UIDesign Group office

Hello! For a long time something on Habré was not "excursions" in the offices of IT-companies. Not so long ago, I was able to visit the office of the usability company UIDesign Group (or UIDG for short), which I really liked.



That is why I decided to tell you about him.

Just in case, let me briefly talk about the company itself (I will not give links to the site) - this is a group of experts who carry out various projects for large customers and do usability research. In addition, the company is part of an international usability alliance , with which it recently organized the UX Masterclass international conference in Moscow, and the UIDG staff often make reports at various events (eg 404fest ).
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The office itself is located on Baltic Street (M. Sokol) in a building on the first floor of which we managed to find a pointer to a “soap store”, which tore all my ideas about the demand for certain goods. I didn’t go for the goods for soap making, however, but went up to the necessary floor and looked into the office, which was the purpose of the visit.



There are many companies in the business center, but it’s hard to miss the UIDG office:



As soon as a visitor enters the office, he immediately catches the eye with a hefty inscription on the wall farthest from the entrance of which I took out a photo in the announcement of the topic, but there is also something to see besides it.

For example, a meeting room in which glass, however, creates the sensation of an interrogation room from American films. It is interesting what happens “on the other side”. It is quite possible that during interviews the bosses observe the candidate through this transparent wall and notice the peculiarities of his behavior :)



All employees of the company are sitting in the open space - there are not so many of them (a couple of dozen people), so no one bothers anyone and it turns out, on the contrary, even more fun. Only a room for directors is fenced in (they have their own open space - they don’t have separate rooms), and even then this is an “aquarium”, so the isolation here is conditional and is needed only from noise. From the people no one is fenced off. Full openness, democracy and horizontal.





In general, the situation in the office seemed to me to be creative, cozy and somehow homely.



Coffee Point:



On one of the walls are pictures of happy moments in the life of the company (birthdays, etc.):



Another meeting room:



Time can be recognized on the watch with a silent cuckoo - a symbol of self-discipline and independent time management:



In general, this whole wall is made in the “bird” style:



Office walls are a matter of real pride in the company:





Executive Aquarium with greenery and furniture of cheerful colors:





During breaks, employees can compete in table hockey:





Or arrange a slam-dunk and three-point shots contest:



Area for discussion and recreation on the second floor (yes, you heard right):



Someone even practiced in playing the electric guitar:



The company has an interesting tradition - every Friday at 5 pm there is a so-called 5 o'clock in the office - interesting people, professionals in their fields, are invited for a pleasant conversation and tea break. In addition, the employees themselves, if they want to share some new information, can always speak to their colleagues themselves.

Testing. Here they are torturing ... no, not users, but different software, sites, gadgets. However, they often offer resistance, and testers can also be hard times. Particularly obstinate interfaces are sent for processing, flexible ones get off with plastic operations:



Well, perhaps that's all. In conclusion, I can say that both the company and its employees made the most pleasant impression on me (I myself do not work in the company, I communicate only in business). So if suddenly someone is offered to work here, as for me, to think this proposal is definitely worth it :). Well, to cooperate as a client has a meaning by itself.

Thanks for attention!