A new job listing from Canonical once again reinforces the ‘design first’ philosophy shaping the Ubuntu experience.
In a newly posted role for a ‘Head of Apps Design’, Canonical are seeking a capable designer capable of ‘delivering high-quality, value-adding, and unique apps for the Ubuntu platform‘ that ‘…address key user needs and serve as a vehicle to demonstrate Ubuntu’s values.’
Exciting stuff.
The applicant will also be expected to work with 3rd party developers to ‘create new apps and increase the quality of apps for Ubuntu’.
To aid in this, the role will see the ‘establish[ing] app design practices and guidelines that align with SDK work and encourage good design practices for app developers’.
Part of that could be eased by introducing a set of standard Human Interface Guidelines (HIG) for app developers to work to – a role Canonical were attempting to fill earlier this year.
‘Business’
But before we get too excited by the possibilities that a consistent and coherent set of app guidelines could do for Ubuntu and its ‘form factors’, there is a pretty big clue as to the specific area to-which the ‘head of apps design’ will be focusing:
“[Creating an] apps design strategy that connects with business strategy.”
Although ‘business strategy’ might not sound as exciting as ‘shiny new desktop apps’, it’s still possible that the remit of the role encompasses some desktops apps, such the Ubuntu Software Center and Ubuntu One, that are key parts of Ubuntu’s current business model’.
Whatever the role actually entails it’s unlikely that we will see any work resulting from it before Ubuntu 14.04 – the date at which Mark Shuttleworth expects Unity to have reached its ‘multi-platform’ goal of running on phones, tablets, desktops and TVs, etc.
Interest piqued? You can check out the job description by pushing the button below.