DesignHammer is headed back to Washington DC this week for NTEN's 2017 Nonprofit Technology Conference, the nonprofit sector’s signature technology event, assembling over 2,000 nonprofit professionals from around the world.

This week Stephen and I will be attending the hippest marketing conference in the southeast: High Five 2017. Hosted by the AMA Triangle, the largest marketing association between D.C. and Atlanta, and the American Marketing Association’s Chapter of the Year for the last two consecutive years.

Call them resolution, intentions, or self improvements, now is the time of year many people set goals in the personal and professional lives. At DesignHammer, we are constantly striving to improve our process so we can help our clients overcome business obstacles with a better return on investment.

Part of the job for Business development is getting out the office. To this end we have been attending, sponsoring, and presenting at conferences in the southeast since 2010 from Drupal GovCon in Maryland to Drupalcamp Atalnta in Georgia. A new one for us, Stephen Pashby and I are representing DesignHammer at php[world] 2016 at the Sheraton Premiere at Tyson’s Corner in the Washington, D.C. area this week.

Last week Michael Nicholson, DesignHammer’s newest employee, inquired as to the symbolism of the company’s logo. A number of us shared our thoughts behind the meaning of our iconic cube.

Two of our recent WordPress projects have been recognized by the Academy of Interactive and Visual Arts (AVIA) with W³ Awards for 2016.

Many clients contemplating a website redesign ask us how we would create a user friendly website for them. The most obvious questions we ask in return are “who are your users” and “what do they want to do?” This leads us to the often underutilized field of website usability.

Websites are often likened to field of architecture, whether in describing content organization (i.e. site architecture) or the act of “building a website” akin to that of a structure. Two of America’s greatest architects, Louis Henry Sullivan and Frank Lloyd Wright, opined on the concepts of form and functions. Inquire with either of these masters and they would undoubtedly say you need to understand the purpose, function, and intended audience before you can focus on appearance. So why is this not the norm in website design and development projects?

Stephen and David prepare for DrupalCon North America, the largest Drupal Event in the world, as well as for New Orleans, the conferences host city for 2016. They are ready to learn the latest about Drupal, connect with prospects, meet current clients, prospects and vendors, enjoys the food, famous cocktails, and unique sites of the Crescent City.

Those of us in Sales and Business Development are always looking to close the next deal. Sometimes, walking away is really the better choice. Watch a video I collaborated on outlining ways agencies and clients can tank a website development project.