Preston Smalley » ebay http://www.prestonsmalley.com How we can lead the eCommerce industry thru customer-centered design Thu, 08 May 2008 04:19:47 +0000 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.3.3 en I’m hiring http://www.prestonsmalley.com/2008/02/im-hiring-2/ http://www.prestonsmalley.com/2008/02/im-hiring-2/#comments Wed, 27 Feb 2008 04:19:51 +0000 Preston http://www.prestonsmalley.com/2008/02/im-hiring-2/ By 27ray on FlickrWe’re expanding the User Experience Design team at eBay and are looking for a Lead Interaction Designer and a dozen other positions in IxD, Visual Design, and Content Strategy.

Update 4/4/08:
View jobs on LinkedIn: Interaction Designer, Senior IxD, Lead IxD

Share This

]]> http://www.prestonsmalley.com/2008/02/im-hiring-2/feed/ Job Opening: Interaction Design Manager http://www.prestonsmalley.com/2007/10/job-opening-interaction-design-manager/ http://www.prestonsmalley.com/2007/10/job-opening-interaction-design-manager/#comments Mon, 01 Oct 2007 17:37:25 +0000 Preston http://www.prestonsmalley.com/2007/10/job-opening-interaction-design-manager/ At eBay we’re expanding our design team and I’m now looking for an Interaction Design Manager to lead a team of talented designers. 

In the role you’ll design direct your team on their projects from inception to launch enabling them to best meet their user needs and business goals. As we evolve from a mostly static user interface on eBay to more rich and interactive experiences you should champion new front-end technologies (e.g. AJAX, Adobe Flex, MS Silverlight) and broaden the innovation possibilities for our user experiences.

You should identify and implement process improvements and design methodologies that would make the design group more efficient and effective. We expect you to mentor the designers on your team with the goal of enhancing their abilities and helping them achieve a fulfilling career path. Finally, we’re looking for someone who is active in the design community and who is looking to maintain or expand the current role they’re playing thru talks, conferences, and networking.

Contact me if you’d like more information.

Share This

]]> http://www.prestonsmalley.com/2007/10/job-opening-interaction-design-manager/feed/ eBay To Go http://www.prestonsmalley.com/2007/06/ebay-to-go/ http://www.prestonsmalley.com/2007/06/ebay-to-go/#comments Thu, 21 Jun 2007 04:50:39 +0000 Preston http://www.prestonsmalley.com/2007/06/ebay-to-go/ Last month eBay launched a new embeddable widget called eBay To Go which allowed bloggers to add a preview of an item or a search. Now eBay’s expanded that set to include a Seller and Store widget which is pretty cool. This allows eBay’s trading platform to extend to the far reaches of the blogosphere.

Meanwhile my wife has gone on a selling spree after attending eBay Live! last week and now has nearly 20 items for sale. If you’re looking for a great second hand purse or sunglasses look no further than below.

Share This

]]> http://www.prestonsmalley.com/2007/06/ebay-to-go/feed/ UED Offsite @ Nestldown http://www.prestonsmalley.com/2007/04/ued-offsite-nestldown/ http://www.prestonsmalley.com/2007/04/ued-offsite-nestldown/#comments Fri, 13 Apr 2007 23:00:14 +0000 Preston http://www.prestonsmalley.com/2007/04/ued-offsite-nestldown/ .flickr-photo { border: solid 2px #000000; } .flickr-yourcomment { } .flickr-frame { text-align: left; padding: 3px; } .flickr-caption { font-size: 0.8em; margin-top: 0px; }

34, originally uploaded by rajsid.

A few weeks ago eBay’s user experience design team went to Nestldown off Hwy 17 for an offsite centered around effective use of personas. One huge challenge of using personas at eBay is the massive customer base of ours which essentially mimics much of the Internet. We are pioneering how a design team might scale this concept over an array of product offerings and customer demographics which is quite exciting. If others have similar experiences to share, I’d love to hear about.

