A “business analyst” is a difficult role to define. Even the name itself is a bit of a conundrum. In the e-commerce industry, most roles come with a self-explanatory “verb” + “er” style title.
If you develop, you’re a developer. If you design, you’re a designer. If you manage projects, you’re a project manager. So when it comes to a “business analyst,” what’s in a name? It’s a bit murky.
Adding to the confusion, a BA’s role can vary from company to company, even within the field of e-commerce development.
So what do we actually do? Decoding the job from the title isn’t as simple as removing a suffix, but it’s not such a bad thing. In short, we take in business and product requirements and help build out the technical specifications needed to deliver the product.
Over the past few years, we have been proud to partner with CREDO Mobile and their efforts to fund progressive causes. Ahead of this year’s March for Our Lives, our team at FortyFour created a series of posters calling for sensible gun control laws in America’s schools. Thanks to the Michigan Coalition to Prevent Gun Violence, you can see some of our work on billboards across the Lansing area.
We look forward to continuing to work with CREDO Mobile.
If you’ve ever wondered what it’s like inside the mind of a UX Designer, take a glimpse into the world of Witt Langstaff’s life. From his secret talents to his penchant for dad jokes, read all about our South Carolina-born Solutions Lead!
Where are you from?
Hartsville, South Carolina, USA, Planet Earth. It’s in Darlington County, which has a huge NASCAR speedway – You can do Daytona, you can tackle Talladega, but you can’t tame Darlington (at least that’s what they say.) I was born in a hospital not far from the track.
What brought you to FortyFour?
I was working for a startup, and my good buddy Graydon is the Director of Content here – he mentioned 44 needing some help on the UX team so we made it happen. I really like the folks who work here, and saw it as a good opportunity to learn and grow. It’s been great so far!
After months of collaboration with teams across our agency, FortyFour is proud to announce that our client partnerAptean has launched a new website. This best-in-class digital experience further unifies their broad product portfolio under the Aptean brand.
Aptean is a global software company that builds niche products for a wide range of industries. Over 7,000 organizations in more than 20 industries and 74 countries rely on Aptean to streamline their everyday operations. One of their major strategic projects this year was to redesign their information-rich website and introduce new brand messaging. To achieve this goal, Aptean partnered with FortyFour.
Nearly every department in our organization contributed to the end product. Our user experience, design, content, business analysis, development, analytics and project management teams all worked tirelessly to ensure this project was a success. In the end, we designed and built a site that will increase engagement by presenting very technical software information in a personable way that excites users to reach out to the Aptean team.
We look forward to seeing Aptean continue to grow and to helping them achieve their goals in any way we can.
Is it a real holiday? We’re not the arbiters of real holidays here at FortyFour. We just build great websites and read great books. Here are some books beloved by the folks who work here building those aforementioned great websites.
The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy by Douglas Adams
I first played the text-based game when I was 14, and instantly fell in love with the quirky British humor and space escapades. Finding out that it was a book series, BBC radio and TV series was a pleasant surprise!
-Adam Darby, Developer
Catch-22 by Joseph Heller
It encompasses the use of how language can be used to paint pictures of very specific actions vividly, while also making light of incredibly serious topics. That, and the fact that the entire story is a jigsaw puzzle that needs to be read entirely to come close to understanding it as a whole.
-Bret Ausura, Project Manager
Where We Want to Live by Ryan Gravel
Because what kind of Atlantan are you, really, if you haven’t read this?
-Ryan Anderson, Director of Marketing
Tenth of December by George Saunders
I love reading Saunders for his zaniness, humor, and ear for internal dialogue, but in this collection you can tell his writing has become much more humane. It’s great.
-Brian “Bryan” Zirbes, Business Analyst
Animal Dreams by Barbara Kingsolver
Really amazing to read *while* in the western states. I read this during a backpacking trip in Utah and I felt like I was right there with the main character (the book is based in Arizona). #BestSummerReadEver
-Kelsey O’Manion, Project Manager
The House of the Spirits by Isabel Allende
This was the first novel I read with strong latina characters! This novel follows 3 generations of Chilean women through their trials and triumphs after WWI. It has magical realism elements as well and is a beautifully written novel!
