The Hive Awards

Winners Profile #8: Mint.com’s Aaron Forth on the Importance of UX

Alan Wolk — Thu, 27 May 2010 16:55:54 +0000

"User Experience (UX) is where strategy must begin for consumer-oriented businesses.” – Aaron Forth, Director of Product Design at Intuit’s Personal Finance Group

UX has been a key driver behind the development of Mint.com, the leading online personal finance site. Aaron Forth oversees Mint’s design team and product development team, which collaborate directly to ensure that the end results provide users with the highest level of features both online and across platforms without disturbing UX.

From the early stages of development, the Mint team designed easy to understand charts and graphical representations of people’s finances, making the previously intimidating and frustrating task of money management quick and easy. Early challenges included bringing meaning to an unknown brand in a security-sensitive industry and creating an experience free of negative emotions often associated with budgeting and financial management. Each decision has been intentional, down to the hue of the logo (which was lightened in order appeal more strongly to female users).

Mint intentionally strayed from the traditional pillars and grays of financial institutions, using color, animation and the general feel of the service to help to take the edge off. The call to action for visitors was shifted from joining an institution to highlighting the benefits the service provides: Mint helps you understand your money by aggregating your account data, thereby allowing visibility into your financial situation – with no work required. Additionally, in an industry where security concern was considered a barrier to entry, Mint instead highlighted that it offers a security benefit, not a risk – people are at a greater risk when they don’t have their accounts aggregated, because fraudulent activity often goes unnoticed. Mint even provides fraud and unusual activity notifications through text and email.

In just two years, Mint.com went from zero to 2 million users and an acquisition by Intuit for $170 million. The site now has over 3 million users and maintains product development with a continued focus on UX, listening to users’ requests and developing new features for the end goal of helping people save and do more with their money. This is apparent through the rapid series of features and services released in recent months, including: a popular Android app, integration with Get Satisfaction, support for 16,000+ financial institutions, the ability to track manual transactions, and the addition of Mint Answers. Money is for living and that’s just what Mint is helping people do.

Mint.com's Unsung Heroes include:

Aaron Patzer, Founder

Aaron Forth, Director of Product Design

Justin Maxwell, User Experience & Design Lead

Barb Chang, Group Product Manager

Matt Snider: Senior Software Engineer

Winners Profile #7: McCann Tel Aviv’s Nir Refuah on Opticana and My Saddest Friend

Alan Wolk — Wed, 12 May 2010 16:26:11 +0000

I'm Nir Refuah, VP Creative of the Digital Division in McCann Erickson israel, and I was in charge of the two campaigns that won a hive award (Opticana typing errors, Yellow's Saddest Facebook friend). I did them both 6 months ago in my former title – Head of Content Development, so I'll take the credit for the data and content strategy and get all the fame…;)

We are so happy winning this awards and the whole office got excited for about 5 minutes! (that’s a lot for a large busy agency in Israel) – so big big 10x, we are honored

I think both work represent McCann Israel's approach to the digital realm – creating a new channel of communication that is based on smart use of technology and human social behavior, and less on the "sale pitch" of the brand. We are trying to create a conversation between users, and not dictating it.

On this approach, the creative of Mccann digital devision is assembeled not from classic ad man type employees, but people from different disciplines:

Content developers & Journalists
IT and Algorithm Professionals
Group Instructors and Online debate professionals
Computer geeks & Bloggers

You can find more on me and some of our work (not the latest, though) at: http://www.canneszions.com/nir-refuah/

McCann Erickson Israel's Unsung Heroes are:

(for Opticana)

Eldad Weinberger - VP Creative
Nir Refuah - Head of Content Development
Ido Ben Dor - Creative Director
Nir Levi - Creative Director
Niv Kantor - Director of Web and IT Development
Viki Gendelman - Art Director
Sahar Lewenstein - Copywriter
Orit Rahmani - VP Clients
Shahar Ben Naim - Account Director
Chen Biran - Account Manager
Tal Israeli - Account Manager
Noa Siton - Account Manager
Shira Levy - Strategic Planner
Merav Kanat - Strategic Planner
Lion Dada - McCann Digital
Dimitry Katz - Web Programmer
Dan Efter - Web Programmer
Shay Maya - Web Designer
Guy Zaban - Flash Designer

(for My Saddest Friend)

