Simpatico Perspectives

Q&A with Evan and Tamara: Creating a Flexible, Modular WordPress Framework for M.M.LaFleur’s “M Dash”

Tell us a little bit about your client, M.M.LaFleur. What makes them different from other women’s clothing retailers? Tamara: M.M.LaFleur’s brand is perhaps best described through their signature hashtag, #BetterThingsToDo: a nod to the fact that professional women have better things to do than spend hours shopping for workwear. As their website states, “That’s why… Read more »

By Tamara Olson
The principal of Simpatico and wearer of many hats, Tamara is a UX designer, WordPress enthusiast and developer, and project lead.

So Long, 2019: A Year in Review at Studio Simpatico

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… Read more »

By Tamara Olson
The principal of Simpatico and wearer of many hats, Tamara is a UX designer, WordPress enthusiast and developer, and project lead.

How do I prepare for my first kickoff meeting with Studio Simpatico?

Greetings, new client! On behalf of the entire team here at Studio Simpatico, I’m thrilled that we’ll be working together, and look forward to embarking on this exciting journey with you. Whatever the nitty-gritty details of a specific engagement might be, we always approach the design process with the same general three phases: An in-depth… Read more »

By Tamara Olson
The principal of Simpatico and wearer of many hats, Tamara is a UX designer, WordPress enthusiast and developer, and project lead.

How do you approach product design?

Learn more about the steps Studio Simpatico takes when tackling UX and product design challenges, and how our deliverables move from low to high fidelity through close, iterative collaborations with our clients.

By Tamara Olson
The principal of Simpatico and wearer of many hats, Tamara is a UX designer, WordPress enthusiast and developer, and project lead.

What is UX Design?

Every young startup is on the hunt for a talented UX designer. But shorthand acronyms like these might leave some wondering, “What exactly IS UX?” Tamara tackles the elusive question with an unlikely metaphor.

By Tamara Olson
The principal of Simpatico and wearer of many hats, Tamara is a UX designer, WordPress enthusiast and developer, and project lead.

Why Are Emails Still Stuck in the 90’s?

Studio Simpatico’s Amber Weinberg takes an academic look at why we’re still writing TABLE, TR, and TD tags for our email layouts in 2019.

By Amber Weinberg
Front-end developer extraordinaire Amber has been making websites since the mid-90s when “frames, tables and animated GIFs were the cool kids.”

A Day in the Life of Simpatico’s Lead Creative

This week’s interview is with our creative director – Sinan Imre. Sinan talks about founding the studio with Tamara and how he balances his design vision with his clients’.

By Amber Weinberg
Front-end developer extraordinaire Amber has been making websites since the mid-90s when “frames, tables and animated GIFs were the cool kids.”

A Day in the Life of a Simpatico Art Director

This week’s interview is with our newest addition to the Simpatico team – Bruce Viemeister. Bruce is a fantastic designer and talks about his love of pups and what it’s like working at different types of agencies.

By Amber Weinberg
Front-end developer extraordinaire Amber has been making websites since the mid-90s when “frames, tables and animated GIFs were the cool kids.”
A lighted sign with a forward arrow and a handicamp symbol

How to make a website accessible or “ADA compliant”

Accessibility matters in every step of the web design process from the design itself, to the code, to the content you add. Let’s take a look at some things you can do to improve your site’s accessibility.

By Amber Weinberg
Front-end developer extraordinaire Amber has been making websites since the mid-90s when “frames, tables and animated GIFs were the cool kids.”

Q&A with Amber & Sinan: Imagining a dynamic, animated, hexagon-rich Onera.com

After a close collaboration with Dana and the team at B2B startup Onera over the last two months, we’re proud to announce the launch of their new, animation-rich, easy-to-manage marketing website built on WordPress. Today, we’ll be chatting with this project’s design lead Sinan Imre and development lead Amber Weinberg about their collaboration bringing the… Read more »

By Tamara Olson
The principal of Simpatico and wearer of many hats, Tamara is a UX designer, WordPress enthusiast and developer, and project lead.

