This is Signal vs. Noise, a weblog by 37signals about design, business, experience, simplicity, the web, culture, and more. Established 1999 in Chicago. Follow us on Twitter for more information on our products.

Design matters

We believe you can’t be a great software company without great design. We believe in clarity, smooth user experiences, the right words in the right places, well organized and clean code, and all the little touches that make an interface feel just right. You should believe in these things too.

What you’ll be working on

Designers at 37signals are always working on different things. You may be working on polishing up an existing feature in Basecamp or designing the UI for a brand new feature in Highrise. You may be revamping Backpack or fundamentally rethinking some UI in Campfire. Or maybe you’re involved in designing a brand new product or a new marketing site. You may be asked to come up with something no one has ever seen before.

Besides having great visual taste and talent, you must code well-structured HTML/CSS. Basic Javascript or Rails skills are a plus, but not required. Great writing skills are required.

Work on products that define an industry

At 37signals you’ll be working on products that people rely every single day on to get their job done. Your work will impact millions of interactions. You’ll be working with some of the best designers, programmers, dev ops folks, and customer support people in the industry. Our team is top notch and we want you to make it even better.

Solve real problems

Our projects are always focused on solving real problems. When the problem goes away we know the design is right. Your job, as a designer at 37signals, is to make our customers’ problems go away.

Be a leader

At 37signals, designers lead the teams. Each development team is made of up three people – two programmers and one designer. The designer also manages the project. In addition to designing the screens/elements, you’ll keep the team focused and make calls about what’s important.

What we’re looking for

We’re not looking for a certain design style, we’re looking for a certain design approach and taste level. Simplicity isn’t enough – clarity is where it’s at. You think about how people interpret the objects on the screen. What they think about, what moves them, what frustrates them, what makes them happy. You know that the right design decision can make all the difference.

You’re excited to discover a better solution, even well into a project. You don’t mind throwing something out in favor of a better idea or implementation. Projects at 37signals start with real code. Feedback from an evolving prototype guides the team. While we’re very pragmatic about code, it is important that your design/code is easy to change in response to feedback.

You love to write, too

You understand that copywriting is design. The words matter as much as the pixels. Great visuals with weak words are poor designs. You should care about how things are phrased as much as you care about how they look.

Chicago or anywhere

We’re open to hiring the best person no matter where they are. If you’re in Chicago all the better (we have an open desk for you in our office), but if not that’s fine too – more than half of our company works remotely all over the world. If you do want to relocate to Chicago we’re open to that as well.

How to apply

Send relevant work samples, and anything else that will make you stand out, to jointheteam@37signals.com. Include [UI DESIGN] in the subject of the email.

It doesn’t matter where you went to school, or if you even graduated. It doesn’t matter if this is your first job or your fifth. Doing great work and being driven to improve yourself and everything you touch is what matters.

If we think you may be a good fit we’ll be back in touch with step two of the application process.

Application deadline

We’ll be accepting applications for this position until June 6, 2011.

We look forward to receiving yours.