Eldad Weinberger - VP Creative
Nir Refuah - Head of Content Development
Nir Levi - Creative Director
Niv Kantor - Director of Web and IT Development
Galia Kedem - Art Director
Maayan Froind - Art Director
Asaf Zelicovitch - Copywriter
Yoav Hebel - Copywriter
Dana Blum - Creative Content
Orit Rahmani - VP Clients
Reut Frenkel - Account Supervisor
Benny Yosef - Account Manager
Shira Levy - Planning Director
Dan Weinstein - Strategic Planner
Miriam Moshinsky - Digital Designer
Gur Shalom - McCann Digital
Lion Dada - McCann Digital
Ron Rochman - McCann Digital
Barak Cohen - Digital Studio
Keren Mantzur - Digital Studio

Winners Profile #6: The BeanCast Podcast – It’s All In The Debate

Alan Wolk — Mon, 03 May 2010 13:18:23 +0000

I start podcasting to be famous.

That's not what I told myself, of course. I had lots of good excuses about wanting to debate smart people and offer useful content for my clients. But you really can't start a podcast without somewhere in the back of your mind thinking that the whole thing might make you a celebrity of sorts.

Now two years into the endeavor, I supposed I'm better known. I certainly have a good product and my address book is filled with people I admire, who seem to share a mutual admiration. People are even listening to the show. But am I famous? Not so much.

So why do I continue to put in all the hours each week (10-15 hours a week at least) to produce a show good enough to win a Hive Award?

I've thought a lot about this recently. And what has become my one driving force for doing the program is surprising to me, because it doesn't directly benefit my business and has very little to do with my own participation.

Each week a range of influential bloggers, journalists and ad executives eagerly gather via a Skype call that I host not because of me, but because of each other. They want to debate and discuss advertising issues with their peers. They hunger for each other's insights. And in hosting these calls I've become aware just how deep this unmet desire to "share notes" really is in our industry.

There is literally no other venue where ad people can meet regularly and talk one-on-one about the state of our business.

Forums come close. Comments on the news and blogs sites are a pretty good outlet. Conferences offer tidbits of conversation here or there. But beyond that, there really is no formal opportunity to talk with one's peers and hear, in-depth, what people you respect are thinking right now.

The advertising world is so locked into push communications and competition with each other, that we have forgotten the value of relationship. And what The BeanCast has shown is that engaging your peers regularly on the issues facing us makes us all better at our jobs. It breaks down needless walls and helps us to make sense, collectively, of where the BS line is and what the future may hold.

In spite of myself, this show has become an important part of the advertising landscape. And I'm humbled to be recognized. But if anyone deserves this award, it's the men and women who were smart and brave enough to realize the value of coming on this program each week to share their thoughts. To my guests! Thanks for trusting in this vision.

Bob Knorpp is the host of The BeanCast Marketing Podcast

Winners Profile #5:Chemo and Vino – My First Trophy Since HIgh School Speech And Debate

Alan Wolk — Thu, 29 Apr 2010 01:10:09 +0000

So check me out; I won an award for my blog!

As you can imagine, I am both thrilled and humbled. However, I was caught a bit off guard when the Hive Awards asked the winners to post something about the inspiration for starting a blog. I have always thought that question was something akin to “Why do think anyone cares about the cheese sandwich you had for lunch?” Indeed, I too once thought blogging was not unlike producing a one man stage production; the ultimate in egotism. So why did I start my written version of “Just Jack”?

Well, cancer does that kind of thing to you. It makes you want to offer some grand gesture to the world. Maybe it comes from that feeling of “holy crap, I almost died!”? Suddenly you feel that some higher being has a purpose for you, since they let you linger on the planet a bit longer. You want to fulfill some kind of obligation to your version of the man upstairs. Maybe even buy a little more time in this world via karma. But more likely, I think this desire to communicate a big message is a need to leave your stamp on the earth. The thought that someday, no one alive will remember you is a difficult one to stomach. When I’m gone, will there be anything left behind? Any reason for another human being to think of me? Because if there’s not, then what the hell am I doing here in the first place? That thought is really damn troubling and taps my eternal regret for taking a class in Existentialism in college. Anyway, I think that’s where I got started.

What propelled me to keep going was a need for company to my misery. I just wanted to kvetch with people my own age who were going through the same thing I was. I wanted to ask questions about insomnia and neuropathy and, truth be told, AstroGlide. (Yep, surgical menopause can leave you pretty dry in the nether regions.) There were numerous great books out there to cheer me on to survivorship. Plenty of stories of beating the odds. However, all of these memoir type offerings only dealt with the head game when it comes to cancer. Now the havoc that treatment wreaks on your noggin is profound and definitely deserves many lines of print. But I longed for someone to tell me how the hell to take a shower without getting my pump and chemo line wet. (Well placed Saran Wrap and a hand held shower attachment. Then engage in a game of naked shower Twister.) I wanted answers. Details. Concrete info I could use to fight this crappy disease and all the side effects that come bundled with it. And I found what I was looking for on Planet Cancer.