-Karla Fleming, Business Analyst
The Fountainhead by Ayn Rand
I love how it encapsulates the practice of architecture in the 1920s and 30s. Howard Roark is a polarizing protagonist who stirs healthy debate about the ethics of design, the role of individual ego, and deviation from collective design values. I also just really appreciate Rand’s command of language.
-Paul Landon, UX Designer
Dune by Frank Herbert
Who knew west vs middle east politics and the world’s utter dependence on oil could be so entertaining when rewritten as the best science fiction novel ever?! Frank Herbert, that’s who.
-Hadi Seyfi, Designer
The Heart of Everything That Is: The Untold Story of Red Cloud, An American Legend by Bob Drury
I first read it a few years ago, but it has stuck with me–especially since I recently went to the Powder River Valley in Wyoming and saw some of the battle sites. The way we teach US history glosses over Native American history and culture, so it was an eye-opening read; I learned a ton. I don’t usually love histories but the writing in this book was really engaging.
-Liz Simms, Copywriter
A Naked Singularity by Sergio De La Pava
A Naked Singularity broke every rule regarding a first novel: It was long, dense, and weird. That’s why it was originally relegated to being self-published. But over time its genius shined through, and it’s now regarded as a classic of early 21st century literature because of its piercing look at the harsh realities of the New York City criminal justice system, its hyper-literate but playful style, and its unexpected use of pulp and noir elements.
-Graydon Gordian, Director of Content
Bluets by Maggie Nelson It feels a bit odd to call a book of poems my favorite, but there’s no book I’ve returned to as many times in my life as many times as I’ve picked “Bluets” back up, like an old friend. Besides, I’m not even sure I think of it as poetry to begin with so much as I think of it as… a meditation. Nelson begins with, “Suppose I were to begin by saying that I had fallen in love with a color.” From there, “Bluets” falls into a pool of itself, lyrically exploring themes of love and grief and the volatile ways the two coexist in our lives. Nelson’s writing feels like a revelation every time I return to it.
-Rachel Perkins, Copywriter
FortyFour is proud to announce that, with the help of teams across our agency, our client partner Phobio has launched a new website. Built on Drupal and reflective of the brand’s new visual direction and messaging, the website plays a key role in Phobio’s senior leadership’s growth strategy.
This site is the second of a two phase re-launch project: A quick redesign and relaunch was necessary at the end of 2017 because of some key strategic opportunities. But the goal was to always create a more thorough, informative and compelling experience that was reflective of the best-in-class quality of the platforms Phobio builds. That goal has been achieved.
Nearly every department in our organization contributed to the end product: our user experience, design, content, business analysis, development, analytics and project management teams all collaborated to ensure this project was a success.
We look forward to seeing Phobio continue to grow and to helping accelerate that growth in any way we can.
Every week, our talented and energetic design team gathers round the conference table in the room we’ve lovingly named “Inman Park” to talk about stuff that’s inspired them that week. Over the course of the month, they tend to amass a lot of great stuff so we’ve started cataloging it here on the blog! Here’s what our design team was loving in June.
Spectral
Spectral is the first customizable and interactive parametric Google font by Prototypo.
Have you ever wondered what a business analyst does on a day to day basis at a digital agency? Our resident BA, Karla Fleming, is here to explain it to you, while also sharing her thoughts on podcasts, latino food, and the always raging debate here at FortyFour—pineapple on pizza.
Where are you from?
Jefferson, GA
Give us the elevator pitch you have ready when someone asks you to explain what a business analyst does at a digital agency.
As a business analyst, my job is to retrieve business and technical requirements from the client and verify that the solutions we are delivering are in line with the client’s needs. To do this, I am writing user stories and I stay in contact with the developers to make sure that they have all of the information and tools that they need to deliver the solution needed.
What has been your favorite client project so far and why are you proud of it?
Phobio has been one of my favorite projects so far because I have been able to see the project develop and change from the time we won the business until we launched the site.
What’s something you’re really, really good at cooking?
