In today’s shared-brand economy, people rule. And it’s about time. The rules of engagement have fundamentally changed. The line between people and brand is blurred now more than ever. The opportunity to be yourself and beyond yourself has arrived.

It’s our world. It’s our time. It’s our experience.

Read more

When discussing new technologies with clients and peers I often hear the importance of not building “technology for technology’s sake”.   I agree that this should be prevented but I prefer to think positively and speak about how we want technology to work instead of how we don’t want it to work.  In doing this, I use the word Sprezzatura.

Read more

A New York Times article recently revealed that Groupon employs over 400 writers and editors to produce the humorous sales pitches that move their discounted wares. Banter such as “Like the seedpod of the sacred lotus, golf courses are filled with holes and cause feelings of euphoria when chewed” is intended to capture the attention of online shoppers. In the crowded “deal-of-the-day” space, Groupon is betting that their heavy investment in the creation and craft of words, and their unique voice, will put them at the top of the heap.

Often, when we begin brainstorming a new online experience for web or mobile, the first things our clients talk about are functionality, architecture and design. Copy and voice are recognized as important aspects of the brand, but most people feel it can be slotted in later in the process, even after the site is completed. But the words we select and craft play as important a role in the function of a site as the backend code.

Read more

“We wanted to be clear about being innovative, about identifying ourselves as a Saas in an old space (telecom expense management), and play up ideas about ease, immediacy, and the freemium experience. Corey helped us identify how to navigate the whole Xigo experience-from offline to online. You gave us our story.” Tim Eckles, Vice President of Marketing, Xigo

Xigo, previously know as Invoice Insight, selected the team of experts at Corey to create a comprehensive rebranding strategy and tactical program to bring the Xigo brand to life. Corey’s team was tasked with helping Xigo broaden its customer base and differentiate itself in the TEM marketplace.

Read more

Focus on narrow, specific tasks. It doesn’t take a survey to tell you that users are less focused when they are using browsers and apps on a smartphone. This means that you should focus your design on a small set of well-defined tasks. Don’t try to squeeze everything under the sun into a single app.

Read more

Interactive experiences on mobile devices are no longer limited to simple information finding like phone number lookup or location finding. Users are taking advantage of a variety of interaction modes. Everything from social media to reading to collaboration to gaming to shopping to browsing are used regularly on a variety of mobile platforms.

Read more

Each year, we host an event for our clients to meet each other and exchange their point of view on a relevant and sizzling business topic. I really like this event – there are no canned speeches, no requisite slide decks but rather an engaged, active, provocative and spirited dialogue shared between energetic minds. Our only real criteria for this gathering, besides offering a peer networking venue for our clients, is that the topic and the venue must relate, in some way, to what we do at Corey.

Read more

Branding and design professionals are constantly challenged to adapt to new technical, social and economic changes to remain relevant to their clients, so I was not surprised that when AIGA Boston offered a panel discussion in early October entitled “Design 2014: Harnessing the Power of Design Thinking Now,” it quickly filled up. Several members of our creative team at Corey were there to seek answers to the questions posed in the announcement: “How might we educate designers as problem solvers of the future? How might a designer evolve and look ahead in order to solve the future problems clients & business models pose? How does a creative business need to evolve to stay competitive and offer their clients competitive thinking?” The panel represented a wide range of the professional landscape. Moderated by Angela Shen-Hsieh, the CEO of visual i/o, they included:

Read more

These two photographers caught our attention for their thematic series.

First up is the work of David Ryle. Ryle’s work spans all genres, but what really grabbed us was the Badly Parked Fiats series. Each photograph is humorous but also brilliantly captures the European urban sprawl.

Read more

Our clients often ask us why they should conduct usability testing with their website, mobile site or application. They say, “We’ve talked about the site endlessly and now it looks great! Why do we need to take the time to get more feedback before we launch?” Task-based usability testing is one of the best ways we have to understand how users will succeed and fail with an online experience. While we have a number of qualitative and quantitative tools that help us understand the mindset and behavior of site users, we can never be sure that the site will work for them until we recruit real users and sit them down in front of our work.

Read more