In between sessions we enjoyed the blooming tulips and held a photography contest (see eBayUED tag). Above is one of the winning photos taken by Raj.

Share This

]]> http://www.prestonsmalley.com/2007/04/ued-offsite-nestldown/feed/ Growing Team http://www.prestonsmalley.com/2007/03/growing-team/ http://www.prestonsmalley.com/2007/03/growing-team/#comments Thu, 29 Mar 2007 05:52:10 +0000 Preston http://www.prestonsmalley.com/2007/03/growing-team/ As eBay focuses more on our buyers I have the good fortune of now growing my UED team. If you’re a bright designer and you’re not sure where you career is going now or simply enjoy designing for millions of customers, eBay is the place for you.

By joining our design team you’re sure to learn from some of the best in the industry.

Here’s what I’m looking for:

  • 2 User Experience / UI Managers - One to head up the search team and another to head up the bidding, buying, and communications team. I’m seeking people with experience leading design teams.
  • 5 4 UI Designers - Various levels from Associate to Senior who can join the Finding team focused on multi-faceted finding, interactive browse metaphors, and My eBay.
  • 2 Visual Designers - Focused on our search products.
  • 1 Content Manager - Focused on our search products.
  • 1 Prototyper - Focused on our search products.
  • Finally there are lots of other positions open across the wider UED team including a Principal Designer role.

Feel free to apply for any of these positions on eBaycareers.com. Also if you are studying design at a leading university, I’m open to inquires for summer internships.

Share This

]]> http://www.prestonsmalley.com/2007/03/growing-team/feed/ The significance of moves http://www.prestonsmalley.com/2007/02/the-significance-of-moves/ http://www.prestonsmalley.com/2007/02/the-significance-of-moves/#comments Thu, 22 Feb 2007 05:10:40 +0000 Preston http://www.prestonsmalley.com/2007/02/the-significance-of-moves/ In April 2004 my wife and I bought our first home after renting an apartment for the first couple years of our marriage. It marked an important step in our lives and I believe firmly established the concept of “home” for the two of us. Moves, as with any change, can be an emotional time for all involved as you say goodbye to the past and look forward to the future.

You may have read in the NY Times today all of us at eBay Marketplace will be moving next month. As the move my wife and I made several years back–this move is significant. It marks a turning point in our organization and is meant as a catalyst for the new, more cross-functional way we are approaching our business.

As boxes are packed and familiar suroundings are left, we must remember the past but more importantly look to the future. Now… where did I put the masking tape.

Share This

]]> http://www.prestonsmalley.com/2007/02/the-significance-of-moves/feed/ Relevance Sorting http://www.prestonsmalley.com/2006/11/relevance-sorting/ http://www.prestonsmalley.com/2006/11/relevance-sorting/#comments Sun, 05 Nov 2006 21:25:48 +0000 Preston http://www.prestonsmalley.com/2006/11/relevance-sorting/ Since eBay’s began the dominant means for buyers to browse the search results page was to use the Ending Soonest or Newly Listed time based sorts. Now with the launch this week of Best Match our buyers have a new more relevant way to shop which ranks the results based on the item’s title and description, plus past buyer behavior for similar searches.

Let’s look at a typical search for the words “Canon Powershot”…

Top 5 Results Sorted by Ending Soonest (see example):

  • 2x NB-4L Battery for CANON Powershot SD200/SD300/SD400
  • Battery NB-4L For CANON POWERSHOT SD400 SD450 SD600
  • NEW Canon PowerShot SD600 ELPH 6.0 MP + 1GB SD Card
  • Canon Powershot A540 6MP Digital Camera 2 Lens 1GB Kit!
  • Leather Case Canon PowerShot Pro 1 G6 S1IS S2IS etcCX07

Top 5 Results Sorted by Best Match (see example):

  • Canon Powershot A540 6 Megapixel Digital Camera NEW
  • New Canon PowerShot SD450 Digital ELPH 5.0 Megapixl NR!
  • CANON 5.0 Megapixel PowerShot(R) Compact Digital Camera
  • NEW~CANON A530 POWERSHOT 5MP DIGITAL CAMERA+3 BONUS+1GB
  • NEW~CANON A530 POWERSHOT 5.0MP DIGITAL CAMERA 16 X ZOOM

Notice how in the Best Match results the top results are actually cameras, not batteries and cases–although they’re all still there just further down in the list.