I never enjoyed cooking until just a few years ago. I’m still working to specialize in good everyday meals. But desserts are my favorite type of food to prepare! My specialty is a cranberry apple pie recipe that was passed down from my mother-in-law!
From breaking into the marketing industry to his feelings regarding pineapple on pizza, read on to find out what our senior marketing manager, T.R. Wilhoit, has to say.
What brought you to FortyFour?
I had worked at my prior agency for around 4 years, which makes me ancient in “agency years” so it was about time for a change. Coming from a more strategy and planning background, I was interested in learning E-commerce and developing new programs for clients in this industry.
What has been your favorite client project so far and why are you proud of it?
I really enjoy working on Case-Mate’s ongoing marketing. We’re able to see the results of marketing efforts quickly since we’re focused on the E-commerce site, which is rewarding. Plus the target market is something I’m not as familiar with (more fashion-focused), so I learn something new about their audience almost weekly.
Tell us one of your secret talents.
Not sure how much of a secret it is, but I have been a musician my entire life. I mostly play electric guitar but I also play bass, drums, trombone, and baritone. I’ve also put out electronic music a few times, which is featured in the background of this fun Vietnamese makeup tutorial video.
A little over a year ago, the design team at FortyFour incorporated “Stumps and Dumps” into our weekly design sync. What are “Stumps and Dumps,” you ask?
“Stumps” are the problems we’re facing with current projects. More importantly, it’s an open invitation for critical feedback and creative insights from our teammates.
“Dumps” are the show-and-tell portion. It’s an opportunity for us to talk all things inspiring, unusual, and thought-provoking within the design world.
We’ve amassed a considerable list of design portfolios, websites, Instagram accounts, films, artists, animations, and design tools over the last year. We come back to this list time and time again for inspiration, so we thought we should share it with the world. Here’s the space where each month we’ll share with you the things we’ve loved lately. Without further ado, here’s a few things we loved in May!
This week we sat down with Carson Britt, our Senior Software Engineer. Hear what this front-end pro has to say about growing up in Georgia, riding his bike through the city, and why you shouldn’t limit your own skillset.
Where are you from?
I’m from Atlanta. I grew up in the ‘burbs and moved to north Georgia at 14, but then I went to Georgia Tech and stayed here since.
What brought you to FortyFour?
Before this I was at 22squared, which handles more traditional advertising, and we weren’t really getting into digital the way I wanted to. I wanted to go into something more digital-focused, where I could feel more challenged. I wanted to do bigger, more intimidating projects from a dev perspective.
What has been your favorite client project so far and why are you proud of it?
I’ve worked on nearly every project here but a favorite has been CREDO Mobile. I got to work on a couple of microsites for them, and I liked the style of it. It’s very front-end heavy stuff which is really interesting on Drupal.
This week, we sat down with our director of project management Katherine Wilmot to chat about her agency experience, where she buys horseradish pickles, and what she wants to name her future doggo. Check out her answers below!
Where are you from?
Ridgefield, CT
What brought you to FortyFour?
Thomas, [one of our Managing Partners]. I had been working at larger agencies, but I wanted the opportunity to make a bigger impact. It seemed like the best way to do that was to get in at the ground level of a startup agency, so when Thomas reached out, I went for it. I’ve been here 3 years in May.
What’s been your favorite client project so far? Why are you proud of it?
Phobio, because they share the same startup mentality that we have. Being a software/tech company, we share a lot of ideals. We’ve helped them with a couple iterations of their website. The first was a re-skin, and now we’re re-platforming them onto a CMS while implementing additional branding and messaging updates. Giving complex technology products a tone and voice that makes you want to work with the people behind them is always a challenge, but working with the Phobio team has been fun.
CREDO Mobile has always stood for progressive change and regularly engages its customers to support worthy causes. As millions of activists across the globe prepared for the March for Our Lives this past weekend, CREDO Mobile wanted to support those activists with anti-gun violence rallying cries. CREDO Mobile partnered with our design and content teams to create 12 unique posters decrying gun violence and the weapons lobby in the US. All twelve free posters are available for download here.
