Sandstorm's lunch area.
Our thoughts from our unique blend of philosophers, artists, educators, musicians, scientists and poets
@SandstormDesign
What's for Lunch?
The dartboard comes in handy for when we just can't decide what to have for lunch.
The dartboard comes in handy for when we just can't decide what to have for lunch.
@SandstormDesign
You Rocks!
We give a lot of #thanks (You Rocks!) around Sandstorm. Check our Sandy’s collection.
We give a lot of #thanks (You Rocks!) around Sandstorm. Check our Sandy’s collection.
@SandstormDesign
Apple Worldwide Developers Conference Upgrades for Great User Experiences
Last week was Apple’s annual Worldwide Developer Conference. They are releasing a lot of new software and updates that I found particularly helpful. From some of the announced developments, it appears that Apple is continuing to make a great user experience through their products. Here are some highlights from the conference that are particularly beneficial to Apple users.
User Interface Design
Smartphones are a big deal, particularly for die-hard iPhone users. Apple realized that as much as people use a desktop operating system, the one that they spend the most time on is on their phone. The new desktop operating system, named Yosemite, will be streamlined to look more like the their mobile design and experience:
- OS fonts will go from the current Lucida Grande to Helvetica Neue
- Toolbars are refined to focused on clarity and utility and they’re adding translucent “materials”
- All icons are being updated (They finally have a great looking Trash Can!)
- The toolbar and dock have a “Dark Mode” option
Continuity
One of the big talking points was: “Use the right device for the moment.” As users are using more tablets and smartphones, specifically iPhones and iPads, their experience going from device to device will be smoother.
- AirDrop - It now works between iOS and the Mac OS
- Handoff - Your devices will be aware of what you're working on. You’ll be able to pick up where you left off on another device.
- Instant Hotspot - If you're using a mac and you aren’t near a WiFi, but your phone is nearby, your computer will recognize it as a hotspot. We will see how seamless this is, there would be some setting up before you can use it automatically.
- Phone calls - When you receive a phone call, your computer presents the caller information in addition to your phone. You can even accept the phone call from your computer, even if your phone is across the room. You can make phone calls from the computer as well.
Interactive Notification
Since users are interacting primarily with their iOS devices, Apple is making advancements to make this experience easier. Users can now:
- Swipe down to interact with notifications:
- Respond to text messages
- Accept calendar invites
- Like or comment on Facebook posts
- Double click the home button to get a list of the people you communicate with the most
Quick Type
The announced upgrades will make typing on iPhones and iPads much easier (and hopefully reduce the number of mistaken autocorrects).
- Keyboard suggestions based on what you type (hello mistaken suggestions)
- Suggested options to reply to a message
- Language based on how you communicate with certain people (for example, you may say the “party was really nice” to your mom or say it was “epic” to a good buddy)
Messages
This might be my favorite addition to the iOS since “Do Not Disturb” in the iOS 7 release. Group messaging is now better than ever. I’m sure everyone has been on a message chain from hell. At the time it might have been useful, but 3 months later a new conversation gets started on an old chain and it blows up your phone. You now have the option to:
- Leave threads
- Turn particular threads to “Do Not Disturb”
- Add and remove people
- Name the thread
You can also sort to see all of the images used in that thread and shared locations. This will be great when you're with a large group message and would like to keep track of that one friend that barely comments.
There is also a new feature to send voice and video messages straight from the Messages App.
Family Sharing
You can now share media with family members if all accounts share the same credit card. This setup keeps your kids from spending $2,500 on in-app add-ons. You can manage settings so that certain family members, such as your 6 year old on the iPad, have to ask you in order to purchase an app. You get the alert on your device to approve or deny their request.
Photos
I’m a designer and love taking pictures. The new Photos advancements are very cool. The new app has smart editing controls, such as levels for light and color.
For example, you can select a photo to edit and click the smart editing controller. You get a smart light editing feature. To achieve this, the app has an algorithm that simultaneously adjusts brightness, contrast, exposure, highlights and shadows at the same time. The same for color.
Also, photo storage is easier with iCloud pricing: the first 5GB are free, 20GB for $0.99 a month, and 200GB for $3.99 per month. They even have tiers up to 1TB (who wants 1TB of selfies?).
Think Different
It’s good seeing Apple continue to innovate, especially when the updates are free to users. The whole conference was centered on upgrades and innovations. They didn’t sell, they only shared what was coming to everyone at no cost. I can’t wait to see what they will unveil next.
Last week was Apple’s annual Worldwide Developer Conference. They are releasing a lot of new software and updates that I found particularly helpful. From some of the announced developments, it appears that Apple is continuing to make a great user experience through their products. Here are some highlights from the conference that are particularly beneficial to Apple users.
User Interface Design
Smartphones are a big deal, particularly for die-hard iPhone users. Apple realized that as much as people use a desktop operating system, the one that they spend the most time on is on their phone. The new desktop operating system, named Yosemite, will be streamlined to look more like the their mobile design and experience:
- OS fonts will go from the current Lucida Grande to Helvetica Neue
- Toolbars are refined to focused on clarity and utility and they’re adding translucent “materials”
- All icons are being updated (They finally have a great looking Trash Can!)
- The toolbar and dock have a “Dark Mode” option
Continuity
One of the big talking points was: “Use the right device for the moment.” As users are using more tablets and smartphones, specifically iPhones and iPads, their experience going from device to device will be smoother.
- AirDrop - It now works between iOS and the Mac OS
- Handoff - Your devices will be aware of what you're working on. You’ll be able to pick up where you left off on another device.
- Instant Hotspot - If you're using a mac and you aren’t near a WiFi, but your phone is nearby, your computer will recognize it as a hotspot. We will see how seamless this is, there would be some setting up before you can use it automatically.
- Phone calls - When you receive a phone call, your computer presents the caller information in addition to your phone. You can even accept the phone call from your computer, even if your phone is across the room. You can make phone calls from the computer as well.
Interactive Notification
Since users are interacting primarily with their iOS devices, Apple is making advancements to make this experience easier. Users can now:
- Swipe down to interact with notifications:
- Respond to text messages
- Accept calendar invites
- Like or comment on Facebook posts
- Double click the home button to get a list of the people you communicate with the most
Quick Type
The announced upgrades will make typing on iPhones and iPads much easier (and hopefully reduce the number of mistaken autocorrects).
- Keyboard suggestions based on what you type (hello mistaken suggestions)
- Suggested options to reply to a message
- Language based on how you communicate with certain people (for example, you may say the “party was really nice” to your mom or say it was “epic” to a good buddy)
Messages
This might be my favorite addition to the iOS since “Do Not Disturb” in the iOS 7 release. Group messaging is now better than ever. I’m sure everyone has been on a message chain from hell. At the time it might have been useful, but 3 months later a new conversation gets started on an old chain and it blows up your phone. You now have the option to:
- Leave threads
- Turn particular threads to “Do Not Disturb”
- Add and remove people
- Name the thread
You can also sort to see all of the images used in that thread and shared locations. This will be great when you're with a large group message and would like to keep track of that one friend that barely comments.
There is also a new feature to send voice and video messages straight from the Messages App.
Family Sharing
You can now share media with family members if all accounts share the same credit card. This setup keeps your kids from spending $2,500 on in-app add-ons. You can manage settings so that certain family members, such as your 6 year old on the iPad, have to ask you in order to purchase an app. You get the alert on your device to approve or deny their request.
Photos
I’m a designer and love taking pictures. The new Photos advancements are very cool. The new app has smart editing controls, such as levels for light and color.
For example, you can select a photo to edit and click the smart editing controller. You get a smart light editing feature. To achieve this, the app has an algorithm that simultaneously adjusts brightness, contrast, exposure, highlights and shadows at the same time. The same for color.
Also, photo storage is easier with iCloud pricing: the first 5GB are free, 20GB for $0.99 a month, and 200GB for $3.99 per month. They even have tiers up to 1TB (who wants 1TB of selfies?).
Think Different
It’s good seeing Apple continue to innovate, especially when the updates are free to users. The whole conference was centered on upgrades and innovations. They didn’t sell, they only shared what was coming to everyone at no cost. I can’t wait to see what they will unveil next.
@SandstormDesign
Sandstorm is Honored to be Selected as an Emerald Partner with the SAVO Group
We are excited to announce that Sandstorm has been selected as an Emerald Partner with the SAVO Group as their go-to marketing agency for SAVO clients who require brand positioning, content marketing, messaging and creative marketing execution to better leverage the SAVO platform and improve sales productivity and effectiveness.
SAVO is a leader in sales enablement. They create software as a service (SaaS) that bring together sales tools, automation, analytics, and content management to support companies’ sales processes.
Sandstorm is honored to be recognized for our marketing expertise to improve sales enablement and looks forward to helping SAVO clients meet their goals with targeted, relevant messages that support their brand and drive sales.
We are excited to announce that Sandstorm has been selected as an Emerald Partner with the SAVO Group as their go-to marketing agency for SAVO clients who require brand positioning, content marketing, messaging and creative marketing execution to better leverage the SAVO platform and improve sales productivity and effectiveness.
SAVO is a leader in sales enablement. They create software as a service (SaaS) that bring together sales tools, automation, analytics, and content management to support companies’ sales processes.
Sandstorm is honored to be recognized for our marketing expertise to improve sales enablement and looks forward to helping SAVO clients meet their goals with targeted, relevant messages that support their brand and drive sales.
@SandstormDesign
4 Types of User Research and When to Use Them - Part 3: Usability Testing
A usability study is a great way to identify trouble spots with your website, application or prototype.
It involves watching your users complete a set of tasks on your site or application. This includes testing processes like purchasing, registration, forms and finding content. It’s also a great way to test the language and labels on your site to see if you are using menu labels that are intuitive for your users.
There’s no substitute for watching users actively use your site. You gain insights into why parts of your site aren’t performing and more importantly how to resolve them.
One day of testing with 6 to 8 users will uncover over 80% of the usability issues with your site. I call that a day well spent.
Why should I use this approach?
Usability testing is a good way to learn how to improve the user experience on any site. If you are asking any of these questions, conducting usability testing might be a great next move:
- How can we get more users to complete the checkout process?
- How can we get users to accurately complete each step of this form?
- How does our site perform on mobile devices?
- How can we help our users learn more about what we have to offer?
What does usability testing achieve?
Usability testing allows you to see the site experience from the user’s point of view. The benefits of this testing include identifying:
- Confusing or unclear language and navigation labels
- Confusing or broken processes, particularly useful for check-out and registration processes or any conversion points
- Inconsistencies between multi-device versions of your site (mobile, tablet, desktop)
- Issues with the “findability” of content
When should I start testing?
Early and often. At Sandstorm we start the testing process as soon as we have enough wireframes or a prototype to start getting feedback.
