Brave UX Guidebook

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Being Brave

A guide to why we’re here, what we believe, and how we make UX happen.

Our Mission

We are Brave, a User Experience agency that designs complex application interfaces.
We solve bigger problems, with better clients, a more rigorous strategy, and more adventurous execution.

Solve Bigger Problems

Our clients trust us when they’re looking to push the limits, grow, evolve, or try something new. When they want to push boundaries, think about possibilities, or think about their next step.

We think about users’ goals as much as we think about our clients’ goals. What do users need to do to succeed? And what about our clients? How do we make them look good to their bosses, to their users, to the design and tech communities?

It’s that empathy that sets us apart. It runs deep.

With Better Clients

We don’t just take on any work. We don’t just work with any client. We like to focus on tough problems and great clients. Subjective, yes, but you know it when you see it.

We succeed when we work with clients who care about UX, their own products, and progress. Intelligent, decisive people who aren’t afraid to try new things. People who respect us, want to learn, and aren’t satisfied with the status quo. People who want to do things better than they’re done today. Movers. Shakers. Winners.

With More Rigorous Strategy

Any agency can make a pretty design. That’s table stakes, but it’s not UX. We go beyond the pixels, and deep into the strategy and philosophy behind the decisions we make.

Research

We rely on research that points to the best practices, and where it doesn’t exist, we do our own. We conduct studies that help us better define the problems our clients face and hypotheses, prototypes, or solutions we create. We believe that better knowledge and more complete information lead to better outcomes, every single time.

Information Architecture

Just like you can’t build a house without a blueprint, you can’t build a good digital product without IA. We invest the time to create thoughtful, precise documentation, flows, and wireframes that actually solve our clients’ problems, accounting for visual hierarchy, user paths, and mapping out the layout for each unique screen and how the various components will appear on different devices or viewports.

For Brave, defensible IA is the foundation of our UX decisions and philosophy. It is both the sign and result of our best thinking, where our questions become answers and our most visionary ideas become realistic plans.

More Adventurous Execution

We’re not happy with good enough. We prefer great. And in that spirit, we push each other to try explore new ideas, constantly asking ourselves and each other, “is this possible?”

Our Visual Design

Make no mistake: design matters. Users often make irrational decisions, and deciding to use or not use your product may be based on whether they find it visually appealing.

We bring our wireframes to life with colors, textures, stroke weights, typography, photography, and iconography that aim to delight users. Our design is more than a coat of paint – it addresses aesthetic usability, interaction and animation patterns, and strives to push the limits of technology.

Development

At the end of the day, these designs have to work. And users have to use them, interact with them, and come back to them. We might as well make them happy.

We build interfaces meticulously, thinking first about the holistic system, and building the common structure and components to ensure it is lightweight, lean, and bug-free. The build is the culmination of the whole project, so the stakes are high.

Our team possesses the dev skills and fundamental understanding of business goals, the UX philosophy applied to the product, and the constraints or possibilities of the underlying technology. And from there, it’s just a matter of clean, reliable code bringing the whole thing to life.

Disclaimer: Code is not always part of our set of deliverables. Oftentimes, we hand over design files (with lots of documentation!) for our clients to build out the solutions on their end.

Our Values

At Brave, you’re going to meet great people. Learn, grow, and improve. Do great work. Explore and create. Ultimately, you’re going to love it here.

Meet Great People

You’ve got talent. It’s one of the reasons you’re here. And so does everyone else sitting (or standing) around you. But when we all work together, we can do extraordinary things.

We already talked about empathy, but it’s going to keep coming up. The reason we succeed is because we care about each other and our clients. We use our talents to make the team better as a whole and our projects better individually. We take the time to teach each other the things we know, and we listen to those who are teaching us. We care about making work easier and better for our colleagues, so we go the extra mile.

We have some of the smartest, most creative people in the city working at Brave, pushing the limits to accomplish greatness. We are small, but mighty. With a team of our size, every single person is vital to our success. We don’t have a B-Team. We wouldn’t have it any other way.

