

+ Jason was nominated to be on the board of the IA Institute but never quite made it. Nonetheless, his term as advisor was extended by another year and he continues to be a voice for developing countries in a multinational organisation. He also contributed the rather tongue-in-cheek article "Am I an Information Architect?" for the IAI website and has been working on the Local Groups initiative with certain members of the board.

All in all, we've had an amazing year and though we certainly could have done more (between 2 and 6 in the morning) we have created a really strong platform for a power year in 2008:

> Our company strategy sessions this year cemented our purpose and values and laid a path to get us to 2009
> Marius Burger has done an amazing job getting us business ready and generally managing things. Marius will continue this role in 2009.
> Phil Barrett is helping us on Pam Golding and will be playing a more active role in forming a Cape Town base for jh-01
> We have brought Kathy Jenks on board as a full time team member and IA
> We will be launching our (graphic, interface, ...) design department in February
> We'll also be launching our content offering (The Fine Content Company) in February with Lisa Cohn at its helm
> Marc Pienaar will continue helping us with everything from research & analysis to SEO and content delivery

Other things to look forward to in 2008:

- We will be expanding our Joburg premises to take the rest of the 7th floor of National Bank House. We've wanted this for some time and we'll be occupying in Feb / March. It's worth noting that this building is a heritage site (it makes the building over 80 years old) in the heart of the financial district of downtown Joburg next to the Johannesburg Library. Taking premises here (it's a three year lease) is a commitment to our belief in the regeneration of Johannesburg and where we are headed in South Africa at large.
- We're hoping to hold the first conference in SA focusing solely on User Experience design in Q3
- We have three partnership agreements in the pipeline which will create a powerful base for our future and ensure we're the leading UX company in South Africa with International ties (can't say more now or I may just jinx it)

Clients for 2008 include:
- Pam Golding Properties (their website, Intranet, enterprise operations systems and content development)
- Mazda (regional website redesign for Asia Pacific and Africa, content development and email communications)
- Ford (content development and email communications)
- Standard Bank (branch front end visioning)
- Liberty Life (usability and interface design for an internal system)
- Virgin Mobile (website redesign)
- South African Airways (phase 2 website redesign)
- Hotel Yeoville

There is more in the pipeline but I can't say yet...

So that's it. Well done to everyone in the team and welcome to all the newcomers. What we have done and what we are managing to do is testimony to the need and value of UX. I wish you all a merry Christmas and all the best for 2008 which will no doubt be massive.

We'd like to add that the compeition was stiff: we were up against the likes of Gloo and Presenze and like to believe that it is our interest in real customer centricity through UX that tipped the scales (but then we would say that wouldn't we ;)

We would like to add that this marks a significant acknowledgement from two major players of the importance and benefit that UX has to offer. In terms of looking at things from a top down perspective this could mark the beginning of UXD's uptake in South Africa - well, we hope so.