Hat’s off to Raghav and all the research guys that made this possible as well as Esteban and Sheila in the Product group for getting it out the door. Official Announcement

Share This

]]> http://www.prestonsmalley.com/2006/11/relevance-sorting/feed/ I’m (still) hiring http://www.prestonsmalley.com/2006/10/im-still-hiring/ http://www.prestonsmalley.com/2006/10/im-still-hiring/#comments Fri, 20 Oct 2006 01:48:11 +0000 Preston http://www.prestonsmalley.com/2006/10/im-still-hiring/ eBay’s growing its User Experience organization and so my team and others will continue to hire over the coming months. It’s an incredible opportunity to help make the unique eBay experience even more engaging and easy to use.

Here’s what I’m looking for:

  • Sr. Information Architect / UI Designer
  • UI Designer - Browsing and Search Experience
  • UI Designer - Shopping Tools
  • UI Designer - Bidding and Buying Process
  • Manager, UI Design

Also within UED are following open roles:

  • Sr. Manager, UI Design
  • Principal UI Designer
  • Lead UI Designer
  • Sr. UI Designer | #2
  • Principal Creative Designer
  • Sr. Creative Designer
  • Lead Quantitative User Researcher
  • Sr. Content Manager
  • Sr. Software Engineer
  • Software Engineer

Update 4/25/07: See current positions open  or check eBaycareers.com

Share This

]]> http://www.prestonsmalley.com/2006/10/im-still-hiring/feed/ eBay’s new browser policy http://www.prestonsmalley.com/2006/10/ebays-new-browser-policy/ http://www.prestonsmalley.com/2006/10/ebays-new-browser-policy/#comments Thu, 19 Oct 2006 17:44:04 +0000 Preston http://www.prestonsmalley.com/2006/10/ebays-new-browser-policy/ Matt Carey, eBay’s CTO, announced today a new browser policy for eBay.com which focuses support on the most modern of web browsers (accounting for 95% adoption). This means that eBay will focus on:

  • Microsoft IE 6.0 and higher
  • Mozilla Firefox 1.5 and higher (including my favorite variant Flock)
  • Apple Safari 2.0

This is a big acknowledgment of the growing popularity of browsers and operating systems made outside Redmond. Mac and Linux users rejoice!

Similar to Yahoo!’s graded browser policy, eBay will also continue to support basic functionality across other web browsers. The older the browser, the less likely features will work. This will eBay’s product design team continue to innovate on increasingly more interactive user experiences–something I’m quite excited about.

Example of what users with older web browsers will see while using eBay:

Browser Message in Netscape 4.8

More about eBay Marketplace’s Browser Policy and How to Upgrade

Share This

]]> http://www.prestonsmalley.com/2006/10/ebays-new-browser-policy/feed/ New shopping site, DoorOne http://www.prestonsmalley.com/2006/09/new-shopping-site-doorone/ http://www.prestonsmalley.com/2006/09/new-shopping-site-doorone/#comments Fri, 29 Sep 2006 04:34:39 +0000 Preston http://www.prestonsmalley.com/2006/09/new-shopping-site-doorone/ Shopping.com launched today a new comparison shopping site called DoorOne in the UK, France, Germany and Austrailia. It’s reported that this was due to the Shopping.X namespace being unavailable in all markets.

However this release is more than just a different URL as they have introduced a number of new features:

Share This

]]> http://www.prestonsmalley.com/2006/09/new-shopping-site-doorone/feed/