Tags: agencies

Visual Design Inspiration from Agency Websites–And Other Tangential Observations | Jim Nielsen’s Weblog

Tyring to do make screenshots of agency websites is tricky if the website is empty HTML with everything injected via JavaScript.

Granted, agencies are usually the ones pushing the boundaries. “Pop” and “pizazz” are what sell for many of them (i.e. “look what we can do!”) Many of these sites pushed the boundaries of what you can do in the browser, and that’s cool. I like seeing that kind of stuff.

But if you asked me what agency websites inspired both parts me, I’d point to something like Clearleft or Paravel. To me, they strike a great balance of visual design with the craft of building for an accessible, universal web.

Design System Won’t Fix Your Problems | Viljami Salminen

This is something we’ve learned at Clearleft—you can’t create a design system for an organisation, hand it over to them, and expect it to be maintained.

You can’t just hire an agency to create a design system and expect that the system alone will solve something. It won’t do much before the people in the organization align on this idea as well, believe in it, invest in it, and create a culture of collaboration around it.

The people who will be living with the design system must be (co-)creators of it. That’s very much the area we work in now.

Welcome to the Silicon Seaside - PCMag UK

A profile of Brighton, featuring Clearleft’s own Chris How.

Silicon Valley by the Sea: Is Brighton Really a UK Startup Hub?

Terrible title; nice article. Rich speaks his brains about Clearleft and what we like about being in Brighton.

The Great Convergence of Design, Consulting and Engineering

This is a perceptive overview of three different species of agencies—consulting-led, engineering-led, and design-led. Clearleft fits squarely into that last category …and the weaknesses of that particular flavour of agency ring very true:

Design firms have historically lacked the business strategy chops and pedigree of the consultants.

It will probably come as no surprise that Clearleft has been getting “more strategic” recently.

Design needs more MBAs with C-suite relationships and an almost arrogant assumption that of course they belong there, advising the CEO and truly bringing design thinking to business. It’s time to do strategy for real. The market has never been more receptive to it than it is right now.

Making a difference with performance by Jaime Caballero

This is a great blow-by-blow account of making an agency website perform better.

I love the side-by-side comparisons with other agencies, including Clearleft—the gauntlet has been thrown down!