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Category: Topics
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Assessing a Company’s Commitment to Security
Security matters If you’re reading this close to its publication date, security breaches and vulnerabilities are everywhere in the news. From Heartbleed to the massive Target credit card breach, digital security has never been more important to the average person. Nancy, our CEO, recently wrote about how you must take responsibility for protection of your personal…
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Showing the Love with User Onboarding
A few months back, one of our Account Directors received an excellent example of an on boarding tactic and we thought it would be helpful to share it. Nordstrom made changes to their card holder site and let their card members know ahead of time with an email. They shared a few of the upcoming…
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Learning to Talk Tech
In college I took a Computer Science 101 class. For the first assignment, the professor asked us to write step-by-step instructions on how to tie a shoelace. (Stick with me here.) I thought, “No problem. Just make the bunny and run around and go through the hole. Boom.” The next day he asked for volunteers. He…
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Getting Rid of the Big Ta-da: Why We Love Sketching
Allow me to paint you a picture of every designer’s greatest fear. You’ve just finished presenting a design to the client. For the last month you’ve toiled away, pouring your heart and soul into this design, and it’s the moment of truth. The client looks at you and says, “I don’t like it.” Design is…
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Minnesota Public Radio Elects Nancy Lyons to Board of Trustees
Yesterday, Minnesota Public Radio announced that it elected two new members to their Board of Trustees, and Nancy Lyons, our CEO, is one of them! As a long-time member and listener, Lyons welcomes the opportunity to lend her expertise to its mission and programming in any way she can. Of the recent appointment she said,…
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Building Communication and Connection
The challenge In the nearly eight years that I’ve been with Clockwork, we’ve quintupled in size — from 12 people in one room to more than 60 spread across 10,000 square feet and 4 seating areas (not to mention our flexible work environment, which means some people are working from other locations). With that growth…
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Why research and planning matters
Clients come to us asking for an app, a promotion, an intranet redesign, a lifecycle management tool. This is a great starting place, but it’s starting with the solution instead of the problem. Before we start building anything, we want to understand what’s driving the need, what problem we need to solve, or what business…
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How to Combat the Brainstorming Blues
Brainstorming is hard. In theory it’s a wonderful place where creativity meets logic and something magical happens. Where Instagram and Twitter and the Austro-Hungarian Empire was born. Yet, even when we try to approach it uncontrived, it still frequently falls just short of useful. Earlier this year while managing a project that demanded a lot…
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Why Contextual Observation Is So Valuable
Understanding user needs is critical to the success of any product, and usability testing is one important tool that helps us build websites, programs, and apps that users love. But not all usability tests are created equal. I recently had the opportunity to conduct a contextual usability test with Wits, a Minnesota Public Radio show, and…
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Beyond Family-Friendly
On my way into work the other day, I was struck with a sudden lightning bolt of gratefulness. I had just dropped my son off at his new daycare, and was able to give him the long goodbye that he seemed to need. Before that, I had been standing at the bus stop with my…