Usability testing early in the process can help identify issues before budget is spent developing something that’s not optimal.
It’s also the tool to use if parts of your site aren’t performing as expected. Even when your site is performing well, you’ll want to make sure your site is optimized for your users.
I’m in. How do I conduct usability testing?
It is an in-depth process. There aren’t many steps to conducting usability research, but care should be taken with each step. You can do rapid testing in 1 or 2 weeks time. Usability study projects at Sandstorm usually take 4 to 6 weeks to complete.
- Identify the goal of your study and the key tasks you want to test. Don’t try to test too much in one study. If you want to test a lot of areas, it’s better to do multiple studies.
- Identify your users and participant criteria; make sure you’re testing with people who would actually use your site.
- Write the testing protocol (the list of scenarios you want to test).
- Recruit users. We recommend offering a gratuity for participation. It’s a nice incentive.
- Conduct the study.
- Analyze the results.
- Make improvements to your site.
Here are some helpful hints for greater success:
- Focus on your conversion points.
- Allow room in the protocol for follow up questions and clarifications.
- Don’t interfere; observe and let your users do their thing.
- Test the mobile and desktop experiences.
Do I get results?
Yes, you do. Usability testing yields a research report with key findings. At Sandstorm, we always include actionable recommendations with our key findings. We also provide video and screen capture footage for stakeholders to review.
Most importantly, you’re getting rid of problems on your site and gaining a better experience for your users.
[Ed. - Check back for the last post of this series on user research with Heuristic Analyses. If you missed it, be sure to read his previous posts on In-Depth User Interviews and Card Sorting with Tree Testing.]
A usability study is a great way to identify trouble spots with your website, application or prototype.
It involves watching your users complete a set of tasks on your site or application. This includes testing processes like purchasing, registration, forms and finding content. It’s also a great way to test the language and labels on your site to see if you are using menu labels that are intuitive for your users.
There’s no substitute for watching users actively use your site. You gain insights into why parts of your site aren’t performing and more importantly how to resolve them.
One day of testing with 6 to 8 users will uncover over 80% of the usability issues with your site. I call that a day well spent.
Why should I use this approach?
Usability testing is a good way to learn how to improve the user experience on any site. If you are asking any of these questions, conducting usability testing might be a great next move:
- How can we get more users to complete the checkout process?
- How can we get users to accurately complete each step of this form?
- How does our site perform on mobile devices?
- How can we help our users learn more about what we have to offer?
What does usability testing achieve?
Usability testing allows you to see the site experience from the user’s point of view. The benefits of this testing include identifying:
- Confusing or unclear language and navigation labels
- Confusing or broken processes, particularly useful for check-out and registration processes or any conversion points
- Inconsistencies between multi-device versions of your site (mobile, tablet, desktop)
- Issues with the “findability” of content
When should I start testing?
Early and often. At Sandstorm we start the testing process as soon as we have enough wireframes or a prototype to start getting feedback.
Usability testing early in the process can help identify issues before budget is spent developing something that’s not optimal.
It’s also the tool to use if parts of your site aren’t performing as expected. Even when your site is performing well, you’ll want to make sure your site is optimized for your users.
I’m in. How do I conduct usability testing?
It is an in-depth process. There aren’t many steps to conducting usability research, but care should be taken with each step. You can do rapid testing in 1 or 2 weeks time. Usability study projects at Sandstorm usually take 4 to 6 weeks to complete.
- Identify the goal of your study and the key tasks you want to test. Don’t try to test too much in one study. If you want to test a lot of areas, it’s better to do multiple studies.
- Identify your users and participant criteria; make sure you’re testing with people who would actually use your site.
- Write the testing protocol (the list of scenarios you want to test).
- Recruit users. We recommend offering a gratuity for participation. It’s a nice incentive.
- Conduct the study.
- Analyze the results.
- Make improvements to your site.
Here are some helpful hints for greater success:
- Focus on your conversion points.
- Allow room in the protocol for follow up questions and clarifications.
- Don’t interfere; observe and let your users do their thing.
- Test the mobile and desktop experiences.
Do I get results?
Yes, you do. Usability testing yields a research report with key findings. At Sandstorm, we always include actionable recommendations with our key findings. We also provide video and screen capture footage for stakeholders to review.
Most importantly, you’re getting rid of problems on your site and gaining a better experience for your users.
[Ed. - Check back for the last post of this series on user research with Heuristic Analyses. If you missed it, be sure to read his previous posts on In-Depth User Interviews and Card Sorting with Tree Testing.]
@SandstormDesign
Rest in Peace Massimo Vignelli
At Sandstorm, we wear black to honor the passing of the original Information Architect, Massimo Vignelli.
Massimo Vignelli on Black: "There is no other color that is better than black. There are many others that are appropriate and happy, but those colors belong on flowers. Black is a color that is man-made. It is really a projection of the brain. It is a mind color. It is intangible. It is practical. It works 24 hours a day. In the morning or afternoon, you can dress in tweed, but in the evening, you look like a professor who escaped from college. Everything else has connotations that are different, but black is good for everything.
To me, black is black and red is color. That’s it."
At Sandstorm, we wear black to honor the passing of the original Information Architect, Massimo Vignelli.
Massimo Vignelli on Black: "There is no other color that is better than black. There are many others that are appropriate and happy, but those colors belong on flowers. Black is a color that is man-made. It is really a projection of the brain. It is a mind color. It is intangible. It is practical. It works 24 hours a day. In the morning or afternoon, you can dress in tweed, but in the evening, you look like a professor who escaped from college. Everything else has connotations that are different, but black is good for everything.
To me, black is black and red is color. That’s it."
@SandstormDesign
Sandstorm on CNBC with Marcus Lemonis
We recently had an amazing opportunity to share our story of building a culture of gratitude, fun, and recognition with Marcus Lemonis from CNBC's "The Profit" (who is totally awesome by the way). Like any other small business, we had growing pains. By focusing on defining and building our culture, we absolutely flourished. The results are staggering. We doubled our staff, moved into new digs, grew revenue 250%, and are growing another 30% this year, too.
Here are 5 things that transformed our culture:
1. "Leading by example" is only half the work. "You are what you tolerate" is the second half. So if you're a CEO or manager, step up and speak up.
2. We held a company meeting called "The best place I ever worked." Everyone on our team shared what they loved most about past companies they worked for... and why. This was the beginning to our multi-year plan to learn from other successful organizations and implement. I would recommend Tony Hsieh's book, Delivering Happiness: A Path to Profits, Passion and Purpose.
3. We established ground rules. We call these "Sandstorm Expectations" and they show you how to be a Sandstormer.
4. We defined our core values to work by, to hire by, and to live by. Not core values on a poster, but meaningful, concise, memorable ones (call our office and anyone who answers will be able to tell you what they are).
5. We celebrate successes every month in a company meeting called a "You Rock." CNBC did an amazing job capturing this in their video - thank you!
So, how did CNBC and Marcus Lemonis find us? Through Vistage, a CEO leadership group that I've been a member of for 8 years. They were looking for small businesses with a story to tell. I replied, and many weeks later, Sandstorm was selected as 1 of 12 companies featured.
We are so grateful for the opportunity to share our story with other business owners and hopefully inspire them to embrace a culture of celebration at work.
We hope you enjoy the show: Check out the video
We recently had an amazing opportunity to share our story of building a culture of gratitude, fun, and recognition with Marcus Lemonis from CNBC's "The Profit" (who is totally awesome by the way). Like any other small business, we had growing pains. By focusing on defining and building our culture, we absolutely flourished. The results are staggering. We doubled our staff, moved into new digs, grew revenue 250%, and are growing another 30% this year, too.
Here are 5 things that transformed our culture:
1. "Leading by example" is only half the work. "You are what you tolerate" is the second half. So if you're a CEO or manager, step up and speak up.
2. We held a company meeting called "The best place I ever worked." Everyone on our team shared what they loved most about past companies they worked for... and why. This was the beginning to our multi-year plan to learn from other successful organizations and implement. I would recommend Tony Hsieh's book, Delivering Happiness: A Path to Profits, Passion and Purpose.
3. We established ground rules. We call these "Sandstorm Expectations" and they show you how to be a Sandstormer.
4. We defined our core values to work by, to hire by, and to live by. Not core values on a poster, but meaningful, concise, memorable ones (call our office and anyone who answers will be able to tell you what they are).
5. We celebrate successes every month in a company meeting called a "You Rock." CNBC did an amazing job capturing this in their video - thank you!
So, how did CNBC and Marcus Lemonis find us? Through Vistage, a CEO leadership group that I've been a member of for 8 years. They were looking for small businesses with a story to tell. I replied, and many weeks later, Sandstorm was selected as 1 of 12 companies featured.
We are so grateful for the opportunity to share our story with other business owners and hopefully inspire them to embrace a culture of celebration at work.
We hope you enjoy the show: Check out the video
@SandstormDesign
CNBC and Marcus Lemonis are Featuring Sandstorm
We were a little busy last week with prepping for the holiday weekend, and we also had some special guests! Marcus Lemonis, from CNBC’s “The Profit” stopped by our office to interview Sandy. A crew from CNBC spent 2 days getting video of Sandstormers in our natural environment.
We’ll be featured in a web series about small successful businesses. This will showcase what makes Sandstorm unique and how we balance fun with accomplishing good work. We had a You Rock, a little too much buffalo wing popcorn, and a lot of fun. Such a great opportunity to share the Sandstorm story!
We’ll keep you posted on when it’s live.
We were a little busy last week with prepping for the holiday weekend, and we also had some special guests! Marcus Lemonis, from CNBC’s “The Profit” stopped by our office to interview Sandy. A crew from CNBC spent 2 days getting video of Sandstormers in our natural environment.
We’ll be featured in a web series about small successful businesses. This will showcase what makes Sandstorm unique and how we balance fun with accomplishing good work. We had a You Rock, a little too much buffalo wing popcorn, and a lot of fun. Such a great opportunity to share the Sandstorm story!
We’ll keep you posted on when it’s live.
@SandstormDesign
Sandstorm Talks UX at Drupal MidCamp
Learn more about how to better the user experience on your Drupal website. Take some time this weekend and attend the Midwest Drupal Camp 2014 (or Drupal MidCamp). Michael Hartman, our Technology and Usability Director, is giving a presentation that highlights 4 of the best user research approaches. He will walk you through the practices that uncover what your users are looking for, their needs, and areas to improve.
The user experience research methods discussed include:
Michael’s talk is scheduled for Saturday, March 29 from 1:45 p.m. to 2:45 p.m. in the River room at the University Center (525 S. State Street, Chicago).
Learn more about his talk or sign up for Drupal MidCamp.