Planet Cancer is a social media site for young adults with cancer. I like to call it “Facebook for the Fucked”. Here I could create a page to tell my story and post questions about Avastin and bloody noses. (Use a neti pot!) I even found some butt cancer brethren right here in Chicago. Huzzah! Planet Cancer also offers members an easy blogging platform, so you can share your thoughts to a limited or public group of fellow tumory folk. I started getting comments from young cancer fighters from all over the world, thanking me for addressing the down and dirty aspects of treatment. I started voicing those moments when you are trapped in the bathroom with an incredibly painful bout of constipation, and despite an incredible support network of friends and family, you feel utterly and completely alone. Guess what? Lots of patients get plugged up from chemo and want answers too. They’re just mortified to talk about it. (Keep some soft fiber in your daily diet. Oatmeal is good. Soft on the entrance and the exit. Get some DucoLace from your doc and keep the dreaded enema apparatus on hand for extreme emergencies. Trust me, you will be in no shape to make your way to a 24 hour Walgreens in this condition.)

What keeps me going is a desire to document my journey and try to make even a tiny bit of sense out of it. I also have a need to shake my dark feelings and humorous anecdotes out of my brain and into the laps of folks who also need kinship. But most of all, it’s the feedback. The heartfelt messages from survivors thanking me for articulating what they were feeling, but couldn’t express. The DMs that say, “Thank God I’m not the only one!” Even a simple “You rock” tweet, makes me smile.

Many, many friends and readers have encouraged me to write a book. After long consideration, I honestly intend to do so. I just had to figure out how and why my book would be different from the zillions of other “I beat cancer and you can too!” stories. With the help of a myriad of seminars at SXSW and old fashioned horse sense from my pals, I think I have a handle on it. But nothing will replace the joy of immediacy in my blog. When I’m feeling post chemo queasy and pissed off late at night, I need only put my thoughts to screen. Usually, within an hour someone gives me a “Me too. This blows!” or “Try some peppermint tea or ginger candies”.

My cancer is inoperable. At this point in time, the plan is to do chemo for the rest of my life. We basically zap the crap out of my mets to keep them at bay for as long as possible. Or until someone invents a procedure or conducts a clinical trial that might offer me a curative option. While many would look at this as a dire and intolerable situation, I do not. I see it as a constant supply of material. And further justification in drawing my initials in every wet patch of Chicago’s concrete.

This post first appeared on the Hive Award-winning Chemo & Vino blog, written by Chicago's own Chris Blumer

Winners Profile #4: uTest Software Testing Blog

Alan Wolk — Mon, 26 Apr 2010 20:15:10 +0000

Last week, we found out that our humble little Software Testing Blog won the Hive Award at SXSW as the top business software blog. We’re honored to make this prestigious list, along with brands we love such as HowStuffWorks, Nokia, Nike, HBO and About.com.

Part of the reason this blog has been so successful in the past year is how infrequently we talk about ourselves (ugh, boring). Well, I’m allowing myself to break that rule briefly so I can thank the people who have made our blog what it is today.

Our in-house team (Stanton, Mike, Jenny and Peter) for their tireless efforts and talented writing about everything from mobile apps to social media to software testing to crowdsourcing trends.

Our guest bloggers from the uTest community who have written passionately about everything from mobile testing to QA in agile environments to the evolving roles of testers.

Our Testing The Limits guests (including James Whittaker, Matt Heusser, James Bach, Michael Boltonand Jon Bach) who have not only tolerated our wide range of questions — from the insightful to the inane — but joined in with good humor, wit, eloquence and intellect.

I’ll end this little Oscar speech before the orchestra starts playing me off stage. Suffice it to say, we love writing for you; we’ll keep scouring every corner of the world (virtual and physical) for fresh topics and angles about anything related to software; and we’ll keep reminding ourselves why we’ve had this success: we write stuff that you seem to enjoy reading. We now return you to your regularly scheduled programming.

This post, written by Matt Johnston, originally appeared on the uTest Software Testing Blog

uTest's Unsung Heroes include:

Matt Johnston - VP of Marketing and Community

Stanton Champion - Marketing Manager

Mike Brown - Content Manager

Peter Shih - Community Manager

Jennifer Moebius - PR Manager

Vadim Kisen - Sr Software Architect

The team at Boston Interactive