Sr. UX Designer
Remote U.S. based position with occasional travel for onsite meetings and regional customer-facing workshops and events.


Blurb the leading self-publishing platform for high-end books and magazines, seeks a Sr. UX Designer passionate about visual storytelling to work on various initiatives across Blurb's e-commerce, self-publishing business and RPI's enterprise solutions . Blurb's independent publishing platform offers the ability to design, publish, share, distribute, and sell books and magazines.

Overview

RPI/Blurb is made up of a multidisciplinary team of UX designers, UI and visual designers, Brand designers, Product managers, Writers, and Engineers. We are a product-led company who care deeply about and prioritize our customers. We collaborate closely together to create digital products that deliver value for people who make books, magazines and self-publish - people who love telling stories in words and pictures. We value human-centered experiences, leveraging research to iterate, refine and improve - innovate - our digital and physical products.

Your Role

As the Sr. UX Designer you will serve as a key member on the design team employing user-centered design methods to simplify the publishing process and empowers creators to bring stories into the world through beautiful print products. You will help shape the end-to-end user experience for Blurb's extensive online, desktop, mobile creation and selling platform, balancing strategic vision with hands-on execution. Your ability to navigate ambiguity and see opportunities is equal to your ability to execute visually captivating interfaces and visual designs while focused on user needs.

Working closely and cross-functionally with marketing, product management, and engineering partners, the Sr. UX Designer will design features and experiences from concept to completion, driving innovation and unlocking customer value. This role will collaborate with design partners to contribute to and evolve the Blurb and RPI brand and visual design language to build engaging and intuitive products our customers love to use.

Your Responsibilities

• Lead the end-to-end design process, from ideation and wireframing to prototyping and dev-ready visual designs, ensuring a cohesive user experience
• Advocate and design for the user, using data and insights
• Design across a variety of digital products while maintaining design excellence
• Collaborate with cross-functional teams, including Product and Engineering to define requirements, project objectives, translate complex user needs, technical constraints, and business goals into visually compelling and satisfying digital experiences
• Contribute to product strategy to optimize performance and conversion
• Partner with the team to develop the vision and roadmap for user research (mixed methods)
• Conduct UX research, including user interviews, usability testing, and heuristic evaluations to inform design decisions and iterate existing products; analyze user feedback and activity to identify opportunities or gaps
• Develop buyer and user personas and longitudinal views of key personas to understand opportunities for retention and upsell from marketing outreach to increase conversion
• Deliver design work, including discovery artifacts-wireframes, UX flows, prototypes, and high-fidelity designs based on business, functional, and technical requirements
• Lead design presentations and effectively communicate a creative vision-working closely with key stakeholders and teams to contribute new ideas, trends, and innovative solutions in weekly brainstorms and reviews.
• Continually deepen your knowledge of Blurb products, experiences, and customers- including niche prosumers and professional audiences like photographers, graphic designers, illustrators, and artists.
• Mentor junior UX and UI designers

Your Skills and Experience

• A curious, multidisciplinary designer; a design generalist who excels in UX but can also flex your UI, visual, brand, motion design or research skills.
• Ability to adapt, overcome objections and understand complexity to solve problems
• A proactive approach with the ability to work autonomously managing multiple projects simultaneously while prioritizing time and resources
• Expert fluency with UX principles, UI design and design patterns; defining interaction models, task flows, and UI specifications
• Fluency in creating, maintaining, and contributing to a design system.
• Experience conducting user research, usability testing and translating findings into actionable insights
• Understanding of inclusion, accessibility best practices, patterns, testing and WCAG compliance
• Confident presentation, storytelling and interpersonal skills to collaborate effectively in cross-functional teams to articulate design decisions, provide and receive feedback and work together to achieve design and business goals.
• Strong understanding of responsive design principles (web, desktop, mobile)
• Solid understanding of HTML, CSS, and JavaScript to effectively communicate with engineering partners (coding skills not required)

Requirements

• 8+ years of experience designing end-to-end digital experiences from ideation to validation to implementation for e-commerce and B2B centric-brands
• Master's Degree or the equivalent work experience in user experience design, human-computer interaction design, or a related field
• Enthusiasm for creating refined and impactful user experiences, with a meticulous eye for detail and craftsmanship
• A compelling portfolio of work showcasing a proven track record of impactful, user-centered design and clear storytelling
• High level of proficiency in design, research, and prototyping tools (Figma, User Testing, ProtoPie, Framer, Adobe Creative Suite, Amplitude, etc.)
• Proven track record working with engineers to ensure accurate, high-quality design.

Bonus points

• Experience with brand and/or marketing design with proven success
• Experience working in art, photography, or illustration as a freelancer
• Experience designing books, zines, magazines or bookmaking
• Deep knowledge of print design, prepress and printing processes

Application Materials

• Provide a resume and cover letter
• Please provide a portfolio of work that demonstrates your experience designing end-to-end product experiences.

About Us

RPI Print, headquartered in Seattle, WA is a global print partner focused on making brands successful. RPI helps businesses of all sizes, across all industries, by offering sustainable and reliable digital printing services that reach customers all over the world. With facilities and partners in the US, Europe, and Australia, and innovative IT solutions, RPI is an end-to-end integrated supply chain for digital printing on demand. Our leading brand, Blurb®, is a software-driven publishing platform that unleashes the creative genius inside everyone. Blurb's platform makes it easy to create, publish, promote, and sell one-of-a-kind books in print and digital formats. Blurb authors have created millions of books using our full suite of free book-making tools. While our passion is digital printing, what we find equally important is building relationships with our customers. Making real connections! Find us online at https://www.rpiprint.com/ and https://www.blurb.com/

At RPI/Blurb, we recognize the strength in diversity and strongly encourage candidates from diverse backgrounds to apply. We are committed to equal opportunity and consider qualified applicants without regard to race, color, religion, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity, gender expression, national origin, age, marital status, protected veteran status, disability status, or other applicable legally protected characteristics.

RPI/Blurb is dedicated to providing equal employment opportunities and will make reasonable accommodations in compliance with the Americans with Disabilities Act of 1990. Please note that the job description may be periodically reviewed as duties and responsibilities evolve with business needs. Essential and other job functions are subject to modification, and reasonable accommodations may be provided to enable individuals with disabilities to perform essential functions.