Learn more about how to better the user experience on your Drupal website. Take some time this weekend and attend the Midwest Drupal Camp 2014 (or Drupal MidCamp). Michael Hartman, our Technology and Usability Director, is giving a presentation that highlights 4 of the best user research approaches. He will walk you through the practices that uncover what your users are looking for, their needs, and areas to improve.
The user experience research methods discussed include:
Michael’s talk is scheduled for Saturday, March 29 from 1:45 p.m. to 2:45 p.m. in the River room at the University Center (525 S. State Street, Chicago).
Learn more about his talk or sign up for Drupal MidCamp.
@SandstormDesign
4 Types of User Research and When to Use Them - Part 2: Card Sorting and Tree Testing
Card sorting and tree testing are the yin and yang of determining and testing your navigation and menu structure. Card sorting is helpful when creating a menu structure while tree testing is an effective way to test a menu structure.
Card sorting exercises consist of writing samples of your content on cards and having your users sort those cards into groups. Two varieties of card sorting can be used, an open card sort where you also have your users label each group and a closed card sort where the groups are predetermined.
Tree testing works in the other direction where you present the user with a navigation structure and ask them to find particular piece of content.
Both are quick and easy ways to arrive at an effective menu structure and there are several great online tools for conducting both of these exercises.
Why should I use this approach?
If you’re looking to solve any of the following, card sorting and/or tree testing will help:
- You’ve heard feedback that your content is hard to find.
- You’re not sure what to label a section or type of content.
- Your navigation structure is overly complicated. (Hint: it shouldn’t be complicated at all.)
The benefits and results of card sorting include:
- Creating a new user centered menu structure
- Testing and improving an existing navigation and menu structure
- Identifying user-centric labels for your navigation
When should I start?
Card sorting and tree testing is a versatile user research method. It’s great to do at the beginning of the design process to ensure structure simplicity and utility. Although, If your current navigation is giving your users trouble, you can conduct this research at any time.
Steps for conducting a card sort
Below is a six step approach for card sorting:
1. Identify your content.
For new sites, you will need to identify your content strategy first. For an existing site, audit your content to catalog and understand what you have and how it is currently organized.
2. Create your cards.
25–30 “cards” is a good amount. Any more and it becomes too cumbersome for your testers to complete. Make sure you have an accurate representation of your site’s content with enough cards from any category to allow for grouping.
3. Recruit users.
Have as many users as possible participate, at least 20. It’s crucial to test with real users, too. Involving stakeholders will likely skew results.
4. Conduct the study.
We like using an online tool so we can invite as many users as possible to participate and they can do so in their own environment and on their own time. A good ones is Optimal Workshop’s Optimal Sort.
5. Analyze your results.
With a closed card sort it’s mostly a matter of identifying how many times a card was placed into a particular group and identifying the trends. Open card sorts are a little more difficult to analyze. There is less consistency within the number and names of groups your users create. The online tools mentioned above will save you a lot of time here.
If online tools are not an option, use your favorite spreadsheet program and list your cards vertically down the first column.Then put the user created categories in a row across the top. Now, you can mark in the matrix how many times each card was put into each category.
It’s likely many of your users created similar category labels that can be combined (e.g. About, About us, About [name of organization]). At this point you should start to see groupings and trends. Major groupings will be obvious, but around the edges, groupings are not as clear and will require your judgment. (Tree testing will help confirm you’ve chosen the correct labels and groupings.)
6. Build or update your navigation. Take your findings and build a navigation that is easier and more intuitive for you and your users.
Following up with tree testing
Now that you have a workable navigation, some simple tree testing will help confirm your findings:
1. Build a menu for testing. This can be an html prototype or simply a list of your primary (top level) navigation items on a piece of paper.
2. Ask your users “Where would you go to find X?” Use the content from the cards you created for your sorting exercise.
3. Adjust your navigation as needed.
Getting the information to fulfill your goals
Card sorting and tree testing is an effective exercise for gathering insights from your users for organizing your content. Involving your users in the process will help ensure you’re speaking their language, after all they are the people using the site.
[Ed. - Check back for the next post of this series on user research with Usability Studies. If you missed it, be sure to read the first post on In-Depth User Interviews.]
Card sorting and tree testing are the yin and yang of determining and testing your navigation and menu structure. Card sorting is helpful when creating a menu structure while tree testing is an effective way to test a menu structure.
Card sorting exercises consist of writing samples of your content on cards and having your users sort those cards into groups. Two varieties of card sorting can be used, an open card sort where you also have your users label each group and a closed card sort where the groups are predetermined.
Tree testing works in the other direction where you present the user with a navigation structure and ask them to find particular piece of content.
Both are quick and easy ways to arrive at an effective menu structure and there are several great online tools for conducting both of these exercises.
Why should I use this approach?
If you’re looking to solve any of the following, card sorting and/or tree testing will help:
- You’ve heard feedback that your content is hard to find.
- You’re not sure what to label a section or type of content.
- Your navigation structure is overly complicated. (Hint: it shouldn’t be complicated at all.)
The benefits and results of card sorting include:
- Creating a new user centered menu structure
- Testing and improving an existing navigation and menu structure
- Identifying user-centric labels for your navigation
When should I start?
Card sorting and tree testing is a versatile user research method. It’s great to do at the beginning of the design process to ensure structure simplicity and utility. Although, If your current navigation is giving your users trouble, you can conduct this research at any time.
Steps for conducting a card sort
Below is a six step approach for card sorting:
1. Identify your content.
For new sites, you will need to identify your content strategy first. For an existing site, audit your content to catalog and understand what you have and how it is currently organized.
2. Create your cards.
25–30 “cards” is a good amount. Any more and it becomes too cumbersome for your testers to complete. Make sure you have an accurate representation of your site’s content with enough cards from any category to allow for grouping.
3. Recruit users.
Have as many users as possible participate, at least 20. It’s crucial to test with real users, too. Involving stakeholders will likely skew results.
4. Conduct the study.
We like using an online tool so we can invite as many users as possible to participate and they can do so in their own environment and on their own time. A good ones is Optimal Workshop’s Optimal Sort.
5. Analyze your results.
With a closed card sort it’s mostly a matter of identifying how many times a card was placed into a particular group and identifying the trends. Open card sorts are a little more difficult to analyze. There is less consistency within the number and names of groups your users create. The online tools mentioned above will save you a lot of time here.
If online tools are not an option, use your favorite spreadsheet program and list your cards vertically down the first column.Then put the user created categories in a row across the top. Now, you can mark in the matrix how many times each card was put into each category.
It’s likely many of your users created similar category labels that can be combined (e.g. About, About us, About [name of organization]). At this point you should start to see groupings and trends. Major groupings will be obvious, but around the edges, groupings are not as clear and will require your judgment. (Tree testing will help confirm you’ve chosen the correct labels and groupings.)
6. Build or update your navigation. Take your findings and build a navigation that is easier and more intuitive for you and your users.
Following up with tree testing
Now that you have a workable navigation, some simple tree testing will help confirm your findings:
1. Build a menu for testing. This can be an html prototype or simply a list of your primary (top level) navigation items on a piece of paper.
2. Ask your users “Where would you go to find X?” Use the content from the cards you created for your sorting exercise.
3. Adjust your navigation as needed.
Getting the information to fulfill your goals
Card sorting and tree testing is an effective exercise for gathering insights from your users for organizing your content. Involving your users in the process will help ensure you’re speaking their language, after all they are the people using the site.
[Ed. - Check back for the next post of this series on user research with Usability Studies. If you missed it, be sure to read the first post on In-Depth User Interviews.]
@SandstormDesign
Keep Your Content Timeless: No Buzzwords, Please
Buzzword – n. a word or phrase, often an item of jargon, that is fashionable at a particular time or in a particular context.
These words are trendy, fashionable, this season’s latest fad. They should not be loaded into each and every piece of work we create and used until the end of time. Words like these were meant to refresh and have become cliché. We hear and use them so often that they tend to invade other aspects of our work, diluting the value of what we produce.
As an avid reader and occasional writer, I know that I might put more emphasis on word choice than others, but some of these words just aren’t going to work anymore. Word choice heavily impacts the impression we give off to others (there’s my PR background sneaking up). If we speak to users in a whirl of buzzwords, they won’t know what to think about us.
The Usual Suspects
Using buzzwords dilutes our meaning and creates skepticism within our audience. They become throw-away words and almost ensure what we are trying to convey won’t be heard. For example, a content strategy filled with buzzwords is stale and forgettable, whereas language that is thoughtful and precise will better convey your message and engage your readers. Try your best to avoid these words and you might actually reach your users:
- Innovation
- Leverage
- Dynamic
- Thought leader
- KPIs
- Empower
- Groundbreaking
- Stakeholder
- Low hanging fruit
- Game-changer
- Next-gen
- Out-of-the-box
- Turnkey
- Breakthrough
Although I cannot share exact quantitative data on the overuse of these words, I am sure you are nodding your head in agreement when you read the list. These words have become ubiquitous background noise. I am even prone to using them once in awhile. The one I use often (unfortunately), is “out-of-the-box.” I have no idea how big the box is or what happens inside, but no matter what, every idea and concept should be beyond said box or ready to go when it is removed from the box.
It’s All in How You Say It
You don’t need to use these words to sell your ideas or products. Use the descriptive words and phrases that come natural to your vocabulary. You will seem far more credible with this approach. People are going to believe what you are saying and feel that they received something valuable from you and your team.
Whatever content you are creating needs to be comprised of words your user understands and would use themselves. If they cannot understand what you’re saying, how will they see the value of your work? Consider your audience and use words that are timeless to them. Make sure that whenever your content is picked up, it’s relevant and makes sense to your audience. Show that you and your organization don’t fall into the habit of following trends. Your word choice reflects your work. Make sure the content comes across as great, timeless and not “rad” or “tubular.”
Breaking the Habit
If you aren’t sure about letting the words go, trust me, your users are ready. We just had a client in our office last week, working on a content strategy. While toying with descriptive words for part of their plan, the word innovation came up. They quickly rejected that idea, saying they were so sick of hearing that word. It was so refreshing to me to hear that they wanted to dig deeper for a more specific descriptive word.
I’m not asking my fellow marketers to bust out a thesaurus for each and every content strategy they build. I’m suggesting that it’s time we go back to using our natural word choice and stop hiding behind the fog of buzzwords. Be real with your users and you will get the same in return. Trust that your natural word choice will do the heavy lifting and get the real point across.
Buzzword – n. a word or phrase, often an item of jargon, that is fashionable at a particular time or in a particular context.
These words are trendy, fashionable, this season’s latest fad. They should not be loaded into each and every piece of work we create and used until the end of time. Words like these were meant to refresh and have become cliché. We hear and use them so often that they tend to invade other aspects of our work, diluting the value of what we produce.
