The Case of the Indoor Cat — Techniques for Networking for Introverts
Indoor cat (n.) — One who does not like to socialize more than necessary, one who hates networking, and/or someone who has recently moved in with their significant other and has given up their wild days for making organic blueberry pancakes from scratch and arguing over light fixtures. I would like to first say, I did not create this term. Let me set the scene: It was an ordinary Wednesday, and...
How to Write a Company Values Statement When You Are Skeptical of Company Values Statements
Last year, Eastern Standard set out on an exercise that’s probably familiar to many of you: crafting a company values statement. It was long overdue. We were approaching our 5-year anniversary as a company and hadn’t ever taken the time to codify what we felt was important and compelling about the work that we do. The exercise proved interesting — and a bit difficult — for two reasons. First, the...
Mapping the Coastline: Project Planning in Unknown Territory
Perhaps the most misunderstood thing about digital project management is that much of the job revolves around making educated guesses. We collect user research, client feedback, and team input to estimate scopes and develop timelines, but still, these are predictions. What’s more, it can be difficult to know what level of detail to include at which stage in a project, and how to keep those...
Storytelling Through Content-First Design
Beautifully designed websites are a delight to look at, but if the site’s content is incongruous to its aesthetic, the website hasn’t served its main function. To translate information into meaning quickly and easily for the user, the design should be built with content as the guiding light that shapes the mood, the typography, the hierarchy, the photography, and the color palette. This website...
Which Aria Attributes Should I Use? Accessibility and Aria Tags for Common UI Patterns
In this post, I've attempted to track down and document best practices recommendations for creating accessible versions of various UI components: Choose a UI component to see accessibility and aria attribute recommendations: Hamburger Menus / Push Menus Accordions Dropdown Menus Call to Action Teasers Hamburger Menus / Push Menus The "hamburger" menu, where an icon or button triggers a flyout or...
Be More Than Just “The Dev”
As a group, developers have curated a deep-rooted, stymieing fear borne of our industry's highly competitive "culture of competency" and our laundry-list résumés: the fear of not understanding things. Specifically, the fear of others knowing we don’t understand — and it’s holding us back. Admitting that you don’t comprehend something and need to ask for an explanation seems to be, for many...
Rules for Implementing Top-Level Section Landing Pages
I have strong feelings about how top-level pages in your navigation should be a) designed and b) incorporated into the flow of a website. I think they’re often implemented in a sub-optimal way, so I’ve written my thoughts here. I’ll summarize these rules concisely for those of you just browsing, but I’ll unpack my thoughts a bit more below: Top-level pages should serve the exclusive purpose of...
Finding Work-Life Balance After a Lifetime of Work
From the title of this post, you’re probably expecting something written by a boomer after finally turning in their work hat.
But I am actually 28 years old and have been (mostly) surviving on my own since I was 19. I was luckier than most. I knew how to leverage my experiences when I unceremoniously found myself dropping out of school after my mother decided she couldn’t/wouldn’t help me get...
Gen Z Is Ready for College — Is Your College Ready for Them?
Millennials or “Gen Y” are commonly referred to as those born between 1986 and 1996, two decades during which technology flourished. The World Wide Web was created, you could call someone without being at your home, and DVDs changed the way we watched reruns of Seinfeld. Those who were born during these years grew up with on-demand service and unlimited streaming. Hundreds if not thousands of...
Creating a Simple Email Analytics Spreadsheet That Your Clients Will Love
The content of your emails communicates a story to your subscribers — and the behavior metrics of your subscribers communicates an important story back to you. Being able to track their open and click rates is one of the huge benefits of email marketing. In fact, put simply, if you’re not taking the time to stop and review your data , you may as well be sending a physical mailing. Luckily, nearly...
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