Learning-by-Doing, led by Jakob Nielsen | Monster.com Interaction Design + Branding UX

INSERT START WITH COPY ABOUT BEING ON THE CORE TEAM

LONDON 3 DAYS. I was selected as the sole representative from Monster’s Creative for Jakob Nielsen’s 3-day, hands-on workshop. The additional eight participants hailed from London, France, Belgium, the Netherlands, Denmark, Ireland, and the U.S. headquarters. They represented Monster’s Product Dev discipline. Using Monster.com as a case study, we met in London to explore customer behavior and usability methodology.

Upon my return, I presented our top findings to Monster’s core creative group, and incorporated its methodology into subsequent projects, resulting in positive impacts on branding and user experiences.

Subsequent project: MONSTER'S 4-YEAR, $100M STRATEGIC PARTNERSHIP WITH 7 AOL BRANDS. Using the co-branded website, core players from Product Dev, Creative, and Content partnered with AOL’s UXD team at their headquarters in Maryland. We observed novice behavior in AOL’s living room usability lab. Serving as lead designer, I proposed novice-specific design recommendations. Improvements led to an upward trend in the number of unique accounts:

35% of new My Monster accounts were created on AOL
Media Metrix reported Monster’s highest-ever reach (8.1); AOL contributed 1.3 points of reach
Monster.com reported AOL contributed a 26% average rate-of-contribution/month to new My Monster accounts

ABOUT CUSTOM WORKSHOPS: Limited to a smaller group (typically the core team), clearly defined goals frame the workshop. "Usability tests are an excellent way to learn about the ease-of-use of your website or product. Watching people work and analyzing their behavior help you understand how users work with a design. This understanding will help you define ways to improve your designs." - Excerpt: NN/g Nielsen Norman Group

JAKOB NIELSEN, Ph.D., is a User Advocate and principal of the Nielsen Norman Group which he co-founded with Dr. Donald A. Norman (former VP of research at Apple Computer). Dr. Nielsen established the "discount usability engineering" movement for fast and cheap improvements of user interfaces and has invented several usability methods, including heuristic evaluation. He holds 79 United States patents, mainly on ways of making the Internet easier to use.

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Jakob Nielsen Photo: nngroup | Workshop Photos: Chris Grosse

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Monster Core Product | User-Centered Redesign

Monster.com, previously The Monster Board, launched during Super Bowl XXXIII. As back-up creative team lead, I was one of the core interactive designers credited with launching the culture-changing Monster.com.

Immediately following launch, I stepped into the creative team lead role when I initiated and communicated buy-in for major, user-centered IxD redesign to My Monster, Monster’s core product. Partnering with developers and product managers, the interactive and personalized redesign was integrated into Monster’s global network (at the time 11 international sites + several co-branded AOL sites). By year’s end, this well-received redesign helped leverage a nearly-tripled increase in Monster’s consumer base (from 2.5 M to 7+M).

User-centered IxD redesign features included:

Simplified navigation tools within My Monster and the Resume Builder
The ability to save letters and send to any email address
Creating a one stop-resource for all career communications
More links to valuable career management tools
Private email addresses, relevant content and newsletter subscriptions
Concise, visual feedback to job seekers
The ability to manage up to 5 target-specific resumes

Additional IxD roles included precedent-setting Monster’s Intern-to-CEO product extensions:

Monster Trak for interns and entry-level job seekers
Chief Monster, an exclusive marketplace for senior, C-level execs

Drawing upon my institutional knowledge with My Monster.com’s core features and functionality, I created screens for Chief’s Profile Builder. In addition to Resume Builder features, candidates were asked to supply their personal mission, core competencies, board memberships, and upload a video.

In 1999 Forrester Research stated, "Predictions are that online recruitment advertising will grow from $105 million in 1998 to $1.7 billion by 2003. By then, 100% of large organizations, 60% of medium-sized firms and 20% of small companies will be running recruitment advertising online."

Monster has the unique distinction of being on the short list of profitable dot-coms.

2000 Closes a Monster Year! January 3, 2001 Press Release

Monster.com, the leading global online careers site and flagship brand of TMP Worldwide, closed the first year of the new millennium with record-breaking results.

288% increase in the number of resume postings
7.2 million postings as of 2000; up from 2.5 million
11.5 million unique job seeker accounts
18.3 million unique visitors during the month of November (I/PRO)
352% growth for the number of registered recruiters
Over 273,000 in 2000; up from 60,000 in 1999
Recognized by Yahoo! Internet Life as the Best Job Search Site (100 Best Sites, 2001)
PC Magazine named Monster.com among its Top 100 Web Sites

Media Matrix numbers confirm Monster.com’s unparalleled leadership position:

#1 destination for career seekers
81st (!) most visited domain overall on the Internet
Over 29 pages viewed per user on average
187.7 power ranking – more than 4 times that of the closest competitor’s power ranking

These accomplishments, reflecting both job seeker and employer usage, solidify Monster’s presence as the prominent leader in online career management. The Monster Board launched in 1994, as the Web’s 454th (!) site.

Monster’s global network consists of local content and language sites in the United States, United Kingdom, Australia, Canada, the Netherlands, Belgium, New Zealand, Singapore, Hong Kong, France, Germany, Ireland, Italy, Spain and India.

Monster.com continually sets the standards and raises the bar for what should be expected from a career management portal. In addition to its core product, global sites and over 150 premiere partners, recent product innovations support Monster’s Intern-to-CEO strategy:

1999 – Monster Talent Market, an auction-style marketplace for independent contractors
1999 – Post-A-Job enables non-members to post jobs on Monster (AOL in 2001)
2000 – AOL, a 4-year strategic partnership with 7 AOL brands in North America
2000 – Virtual Job Shadow allows students to shadow a variety of working professionals
2000 – Chief Monster, an exclusive careers marketplace for pre-screened C-level execs
2000 – Monster iFairs virtual career fairs
2000 – Monster Moving manages and simplifies job relocation process
2000 – Monster Momentum, a customized web-based hiring management system
2001 – Monster Learning offers distance learning for career advancement
2001 – Monster Trak for interns and entry-level job seekers

Monster.com continues to grow its brand presence and popularity through non-traditional marketing initiatives:

First ever Dot-com Olympic Sponsor, Salt Lake City, 2002
Monster.com will lend its career management expertise to the SLC Olympic Committee
Beginning in 1999, Super Bowl Advertising
Monster.com Blimps provide events with aerial coverage, brand exposure and VIP rides
The Monster Show, a 30-minute, call-to-action breakthrough infomercial
The Monster Show airs on top-tier national cable stations and in top-25 broadcast markets
Viral Marketing and Guerilla Marketing theatrics, among others

User-centered IxD Enhancements Released Summer 2000

SCOPE OF WORK

User-centered IxD

Online Branding Experiences

END USERS

Job Seekers

Employers + Recruiters

Co-branded AOL Sites

Private Label Partners

PERSONAL CONTRIBUTIONS

Initiator of IxD Redesign

Communicated Global Buy-in

Creative Team Lead

Designer

Navigation Flows

Wire Frames + Comps

Graphics Production

MULTIDISCIPLINARY TEAM

Creative

Core Product Managers

International Product Managers

AOL Co-Brand Manager

Private Label Account Managers

Software + Database Developers

Front-end Developers

Help Documentation