Learn, Grow, and Improve

We are lucky to work in UX, a field that is rapidly expanding, constantly changing, and always requiring new skills and thinking. For some, that kind of pace is too daunting. But for the Brave, it’s what gets us up in the morning.

Our whole team is hungry for knowledge and for testing the boundaries and limits of what is possible. We’re willing to try and fail, so long as we learn something. So long as we stay hungry, try hard, and keep growing.

That drive to learn and improve and grow is one of the most important things in finding the right fit for Brave. We don’t just want knowledge for ourselves, either. We educate our teammates on the nuances and theory behind what we do.

And we take it one step further — we educate our clients too. Because an informed client makes better decisions, builds a better product, and partners with us to tackle even more difficult UX problems. It’s a positive chain reaction that keeps us moving on this wild adventure.

Do Great Work

You know why we succeed every day? You know why our clients love us, trust us, and keep coming back? Because we approach our client projects, products, and problems with intent. Because we actually care about coming up with game-changing ideas that are sound and defensible from a strategic, visual, and technical perspective. That’s heavy. Let that sink in.

Our work takes brainpower, talent, and execution. It takes care, time, and passion. We put everything we’ve got into what we do. From ideation to execution. From reimagining UIs for existing apps to creating them from scratch. From complex websites to data-heavy app interfaces. From research to IA to visual design to development.

When inspiration strikes, we aren’t afraid to go beyond delivering client work. If we have a great idea and want to see it live, we don’t wait around for someone else to make it happen. We take on the challenge ourselves.

To date, our internal products include the following:

Explore and Create

Fundamentally, we’re creative professionals. We like art and engineering, design and dev, form and function. Curiosity comes hard-wired, and we love to solve problems.

We ask big questions like how and what if and what’s next? We challenge conventional ideas and try new things. We’re always curious and exploring, trying to push the limits beyond what we’ve already accomplished. We don’t stand still.

Because in this industry, it’s too easy to get left behind. And those who get left behind are the first ones picked off. So we don’t just like to keep pace, we like to lead. Because the path forward is forged by the Brave.

Love It

Life is too short to waste time doing something you don’t care about. We’re here because we love it. Because it matters to us. We spend full days at the office, dreaming up, designing, and building the next big thing. Constantly thinking about what could be and how we can make it happen.

We believe that anything worth doing is worth doing well, right, and with the full thrust of your heart and mind. And look, this isn’t just a cake walk. We solve big problems and have tough days. But we have each other, we have great clients, and at the end of the day, the hardest path can lead you to the highest peak. And the view from up here is extraordinary.

Our Work Life

If you want to do great work, it’s best to do it in an inspiring workspace that allows room for your creativity.

Logistics

We’ve customized a space so you can be surrounded by the people who care most about what you’re doing. A place where good energy, good people and good lunch options are the rule not the exception.

Welcome to Brave.

Our Office

Our office is located on the ninth floor of 1432 K St NW, Washington, DC 20005. Good old K Street. We’re on top of McPherson Square, right above the Pret a Manger. Beyond the park, we have incredible views of sunsets down K street, the Washington Monument, and on clear days, flights coming in and out of Reagan National. In the heart of downtown DC, we’ve made a wonderful home for ourselves.

Hours & The Daily Hustle

Our working hours have historically been 9:00 AM to 6:00 PM. Monday through Thursday, and 9:00 AM to 5:00 PM on Fridays. This policy has shifted slightly to allow for more flexibility, with an option to start work up to an hour early, beginning at 8:00 AM, on days where there are no conflicting meetings.

At 9:00 AM sharp, we start our day as a team with a morning huddle, doing a whip-around from teammate to teammate to understand what each person is working on, what meetings are happening that day, and any roadblocks, obstacles, or touchpoints we’ll need to navigate.

After huddle, we break and get to work. Not sure how else to put it: we get the damn job done.

We’re big on work-life balance. Working here means working hard during the day, and going home at a reasonable hour to enjoy your life.

