A little of what we’ve been up to.

Happy Cog has been acquired by Vector Media Group, a multi-faceted digital agency headquartered in New York City.

Creative Bloq gathered 20 of the best design agencies for 2018. Some are huge global players, some are small and niche, and most are somewhere in-between. All are known for their stellar work, their big-name clients, and their original, innovative approaches to design problems. Happy Cog is listed at #10.

In my younger days I performed quite a bit. I liked rehearsing and being on stage. I was a student teacher for an acting class. I somehow became the host of my high school talent show (footage of that has been burned). Yet despite having zero qualms about putting myself out there once my lines had been memorized, I was completely and utterly terrified of auditions. To this day, I have recurring nightmares about auditioning for a play and bombing so miserably that I feel embarrassed for hours after waking up.

When many think about agency culture, they think: ping pong tables, beer, some guy carrying a longboard, and other miscellaneous hip decor. Well, we do have beer and awesome decor. As cool as having all of those things is, it doesn’t keep people employed at a company. When I started with Happy Cog, in June 2016, it was clear to me that having the appearance of a fun culture did not equal a good culture. Good culture is better. Happy Cog focuses on working hard and producing great projects for good people. We recently ditched the office, moved to a coworking space at WeWork, and officially became distributed. Staff rotate in and out of our office space throughout the week, with the bulk of the team being present on Tuesdays. It’s typically pretty quiet around here. So without people around, how does Happy Cog maintain its culture in the distributed workplace?

“Don’t read trash.” This was the last thing Pulitzer Prize winner Marilynne Robinson said to the audience at Congregation Beth Elohim in Brooklyn after a reading and Q&A, amending the writerly advice writerly people always give to the question of how one becomes a better writer. Hardly anyone with a smartphone needs to actually “read more” — reading too little isn’t the problem. “We read while we’re socializing, working, shopping, relaxing, walking, commuting, urinating,” wrote Virginia Heffernan in Magic & Loss. “From a nation that can’t stop eating, we’ve become a nation that can’t stop reading.”

This is the natural time for reflection on the coming year. I’ve been thinking about how to use my New Year’s goals at work, as a designer, to create positive changes for others.

On October 5, 2016 I published an article in Cognition entitled Deciphering goals and objectives. In that article I described how clients use goals and objectives interchangeably in Request for Proposals (RFPs). I also offered one solution for how to clarify goals from objectives to ensure a proper project approach. Once the goals and objectives of the project are understood, the next step is to identify key performance indicators (KPIs). If you are unsure how to identify and connect KPIs to goals and objectives, here is one method to consider that’s been used successfully at Happy Cog.

On any given week, I might be working on 2-3 different projects at a time. I’ll often have to dip into an old project, start a new project, or assist another developer in their current project. When you’re dealing with so many files with so many different authors, you realize the importance of a well documented and updated README file. Every project has its own requirements, installation processes, coding styles, content management system, etc. A well documented README file can save a developer hours of time.

A philosophy our company has subscribed to over the years is to sweat every detail. It’s a core value of ours, driven by a passion for crafting the most usable, accessible, and beautiful solutions possible for our clients and their audiences. Our default posture has always been to take sufficient time to toil, tinker, and massage. And while that will always remain a core philosophy of ours, managing to that standard is complicated.

I am very excited for the upcoming adoption of web components. They provide a number of improvements to the developer experience of managing large codebases. If you’re not up to speed there’s a good article over on CSS-Tricks covering all the basics. It’s a bit dated but the core concepts haven’t changed too much.

Last month, we Happy Coggers packed up shop and moved into a co-working space down the road. Cutting down on square footage meant saying goodbye to some of the former office’s wall decor (I’ll miss the periodic table of metal bands) but one piece that survived the journey is a framed typographic print by designer Anthony Burrill. You’ll probably recognize it: “Work Hard and Be Nice to People,” a mantra that’s ubiquitous these days, but one that embodies the Happy Cog way nonetheless.

The greatest thing about working in operations is that it is a necessity in every industry. Your skills are transferrable. For me, getting into operations happened right after college. I started a career in mental health doing one-on-one support and casework at a non-profit. In my role as case worker I realized I was developing operational skills. Casework requires budget management, adherence to private and sensitive information, organizational skills, and great interpersonal skills. I found that I liked using those skills, and eventually, I chose to expand my experience in a different field, but with a focus on operations. The skills I’d developed in casework led me to an operational role with an advertising and branding agency.