As an avid reader and occasional writer, I know that I might put more emphasis on word choice than others, but some of these words just aren’t going to work anymore. Word choice heavily impacts the impression we give off to others (there’s my PR background sneaking up). If we speak to users in a whirl of buzzwords, they won’t know what to think about us.
The Usual Suspects
Using buzzwords dilutes our meaning and creates skepticism within our audience. They become throw-away words and almost ensure what we are trying to convey won’t be heard. For example, a content strategy filled with buzzwords is stale and forgettable, whereas language that is thoughtful and precise will better convey your message and engage your readers. Try your best to avoid these words and you might actually reach your users:
- Innovation
- Leverage
- Dynamic
- Thought leader
- KPIs
- Empower
- Groundbreaking
- Stakeholder
- Low hanging fruit
- Game-changer
- Next-gen
- Out-of-the-box
- Turnkey
- Breakthrough
Although I cannot share exact quantitative data on the overuse of these words, I am sure you are nodding your head in agreement when you read the list. These words have become ubiquitous background noise. I am even prone to using them once in awhile. The one I use often (unfortunately), is “out-of-the-box.” I have no idea how big the box is or what happens inside, but no matter what, every idea and concept should be beyond said box or ready to go when it is removed from the box.
It’s All in How You Say It
You don’t need to use these words to sell your ideas or products. Use the descriptive words and phrases that come natural to your vocabulary. You will seem far more credible with this approach. People are going to believe what you are saying and feel that they received something valuable from you and your team.
Whatever content you are creating needs to be comprised of words your user understands and would use themselves. If they cannot understand what you’re saying, how will they see the value of your work? Consider your audience and use words that are timeless to them. Make sure that whenever your content is picked up, it’s relevant and makes sense to your audience. Show that you and your organization don’t fall into the habit of following trends. Your word choice reflects your work. Make sure the content comes across as great, timeless and not “rad” or “tubular.”
Breaking the Habit
If you aren’t sure about letting the words go, trust me, your users are ready. We just had a client in our office last week, working on a content strategy. While toying with descriptive words for part of their plan, the word innovation came up. They quickly rejected that idea, saying they were so sick of hearing that word. It was so refreshing to me to hear that they wanted to dig deeper for a more specific descriptive word.
I’m not asking my fellow marketers to bust out a thesaurus for each and every content strategy they build. I’m suggesting that it’s time we go back to using our natural word choice and stop hiding behind the fog of buzzwords. Be real with your users and you will get the same in return. Trust that your natural word choice will do the heavy lifting and get the real point across.
@SandstormDesign
Top 4 Reasons You Hate Managing Content on Your Web Site
Some content managers love their jobs. Some content managers hate their jobs. If you are in the second category, maybe it’s because of these reasons.
1. You have no strategy.
You are just updating the same old copy that somebody originally wrote fifteen years ago. Maybe you’re babysitting a “helpful links” page. Stop filling orders rather than seeking and producing content with a defined purpose.
Take time to make a real content strategy. Involve key stakeholders for their great ideas (and more importantly, their buy-in). Identify your target audiences. Define your users’ goals and your organization’s goals for the site and figure out how you are going to use your site’s content to meet those goals. Select topics that will bring you the right traffic. Establish your site’s voice. The strategy is your filter. It tells you what to spend time on and what to say no to. It tells you what content to cut and what content to create.
2. You have no style guide.
You (and other people) are always finding style inconsistencies throughout your site. Where does your company stand on the Oxford comma? Are page titles in sentence case or title case? Depending on the reviewer or writer you seem to be constantly fixing or unfixing things.
Select a style guide. Preferably one aligned with your industry and intended for web writing. Create an organic style guide to keep track of all of your industry and company specific terms.
3. You have no content governance plan.
Every time you make a content change you have too many, too few, or just the wrong people review it. This means it takes forever to make changes or you end up with sub-par (maybe even inaccurate) content on your site.
Create a governance plan that makes it clear and transparent who is responsible for each section of the site. After much experimentation, I have had much success with an adapted version of this model.
4. You are looking at the wrong analytics.
You spend hours and hours each week (or each month, or just when somebody asks) putting together reports, but you’re just making reports for the sake of making reports.
Are you reporting average time spent on site? How are you evaluating that? Is it a short time win or a sign that your site is impossible to navigate?
Isolate the site’s goals and define key performance indicators that align to each goal.
Create dashboards or custom reports where possible to reduce your time manually manipulating your Google Analytics data pulls in Excel. Review the reports with other people regularly AND isolate improvements you can make. Identify the things you should do more of because they’re working so well.
Take a step back and take some time to improve your process. The steps outlined above can improve your personal workflow and make sure you’re aligned with the rest of your team.
Some content managers love their jobs. Some content managers hate their jobs. If you are in the second category, maybe it’s because of these reasons.
1. You have no strategy.
You are just updating the same old copy that somebody originally wrote fifteen years ago. Maybe you’re babysitting a “helpful links” page. Stop filling orders rather than seeking and producing content with a defined purpose.
Take time to make a real content strategy. Involve key stakeholders for their great ideas (and more importantly, their buy-in). Identify your target audiences. Define your users’ goals and your organization’s goals for the site and figure out how you are going to use your site’s content to meet those goals. Select topics that will bring you the right traffic. Establish your site’s voice. The strategy is your filter. It tells you what to spend time on and what to say no to. It tells you what content to cut and what content to create.
2. You have no style guide.
You (and other people) are always finding style inconsistencies throughout your site. Where does your company stand on the Oxford comma? Are page titles in sentence case or title case? Depending on the reviewer or writer you seem to be constantly fixing or unfixing things.
Select a style guide. Preferably one aligned with your industry and intended for web writing. Create an organic style guide to keep track of all of your industry and company specific terms.
3. You have no content governance plan.
Every time you make a content change you have too many, too few, or just the wrong people review it. This means it takes forever to make changes or you end up with sub-par (maybe even inaccurate) content on your site.
Create a governance plan that makes it clear and transparent who is responsible for each section of the site. After much experimentation, I have had much success with an adapted version of this model.
4. You are looking at the wrong analytics.
You spend hours and hours each week (or each month, or just when somebody asks) putting together reports, but you’re just making reports for the sake of making reports.
Are you reporting average time spent on site? How are you evaluating that? Is it a short time win or a sign that your site is impossible to navigate?
Isolate the site’s goals and define key performance indicators that align to each goal.
Create dashboards or custom reports where possible to reduce your time manually manipulating your Google Analytics data pulls in Excel. Review the reports with other people regularly AND isolate improvements you can make. Identify the things you should do more of because they’re working so well.
Take a step back and take some time to improve your process. The steps outlined above can improve your personal workflow and make sure you’re aligned with the rest of your team.
@SandstormDesign
The Best Five Words to Craft a Great User Experience
What makes for a great front desk experience? As someone who has been the face at that desk and the first voice on the phone, it’s a combination of empathy and information. I’ve never had a full-time position where I just sit and wait for people to show up. The front desk person always has other priorities and goals.
People coming in the office don’t need to know that, it’s not really relevant to them. All they remember is if I helped them when they came in. In much the same way visitors to your website don’t know and don’t care what your other priorities are, they just care about what you can do for them.
Greet Them
The greeting when you walk through the door is quite important. Friendly and attentive is by far a must. You wouldn’t have your front desk person stand at the door and loudly yell at potential clients as they walk in “HEY! We’ve got a great deal for you, let me show you right now!!!” while blocking their entrance and view. Pop up ads, loud music, animations, and the like, go over about as well.
Anticipate Their Needs
I think we’d have trouble landing business if when a potential client walked in the door for her first meeting, I shoved a hot cup of coffee down her throat, yanked off her coat, and tossed her into the bathroom. I would certainly ask her if she’d like something to drink, if she’d like to hang up her coat, and if she needed the bathroom, but I let her decide what she needs.
Your users know what they want, and it may not align with what you want them to do. Error on the side of walking in their shoes, worry about your goals on the back end. Ultimately this will more effectively accomplish your goals.
Keep Them Updated
If the guest is here to see someone, I make sure that both that person is notified and that the guest is aware so that the guest is not waiting and wondering what’s going on. When an action is completed on your website, do you give a clear confirmation? If a visitor runs into a problem, does your 404 page or other error messages give that visitor any direction on what he can do next? In the real world, he can ask, or just glare expectantly. On the web, your visitors will just go to your competitors.
Learn and Repeat These Five Words
Businesses have a front desk for very much the same reasons they have a website. It’s another channel for interaction and if done well, can enhance and build relationships. If done poorly it can make sure they never come back. It all comes down to 5 words :
“How can I help you?”
What makes for a great front desk experience? As someone who has been the face at that desk and the first voice on the phone, it’s a combination of empathy and information. I’ve never had a full-time position where I just sit and wait for people to show up. The front desk person always has other priorities and goals.
People coming in the office don’t need to know that, it’s not really relevant to them. All they remember is if I helped them when they came in. In much the same way visitors to your website don’t know and don’t care what your other priorities are, they just care about what you can do for them.
Greet Them
The greeting when you walk through the door is quite important. Friendly and attentive is by far a must. You wouldn’t have your front desk person stand at the door and loudly yell at potential clients as they walk in “HEY! We’ve got a great deal for you, let me show you right now!!!” while blocking their entrance and view. Pop up ads, loud music, animations, and the like, go over about as well.
Anticipate Their Needs
I think we’d have trouble landing business if when a potential client walked in the door for her first meeting, I shoved a hot cup of coffee down her throat, yanked off her coat, and tossed her into the bathroom. I would certainly ask her if she’d like something to drink, if she’d like to hang up her coat, and if she needed the bathroom, but I let her decide what she needs.
Your users know what they want, and it may not align with what you want them to do. Error on the side of walking in their shoes, worry about your goals on the back end. Ultimately this will more effectively accomplish your goals.
Keep Them Updated
If the guest is here to see someone, I make sure that both that person is notified and that the guest is aware so that the guest is not waiting and wondering what’s going on. When an action is completed on your website, do you give a clear confirmation? If a visitor runs into a problem, does your 404 page or other error messages give that visitor any direction on what he can do next? In the real world, he can ask, or just glare expectantly. On the web, your visitors will just go to your competitors.
Learn and Repeat These Five Words
Businesses have a front desk for very much the same reasons they have a website. It’s another channel for interaction and if done well, can enhance and build relationships. If done poorly it can make sure they never come back. It all comes down to 5 words :
“How can I help you?”
@SandstormDesign
Four Ways to Make Your Brand’s Social Media Fans Cheer
The big game is this Sunday. It’s going to be cold. There will be a lot of parties. It’s sure to be a great matchup between the Seahawks and the Broncos with a number of memorable commercials. But between cold brews and bowls of flamin’ hot nachos, fans will use this major media event to get their thoughts out on social media.
