Suggestions

Top tip - using the Genes Reunited community

Welcome to the Genes Reunited community boards!

  • The Genes Reunited community is made up of millions of people with similar interests. Discover your family history and make life long friends along the way.
  • You will find a close knit but welcoming group of keen genealogists all prepared to offer advice and help to new members.
  • And it's not all serious business. The boards are often a place to relax and be entertained by all kinds of subjects.
  • The Genes community will go out of their way to help you, so don’t be shy about asking for help.

Quick Search

Single word search

Icons

  • New posts
  • No new posts
  • Thread closed
  • Stickied, new posts
  • Stickied, no new posts

Chance to redesign Genes and be paid

ProfilePosted byOptionsPost Date

Colin

Colin Report 7 Aug 2012 13:35

This job advertised on brightsolid site.

Visual Architect (Senior designer)

Location: London
£65k per annum. brightsolid is looking for an senior design professional to set the visual design vision across brightsolid Publishing and its portfolio of digital businesses, which include Genes Reunited, Friends Reunited and Find My Past in multiple territories. Our businesses deliver digital services to millions of mainstream consumers that centre on family history and memories. The majority of our revenues are generated directly from consumers, by providing them with paid services or selling them data packages. We aim to offer consumers highly useable and engaging access to a mass of digitised material via the application of sophisticated search technologies, elegantly packaged products and really useful online research tools.

Full details: http://www.brightsolid.com/home/join-the-brightsolid-family/current-vacancies/visual-architect-(senior-designer).html

Suggest all apply. Can't make it any worse.

Porkie_Pie

Porkie_Pie Report 7 Aug 2012 14:53

I did offer my services to GR months ago but never had a response from them



My be it was because i said i thought the site could be improved with my big hammer ;-)

Seriously, Does this mean that the development team they have now are not up to the job :-0

Roy

Doreen

Doreen Report 7 Aug 2012 18:21

I have been suggesting that only Maiden names are used for females. However, they never listen. Why, since men retain their one and only surname throughout life do we have to remember two surnames for females with whom we correspond?

The site has always been unnecessarily complicated to use. Surely, the aim should be to keep it simple? We don't need in and out boxes, just a contacts list.

I have pages & pages of contacts with no subject relation indicated. Not very helpful to say the least.

My heart sank when I received the Email indicating that the site had had a "makeover." Some makeover!!!

D

:-(

Porkie_Pie

Porkie_Pie Report 7 Aug 2012 19:31

Doreen, What information is entered on anyones tree is up to the tree owner and not GR

As is the case with all data entered on a tree it's the tree owners tree and no one has a right to tell anyone how to document THEIR relatives in THEIR tree

How would you like it if some told you how and what data to enter on YOUR tree

Ps this thread is about the brightsolid advert for Visual Architect (Senior designer)

Nothing to do with data entered onto a tree

Roy

JerryH

JerryH Report 8 Aug 2012 00:18

Hmmmmm

I see that Ryan has gone from "Meet the Team"

I thought he was supposed to be the Web Designer.

Is this the reason I wonder why this makeover appears to be such a flop?

I must say that I too am finding it difficult to stay on the site for more than a few minutes at a time. Must potentially be a big put off for new visitors. :-(

LadyScozz

LadyScozz Report 8 Aug 2012 00:58

hmmm

I know someone who would be perfect for the job.

Wondering if the successful person would have to live in London?

RolloTheRed

RolloTheRed Report 8 Aug 2012 09:42

Only way to go.

The job is not just GRU but includes FMP and other BS projects. The salary is ok for Dundee but will not get any mad rush in Shoreditch where it is barely enough to pay the rent.

There is a massive tendency in the engineering industry for the engineers to drive the design which generally results in projects late, way over budget and not meeting spec. (think: mobile phones, HST, ATC, NHS IT, Zircon, army helicopters, YouView etc ), Software engineering is no exception where the people writing the code tend to drive the design rather the the design functions driving the code.

When the developers take over then the results are usually along the lines of the last year.

For a Visual Architect to succeed then he / she has to impose themselves on an entrenched, sceptical and often hostile development team. Doing this is far from easy and needs a lot of nous and strong backing from top management.

Right idea then but unless there is also a pretty decent bonus the salary suggests the designer will just be a member of the team in which case he / she is on a hiding to nothing.

The late lamented pre-BS product was developed by a top drawer external firm on contract, not in house employees of GRU/ITV. It worked. By and large the success of in-house IT development is very patchy.

Whisper it not but the biggest problem of GRU is that most of the members and it seems many of the team think it is about developing commercial software for a social hobby. This is pretty well impossible on a long term basis (Ay share price is sinking fast ... ) without subs at a level higher than most of the market will pay (*). The answer of course is to reconfigure the site so as to make the advertising opportunities a lot more interesting and innovative. So far this seems to be utterly beyond the ken of the current team or BS.

(*) the widespread idea that Gru has millions pf paying members and hence loadsa money is pretty wide of the mark. Current web traffic is about 50 000 visits / day inc free members.

Joy

Joy Report 8 Aug 2012 09:53

They will have a wide range of skills, the ability to lead and influence by doing, :-S