They allow us to be nimble: highly configurable, iterative, and collaborative in how we work and who we work with. Being a team of four enables us to join forces with other specialists or larger teams in need of our skills. Focusing on design and development helps us imagine ways in which our core skills can be creatively extended.
Simply put, there’s a lot to like about being nimble. Here’s six ways people have been working with us lately:
1—Have us extend your in-house team
While full-service agencies may be a fit for large companies, a handful of the organizations we partner with use us as a boost of sorts of their in-house team’s capabilities and expertise. The Wegmans creative and IT teams have found this to be a great fit, and we’ve been helping them optimize code, introduce new features, and design new components to enhance their homepage.
Naturally, there are times when in-house teams like Wegmans will have design-only or development-only tasks for us to assist with. I’m not saying it’s impossible for large agencies to take on these kinds of projects, but anything that doesn’t activate multiple disciplines can create some friction for this kind of model. Not so for us—in fact, teams are routinely appreciative of the kind of impact we make on design- or dev-specific missions.
Setting the Table for Rich Storytelling
We delivered a responsive site for Hormel Foods that would completely transform the way people experience the brand online—designed and developed using Cookbook.
Websites of any size benefit from a multitude of contributions—organizations rarely have the right amount of or ample expertise within their own resources to do this well. Large agencies tend to claim this as a gap they fill. However, we’ve found there’s more potency and collaboration when a team of expert teams is formed. Like the saying goes, you’re only as strong as your weakest department.
Sensing on a New Level
We helped Hidden Level put a refreshing take on the sensor industry's tone and visuals.
These types of projects tend to follow our typical process, something we’ve made increasingly collaborative, whether it’s with other expert teams or, in this case, a client. This model involves all four studiomates contributing to the end product, making this one of the most straightforward and direct fits of our studio.
Strange Design
Strange in a good way: we developed a brand identity kit for Geneseo's new favorite third space.
The summer of 2020 provided such an opportunity with Strange Design Public House, a brewpub on its way to Geneseo, NY. We spent a few months exploring brand marks and expressions in a phased approach to their branding process. We’re eager to compliment our web work with identity projects like this, and for some clients, one leads into the other.
Bridging the Gap for Our Heroes
We teamed up with Syracuse University’s Institute for Veterans and Military Families to create two companion videos to convey their mission and purpose.
This is a sneaky important role we can play. Leaning on us to art direct—or at least consult on—more than one project (ex: a website) enables us to weave continuity, and hopefully delight, across a reasonable amount of touchpoints people have with your brand.
Blasting Off Responsive Emails
Taking the drudgery out of email creation makes a big difference for an organization that makes hundreds of them.