Name: Happy Cog
Price range: $

Defining our industry's methodologies, standards, and culture have long been a part of Happy Cog's values.

We started Cognition as a product to offer advice, create a dialogue, and serve our industry and clients to help them with their goals and aspirations.

Learn more about Happy Cog at happycog.com.

Turn On the Da Kine, Yeah?

9/15/11

by Greg Storey

In the last six years I’ve done a fair amount of business travel. On occasion, there have been a few memorable trips due to the flight (Nashville, I don’t know how you deal with that kind of turbulence), the destination, the clients (like good old “Poet’s Eye”), or just the circumstances of our meeting. The last two years have been especially busy and I’ve built up a good catalog of stories from experiences on the road from Lansing to Birmingham, Bend to Boston, and beyond.
Flattery is overrated

9/8/11

by Greg Hoy

My business partner Jeffrey Zeldman once said, “Don’t worry about people stealing your design work. Worry about the day they stop.” I smell what he’s cooking, but on a practical level, people who build websites should start taking the protection of their work seriously and stop complaining on Twitter when they find out someone ripped them off. Myself included.
Fix Recruiting

9/1/11

by Joe Rinaldi

A recruiter emailed me recently. I was selected for a role because I had experience with the software “Adobe”… Recruiters. Such a disaster. AMIRITE?!?!?

Hold on there, let’s pump the brakes on the generalizations a bit. Recruiters, like designers or developers or content strategists, hail from a variety of backgrounds, have a wide range of capabilities, and deliver varying degrees of value and results. For many people, a relationship with a recruiter is the catalyst for opportunities that reshape a career.
2011 SXSW Panel Picker

8/25/11

by Joe Rinaldi

The South By Southwest Panel Picker has launched for SXSW Interactive in Austin, TX from March 9-13, 2012! Happy Cog and our panelist partners are thrilled to offer nine panels for your consideration. From design to project management and client services to user experience, there are wonderful conversations across a broad range of topics waiting to be had.

User voting has a tremendous impact on the panel selection process. Our panel proposals are outlined here for your consideration. If you see something you’d love to explore more with us and our panelist partners in March, please follow the links provided and let the Panel Picker know what you want! Voting ends 11:59 CDT on Friday, September 2.
Attack of the Client Services Zombies

8/18/11

by Kevin Hoffman

Khoi Vinh recently shared some inspiring insights on the evolution of opportunities for design professionals in the digital realm in a post entitled The End of Client Services. He has, as of the time of this publishing, since revisited and revised his thoughts. If you haven’t read these posts, you should, because it’s good stuff. I’ll wait.
I have a new crush and its name is figcaption

8/11/11

by Jenn Lukas

When it comes to HTML5 elements, do you ever feel like you’re reaching for a carrot on a stick? The promise of those tasty elements, hanging right in front of you, taunting you, so close, yet just out of reach. What you wouldn’t give for just one bite of a section, one taste of a succulent aside, one thirst-quenching datalist. I bet no one told that donkey it was going to have to wait ’til 2022 to eat that carrot.
Make Sweet Systems Sweeter

8/4/11

by Allison Wagner

At Happy Cog, process is not sacred. We respect process, but we are constantly looking to improve the way our projects run; especially with regard to transitioning between project phases. Last week, Yesenia Perez-Cruz described how she crafts sweet systems and digital cupcakes. This week, I’m going to show you how we turn those cupcakes into a well-built tower of yummy cupcakery.
Sweet Systems

7/28/11

by Yesenia Perez-Cruz

To most, it’s just the sugary centerpiece to a child’s birthday party—but to me, the Cupcake Cake is systematic genius. A balance of consistency and variety, each cupcake is decorated with the same delicate piping technique, from a carefully selected color palette, with no drop of icing wasted. The result is surprising, delightful, and the highlight of the party.
Save Ferris!

7/21/11

by Brett Harned

I’m not gonna lie. On a bad day, I can be a bit like Cameron from Ferris Bueller’s Day Off.

Note: If you were born after 1986 or just don’t like movies and don’t get the reference, Cameron is like Eeyore. If you don’t get that reference, there is no helping you.
What's the ROI on Cool?

7/14/11

by Joe Rinaldi

Industry creative folks I’m friends with personally and respect professionally have uttered the following to me on multiple occasions:

“I want to make cool shit.”

I’ll be honest, I just don’t get it. To be fair, it’s safe to say I don’t get “cool” in general. I routinely dress like I’m headed to a corporate team-building ropes course, and I’m still waiting for Firefly to be picked up for season 2. So maybe it’s no surprise that the quest for cool escapes me. I don’t get the allure of making something cool for the sake of it being cool. Further, I don’t understand how you sell that to clients, or more importantly, why they would pay for it.

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