Our Space

We’re really proud of our unique, custom office space. We’ve got a bright and beautiful lobby, greeting our clients as they step off the elevator. We have multiple, modular collaboration spaces with 4K displays and whiteboards on wheels for ideas big and small. And overlooking K street itself, , our dedicated workspace, that’s where the magic happens. We’ve all got mechanical standing desks that go up and down, depending on our mood and energy level.

By design, we’re very careful about how we use doors or closed spaces. We like to keep the different areas of our space open and flexible, consistent with our mindset about projects, working, and creativity. This kind of flexibility lets us easily re-configure our office layout depending on whether we need to set up for an event, optimal project communication, or for heads-down focus time.

That’s not to say it doesn’t have its drawbacks - sound travels, and it is important to figure out how best to focus, especially at crunch time. So whether it’s getting in your zone in your headphones, seeking refuge in a breakout space, or just asking your teammates to pretend you’re on another planet, we understand and respect that. Mars seems very productive this time of day.

Maybe it’s not for everyone, but it wasn’t designed to be. Our office was built specifically for us.

Attire

We have a casual dress code. It is acceptable for employees to wear jeans and hoodies, shorts and tees, or other casual attire, unless we’re (a) attending a work event, (b) seeing new clients, or (c) seeing clients that require more professional dress standards. We dress to the level expected of us.

Communication

Our Tone

We tend to communicate casually within our own organization. Though we joke a lot, we do not joke about race, color, religion, gender expression/identity, ethnicity, ancestry, national origin, sexual orientation, marital status, military or veteran status, age and/or disability. If you think your comment or joke would make someone uncomfortable, keep it to yourself. If someone tells you it’s offensive, apologize and don’t do it again. It’s pretty simple and will allow us to keep things casual but professional.

There are a few very important exceptions, when we’re more professional than casual:

With Our Clients

Everything that goes to a client needs to be professional. Part of our credibility comes from being smart, studied, and articulate, so our tone and language in meetings, emails, and other communications must reflect that.

When We Disagree

We also communicate with a professional tone when addressing conflict, differences of opinion, and providing/receiving feedback. It is ineffective to be anything but clear and objective when you’re talking about someone’s work or how someone bothered you. This is a promise: if you can maintain your professionalism under these circumstances, you will be a better, more effective team member every time.

Social Events

Important announcement: we aren’t robots. We like to have fun. The work we do is important to us, but it’s not the only thing that keeps us motivated or makes us feel passionate about working at Brave. We talk a lot about great people, and it takes time and effort to build that kind of trust, relationship, and culture where a team can hit its stride.

We make a point of enjoying each others’ company, taking a break from our work week in addition to time outside work.

Weekly Lunch

One day per week, Brave buys lunch and we sit down to eat together. It’s a time to disconnect from whatever we’re working on, ignore our emails and phone calls and texts, and just hang out.

We also use this time to reflect on the past week, and plan for the week ahead. We review a showcase of what everyone - yes, everyone - is working on, to celebrate our colleagues and to inspire each other.It’s our way of staying connected with each other on the nuances of our workflow that we might not have learned about otherwise.We also confirm and hash out what’s coming next in our Schedule, collectively as a team, including a long-range preview of upcoming projects and opportunities. While our UX discoveries might surprise us, our schedule shouldn’t.

Monthly Outing

Once a month, we do something fun outside the office. We try to do a variety of things: game night, team dinner, sporting events, volunteering, improv performances, and bring-the-whole-fam-BBQs. Again, we’re always looking for new ideas. Fun things that will break the monotony and give us an excuse to try something new.

Annual Retreat

There’s a whole world outside our office walls. Endless points of data for us to experience, which will not only help us cut loose and enjoy ourselves, but may just teach us something important too. After all, there are people to understand, natural and manmade beauty to observe, and devices/objects that may shape the way we view interactions. We’d be doing ourselves a disservice if we didn’t try to experience a world that inspires us to think more creatively.

These retreats don’t take place in boring hotel conference rooms. They don’t include uninteresting seminars with no-name keynote speakers and PowerPoint presentations.

Our retreats are about exploration. That’s at the soul of what Brave is.

