I don't like shameless corporate bragging in blogs, but for me this is a really big landmark, and raises some interesting thoughts about the European interactive agency model, so I'm going to indulge myself...
Since 1999 when I joined Conchango, we have aimed to develop a design and branding capability that was of equal strength and depth to that of our technology offering. This is what we now call the Interactive Media team.
The idea being that when you, as a single team, conceive, design and build something, considering all the aspects of user interaction, brand, functionality and how it will get built; it would be better than if a technology company had simply inherited a ‘screen design’ from a marketing agency, or a specification from a ‘usability’ company.
This aspect of what we do is highly competitive and demanding, and although we have done great work in this area, it has always been difficult to get people to think of Conchango as being as good at user experience and design as it always has been at technology and strategy.
I think people tend to think that if you're jack of all trades, you're master of none; but we knew innately that we were very strong at it. If you're reading the other blogs on this site, you'll also see how strong our technology teams are.
Now, we have third-party backing from Forrester, the research and analysis company.
Forrester research assessed 16 different companies in Europe, spoke to them, assessed the work they had done, and talked to their clients.
Conchango came out as ‘clear leaders of the pack’ against some of the most respected companies in the game, including AKQA, Agency.com and LB Icon.
The report even cites our "Community Day" as one of the reasons it likes our approach – so big up to Iyas Al Qasem on that one! The first time Community Day has been mentioned in Forrester research, I guess! For the uninitiated, Community Day is a once every 6 weeks event where people are encouraged to leave client work and talk to each other, share ideas and develop new thinking on topics as diverse as user experience, retail, Oracle, SQL Server and mobility.
So in short... we're very happy to know that we're doing it all right. Let's just hope we don't get complacent! It's interesting that we were revising our design process just as Forrester were reviewing the old one... Hmmm, now what do we do?! "If it ain't broke?" - I don't know... equally, "you can't stand still!".
And a massive well done to all those in the I.M.team whose work and dedication made this possible.
And all the business & technology team members who have worked to integrate user-centred processes and methods into their day to day work.
Anyone who wants to know more about user-centred approaches and interactive design and branding, we’ll be organising a ‘boot camp’ in the next two months. Please drop me a line if you’re interested in attending.
And here's that link again!....
http://www.forrester.com/Research/Document/Excerpt/0,7211,39424,00.html