Skip to main content

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.

  1. Cognition illo 17

    Watch Your Language

    Headshot of Chris Cashdollar

    2/10/11

    by Chris Cashdollar

    He invoked a sense of dread every Monday and Wednesday from 3:00 to 6:00 p.m. At the age of 18, “color theory” wasn’t something I necessarily “got.” Yet the facts were unavoidable. The class was mandatory. All design majors had to take it and endure it. And almost all of us were clueless in the art of discussing design. We were at the mercy of the scariest design professor this side of the Bauhaus, Keith Newhouse.

  2. Cognition illo 16

    Happy Cog Hosting

    Headshot of Greg Hoy

    2/3/11

    by Greg Hoy

    “Why do you want to offer hosting? Hosting is hard!” We’ve heard quite a bit of that lately from our friends. Hosting is hard, no doubt. And that’s exactly why we want to offer it.

  3. Cognition illo 15

    An Open Letter to 37signals

    Headshot of Kevin Hoffman

    1/27/11

    by Kevin Hoffman

    Good day to you, Signals!

    Basecamp has greatly enriched our work life. It deftly reduces the incredibly complex noise of a large, busy project with many moving parts into exactly what each of us needs to get our jobs done. It has allowed us to isolate and document critical conversations, and therefore collaborate with our clients and each other more effectively. Smooth integration with e-mail makes it possible to respond at the speed of thought. And the recent integration of accounts makes hopping between the many different Basecamps in the Happy Cog universe a breeze.

  4. Hc blog hoy final v2

    You’re always replaceable

    Headshot of Greg Hoy

    1/20/11

    by Greg Hoy

    Everywhere I’ve worked, there has always been one employee deemed so valuable that other people say, “If she ever leaves, we’re screwed.” Could be the sales gal. Or the IT guy. Or the fearless leader. Someone whose knowledge runs so deep, whose Rolodex is so bursting, or whose leadership is so charismatic that the thought of moving on without them is incomprehensible.

  5. Keyboard man ill

    An Open Letter from Cog’aoke Headquarters

    Oh, hello. I didn’t see you there.

    My name is Keyboard Man. For the past two years, I’ve been honored and delighted to host Happy Cog’s Cog’aoke Karaoke Competition at the SXSW Interactive conference. Maybe you’ve attended Cog’aoke. Maybe you’ve even performed. If you’re on either of those lists, you have my eternal gratitude and sincere admiration. You are also probably the object of more than a few secret crushes of these people.

  6. Hc illo 013

    Accounting for Taste

    Headshot of Kevin Sharon

    1/10/11

    by Kevin Sharon

    Perhaps you’ve stood in line at Ben & Jerry’s Homemade Ice Cream and said,

    “What flavor of ice cream do I want today?”

    You’ve probably all wished, as I have, that you could have a dozen flavors at once. Thankfully, someone, possibly Messrs. Ben & Jerry, invented that tiny ice cream spoon. Sample just a taste to see if that flavor suits your mood.

  7. Hc illo 012

    One Man's Ceiling

    Headshot of Jeffrey Zeldman

    1/6/11

    by Jeffrey Zeldman

    Any mint can mask lunch breath, but only Certs has a golden drop of Retsyn. That drop and its golden hue, which no one but a copywriter has ever seen (the actual visual end-product is a trail of green flecks), may have made a powerful differentiator back when Tang was a breakfast drink, but it’s not enough to sway a modern consumer.

  8. Hc blog Main Article Illustration v11 00 KS 1

    Wish Upon a ★

    Headshot of Kevin Hoffman

    12/23/10

    by Kevin Hoffman

    The year 2010 was a wild one for the web. It saw the release of the iPad and all of the subsequent great ideas and discussion about flexible design approaches. HTML was cool again (the cinco!). Twitter got a major overhaul and Facebook got between 35 and 268 small facelifts. It was as if millions of bookmarks cried out in terror and were suddenly silenced when rumor had it delicio.us was disappeari.ng. In fact, someone apparently took the web’s pulse and pronounced it DOA!

  9. Hc illo 010

    Happy-Libs: We’re All In It Together

    Headshot of Jenn Lukas

    12/16/10

    by Jenn Lukas

    No matter what field we specialize in, each of us faces common day-to-day responsibilities, tasks, and expectations of awesomeness at our jobs. Sometimes we might assume that people in different roles don’t face the same challenges; however, when we break it down to the basics, it might surprise us how much we all have in common. See for yourself!

  10. Hc RJ illo

    The Beginning of a Relationship

    Headshot of Robert Jolly

    12/9/10

    by Robert Jolly

    At Happy Cog, I am responsible for the bulk of our sales efforts along with ensuring that our ongoing client relationships are positive. The early days of the professional relationship are not unlike the very early stages of courtship and dating. If there’s a connection to be made, its foundation is built on listening and sharing, which are sincere efforts for us to understand and help each other.