Arc90 is a strange animal. We’re part technology, part design (in all its forms), and part strategy and vision. Over the years, we’ve enjoyed some great relationships with our clients, in many cases spanning years. In truth, while our résumé paints a picture of a boutique consultancy, we’re a product shop at heart. Our clients just happen to retain us to flesh out, design and deliver game-changing products for them. And now with Kindling and Readability, Arc90 finds itself maturing into a bona fide product shop.
One of the most important lessons we’ve learned in designing and building product end-to-end is that great product demands great content. We’ve always believed that a great experience leads to a great relationship between user and product. And a great relationship is built upon great communication. The way a product speaks to a user and the information it shares – whether instructional or substantive – can make or break that relationship.
Watching from afar as the term “content strategy” began its ascent, we couldn’t help but look at one another and say, “Hey, we do a lot of that.” You can’t have good product without good content strategy. While we patted ourselves on the back for sort of being in the mix, we knew we could (and should) put more energy and focus on content.
Today, I’m happy to announce that Jeffrey MacIntyre, formerly of Predicate, is joining Arc90 as a Lead Strategist. Jeffrey has been working with us as an advisor on Readability for the past few months. Ever since we started working together, we’ve realized just how much we’ve enjoyed playing in the intersection where his skills and ours meet. Jeffrey will have a hand in both product and client efforts, as well as helping us build out the content strategy and information architecture practice within Arc90.
We couldn’t be happier to have Jeffrey join our ranks. Be sure to read his two-part perspective on product, content and where we plan to take things.
Welcome, Jeffrey!