Love it or hate it, group chat has a place in the day-to-day life of every agency. No more sitting in a pod with a designer, a UX lead, a project manager, and a developer to make decisions: newly available tools are changing the development process for the better. Group communication tools have increased transparency, improved efficiency, and strengthened collaboration with our clients.
Here at FortyFour, we have group channels for everything: for projects, for teams, for favorite TV shows, for random thoughts (and there are a lot of random thoughts). Catching up daily on the kitten and Nicholas Cage memes can be time consuming, but distractions aside, we’ve found that private and public chat rooms have enabled us to make decisions without losing momentum.
Breaking Concentration
Before we sing the praises of group chat, it’s worth noting that it has its own drawbacks. According to research that I found online (it must be true), every distraction costs somewhere between 20 minutes and 2 hours of productivity. On top of having an open floor plan and a highly collaborative environment at FortyFour, our group chat never goes away. Everyone has to learn to manage the distractions in their own way.
This week we sat down with Graydon Gordian, FortyFour’s director of content & editorial, to talk about his past as an amateur boxer, his love of basketball, and even a little bit about life at the agency.
Where are you from?
Austin, Texas–keep Austin weird!
What brought you to FortyFour, and how long have you been here?
I had been working at Turner, which is where I’d been since I first moved to Atlanta from New York. But I’d always been intrigued by the agency world, so I called a friend of mine who ran an agency, Thomas Frank [Founder and Executive Creative Director of FortyFour]. We talked, and I started as contractor before coming on full time as the Director of Content and Editorial. It’s been almost 2 years to the month.
What’s been your favorite client project so far?
My favorite project has been Phobio. Phobio is a software company that makes device trade-in and workforce communication platforms. We have a close relationship with the executive team–we’re not just their agency, we’re a strategic advisor to their organization, which is what we always seek to be. Our work has included a multi-phase website redesign. A big part of that effort has been developing a broader corporate messaging strategy for the organization. We’re adding value in a lot of ways and framing the future of their business–it’s fun.
FortyFour has been growing quickly, and this past year, we officially added business analysis to our competencies. But you might be wondering: what is a business analyst, and why did we need one here?
Business Analysis Defined
The business analyst (BA) acts as a bridge between the cultural and technological sides of a digital agency. From the UX designers to content strategists to technology directors, various agency teams have a difficult time integrating the myriad projects and platforms in which they’re working. That’s where the BA comes in.
At the beginning of any project, the BA gathers all the requirements and develops a game plan. Through consumer research, design thinking, customer journey mapping, user flows, prototypes, and user stories, BAs are able to round-up all the requirements a new project will bring with it. Their goal is to ensure a consistent product vision, from the initial client discovery phase to the product release and through ongoing maintenance.
Was Thomas Jefferson a prototypical UX designer? According to Paul Landon, a user experience principal here at FortyFour, the answer is yes. Read on to learn about his interesting theory–and what else he loves about UX, life at FortyFour, and Atlanta in general.
Where are you from?
Hampton, VA
What brought you to FortyFour?
Before becoming a user experience designer, I worked in architecture for several years. But I’d had a longtime interest in digital, so it seemed like the right trajectory to move out of architecture and into UX. I started working at an agency. One of FortyFour’s managing partners had worked at the same agency, and our networks overlapped. I could see that FortyFour had a great creative team, plus more structure and leadership, which was important to me. So I joined the team, and now I’ve been here two and a half years–Taylor and I started the same day, actually.
What’s been your favorite client project so far and why?
On my first day, we kicked off Exide’s website redesign project. It was a great opportunity to impact their brand globally and tackle a very complex set of website challenges. The architecture had to provide a more organized framework for very diverse business units, appease internal stakeholders, and speak across industries. We created a strong, scalable solution. It was the largest website I’d worked on at that point, too, so it was cool to work on every stage of the process. I learned a lot.
We recently sat down with the talented Taylor Daniel, senior designer here at FortyFour, to learn more about what inspires her work, what she loves about Atlanta, and what she drinks at 4:30pm on Fridays.
Where are you from?
Snellville, GA
What brought you to FortyFour, and how long have you been working here?
