Designer UX II - User Experience Visual Designer

Title: Designer UX II - User Experience Visual DesignerDuration: 4 Months - Long TermLocation: Washington, DC 20433Hybrid Onsite: 4 days onsite per week from day1The User Experience Designer will perform the full range of responsibilities associated with user-centered design methodology for software development. He/she will also conduct reviews of software products and guide how to remediate usability issues. He/she must be able to explain usability principles and techniques to both technical team members and business sponsors.Essential Job Functions:• Interact directly with business sponsors and subject matter experts to understand business and functional requirements and constraints, and converting them into appealing, highly usable interfaces.• Engage with the business development team and/or customer early in the project lifecycle to seek a deeper appreciation of the customers' business problems and goals.• Develop an understanding of the end users of the websites/applications to be developed by conducting primary and secondary research, including user interviews, traffic data, existing systems, enterprise guidelines, etc., and communicate findings of user research• Carry out user modeling and task analysis, and develop personas and scenarios• Create wireframes and visual design mockups as needed in order to effectively conceptualize and communicate detailed user interaction behaviors.• Ensure application-level consistency with respect to visual design and interaction components• Prepare low fidelity prototypes of sites/features ranging from draft concepts to wireframes or interactive prototypes for internal review and brainstorming.• Create or advise on content architecture and navigation design, Design page level layout, page flow, and task fulfillment• Propose design solutions for identified usability problems in existing applications• Present low and high-fidelity designs/mockups to clients for review, iteration, and approval.• Create and evaluate interaction models, user task flows, screen designs, and UI details that promote ease of use and optimize the user experience.• Make recommendations to solve complex interaction problems and improve overall user experience within an application and across different applications• Conduct heuristic reviews of websites and web applicationsEducational Qualifications and Experiences:• Bachelor's degree in Graphic Design, Fine Arts, Web Design, or similar field• High level of visual design expertise• Experience with the following:• Usability design, user centered design• Information architecture, navigation design• Interaction design and graphic design• User modeling and task analysis• Familiarity with HTML, CSS, JavaScript a plusCertification Requirements:• HFI Usability Analyst, Nielsen Norman Group certification, UX Bootcamp diploma, or other applicable credential is desirable.Required Skills/Abilities:• Proven experience designing responsive websites.• Strong visual design skills; Able to explain his/her design philosophy verbally and in writing.• Advanced skills in Photoshop, UX prototyping, Illustrator, Adobe XD, Sketch, Figma, InVision, wireframing, and other mapping tools.• Track record of solving cross-browser/cross-platform UI compatibility issues.• Cutting-edge knowledge of most recent UX/ UI design standards and trends. Advanced knowledge of visual design, and information architecture• Proficient understanding of the limitations of web and mobile application design, with ideas to flex those boundaries, strong understanding of technical feasibility of their designed prototypes.• Advanced understanding of the trade-offs between optimum user experience and technical, information security, business constraints, and ability to propose optimized designs within those constraints• Demonstrable astuteness regarding aesthetics in web design, including layout, grid systems, color theory and typography.• Capable of working directly with clients in an iterative and agile manner to dramatically improve prototypes in a short time.• Competency in the following technologies: HTML, HTML5, CSS, CSS3, JavaScript, JQuery, Bootstrap.• Advanced knowledge of graphic design and accessibility principles• Advanced understanding of information systems, application development standards and life cycle methodologies, particularly in a large-scale, Agile context• Knowledge of storyboarding/prototyping, Axure, usability testing, and survey tools• Knowledge of interaction design• Familiarity with principles of human computer interaction• Strong interpersonal, communication skills and a team player• Ability to produce deliverables within tight deadlinesPluses:• Master's Degree in Graphic Design, Fine Arts, Web Design or similar field• Advanced knowledge of interaction design