Both teams are supported by very outspoken fanbases, on the field and in front of TVs across the country. These are true blue fans who are constantly advocating their team (or should we say brand). Even on social media, their fans are constantly liking, commenting and even defending.
So they’re football teams, what does that mean for you? You too can create superfans for your brand. It takes time and effort, but these four points will help direct your initiative to the endzone.
1. Make a Conversation NOT a Speech
It’s all about social engagement. Think about it in terms of a party (not a football party, one with more mingling). What are the most memorable experiences? Ones where you are involved in a conversation or where you’re forced to listen while someone expounds? It’s probably the former, and chances are that you were so involved that you lost track of time, too.
Why not replicate that with your social media presence? If you create something that asks questions or welcomes discourse, you’re putting forth a memorable experience for your users.
2. Be Fueled by Your Focus
Do what you set out to do. If your goal is to sell a service or product, be sure that your interaction supports that. Your social media presence should be positioned to support your business, not just to support itself.
If you are posting just funny pictures, comics, or non sequiter posts, what does that do for your business? They can relate to you with some copy, but you need to make sure that what you put in front of your users is reflective of your business. [If you want to read more about making sure your content fits your brand, I wrote a post on Voice and Tone.]
3. Make a Game Plan
You don’t find social success by luck. You need to examine the field, size up your competitors, and find out what makes your users tick. Success comes from practice and preparation. By setting up a strategy you have a plan to keep your momentum. A well executed Social Media strategy can assist with how you respond to user comments as well.[To learn more on the importance of thinking, check out this post from Laura.]
4. Keep It Personal
The social aspect of social media is the instant human connection. Traditional media created campaigns that presented ideas, feelings, products with a passive connection to the user. Content, ads, articles, commercials, were seen and read. Social media is interactive. Whereas with a commercial, a user might be part of an invisible conversation based on the business’ assumptions. Now you can promote and present useful content on a platform ready for consumer reaction.
As opposed to having your brands message as part of a TV program or in a magazine, your content is within your users feed of personal information. So, you’ll be interspersed with personal contacts, family photos, and old high school crushes. With that their likes and comments are open for their network (and yours to see). Ensure you are creating a conversation where your user would be open to comment and like in an open, personal forum.
What’s Your Next Play?
After 10 years of Social Media, it’s a mainstay of our lives and businesses. With some preparation and thoughtfulness you can mold your brand’s online presence into an important part of their social media experiences. To create super fans, you have to first create something super. If you can get them cheering, the eventual results will make you cheer, too.
The big game is this Sunday. It’s going to be cold. There will be a lot of parties. It’s sure to be a great matchup between the Seahawks and the Broncos with a number of memorable commercials. But between cold brews and bowls of flamin’ hot nachos, fans will use this major media event to get their thoughts out on social media.
Both teams are supported by very outspoken fanbases, on the field and in front of TVs across the country. These are true blue fans who are constantly advocating their team (or should we say brand). Even on social media, their fans are constantly liking, commenting and even defending.
So they’re football teams, what does that mean for you? You too can create superfans for your brand. It takes time and effort, but these four points will help direct your initiative to the endzone.
1. Make a Conversation NOT a Speech
It’s all about social engagement. Think about it in terms of a party (not a football party, one with more mingling). What are the most memorable experiences? Ones where you are involved in a conversation or where you’re forced to listen while someone expounds? It’s probably the former, and chances are that you were so involved that you lost track of time, too.
Why not replicate that with your social media presence? If you create something that asks questions or welcomes discourse, you’re putting forth a memorable experience for your users.
2. Be Fueled by Your Focus
Do what you set out to do. If your goal is to sell a service or product, be sure that your interaction supports that. Your social media presence should be positioned to support your business, not just to support itself.
If you are posting just funny pictures, comics, or non sequiter posts, what does that do for your business? They can relate to you with some copy, but you need to make sure that what you put in front of your users is reflective of your business. [If you want to read more about making sure your content fits your brand, I wrote a post on Voice and Tone.]
3. Make a Game Plan
You don’t find social success by luck. You need to examine the field, size up your competitors, and find out what makes your users tick. Success comes from practice and preparation. By setting up a strategy you have a plan to keep your momentum. A well executed Social Media strategy can assist with how you respond to user comments as well.[To learn more on the importance of thinking, check out this post from Laura.]
4. Keep It Personal
The social aspect of social media is the instant human connection. Traditional media created campaigns that presented ideas, feelings, products with a passive connection to the user. Content, ads, articles, commercials, were seen and read. Social media is interactive. Whereas with a commercial, a user might be part of an invisible conversation based on the business’ assumptions. Now you can promote and present useful content on a platform ready for consumer reaction.
As opposed to having your brands message as part of a TV program or in a magazine, your content is within your users feed of personal information. So, you’ll be interspersed with personal contacts, family photos, and old high school crushes. With that their likes and comments are open for their network (and yours to see). Ensure you are creating a conversation where your user would be open to comment and like in an open, personal forum.
What’s Your Next Play?
After 10 years of Social Media, it’s a mainstay of our lives and businesses. With some preparation and thoughtfulness you can mold your brand’s online presence into an important part of their social media experiences. To create super fans, you have to first create something super. If you can get them cheering, the eventual results will make you cheer, too.
@SandstormDesign
Five Steps to Get Your AdWords Campaign off to a Successful Start
Launching AdWords campaigns can be a frustrating, pocket-draining initiative if you’re not careful. However, it can also bring in traffic and conversions that quickly make the whole thing worthwhile. Here are five quick tips if you are just getting started and don’t know where to, well, start.
1. Plan ahead
Work with your internal team and your agency to define what your expectations are and create some realistic goals. A good way to do this is to assess what you are doing now. How much are you spending for leads and conversions using your existing marketing tactics? How much can you allocate to AdWords campaigns? What are your customers or clients really looking for when they turn to a search engine for help?
2. Optimize
Dedicate some time and resources to optimizing your web site’s landing pages to increase the Quality Score of your ads. Google is successful because it thinks about its users (and this focus keeps users coming back for more and more). In regards to AdWords, Google wants to make sure that it is sending its users to the places where they can actually find relevant content.
Google rewards you for sending people to right place. Having better content helps bring you a higher ranking and can lead to a lower cost-per-click. It’s worth the upfront costs and effort to create a great experience for users on your web site and landing pages before bidding on ads.
3. Play Chess, Not Battleship
While there is some guessing when it comes to the auction process, you can make educated bids. With high keyword limits, AdWords allows 20,000 per ad group, it seems like the options are endless. Why not have every variation of the terms related to your business and see what happens? If this is your approach, I’m not surprised if SEM is the bane of your marketing existence.
Instead, do research, be relevant. Imagine what your customer is thinking and searching for, then use terms and phrases they would naturally use or what they will be looking for in the future. You are paying for each visit, make the most of them. Tactically, if your product or service is commonly misspelled, use the broad match keyword approach and let Google’s mechanics take care the rest. You can cast a wide net to improve your ad’s impressions but focus a majority of your resources on high-quality keywords that will bring the right customers with real conversions.
4. Be Patient
While this process can seem laborious and not yield immediate results, stick with it. SEM is an ever-evolving marketing tool. You won’t run perfect campaigns every time (I’m not sure that such a thing even exists). After a month or so of running ads, take a look under the hood and see what’s working and what’s not. This will help you learn more about what Google AdWords and your users are looking for with your ads. Remember, one click could be the conversion that covers the cost of the entire campaign.
5. Have Flexibility
After reviewing what’s working, investigate why. Is it bid amounts, budget, keywords, ads? AdWords is full of analytics, use them. If it’s not working, do something different. This platform is one of the only marketing tools available that can quickly be changed with little or no cost.
AdWords allows you to amend your account as frequently as you want, or if you are a data-lover and want to be able to examine trends, make less frequent, measured changes. Study the board, do your research and be willing to adjust your game plan.
Ads in the Right Place at the Right Time
Unlike some other marketing efforts, AdWords allows customers to see your information when they expect to see it, at the time when they are actively searching for what you offer. It’s a worthwhile program to boost your business, but it requires attention and upkeep for success. Stay focused and watch the clicks turn to conversions.
Launching AdWords campaigns can be a frustrating, pocket-draining initiative if you’re not careful. However, it can also bring in traffic and conversions that quickly make the whole thing worthwhile. Here are five quick tips if you are just getting started and don’t know where to, well, start.
1. Plan ahead
Work with your internal team and your agency to define what your expectations are and create some realistic goals. A good way to do this is to assess what you are doing now. How much are you spending for leads and conversions using your existing marketing tactics? How much can you allocate to AdWords campaigns? What are your customers or clients really looking for when they turn to a search engine for help?
2. Optimize
Dedicate some time and resources to optimizing your web site’s landing pages to increase the Quality Score of your ads. Google is successful because it thinks about its users (and this focus keeps users coming back for more and more). In regards to AdWords, Google wants to make sure that it is sending its users to the places where they can actually find relevant content.
Google rewards you for sending people to right place. Having better content helps bring you a higher ranking and can lead to a lower cost-per-click. It’s worth the upfront costs and effort to create a great experience for users on your web site and landing pages before bidding on ads.
3. Play Chess, Not Battleship
While there is some guessing when it comes to the auction process, you can make educated bids. With high keyword limits, AdWords allows 20,000 per ad group, it seems like the options are endless. Why not have every variation of the terms related to your business and see what happens? If this is your approach, I’m not surprised if SEM is the bane of your marketing existence.
Instead, do research, be relevant. Imagine what your customer is thinking and searching for, then use terms and phrases they would naturally use or what they will be looking for in the future. You are paying for each visit, make the most of them. Tactically, if your product or service is commonly misspelled, use the broad match keyword approach and let Google’s mechanics take care the rest. You can cast a wide net to improve your ad’s impressions but focus a majority of your resources on high-quality keywords that will bring the right customers with real conversions.
4. Be Patient
While this process can seem laborious and not yield immediate results, stick with it. SEM is an ever-evolving marketing tool. You won’t run perfect campaigns every time (I’m not sure that such a thing even exists). After a month or so of running ads, take a look under the hood and see what’s working and what’s not. This will help you learn more about what Google AdWords and your users are looking for with your ads. Remember, one click could be the conversion that covers the cost of the entire campaign.
5. Have Flexibility
After reviewing what’s working, investigate why. Is it bid amounts, budget, keywords, ads? AdWords is full of analytics, use them. If it’s not working, do something different. This platform is one of the only marketing tools available that can quickly be changed with little or no cost.
AdWords allows you to amend your account as frequently as you want, or if you are a data-lover and want to be able to examine trends, make less frequent, measured changes. Study the board, do your research and be willing to adjust your game plan.
