Perspective
Opinions we are willing to be held to. Longer, slower pieces about how digital work is bought, sold and argued over.
Sixty Years of Marketing Research Says Growth Comes From Strangers, Not Loyalty
The Ehrenberg-Bass Institute's decades of research keep landing on the same uncomfortable point: brands grow by reaching people who barely know them, not by deepening relationships with people who already buy.
What the Research on Diverse Teams and Creative Work Actually Holds Up To Scrutiny
McKinsey's diversity research is widely cited and genuinely contested. The honest version of the story is more interesting than either side of the argument alone.
What Actually Predicts a Website Underperforming, According to Google's Own Case Studies
Real published case studies keep landing on the same two Core Web Vitals thresholds, and the conversion gains from clearing them are bigger than most redesigns manage.
AI Generated Images Tested Just As Trustworthy As Real Photography, and That Should Worry You a Little
Nielsen Norman Group's own recent study found no meaningful trust gap between AI generated and real stock photography, when readers didn't know which was which.
The redesign that should not happen
Most redesigns are a change of subject. The site is not the problem, but it is the only thing in the room that anyone has permission to change.
Nobody buys a discovery phase
Clients do not want to pay for thinking. They will happily pay for a decision. The difference is entirely in what you hand over.
Against the words "digital transformation"
A phrase broad enough to describe everything is a phrase that commits to nothing, and it is usually doing exactly the job it was hired for.
Scope is a promise, not a document
A scope that has to be enforced has already failed. The useful version is the one both sides would describe the same way from memory.
Let's build something that lasts.
Or just send the URL of the thing that is bothering you.