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Warm holiday greetings, everyone!
It’s coming up on six years since I dove headfirst into the uncharted waters of self-employment, and three since Sinan and I teamed up to co-found Studio Simpatico. It’s been a nonstop, exciting, dizzying, rich whirlwind of experiences and growth. I’ve become so passionate about small business, and so deeply appreciative and aware of what a (rare) privilege it is to work with such a talented, humble, self-motivated group of experts. In this “year in review” post, I’m thrilled to share with you what Simpatico has been up to in 2019, as well as what’s in store for us in the new year.
First Things First: Adding an Amber
The year starts off with a bang: Freelance WordPress developer Amber Weinberg (she’d been our go-to “secret weapon” for years) joins me, Sinan, Evan, and Corey as Simpatico’s fifth employee. We hold a deep dive team-building workshop with the inspiring Carol Sommerfield of Frogs Leap Consulting to facilitate meaty conversations about our team dynamic, and what we want Studio Simpatico to be.
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So excited to join the @studiosimpatico team and sad to be going home today!!
The development team keeps busy launching some badass “year in review” pages for two of our longtime clients, Haven Life and 3DR. Meanwhile, our rockstar intern Corey returns for another year of designing, developing, and solving Rubik’s cubes in record time.
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Winter
As the temperatures continue to drop in NYC, Evan and I escape the winter weather for a few days and head to Los Angeles where we host a kickoff to review brand strategy findings and recommendations for a wellness company.
Meanwhile, the team launches a new identity and marketing website for Landing Rock, a suite of new financial products. (We also partnered with their in-house development team on the UX/UI and front-end development for the digital products.)
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In February, we excitedly roll out new visual identities and websites for NYC legal startup LawCloud (formerly iDisclose, Crowdfund Insider) and public speaking and media training company Throughline.
It is no exaggeration to say we couldn’t have done it without you. You and the Simpatico team are the greatest!!!
— Mr. Media Training (@MrMediaTraining) April 8, 2019
On the consumer side, we kick off a long-term partnership with MM.LaFleur, helping them plan, design, and build a new WordPress infrastructure for their flagship editorial publication, The MDash.
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As the year picks up, Sinan and I are flummoxed by the number of websites using illustrated blob people.
can a designer please explain this trend to me? pic.twitter.com/GbfFfgqdBh
— Jimmy Daly (@jimmy_daly) June 4, 2019
Spring
Meanwhile, back at the ranch studio, we manage to score the top result on Google for “WordPress agency NYC,” and business is growing.
While the development team is busy collaborating with our favorite partner Six Pony Hitch to implement their creative marketing site solution for Patient One, Sinan is hard at work creating a representative identity for NYC startup Altana Trade. Altana Trade uses AI to help clients gain insight from global economic data to realize better trade. Despite being a data and technology company, Altana did not want to lose sight of the inherently human origin of trade and its influence throughout history. We sourced images of trade maps and historic centers of global trade from the Library of Congress. When combined with a contemporary font stack, responsive layout, and a modern color treatment, these images became the focal point of Altana.ai’s visual language.
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As a studio, we also begin learning more about cryptocurrency to help inform our branding and website work with Velocity Markets, ShortHop, Altonomy, and Fireblocks.
In April, we’re excited to learn that Simpatico received a Gold Muse Award for our work with Effectual last year.
Congratulations @SimpaticoNYC for taking home the gold for your work on https://t.co/EhsQ4OPyi5 in the Muse Creative Awards – Best B2B Website. Your team earned it! It is a pleasure working with you! https://t.co/cvEHTC3F2G
— effectual (@effectualinc) April 17, 2019
As the temperatures start to rise and New York begins to thaw, we realize Sinan is drowning as Simpatico’s sole visual designer — it’s time to get him some help. An exhaustive search brings us the talented Bruce Viemeister (and his unforgettable dachsund, Pretzel).
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Summer
Summer: the season for lazy days at the beach … or, if you’re Studio Simpatico, beaucoup de website launches. The toasty summer of 2019 watches us:
Design a new identity and website for Fireblocks
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Design and build a website well optimized for search for Colorado law firm HSD Law
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Design a new identity and website for Altonomy
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We also develop a new website Ten To One Rum (design by Studio Institute), and partner with the Editorial team at Muscle and Fitness on a transformative new redesign, focusing on the lifestyle aspects of the brand (scheduled to launch in 2020).
And in the midst of all this … Sinan gets married (in Greece)!
Autumn
Amber helps us pick up our content marketing efforts. ICYMI: Check out our “Day in the Life” series! (Corey, Evan, Bruce, Tamara, Amber, Sinan)
And in important Simpatico Slack news: Keanu Reeves unexpectedly becomes the Studio Simpatico mascot and most-used emoji.
Meanwhile, the team stays busy with a rapid-fire series of launches:
We design and build a website for Onera, a B2B company that uses AI to power the modern commerce supply chain. Read more about how the hexagon took center stage in the redesign, and how design and development partnered successfully in this Simpatico Q&A with Amber and Sinan.
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We design and develop a new modern web presence for NYC architecture firm MBB Architects (well known for their work on St. Patrick’s Cathedral, among many other projects) to showcase their work and share information about the firm.
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We also:
- Partner with Gensler to develop their designs for Hudson Capital
- Design and build a new web presence for New York law firm Ellenoff Grossman & Schole LLP
- Rebuild the CMS for tech startup Intent
- Cheer as our designs for the new National Center for Science Education site come to life
- Push the bounds of what WordPress can do during a unique engagement with Unilever
- Design a unique new web presence for Pack Labs
We’re so grateful to @SimpaticoNYC for being such wonderful thought partners through this process. We LOVE the team there and cannot recommend you highly enough!
— National Center for Science Education (@NCSE) October 2, 2019
And that’s not all … in a stunning expose, Simpaticos reveal their favorite fonts, Sinan and Bruce continue consuming questionable amounts of Fruit by the Foot, and Evan gets engaged!
Approaching the Holidays
In November, our team returns to its UX roots with two large projects: redesigning the platforms for Bridge Marketing and Classroom Inc. Our team stays busy in the lead-up to Thanksgiving conducting usability audits, designing new flows, building wireframes, applying rich UI style guides to them, and recruiting for/conducting usability studies to validate our designs.
Lastly, following a delightful company holiday party at the Houndstooth Pub, our entire team sits down in person (thanks for making the trek, Amber!) to reflect on the year, our projects, our processes, and put together a plan and vision for 2020.
Looking Ahead
Come 2020, Sinan, Bruce, Amber, Evan, Corey and I are looking forward to:
- Starting the search for our seventh Simpatico (is it you?)
- Producing more great content on our blog for our readers and clients
- Getting swole with the folks at CALIBER as we help them with their identity and website (Bruce, Sinan and I are test-driving the app experience as part of our engagement, so don’t be intimidated if we’re looking a little buffer in the upcoming year)
- Continuing our commitment to web accessibility, and learning even more through our engagement with Microsoft and PromoteIQ
- Countless exciting brand identity, web design, and WordPress development engagements that will be kicking off in the new year
Reader, I couldn’t be more excited.
Happy new year!
Tamara
