I’m looking to mentor two graduate level students in the Experience Design field (UX, UXD, UCD, IxD, ED, HCI, etc). As a recent graduate myself I know that having a good mentor while going through a graduate program can mean quite a lot.

I’m offering the following:

• 6-9 months of mentorship
• Review and critique of design work
• Help understanding field
• Help understanding graduate school
• Advice of any kind
• Review, critique, and help with portfolio and resume

I’m looking to mentor any student currently enrolled in a graduate program in the fields listed above who posses the following qualities.

• 1st or 2nd year student
• English speaking
• Ability to listen to blunt, upfront critique
• Desire to work in the field (not looking to get into a phd program)
• Enjoys design beyond research (I love research as well, but I want you to love design also)
• Sense of humor
• Wants to be active in the design field
• a ‘go getter’

I’m based in San Francisco, but you can be based anywhere. I will mostly be able to mentor through email, IM, phone calls, and video calls. If you are interested, please send me an email directly explaining why you want to be mentored (can be brief).

At Interaction 11, Bruce Sterling gave an amazing closing keynote. Out of the hundreds of nugests of wisdom, one thing in particular stuck out to me. Bravery. I’m not sure entirely how Bruce spoke of it, but he reminded us to be more brave when we design. Something about this phrasing stuck with me as very inspirational. In fact, this phrasing helped change and re-shape my capstone project for the better. So, thanks Bruce!

However, the inspiration did not stop there. A couple of days after the conference, a new re-phrasing came to mind, “Design with Bravery”. To me, this spoke to the heart of Bruce’s phrasing while reminding me to continue to push myself and my designs into new directions. With this in mind, I created a poster to hang on my wall, where it now sits reminding me to be design with bravery.

The above image links to a full size screen quality graphic. Contact me for a print quality version.

Design with Bravery by John Wayne Hill is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs 3.0 Unported License. Based on a work at www.vectorportal.com.

Get Inspired Together. March 9-10, 2011.

Experience students’ design process through a live design competition. Meet the makers, speed dating style. Explore designers’ work and studio.

Each year we invite kick-ass companies to our annual HCID Connect event. This is a two day event where employers get to work directly with over 30 exceptional designers who are looking for internships and full time positions. This is an excellent chance for employers to find amazing designers.

Visit hcidconnect.soic.indiana.edu for details and registration information.

for HCID students:

Want a kick-ass portrait for your portfolio? Let me help you out. Between now and Jan 5th, I’ll shoot your portrait for free (actually in exchange for a critique).

Details

You bring the idea, and appropriate props if needed. I’ll bring the photo stuff. Email me to set up an appointment. We can shoot in just 15 minutes, or for a couple of hours if you want. I’m totally open to make this work. Portraits are a great way to show your personality and professionalism. You must set up an appointment via email at least 24 hours in advance. I have 3 colored backgrounds (white, black, and red), and plenty of lights. We have a great space in the new studio to shoot, but I’m open to almost any location.

What you need

Yourself. Props as needed. Some time. An idea! I’m also requesting that everyone that I photograph provide me with a critique of my website (portfolio), business cards, or branding in exchange for my time and services. This critique can be of any length and in any format excepting face-to-face (written, audio, video, dance, play, etc).

Examples

Check out some examples of other designers:

• Jon Kolko
• Katie O’Donnell
• Casey Addy
• Sarah Nelson
• Jared Cole
• Dane Petersen
• IU Creative Services
• myself

Woo hoo!

This summer (actually I already started) I will be working with Mozilla on the Firefox User Experience team. I couldn’t be more excited or happy. Firefox is a great product that has around 370 million users worldwide. This is a huge audience for which to design and will come with many challenges. I look forward to tackling these challenges head on with all that I have learned about design. I also hope to learn more than ever about designing in the real world, working with real people, on  stuff that will actually be in the world and used by millions. It’s scary as hell and I love it!

Reflection Thus Far

In thinking about the past (almost) two weeks, I can already seen how things have changed for me a bit. I’ve started to understand how UX teams might work in real world companies, specifically companies that are developer centric. Furthermore, I’ve started to understand the unique challenges that come with designing open source software. There are so many people involved, so many opinions, and so very many valid use and edge cases. It’s superbly interesting and a little overwhelming. I’m starting to look through my toolset and understand what tools I have that can best be used within a community such as Firefox. My colleagues (wow, that’s awesome to say) have blogged about some of these things as well. I work with really smart and amazing people. I’m very grateful for their help and support thus far.

You might want to have a look at what Alex Faaborg, Jennifer Borris, Aza Raskin, and Alex Limi are saying. It’s awesome!

The first week here I was a sponge, running around trying to soak up as much information as possible. It also happened to be an intensive work week where we had all of our remote people in the office. It was a really great week where I learned quite a bit about how things work at Mozilla and the direction that Firefox was taking. I also got to participate in many quick design meetings where we discussed and ideated on designs. Furthermore, I was able to give my opinion on some Bike Sheding issues and I really felt welcomed.

This week (my second) I’ve started my first project and helped the team on some other stuff. Limi and I filled a bazillion bugs for the Firefox Papercuts issues (see his presentation on the topic). So now I have a great grasp on filling bugs within bugzilla. My new project involves doing a good amount of research on what the next generation “home tab” might look like for the web. I really like this project thus far as it really allows me to stretch my imagination and think about the future of the web and how it can be better designed for people.

So far, I’m having a great time. The Bay Area is fantastic. Mozilla is really great, and I love the people on the UX team. Plus I’m working for an organization that has a dino head for a logo. How cool is that!

Life is good.

Don’t miss out, book today at: www.johnwaynehill.com/contact/

Senior portraits starting at $125.

• One hour session
• Unlimited wardrobe changes
• You pick the location

Hey everybody, I’m jumping into the wedding pool!

I’m not getting married myself, but rather making myself available to shoot your wedding. I’m free for booking as early as June 8th.

Your wedding is a special and very stressful event. Let me help by assuring you that I can capture those special moments during your wedding.

I know that there are a ton of wedding photographers out there, so be sure to check out my portfolio to see if my style suits you.

Now, head over to my contact page so we can begin our conversation.