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Basecamp Rebrand(basecamp.com)

almost 4 years ago from Liam F, Designer

  • Jaime S, almost 4 years ago

    I don't get the sense that this is much of a rebrand - they've just changed the logo and their color palette, but I suppose Basecamp has always had a fairly light and utilitarian brand. They're definitely not a design driven organization.

    I learned somewhat recently that they don't do mockups at all – their process is to design as the designers write the markup for the page, and frankly the outcome is that their visual design leaves something to be desired, imo. There's a disconnect for me here when I'm reading about how basecamp simplifies and streamlines your work process on a cluttered and visually noisy page.

    3 points
    • Ben GiffordBen Gifford, almost 4 years ago

      Well, that process sounds fascinating! From the feedback loop perspective, it's hard to argue against creating something real and validating it immediately (assuming you have good processes for assessing feedback, and it doesn't just sink promising things immediately).

      Jaime, Is there a writeup you can point me to about their process?

      0 points
      • Jaime S, almost 4 years ago

        Yeah I'm not sure how much validating they do. My opinion of their design team is that they seem more like front-end engineers than designers, and I'm not a fan of DHH's insistence that designers must know how to code, but I digress. Their process seems like it works well for their company, and I have to appreciate that DHH has been an outspoken leader for remote work. He's just not someone I look to for design thinking.

        I learned this all from a twitter conversation, but I was able to find an interesting writeup on their processes at Basecamp: https://m.signalvnoise.com/how-we-structure-our-work-and-teams-at-basecamp/

        I think the thing that interests me most here is their cycles, with incorporated down time. Sounds nice!

        1 point
        • Ben GiffordBen Gifford, almost 4 years ago

          Thanks for sharing that article. It's impressive—and unsurprising at this point given their track record, I suppose—to see how much thought they've invested in getting the working "organism" right: the stress put on scoping, the organic format of team-building and execution, the flex time in between that allows for reflection and following up ideas found in the working cycle.

          I've found that the sprint-rest-sprint nature of agency work addresses some of the fatigue that embedded product teams often face; cool to see Basecamp injecting a similar break in to their process.

          In addition to allowing time to poke at ideas stumbled upon during the last work cycle (which is often the most fruitful time), it ensures no time wasted context-switching between execution and strategic mid-cycle.

          0 points