Posted over 5 years ago

Front End Designer REMOTE PROJECT TEAMS IPFS FULL-TIME Seeking a Front End Designer to both design and develop clear and accessible interfaces for the next version of the internet. As a Protocol Labs Front End Designer, you will help us prototype, test, and ship interfaces and interactions for IPFS. Besides creating maintainable, accessible open source design systems, products, and websites, you’ll also help promote front end design and engineering best practices (especially around performance, usability, and accessibility) in a part of the technology stack that doesn’t always get enough design love (protocols and networking). Why is this amazing? Because design is the killer app for crypto and the distributed web, and our mission is to improve humanity’s most important technology: the internet. We have a rare opportunity to redesign the core of how the Internet could work, and make its next version beautiful and easier to use. You’ll also help build our design practice as we hire more visual designers, content designers, and user experience researchers, working with user experience researchers to participate in, and sometimes lead, usability testing and user-centered design, and working with engineers to develop interactive experiences. Your broad skill set will help bring all pieces together into prototypes and shipped code. Though this is a hybrid design-dev role, you’ll also have the deep experience of other specialists to draw on when needed. Tell us about what you do! You don’t have to experience in 100% of these responsibilities, and we’d like to hear about your unique perspective on this role. Some challenges we need your help with include: What does a UI kit look like for distributed web apps, and what changes (if any) should we make for the different ways people might interact with the distributed web? What could a dashboard that explores distributed web nodes look like, and what should it communicate? How do trust and trust systems manifest in systems where people are exchanging data, instead of relying on centralized systems, and how should we design for that? Technologies and protocols like IPFS let you distribute identical copies of your data across a dynamic, scalable network of peers (instead of relying on a centralized cloud). How should a UI communicate to users what sharing on the internet’ means in the future? Responsibility: Deliver high-quality interaction design for the web Create clear and accessible UI components that are responsive and performant. Design intuitive new interaction patterns for peer-to-peer apps. Develop a Design System to capture our principles in code and provide a common visual language for designers and developers. Deliver whatever’s needed to guide product choices this could include anything from quick prototypes to fuller implementations of an idea. Always be able to communicate your design rationale (the why behind your designs).Communicate openly by sharing works in progress, leading design-focused usability and critique sessions, and by giving thoughtful feedback to your team. Conduct usability testing on front end websites, applications, and command line interfaces with target audiences, and iterate designs based on user feedback. Responsibility: Prototype and ship code Use HTML, SVGs, CSS, and JavaScript to build websites and prototypes Be comfortable exploring APIs to generate clear and accessible interfaces that make complex systems approachable Experiment and use data to drive decision-making. Working with visual designers, user researchers, and engineers to prototype-in-code, or using sample or full datasets to test interaction and visualization experiments with end users Serve as an advocate for accessibility, performance, and maintenance best practices across devices and network conditions (for example, developing with an Offline First mindset) Requirements Excellent community-facing and internal communication skills Excellent written and verbal communication skills Demonstrated expertise working on cross-functional, iterative teams on time-sensitive projects Demonstrated front end design experience via live, viewable links Bonus Points Experience in at least one other user-centered design discipline such as data visualization, communications/content design, visual design, or service design Experience working in collaborative, open environments (such as open source communities) What’s it like to work at Protocol Labs? Protocol Labs’ mission is to improve humanity’s most important technology, the internet. We build protocols, systems, and tools to improve how it works. Today, we are focused on how we store, locate, and move information. Our projects include IPFS, Filecoin, libp2p, and more. As a distributed team, we hire anywhere in the world, and at various levels of experience (entry, senior, staff). We look for people with unique perspectives and diverse backgrounds. We have a great benefits package, including parental leave, contributions to your retirement, competitive pay, and unlimited time off. For U.S.-based employees, we also provide platinum-level health, dental, and vision coverage for you and your family.