Why Project Management Certification Is Worth Getting
In an increasingly evolving projectized world, Project Management Institute (PMI) professional certification ensures that project managers are ready…
Design Systems: The Cure for the Responsively-Challenged Site
In my previous post, I reviewed some of the characteristics of responsively-challenged sites. I ended with this mantra: To move forward, we have to discard the idea of web pages and instead create design systems. Tomorrow’s web will be designed and built from collections of content modules, each optimized to provide the best experience for each type of viewing device. Today I’ll outline a new responsive process that we’re using at Hanson to create a better end product with fewer wasted steps.
Is Your Site Responsively-Challenged?
This year, the world wide web turns 25. It’s been a long, sometimes awkward journey to adulthood (a journey I recently summarized elsewhere). From simple beginnings (check out the first website ever published), the web has grown up to change the world. Recently we’ve seen the web transcend the computer and become ubiquitous. That ubiquity presents a problem for people who write, design, and build content.
School’s in Session: Keeping up with Digital
How do you keep up with the Joneses in the digital age? As a new intern at Hanson and a college student, every day I learn something new. However, you can’t stay in college forever, so once you’re on the job you have to find other ways to keep learning. This is especially crucial for those with jobs in the digital world because technology is constantly changing. I interviewed several of my colleagues to find out how Hanson employees stay sharp.
SXSW 2014: Redesigning the Workplace for Talent Development
The size and scope of SXSW has become enormous. But one session I found extremely thought-provoking this year was “Workplace Redesign: The Big Shift from Efficiency,” presented by John Hagel, Chairman of Deloitte Center for the Edge. Recognizing that talent is central to business success, this session explored how companies need to go beyond attracting and retaining talent and focus more on talent development.
Experience Mapping for 2014
Today’s multi-screen, multi-touchpoint world has fundamentally altered our lifestyles. But has it altered the methods you use to understand your customers’ experiences? It should.
7 Reasons to Define Your Solution First
When you’re creating a new website or app, it might be tempting to dream big and work out the details later. But it’s always wiser to start by defining your solution first. At Hanson, we call this Requirements Definition and Solution Design.
How UX is Changing My Personal Life
“User experience is a process of discovery, vision definition, strategy, planning, execution, measurement and iteration. It requires flexibility, and a willingness to be wrong until you are right.” ---Robert Hoekman Jr., in Smashing Magazine
Partnering with Delta Faucet and Monetate
Partnering. We’ve talked in this space before about how partnering with our clients to solve complex business problems is the backbone of what we do.
What is a Digital Agency?
We didn’t invent the term digital agency, and we’re certainly not the only company that uses it to describe themselves. But it’s a term that sometimes spawns questions. Just what is a digital agency? And what exactly do we do? To answer these questions, it might help to explore other terms we could use---and why we choose not to use them.
The Unexpected Benefits of Strategic Planning
Whether we’re developing a mobile app, a corporate intranet or a product database, a key initial phase of every project we do is Strategic Planning and Analysis. This phase is important to the success of an initiative for reasons outlined below, but it also has some surprising benefits...
An Agency’s Perspective on the RFP Process
Proponents of the Request for Proposal (RFP) process argue that it’s the best way to find the right fit; opponents say it’s a waste of money that doesn’t compare apples to apples. At Hanson, we understand why so many clients go this route and we regularly participate in the process. But we’ve also seen the process leave clients and agencies frustrated from time to time. So in a good faith effort to make it more valuable for everyone, here are a few observations from the agency side of the process...