Ads in the Right Place at the Right Time
Unlike some other marketing efforts, AdWords allows customers to see your information when they expect to see it, at the time when they are actively searching for what you offer. It’s a worthwhile program to boost your business, but it requires attention and upkeep for success. Stay focused and watch the clicks turn to conversions.
@SandstormDesign
Taking Time to Make Something Great
I enjoy comedy, and I’m a big Monty Python fan. It’s no surprise that when I found a lecture by John Cleese on creativity, I was excited. He’s incredibly funny, smart and hard-working. What surprised me was how his 1991 talk resonates with me today.
What’s the path to creativity?
No matter how hard one tries, you can’t put creativity into a box or a process. The road to results is non-linear. In the talk, Cleese lists, not attempted process, but the conditions under which creation can happen. They are:
- Space
- Time
- Time
- Confidence
- Humor
All of these steps make sense. I really like that he mentioned ‘Time’ twice. An emphasis on time is crucial. Creating something innovative from scratch takes time to steep. Time is the secret ingredient that allows creative brains to make unique connections.
There are no shortcuts.
People are in awe of the beauty of the Sistine Chapel ceiling, without thinking of how Michelangelo dreamt it, designed, planned and painted it. This took time. A lot of it. This is true of any major creative undertaking; sculpting from clay, writing a novel, composing an opera.
Effective marketing takes time, too.
The importance of time goes even further: design and development of a web site, strategic marketing plans, content strategy, social media strategy, usability, user research. Rome wasn’t built in a day, and neither was any reputable web site.
So, when preparing a request for proposals, and eventually statements of work, keep in mind that to create something great, you’ll need to allocate an appropriate amount of time so your creative partner can build something impactful. Find a partner you trust to assist you with the appropriate level of effort so you get the maximum ROI.
Great things can come to those who wait.
Dreaming, Planning, Preparation, Research, Thinking, Designing, Execution: they all take time. So the next time you visit a blog you enjoy or walk past a sculpture in the park, consider who created it, and more importantly how.
[I encourage you to watch Mr. Cleese’s lecture, too. There is a shorter and full version available.]
I enjoy comedy, and I’m a big Monty Python fan. It’s no surprise that when I found a lecture by John Cleese on creativity, I was excited. He’s incredibly funny, smart and hard-working. What surprised me was how his 1991 talk resonates with me today.
What’s the path to creativity?
No matter how hard one tries, you can’t put creativity into a box or a process. The road to results is non-linear. In the talk, Cleese lists, not attempted process, but the conditions under which creation can happen. They are:
- Space
- Time
- Time
- Confidence
- Humor
All of these steps make sense. I really like that he mentioned ‘Time’ twice. An emphasis on time is crucial. Creating something innovative from scratch takes time to steep. Time is the secret ingredient that allows creative brains to make unique connections.
There are no shortcuts.
People are in awe of the beauty of the Sistine Chapel ceiling, without thinking of how Michelangelo dreamt it, designed, planned and painted it. This took time. A lot of it. This is true of any major creative undertaking; sculpting from clay, writing a novel, composing an opera.
Effective marketing takes time, too.
The importance of time goes even further: design and development of a web site, strategic marketing plans, content strategy, social media strategy, usability, user research. Rome wasn’t built in a day, and neither was any reputable web site.
So, when preparing a request for proposals, and eventually statements of work, keep in mind that to create something great, you’ll need to allocate an appropriate amount of time so your creative partner can build something impactful. Find a partner you trust to assist you with the appropriate level of effort so you get the maximum ROI.
Great things can come to those who wait.
Dreaming, Planning, Preparation, Research, Thinking, Designing, Execution: they all take time. So the next time you visit a blog you enjoy or walk past a sculpture in the park, consider who created it, and more importantly how.
[I encourage you to watch Mr. Cleese’s lecture, too. There is a shorter and full version available.]
@SandstormDesign
User Goals Come First
I recently conducted a usability study for a Fortune 50 company. It was for an internal portal for managing employee health benefits and programs. This included testing both the desktop and mobile experiences. Results of the study showed users were frustrated by irrelevant content or that they missed content important to them because it was buried in the experience.
Stakeholder goals came first
The project stakeholders built the portal around their needs and the users needs were secondary. Throughout the portal, surveys, promotions for internal programs were brought to the front instead of presenting the key health benefit information users wanted. Users found this particularly frustrating on their mobile devices, where they wanted to quickly access specific information on-the-go.
User goals should be priority
If the users had access to the information they wanted first, they would more likely take the time to read the promotions or surveys. Since it was in the way beforehand, users found it annoying. At best it was ignored.
A soapbox I often stand on when speaking with clients goes like this:
- You have business or organizational goals
- Your users have goals
- Sometimes these are the same, sometimes they are not
- Meeting your users goals first greatly increases your chances of meeting your business goals
Everyone wins when the user succeeds
Often, there are business goals your users don’t care about at all. If you prioritize your users’ goals, you’ll have the opportunity later to meet those business goals that aren’t important to your users. If you make it difficult for your users to meet their goals, it’s unlikely they’ll stick around to help you meet yours.
Each user has a goal in mind specific to their need and situation. By successfully meeting this need, they will return to your site, app, and even brick and mortar store again.
I recently conducted a usability study for a Fortune 50 company. It was for an internal portal for managing employee health benefits and programs. This included testing both the desktop and mobile experiences. Results of the study showed users were frustrated by irrelevant content or that they missed content important to them because it was buried in the experience.
Stakeholder goals came first
The project stakeholders built the portal around their needs and the users needs were secondary. Throughout the portal, surveys, promotions for internal programs were brought to the front instead of presenting the key health benefit information users wanted. Users found this particularly frustrating on their mobile devices, where they wanted to quickly access specific information on-the-go.
User goals should be priority
If the users had access to the information they wanted first, they would more likely take the time to read the promotions or surveys. Since it was in the way beforehand, users found it annoying. At best it was ignored.
A soapbox I often stand on when speaking with clients goes like this:
- You have business or organizational goals
- Your users have goals
- Sometimes these are the same, sometimes they are not
- Meeting your users goals first greatly increases your chances of meeting your business goals
Everyone wins when the user succeeds
Often, there are business goals your users don’t care about at all. If you prioritize your users’ goals, you’ll have the opportunity later to meet those business goals that aren’t important to your users. If you make it difficult for your users to meet their goals, it’s unlikely they’ll stick around to help you meet yours.
Each user has a goal in mind specific to their need and situation. By successfully meeting this need, they will return to your site, app, and even brick and mortar store again.
@SandstormDesign
Brill Street Names Sandstorm Among Top 50 Gen Y Employers of 2013
Adding to a long list of all we have to celebrate this month, Sandstorm is so thrilled to announce that we’ve made Brill Street’s list of top 50 Gen Y employers in Chicago for the fifth time running.
Our growing reputation as one of the best places in the city for Gen Y-ers to learn and grow across a multitude of marketing disciplines is a huge source of pride for us, and is one among many reasons why we’ve been able to develop such a tremendously talented team of creative thinkers and life-long learners.
We love our Gen Y A-team!
Adding to a long list of all we have to celebrate this month, Sandstorm is so thrilled to announce that we’ve made Brill Street’s list of top 50 Gen Y employers in Chicago for the fifth time running.
Our growing reputation as one of the best places in the city for Gen Y-ers to learn and grow across a multitude of marketing disciplines is a huge source of pride for us, and is one among many reasons why we’ve been able to develop such a tremendously talented team of creative thinkers and life-long learners.
We love our Gen Y A-team!
@SandstormDesign
Trust in the Age of Big Data
Big data isn’t new, but it has been on our minds for the last several months. So, we thought now was as good a time as any to talk about it.
Big data in the news
In September, the New York Times ran an article that piqued our interest. In short: Acxiom Corporation, one of the world’s largest marketing technology companies, had launched AboutTheData.com – a website that lets consumers see what information (or ‘Big Data’) the company is collecting and analyzing about them.
The pitch was simple: If you want to get the best advertising delivered to you, based on your actual interests, start here. Tell us who you are so we can show you the information used to fuel many of the marketing offers you receive from advertisers using Acxiom’s digital marketing data.
What information is out there?
More and more, companies are beginning to invest in Big Data solutions as a means of achieving a more effective reach, but investing in this kind of data is not without its challenges. For example, here’s what some Sandstormers had to say when they registered with AboutTheData for a look behind the data mining curtain:
“Characteristic data was spot-on except for the child I didn’t know I have. Household vehicle data: only insurance renewal, nothing about past vehicles I’ve owned (10!). Household economic data: accurate, but light.”
“The only thing accurate about my home was the year it was built. There was absolutely no data found on our cars. For household interests, they had gourmet cooking which is really quite funny since we order most from Pizza Hut… None of the data they had on me felt invasive, probably because the most personal pieces of data were simply not us.”
“The results were disturbingly specific and correct in many cases. In other cases they were completely wrong. They knew everything about my condo purchase, which isn’t hard info to get. They know when my condo and car insurance policies are up for renewal. They knew my age (down to a two year window). Were close enough on my profession. They were pretty far off on my household income and purchasing habits.”
A constant work-in-progress
As our Sandstormers and media outlets have reported, Acxiom still has a few kinks to work out, and chief among them may be accuracy.
“One point I want to make is that this is the first release of the website,” says Nicholas Meshes, an engineering lead at Acxiom who oversees a team of developers who work on the AboutTheData.com project. “There will be subsequent releases that mean more information, improved usability, and more resources and control around how data is being used.”
It’s for more personalized relationships
He adds: “The fact is, corporations want to have more personalized relationships with consumers, and what we’re trying to do is create trust among consumers by letting them see and specify what information is being shared. People who use the website have places to go to give direct feedback, and can opt in or out of most elements we have on file about them. There are also features in the AboutTheData that direct you back to the Acxiom website to show you how we are using your data. Whatever you specify becomes our highest priority.” Whether you opt in or out, you are likely going to be marketed to regardless, “so it may as well be relevant to you.”
One of many tools
Okay. It’s a good idea driven by well-meaning intent, but the Acxiom project and the skepticism with which it has been met underscores one of the biggest challenges faced by marketing companies whose success continues to be influenced by big data: You can’t have trust without accuracy. Even if the data is accurate, it’s just one tool in your marketing toolbox.
Addressing the challenges
Big data is not the marketing panacea, but it can be a fantastic tool to create better experiences for your customers. Using big data effectively requires thoughtful decisions about how you want to engage your target market and providing them with the appropriate control mechanisms to build trust. This is a process and a large component of utilizing big data effectively to address marketing challenges.
Big data isn’t new, but it has been on our minds for the last several months. So, we thought now was as good a time as any to talk about it.
Big data in the news
In September, the New York Times ran an article that piqued our interest. In short: Acxiom Corporation, one of the world’s largest marketing technology companies, had launched AboutTheData.com – a website that lets consumers see what information (or ‘Big Data’) the company is collecting and analyzing about them.