I heard about FortyFour when I was making a move from Birmingham, and I was wanting to grow my skill set in digital & UI. FortyFour was attractive because it’s independently owned and run–a place where you could get your hands dirty and learn faster because you could work on both large and small accounts. The creative leadership came from big agencies and companies, so I knew I could learn from those experiences on a more personal level. And 2.5 years later, here I am!
What’s been your favorite client project so far, and why are you proud of it?
I’ve learned the most and done the most with CREDO Mobile. They came to us for help with digital marketing and e-commerce, but as we’ve built a relationship with them, we’ve helped them with their whole brand. The opportunity to define a brand and create the look feel has been awesome. Then, working on the UI of the donations and e-commerce sites–it feels rewarding to be part of a project from start to end.
Phobio is known as a leader in the device trade-in space, but they’re more than a brick & mortar retail service–and they needed some help communicating that on their website. In partnership with the Phobio team, we’ve embarked on a two-phase effort to elevate their brand with updated designs and refreshed messaging. We’re proud of our hard work so far, so we wanted to take the opportunity to share the results of phase one and to congratulate our teams.
Phase one of the project began with discovery sessions to uncover what makes Phobio so great at what they do. Over the course of several conversations, we learned that they’re innovative and entrepreneurial, continually setting and resetting the bar for device trade-in. Their team is serious about software, but they also have vibrant personalities and a warm culture. So we realized that a pretty simple question seems to drive the Phobio team: what if we make device trade-in awesome?
We’re excited to announce that Google has recognized FortyFour as a leader in digital marketing and paid search advertising. Earlier this week, FortyFour received the shiny new badge that proves it: our agency is a certified Google Partner with a specialization in search advertising.
Google Partners are agencies who have proven to be both knowledgeable and successful in various advertising specializations. To become a paid search Partner, FortyFour had to pass Google AdWords product certification exams and demonstrate six months of sustained client performance in search advertising. Some of our most impactful work has come with partners such as Case-Mate, where we more than doubled paid search activity year over year, and Manhattan Associates, where we saw cost per conversion drop by 25% after taking over their program.
“Digital marketing, and search marketing in particular, remains an important pillar for brands,” says Director of Digital Marketing Ryan Anderson. “It’s an opportunity for companies to develop and deliver messages that resonate with their audiences. I’m proud that we’ve worked with our clients to do exactly that.” And FortyFour is proud of our digital marketing team for earning this certification–congratulations!
This holiday season, we decided to give back to Atlanta, the city that made us. We divided the office into three teams, and each team chose a local charity to support: the Atlanta chapter of the International Rescue Committee, The Giving Kitchen, and The Atlanta Children’s Shelter. In a little over one month, 57 donors helped our teams raise $2,500 to benefit those charities. But it gets better–the partners at FortyFour generously matched every penny donated to each cause, which brought our grand donation total to $5,000. We announced the final numbers at our belated holiday party, giving everyone that much more reason to celebrate.
We’re thrilled to be a part of this community and thankful for the opportunity to give back. Thank you so much to everyone who helped us make a difference this year!
Brands are eager to capture the attention of millennials: the generation that came of age around the 2000s, was the first to adopt social media, and has driven consumer culture since it began gaining purchasing power in the mid-aughts. Famously picky and equally loyal, millennials are an audience every brand strives to be on the good side of.
Our longstanding partner Coca-Cola has done just that. According to Business Insider’s recent study of millennial brand loyalty, the most refreshing drink on the shelves is also millennials’ most beloved beverage. Out of a hundred iconic brands—including Apple, Nike and Amazon—the study ranked Coke as millennials’ ninth favorite.
When a new website design project kicks off, a common practice is to start designing a page to explore the visual direction for the site. This makes sense in some ways: clients like seeing pages because it’s the most obvious way to visualize what a site is going to look like—and, after all, that’s what they’re paying for. Typically this means starting with the homepage and exploring the design system through the context of that page.
