Mobile Web App Designer/Developer - Music app

*We're looking for the right Designer/Developer to help our small project team.*


Please review this description in detail, then reply to let us know your qualifications and why you are interested.
Please be prepared to demonstrate your qualifications via a portfolio and/or previous artifacts. [References and links would be helpful.]

We realize that a single candidate may not fulfill the complete wish list below.

Therefore, the more of the desired qualities and experiences (see below) that you bring to the team the better.

We encourage you to contact us if:
1. You love designing and developing easy-to-use, clean, attractive UI solutions to complex problems
2. You know - or are already learning - how to use cross-device mobile app development tools like HTML5, CSS3, Web Kit, Javascript and JQuery. [Note: iOS/Android experience is NOT required at this stage, but certainly welcome]

It’s OK if you are not an experienced veteran who’s already built dozens of profitable mobile apps.

We will consider you even if you are less-experienced - but you MUST be self-motivated, professional and a fast learner. We’re happy to help you gain career experience as long as you can deliver what we need.
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Our consumer application is designed for the passionate music aficionado, the kind of person who gladly spends hours browsing through the music store bins. Why?
- For the inherent joy of discovery, to expand your musical horizons
- To fill in the missing gaps in your music library
- To learn more about your favorite artists and the connections between them

*REQUIREMENTS*
*1. Top Priority: to build a fast, stable, user-testable, browser-based mobile web GUI that connects to the live database.*
- The GUI must re-size smartly for smart phones, and degrade reliably for full-sized desktop browsers
- The GUI will initially be based on our prototype, then evolve through user testing
- Your GUI will let users get real query results for any combinations of artists and/or music releases that they select
- We will successively test-and-revise to discover the combination of features and designs that are most compelling to our audience

*2. General Requirements*
- 1-week sprints
- Mid-weekly status report and team conference call
- Test, compile and check in your code for weekly project deployments
- Rapid cycles of user-testing and iteration of working prototypes, adapting to market discoveries

*3. Design*
- The GUI's design focus is on clean Information Architecture and lightweight, super-fast code
- We want the first-time user to feel excited about the speed and simplicity of the application, and its power to fulfill their goals
- Later-round GUI will introduce and refine elements intended to deepen user engagement

*4. Develop/Build*
- Propose and implement your technical recommendations
- The app will query the database [likely via web services] on each refresh
- 3rd party site content will be called by Version 2 as well

*5. Deploy*
- Contribute to getting app iterations up and running for mobile, browser-based user testing

*DESIRED QUALITIES*
- Solid English reading/writing/speaking/listening skills
- Critical thinker, team player, not afraid to speak your mind for the good of the business
- Accountable for the success of individual and team projects
- Self-motivated, strong attention to detail, and committed to delivering tested, functional code weekly
- Focused on efficient project turnaround and scalable, well-designed code - styles, references, modules, services, etc.
- Professional, always seeking to deepen your bag of tools
- “User Experience” is more than a buzzword to you - at a bare minimum, novice users should experience the music app as usable, but making it desirable and compelling for repeat use is the real goal
- If you enjoy discovering more about your own favorite artists and their connections to others, that's a plus

*DESIRED EXPERIENCE:*
- Your previous GUI designs demonstrate your ability to bring order and simplicity to rich and sometimes complex database content
- You've designed and developed successful consumer web apps [tell us how you define and measure success], preferably mobile apps
- You are more committed to mastering cutting-edge mobile app development tools like Web Kit, HTML5, CSS3, Javascript and JQuery, than to improving your Flash skills
- You can write, TEST and debug your code with superior efficiency
- You know how to manage your code to support continuous integration and potentially daily builds
- You have worked with version control systems like Subversion
- Your technical grasp has helped you improve team decision-making as well as the delight of end-users
- You are experienced in Agile/Scrum approaches

*DURATION*
Permanent after an initial 3-month term.
If the fit and skill set are right, you have the first option to remain on the team beyond the initial 3-month term.
Longer-term projects may include:
1. support the beta releases
2. integrate to one or more affiliate partners
3. develop native mobile versions - likely starting with iOS, then Android.

We look forward to hearing from you soon!