The pitch was simple: If you want to get the best advertising delivered to you, based on your actual interests, start here. Tell us who you are so we can show you the information used to fuel many of the marketing offers you receive from advertisers using Acxiom’s digital marketing data.
What information is out there?
More and more, companies are beginning to invest in Big Data solutions as a means of achieving a more effective reach, but investing in this kind of data is not without its challenges. For example, here’s what some Sandstormers had to say when they registered with AboutTheData for a look behind the data mining curtain:
“Characteristic data was spot-on except for the child I didn’t know I have. Household vehicle data: only insurance renewal, nothing about past vehicles I’ve owned (10!). Household economic data: accurate, but light.”
“The only thing accurate about my home was the year it was built. There was absolutely no data found on our cars. For household interests, they had gourmet cooking which is really quite funny since we order most from Pizza Hut… None of the data they had on me felt invasive, probably because the most personal pieces of data were simply not us.”
“The results were disturbingly specific and correct in many cases. In other cases they were completely wrong. They knew everything about my condo purchase, which isn’t hard info to get. They know when my condo and car insurance policies are up for renewal. They knew my age (down to a two year window). Were close enough on my profession. They were pretty far off on my household income and purchasing habits.”
A constant work-in-progress
As our Sandstormers and media outlets have reported, Acxiom still has a few kinks to work out, and chief among them may be accuracy.
“One point I want to make is that this is the first release of the website,” says Nicholas Meshes, an engineering lead at Acxiom who oversees a team of developers who work on the AboutTheData.com project. “There will be subsequent releases that mean more information, improved usability, and more resources and control around how data is being used.”
It’s for more personalized relationships
He adds: “The fact is, corporations want to have more personalized relationships with consumers, and what we’re trying to do is create trust among consumers by letting them see and specify what information is being shared. People who use the website have places to go to give direct feedback, and can opt in or out of most elements we have on file about them. There are also features in the AboutTheData that direct you back to the Acxiom website to show you how we are using your data. Whatever you specify becomes our highest priority.” Whether you opt in or out, you are likely going to be marketed to regardless, “so it may as well be relevant to you.”
One of many tools
Okay. It’s a good idea driven by well-meaning intent, but the Acxiom project and the skepticism with which it has been met underscores one of the biggest challenges faced by marketing companies whose success continues to be influenced by big data: You can’t have trust without accuracy. Even if the data is accurate, it’s just one tool in your marketing toolbox.
Addressing the challenges
Big data is not the marketing panacea, but it can be a fantastic tool to create better experiences for your customers. Using big data effectively requires thoughtful decisions about how you want to engage your target market and providing them with the appropriate control mechanisms to build trust. This is a process and a large component of utilizing big data effectively to address marketing challenges.
@SandstormDesign
Piercing The Barrier of Disbelief – PopTech Inspiration
So I am writing this the morning after Nelson Mandela has left us. An example of “piercing the barrier of disbelief,” if there ever was one. Nelson Mandela is probably as far from the skateboarding community as one can get, but he shared many of the same commitments to creativity, perseverance and the power of acceptance. This is not a post on Nelson Mandela, but a reflection on a powerful and inspiring talk I saw at PopTech 2013.
Rodney Mullen is a professional skateboarder, company owner, inventor and also known as the “Godfather of Street Skating.” In his talk he said, “piercing the barrier of disbelief,” which continues to resonate with me. This is something that we, as creative individuals, have to do everyday to help our colleagues and clients solve their challenges in ways they never thought about.
Rodney emphasized the importance of culture to inspire. The importance of a supportive culture cannot be written off as a touchy-feely, nice-to-have when collaborative problem solving is critical for business success.
As creative professionals, we create something out of nothing everyday, in a way “jumping off a cliff.” It is important to acknowledge that surrounding yourself with people that uplift your beliefs, and “catch you,” is critical to sustaining creative momentum. Sustaining a culture that believes collectively to “pierce the barrier of disbelief,” is the not-so-secret ingredient to your business success.
So I am writing this the morning after Nelson Mandela has left us. An example of “piercing the barrier of disbelief,” if there ever was one. Nelson Mandela is probably as far from the skateboarding community as one can get, but he shared many of the same commitments to creativity, perseverance and the power of acceptance. This is not a post on Nelson Mandela, but a reflection on a powerful and inspiring talk I saw at PopTech 2013.
Rodney Mullen is a professional skateboarder, company owner, inventor and also known as the “Godfather of Street Skating.” In his talk he said, “piercing the barrier of disbelief,” which continues to resonate with me. This is something that we, as creative individuals, have to do everyday to help our colleagues and clients solve their challenges in ways they never thought about.
Rodney emphasized the importance of culture to inspire. The importance of a supportive culture cannot be written off as a touchy-feely, nice-to-have when collaborative problem solving is critical for business success.
As creative professionals, we create something out of nothing everyday, in a way “jumping off a cliff.” It is important to acknowledge that surrounding yourself with people that uplift your beliefs, and “catch you,” is critical to sustaining creative momentum. Sustaining a culture that believes collectively to “pierce the barrier of disbelief,” is the not-so-secret ingredient to your business success.
@SandstormDesign
Giving Thanks and Awaiting Stuffing
Thanksgiving is this Thursday, and Hanukkah begins this week as well. It’s a time to be grateful for the goodness of life. To mark this festive time, I asked Sandstormers: “What are 3 things for which you are thankful?”
Interestingly enough, I noticed a number of patterns in the responses. (I’m always looking for patterns anyway). So, here are the many thanks of Sandstorm by the numbers:
We all love our families, friends, and Sandstorm. (No one was bribed to say Sandstorm and co-worker related things.) We also are appreciative of our health. Sandstormers also rank food and drink highly, which depending on the food and drink might actually counter our good health.
I also asked what everyone is most anticipating at Thanksgiving dinner. The most common answer was stuffing followed by the chaos of having a big family get together. (I said pie and expect there are more pie lovers out there.)
As much as I hate cliché (which, might I add, is a terrible way to start a paragraph), Sandstorm is a cornucopia. We’re all different but still belong in the same basket. (Someone please explain the cornucopia basket to me, it seems so inefficient). We all have different backgrounds, but still share the same values (and cravings).
Take some time to think about what is important in your life (at work and at home). For what are you thankful?
As a special holiday bonus, I’ve included everyone’s full responses below. Enjoy!
(In no particular order)
Sandy
The one thing I am most anticipating at Thanksgiving dinner is eating carbs with no guilt.
I'm thankful for:
- My fellow awesome Sandstormers
- My family
- My health
Janna
Having dinner at our new house with my family and new friends.
I'm thankful for:
- My first holiday in our new house
- Healthy family and friends
- Good food and beer
Nathan
I am most anticipating seeing my family, playing pool with my grandfather & uncles and celebrating my Mom’s birthday. Happy Birthday Mom!
I'm thankful for:
- Friends and Family
- Freedom to make my own decisions
- My fantasy football career success
Derek
Anticipating a delicious prepared meal as last years venue was really pretty awful.
I'm thankful for:
- A continuously interesting workplace and colleagues
- HBO GO
- Upstairs neighbor that is never home
Jason
Stuffing!
I'm thankful for:
- Jon [his husband]
- Sandstorm
- comic books
Drew
The thing I am most anticipating at Thanksgiving dinner is finding out where Bree’s chosen to order from.
I'm thankful for:
- My Wife and Cats
- My Health
- My Creative Freedom
Emily K.
Stuffing
I'm thankful for:
- Cheese
- Pajamas
- Family
Mike M.
NOISE! Thanksgiving is at the Marsico’s this year! We are a bunch of LOUD Italians! You’re welcome, Sandy. ;)
I'm thankful for:
- My loving family
- Good health
- Mexican food
Alma
Chaos. There will be 10 people and 2 dogs, so something is bound to happen!
I'm thankful for:
- Google Hangouts (Here’s proof.)
- Netflix
- Nick and Honey dog
Andy
Stuffing
I'm thankful for:
- Family
- Friends
- Football
LLK
Sufganiyot, since its Hanukkah
I'm thankful for:
- Coffee
- Sleep
- Mexican beaches
Kyle
Stuffing. I love it.
I'm thankful for:
- The Internet
- Friends
- Family
Megan
Cranberry wine
I'm thankful for:
- My family
- The Clinton family
- Dogs
Meaghan
A full belly
I'm thankful for:
- Old Fashioneds
- Ira Glass
- Airplanes
Emily Y.
Not a joke, my grandma’s homemade ranch dressing.
I'm thankful for:
- Family
- Friends (yes, including coworkers)
- Health
Michael
Staying home.
I'm thankful for:
- Air
- Water
- Food
Jesse
I’m looking forward to seeing all of the family that I haven’t seen since last Thanksgiving.
I'm thankful for:
- Family
- Friends
- Health
Will
Pie… all of the pie.
I'm thankful for:
- Family
- Friends
- Cats
Thanksgiving is this Thursday, and Hanukkah begins this week as well. It’s a time to be grateful for the goodness of life. To mark this festive time, I asked Sandstormers: “What are 3 things for which you are thankful?”
Interestingly enough, I noticed a number of patterns in the responses. (I’m always looking for patterns anyway). So, here are the many thanks of Sandstorm by the numbers:
We all love our families, friends, and Sandstorm. (No one was bribed to say Sandstorm and co-worker related things.) We also are appreciative of our health. Sandstormers also rank food and drink highly, which depending on the food and drink might actually counter our good health.
I also asked what everyone is most anticipating at Thanksgiving dinner. The most common answer was stuffing followed by the chaos of having a big family get together. (I said pie and expect there are more pie lovers out there.)
As much as I hate cliché (which, might I add, is a terrible way to start a paragraph), Sandstorm is a cornucopia. We’re all different but still belong in the same basket. (Someone please explain the cornucopia basket to me, it seems so inefficient). We all have different backgrounds, but still share the same values (and cravings).
Take some time to think about what is important in your life (at work and at home). For what are you thankful?
As a special holiday bonus, I’ve included everyone’s full responses below. Enjoy!
(In no particular order)
Sandy
The one thing I am most anticipating at Thanksgiving dinner is eating carbs with no guilt.
I'm thankful for:
- My fellow awesome Sandstormers
- My family
- My health
Janna
Having dinner at our new house with my family and new friends.
I'm thankful for:
- My first holiday in our new house
- Healthy family and friends
- Good food and beer
Nathan
I am most anticipating seeing my family, playing pool with my grandfather & uncles and celebrating my Mom’s birthday. Happy Birthday Mom!
I'm thankful for:
- Friends and Family
- Freedom to make my own decisions
- My fantasy football career success
Derek
Anticipating a delicious prepared meal as last years venue was really pretty awful.