A Day in the Life of a Simpatico Developer

Our next interview for our “Day in the life” series is with one of our developers, Evan Thompson. Evan has been with Simpatico for over a year now. Today, he talks about what kinds of development projects make him happy and why he loves working at Studio Simpatico.

By Amber Weinberg
Front-end developer extraordinaire Amber has been making websites since the mid-90s when “frames, tables and animated GIFs were the cool kids.”

How do you build custom WordPress websites?

We build and maintain sites for our clients using WordPress, and specialize in building custom themes. We use our rich background in user experience to ensure that the WordPress back-end (where you login to update your content) is as user-friendly as the front-end (what your users see).

By Tamara Olson
The principal of Simpatico and wearer of many hats, Tamara is a UX designer, WordPress enthusiast and developer, and project lead.

Why do you love Sketch so much? (Designer Edition)

We get a lot of questions about the software and tools we use to build our projects. When it comes to web and app design, Sketch is the one we can’t do without.

By Sinan Imre
As Creative Director at Studio Simpatico, Sinan is happy when building brands, designing product interfaces, and using Sketch.

A Day in the Life of Simpatico’s Principal

This week we meet the big kahuna – Tamara Olson herself! Tamara talks about running her own agency while maintaining her skills and interest in the web.

By Amber Weinberg
Front-end developer extraordinaire Amber has been making websites since the mid-90s when “frames, tables and animated GIFs were the cool kids.”

What is Caching?

Today we’ll look at the different kinds of caching, including some plugins to add to your site once you’ve finished with development and ready to take full advantage of caching.

By Amber Weinberg
Front-end developer extraordinaire Amber has been making websites since the mid-90s when “frames, tables and animated GIFs were the cool kids.”

What is Simpatico’s design process?

As a small shop, we’re committed to being flexible about deviating from our typical process when we think it will produce better results for our clients. That said, our approach almost always follows the same overall three-step structure.

By The Simpatico Team
We are a creative design and digital studio based in Manhattan. We collaborate with clients who need help creating experiences that engage and delight their audiences.

A Day in the Life of a Simpatico Intern

Our first interviewee, Corey Donenfeld, is returning for his second summer as Studio Simpatico’s star web design and development intern. Corey talks about getting started in web design and development, and what it’s like being both a student and a professional at the same time.

By Amber Weinberg
Front-end developer extraordinaire Amber has been making websites since the mid-90s when “frames, tables and animated GIFs were the cool kids.”

How do you communicate with your clients?

There are so many things we love about being a small studio, and one of them is how direct and transparent we can be with our clients.

By Sinan Imre
As Creative Director at Studio Simpatico, Sinan is happy when building brands, designing product interfaces, and using Sketch.

A Day in the Life of a (Remote) Simpatico Developer

Tamara here, taking over from Amber for this last interview since our interviewee is … Amber Weinberg herself, remote Simpatico developer, single-handedly holding down the fort in Simpatico’s Nashville, TN office! In true #fangirl fashion, I’ve been following Amber’s work and writing for almost a decade. I can say with great certainty you’d be hard… Read more »

By Tamara Olson
The principal of Simpatico and wearer of many hats, Tamara is a UX designer, WordPress enthusiast and developer, and project lead.

Guide: WordPress Admin Walkthrough

Welcome To Your New Website! That was a lot of work, wasn’t it? New websites come with strategy, content, design, development, and SEO to name a few. But once the project is “finished” (and let’s face it, a website is never truly finished!) and launched, then what? Do you want to edit your own content… Read more »

By Amber Weinberg
Front-end developer extraordinaire Amber has been making websites since the mid-90s when “frames, tables and animated GIFs were the cool kids.”

ScaleUp Mag interviews Tamara Olson

In their latest issue, ScaleUp Mag featured this interview with Simpatico co-founder Tamara Olson.

By The Simpatico Team
We are a creative design and digital studio based in Manhattan. We collaborate with clients who need help creating experiences that engage and delight their audiences.
Best Web Designers in New York City