Off-topic: Where the jobs are

This is off-topic for this blog, some of my readers (yes, I have some – I can prove it!) may be interested. I market myself as a business analyst and writer, with a web specialization (content strategy and development, web business analysis, UX design). Like most contractors, I keep in touch with number of recruiting firms. One of these firms gave be access to some data on IT contracting opportunities in five Canadian cities.

Two caveats: (1) This data applies to me, and people with similar experience and skill sets. Things may look quite different for people like you. (2) For confidentiality’s sake, I’m not providing the raw data, just a summary.

Here goes:

• The opportunities I looked at fell into three categories: business analysis, technical writing, and specialized web-related work.

I could gripe…

I could gripe about the usability of this site, but it’s charming in its way. It makes every possible design mistake but gives off a light, naive, fun vibe.

(Warning: Loud intro music.)

Hat tip to Swiss Miss minimalissimo via Twitter.

Update (8 Feb 2010)

New Zealand twitterer infodesignr points to this site as another example of undesign (my term). IMO, it projects straightforward honesty lacks the joyfulness of Yvette’s Bridal Formal. I’m not being ironic. Still, given the content, you’d expect something mid-20-century-style Swiss School modernist, wouldn’t you?

Feel free to hunt me down and kill me for saying this, but isn’t there a slight, second-cousinly resemblance between Yvette’s and this site by the Swedish type designer Andreas Pihström?

Christopher Burd is a business analyst, writer, and information designer based in Victoria, British Columbia. His website is www.catchword.ca. You can follow him on Twitter.

www.catchword.ca

My new site is up. It’s absorbed most of my online efforts over the past few weeks; so I expect to resume blogging soon.

If you’re interested in the design, see my comments here. Short version: After giving a presentation on Swiss modernist typography and the web, I really had no choice but to redesign.

Update (6 Feb): I’ve fixed the link in the second paragraph. My apologies.

Why this blog?

Why Info Design Notes? Firstly, for the usual self-interested reasons. I work in information technology, frequently as a content developer or web business analyst, roles where information design has real applicability. Rambling half-intelligently about info design (which I define very broadly is (I hope) a decent way of establishing my credibility with potential clients.

But secondly, I am simply interested in information design, and I want to write about it.

Christopher Burd is a business analyst, writer, and information designer based in Victoria, British Columbia. His website is www.catchword.ca. You can follow him on Twitter.