I'm thankful for:
- A continuously interesting workplace and colleagues
- HBO GO
- Upstairs neighbor that is never home
Jason
Stuffing!
I'm thankful for:
- Jon [his husband]
- Sandstorm
- comic books
Drew
The thing I am most anticipating at Thanksgiving dinner is finding out where Bree’s chosen to order from.
I'm thankful for:
- My Wife and Cats
- My Health
- My Creative Freedom
Emily K.
Stuffing
I'm thankful for:
- Cheese
- Pajamas
- Family
Mike M.
NOISE! Thanksgiving is at the Marsico’s this year! We are a bunch of LOUD Italians! You’re welcome, Sandy. ;)
I'm thankful for:
- My loving family
- Good health
- Mexican food
Alma
Chaos. There will be 10 people and 2 dogs, so something is bound to happen!
I'm thankful for:
- Google Hangouts (Here’s proof.)
- Netflix
- Nick and Honey dog
Andy
Stuffing
I'm thankful for:
- Family
- Friends
- Football
LLK
Sufganiyot, since its Hanukkah
I'm thankful for:
- Coffee
- Sleep
- Mexican beaches
Kyle
Stuffing. I love it.
I'm thankful for:
- The Internet
- Friends
- Family
Megan
Cranberry wine
I'm thankful for:
- My family
- The Clinton family
- Dogs
Meaghan
A full belly
I'm thankful for:
- Old Fashioneds
- Ira Glass
- Airplanes
Emily Y.
Not a joke, my grandma’s homemade ranch dressing.
I'm thankful for:
- Family
- Friends (yes, including coworkers)
- Health
Michael
Staying home.
I'm thankful for:
- Air
- Water
- Food
Jesse
I’m looking forward to seeing all of the family that I haven’t seen since last Thanksgiving.
I'm thankful for:
- Family
- Friends
- Health
Will
Pie… all of the pie.
I'm thankful for:
- Family
- Friends
- Cats
@SandstormDesign
Laura’s Inspiration from PopTech
Laura recently attended the PopTech conference in Camden, Maine. We’ll hear more about her experience in the coming weeks, but here’s a sneak peek of all the inspiration that abounded that weekend, much of which Laura brought back with her.
Need a bit of magic for your workday?
Artichoke is a creative company that works with artists to invade our public spaces and put on extraordinary and ambitious events that live in the memory forever…
This was one of the most inspirational talks of my PopTech experience. Artichoke creates magic and inspires individuals, who don’t usually have creating magic in their job description, to embrace magic without hesitation. The people at Artichoke remove the debate about risk and reward with their government and community partners, and replace it with a camaraderie and shared belief in the power of something bigger.
As a creative professional, I found the construct shift not only inspiring but immensely valuable to assisting my clients on their journeys to rethink the possibilities of their businesses, and in embracing the sheer power of a creative idea.
Hope you are as inspired as I was, and that this gives you the much-needed energy boost to continue moving your creativity forward.
Laura recently attended the PopTech conference in Camden, Maine. We’ll hear more about her experience in the coming weeks, but here’s a sneak peek of all the inspiration that abounded that weekend, much of which Laura brought back with her.
Need a bit of magic for your workday?
Artichoke is a creative company that works with artists to invade our public spaces and put on extraordinary and ambitious events that live in the memory forever…
This was one of the most inspirational talks of my PopTech experience. Artichoke creates magic and inspires individuals, who don’t usually have creating magic in their job description, to embrace magic without hesitation. The people at Artichoke remove the debate about risk and reward with their government and community partners, and replace it with a camaraderie and shared belief in the power of something bigger.
As a creative professional, I found the construct shift not only inspiring but immensely valuable to assisting my clients on their journeys to rethink the possibilities of their businesses, and in embracing the sheer power of a creative idea.
Hope you are as inspired as I was, and that this gives you the much-needed energy boost to continue moving your creativity forward.
@SandstormDesign
Sandstorm Went Bowling!
On November 1, if you called our office in the afternoon, you weren’t able to reach anyone. We all played hooky and went bowling.
Our core values rolled into one event
Sandstormers have three core values, and our experience on Friday tied together all three:
- Warrior Spirit: Things got competitive, and we fought through our bowling shortcomings to, for the most part, stay out of the gutter.
- Learning and Sharing: Some of us were re-learning how to bowl and learning how to score by pencil. Others were sharing technique, pointers, and math skills.
- Have Fun: We were bowling! Some pizzas, some beers, a few laughs. Plus, we had a jukebox playing tunes such as the Gipsy Kings rendition of Hotel California.
Strike? Spare? Turkeys!?
Our expedition started with a good (and thorough) presentation on scoring by our in-house bowling aficionado Derek. It was a good refresher for everyone. This is bowling. There are rules.
Rolling the Lanes
We headed to Timber Lanes, swapped our shoes and got to business. It got competitive, but everyone was perfectly calm, dude. No one entered a world of pain. (Though, I’m pretty sure I went over the line on one occasion.)
All right! Way to go, Sandy!
Thanks for a great time. I can’t wait to share our next adventure. You can see more of our bowling shenanigans on Facebook and Instagram.
On November 1, if you called our office in the afternoon, you weren’t able to reach anyone. We all played hooky and went bowling.
Our core values rolled into one event
Sandstormers have three core values, and our experience on Friday tied together all three:
- Warrior Spirit: Things got competitive, and we fought through our bowling shortcomings to, for the most part, stay out of the gutter.
- Learning and Sharing: Some of us were re-learning how to bowl and learning how to score by pencil. Others were sharing technique, pointers, and math skills.
- Have Fun: We were bowling! Some pizzas, some beers, a few laughs. Plus, we had a jukebox playing tunes such as the Gipsy Kings rendition of Hotel California.
Strike? Spare? Turkeys!?
Our expedition started with a good (and thorough) presentation on scoring by our in-house bowling aficionado Derek. It was a good refresher for everyone. This is bowling. There are rules.
Rolling the Lanes
We headed to Timber Lanes, swapped our shoes and got to business. It got competitive, but everyone was perfectly calm, dude. No one entered a world of pain. (Though, I’m pretty sure I went over the line on one occasion.)
All right! Way to go, Sandy!
Thanks for a great time. I can’t wait to share our next adventure. You can see more of our bowling shenanigans on Facebook and Instagram.
@SandstormDesign
What’s a “You Rock!”?
Want the scoop about our culture? Check out this super-secret take on our recent ‘You Rock’ celebration from the chronicles of our newest Sandstormer, Meaghan Glennan. (Don’t worry, she won’t mind if we share.)
Dear Diary:
Remember when I wrote to you on Valentine’s Day when I was nine and told you that Josh Jeffries gave me a pack of heart-shaped SweetTarts and a tiny paper card with the Land Before Time dinosaurs holding up a sign that said “You’re great!”?
I started my new job at Sandstorm Design last week, and as it turns out, THEY STILL DO THAT (but no dinosaurs, though). They call it “You Rock,” and it’s basically a chance for Sandstormers to hang out and celebrate one another. They have lunch together, and Sandy, the Principal, reads and gives-out hand-written notes of thanks and encouragement that team members have penned for each other. There were so many sweet messages, like “Thanks for all your help on the new project last week,” and “Thanks! It’s wonderful to work with you!”
I KNOW! Isn’t that fantastic?! Hearing how much appreciation and respect the group has for one another totally killed my new-girl jitters. Any team that takes time out of their day to give props to each other like that is obviously one where I am going to be very comfortable and welcome.
It was such a great introduction to the super fun and cohesive culture here. I’ve only just started, but already there’s been an in-office pizza party in which everyone ate at the table together (isn’t that the best?) and plenty of laughs around the office.
I’m having a lot of fun so far. And the best part? There’s another ‘You Rock’ next month!
Think I’m gonna like it here.
Want the scoop about our culture? Check out this super-secret take on our recent ‘You Rock’ celebration from the chronicles of our newest Sandstormer, Meaghan Glennan. (Don’t worry, she won’t mind if we share.)
Dear Diary:
Remember when I wrote to you on Valentine’s Day when I was nine and told you that Josh Jeffries gave me a pack of heart-shaped SweetTarts and a tiny paper card with the Land Before Time dinosaurs holding up a sign that said “You’re great!”?
I started my new job at Sandstorm Design last week, and as it turns out, THEY STILL DO THAT (but no dinosaurs, though). They call it “You Rock,” and it’s basically a chance for Sandstormers to hang out and celebrate one another. They have lunch together, and Sandy, the Principal, reads and gives-out hand-written notes of thanks and encouragement that team members have penned for each other. There were so many sweet messages, like “Thanks for all your help on the new project last week,” and “Thanks! It’s wonderful to work with you!”
I KNOW! Isn’t that fantastic?! Hearing how much appreciation and respect the group has for one another totally killed my new-girl jitters. Any team that takes time out of their day to give props to each other like that is obviously one where I am going to be very comfortable and welcome.
It was such a great introduction to the super fun and cohesive culture here. I’ve only just started, but already there’s been an in-office pizza party in which everyone ate at the table together (isn’t that the best?) and plenty of laughs around the office.
I’m having a lot of fun so far. And the best part? There’s another ‘You Rock’ next month!
Think I’m gonna like it here.
@SandstormDesign
Happy Halloween 2013
Sandstorm is full of creative minds. We’re dreamers most of the time, and we can’t wait for Halloween to stretch our legs as tricksters. Halloween is always festive at Sandstorm (check out 2011 and 2012).
Annually, you tend to see the scary, the fun and the odd. This year, our costumes ranged from the fun (a larger than life penguin) to the terrifying (fitness guru Richard Simmons). It’s always fun for everyone to have fun while expressing themselves in a different way. Plus, Sandy sweetens the deal by closing the office early.
For the past 3 Halloweens we have had a costume contest. In 2011, a clown won. In 2012, the prize went to a chilling Cenobite (It’s from the Hellraiser films), and this year went to…well, modesty prevents me.
You can see more of our costumed adventures on Facebook and Instagram.
Sandstorm is full of creative minds. We’re dreamers most of the time, and we can’t wait for Halloween to stretch our legs as tricksters. Halloween is always festive at Sandstorm (check out 2011 and 2012).
Annually, you tend to see the scary, the fun and the odd. This year, our costumes ranged from the fun (a larger than life penguin) to the terrifying (fitness guru Richard Simmons). It’s always fun for everyone to have fun while expressing themselves in a different way. Plus, Sandy sweetens the deal by closing the office early.
For the past 3 Halloweens we have had a costume contest. In 2011, a clown won. In 2012, the prize went to a chilling Cenobite (It’s from the Hellraiser films), and this year went to…well, modesty prevents me.
You can see more of our costumed adventures on Facebook and Instagram.