The problem with designing the homepage first
The homepage is the first thing a user see on the site. It’s the foyer, with doors leading to all the other areas of the site. The problem is, homepages tend to be the most unique page on the site. Elements on the homepage often only serve one purpose: to drive a user to another area of the site. These homepage elements are some of the least reusable elements on the site. So why do we start with a page that does so little to inform the rest of the site? Why start with pages at all?
Years ago, while on vacation in California, I had the fortunate — albeit slightly overwhelming — experience of sharing a cab over the San Francisco-Oakland Bay Bridge with the VP of Marketing for a very large home goods company. The conversation inevitably veered toward what I do and, upon discovering I worked for an advertising agency, what my agency was like.
Secretly hoping to get a foot in the door for some new digital business, I quickly set to giving her the list of amazing things our agency could do and the attributes that set us apart from the rest. There was only one problem: My explanation, while factual, wasn’t amazing or very compelling. Long story short, I got the business card, but not the follow up.
So while the business deal wasn’t struck, I came away with the discovery of a monumental problem: I didn’t know how to sell the company I so enjoyed being a part of.
Fellow Atlanta biz MailChimp invited FortyFour Director of Analytics Ryan Anderson to chat data. In marketing it’s tempting to collect an endless bounty of data and attempt to pull conclusions from there, Anderson says — but that isn’t necessarily the best practice. Read the whole MailChimp interview here and don’t forget to check out Anderson’s blog post (also about data! What a guy) here.
We’re so excited to see our partner CREDO get recognized for all the great work it’s doing supporting progressive causes. We’re not the only ones impressed, either. Fast Company published a piece applauding the company’s philanthropic efforts, as directed by its clientele. FortyFour’s contributions — including content, design, and video work — also appear in the article. We’re proud our contributions could help propel this brand’s growth, especially when paired with such good causes.
Clear, consistent communication helps build trust between brands and customers. If a brand doesn’t seriously embrace a hard-lined style guide, it can come across as sloppy or unprofessional. Get your message across by establishing a defined, concise brand style guide and disperse it throughout the company to maintain compelling copy. Teach everyone from junior marketers to senior executives to follow the same rules, and your brand’s voice will be recognizable in all company communications.
FortyFour has a standard approach for developing brand style guides. Our rules include:
Pick a base style
It’s an unnecessary headache and time-suck to create a brand style guide from scratch, so lay a foundation with a pre-existing, somewhat common style. No one style is superior to the rest, just make sure you’re consistent. If you go with Chicago Manual Style, that means serial commas are standard. If you go Associated Press Style (which is industry standard in journalism), they are not. This ensures all content under the brand umbrella, including promotional materials as well as external and internal communication, is consistent. Continue reading
Our agency is excited to announce further growth efforts in the e-commerce sphere. We now employ 10 developers specifically certified with the leading, enterprise-class e-commerce platform, Magento. Magento is written in PHP (hypertext preprocessor), a popular open-source, general-purpose scripting language malleable for web development. One in every four online businesses operate on Magento, making our team’s finesse all the more valuable. With so many developers on staff well-versed on this crucial platform, we can tend to clients’ needs even better, while keeping their brands’ practice as modern as possible.
FortyFour banded with Exide Technologies to revamp the battery brand’s entire website, alongside new brand guidelines for the company as a whole. We also developed several human resources videos and marketing campaigns, among other contributions. Read more about our work with Exide here.
The top casual dining destination asked FortyFour to revitalize its 70-year-old brand. We were so excited to breathe fresh life into the Americana favorite and attract new customers in the process. We worked closely to modernize Shoney’s across social media channels, as well as outside the digital realm with in-store menus, to-go cups, and billboard treatments. Read more about our work with Shoney’s here.
Our agency has been steering the digital presence for customizable Coke bottle program, Shareacoke.com, so it makes sense we’re merging it with the Coke store. Now all personalizable Coke bottles, as well as other Coke goods such as apparel and collectables, are available at one umbrella site. It’s not just bottles anymore.
Our agency expands beyond traditional advertising copywriting with a new, dedicated content team. The department will tackle content strategy and editing services, among other content needs, to better ensure surpassing clients’ expectations. We plan to use our content team as a force to further propel FortyFour forward in the digital space.