Sometimes, we stay overnight. Other times, it’s a local day trip. We’ve taken trips as far as New Orleans and Nashville, and as close as Bluemont, Virginia. We’ve laser-tagged, mini-golfed, explored museums...we’ve even gone indoor skydiving!

Our Tools

So, how do we actually do the work we do? We’ve got tools, we’ve got processes, we’ve got habits. In your day to day life at Brave, here’s what you can expect to use.

Communication

Slack

Aside from in-person meetings or conversations, Slack is our primary means for communicating at Brave. As an instant messenger client, Slack lets us share files, ask questions, and occasionally (OK, pretty often) share a reaction GIF or emoji.

We use several channels for our communication in Slack. You can communicate 1-on-1 with your teammates, or participate in several channels, like:

Additionally, we have a lot of one-on-one and smaller group conversations within Slack, so that we can all be on the same page for smaller conversations or exchanges that don’t require a meeting or emails.

Gmail

We primarily use email for communicating with clients. Email is a great place for longform explanations and analysis. It’s a place where your tone should be professional, your grammar and syntax on-point, and your message/action items should be clear.

Every team member needs to actively monitor his or her email. Occasionally, clients will route an email directly to you. So, do yourself and your team a favor and check it regularly.

Zoom

When meeting with clients virtually, we use Zoom, our favorite platform for phone, video, and screen share conferencing. With a Google Calendar plugin, a Zoom link will automatically generate within the meeting invite, which makes it very convenient. We also use Zoom to record our meetings, and distribute links to our clients for review.

Storage

Dropbox

We use Dropbox for all client project assets, as well as for Brave internal, marketing, branding efforts, and products. Dropbox has better syncing and conflict management than Google Drive, making it a superior option for design file management, in particular.

Each client or project will have its own folder on Dropbox, but it is important to keep the files and assets as organized as possible, following the typical conventions we have used to date.

When sharing links from Dropbox, be sure to create a shareable link for client access.

Google Drive

We use Google Drive as a repository for notes, spreadsheets, and text files. Because of the sharing and real-time editing functionality, Google Drive offers the best workflow for sharing, updating, and collaborating on documents and worksheets.

Presentation

Figma

We create clickable, web-based prototypes with Figma. These prototypes are great for user testing, articulating a complex idea, or getting a sanity check from developers.

Tracking

Google Calendar

All meetings and appointments scheduled during the workweek must be updated on your Brave UX Google Calendar. Your teammates will use your calendar regularly while scheduling meetings with clients or team events, so it is crucial that you keep it as current as possible, to prevent double-booking or the need to cancel/reschedule.

Avaza

We use Avaza to track our high-level tasks, and our time spent working each day. At Brave, we track to the nearest 15 minutes, accounting for a minimum of eight (8) hours per day and 40 hours per week (including an hour tracked for weekly team lunch). When tracking time in Avaza, be descriptive with regard to your activity, accounting for the specific tasks you completed (either directly from the task card, or through a manual entry) and the time it took you for each; accurate time tracking is crucial so we can understand how our time is spent and how better to estimate future work.

We also use Avaza’s Schedule View, that breaks down our daily work responsibilities, our projects as they move through phases, and a general understanding of project progress and overall bandwidth. We review this on a weekly basis, providing additional context as necessary.

Production

Figma

Figma is our primary system design tool for visual mockups. Together with a Brave-curated set of Figma plug-ins, Figma allows us to create and manage complex design systems with consistent colors, modules, patterns, and even responsive reflow behaviors.

Sketch & Adobe XD

As the need of our clients arises, we will also use Sketch and XD. Both feature powerful tools for managing design systems, prescribing implementation behaviors, and providing for dynamic prototyping.

Adobe Illustrator

At Brave, we focus on Adobe Illustrator CC’s strengths: vector- and type-based artwork and illustrations, as well as brand, logo and iconography work.

Adobe Photoshop

We use Adobe Photoshop CC for what it does best - perfecting photos both real and imagined. It’s also great for any visual that relies on textures, and Photoshop assets often make an appearance within our Illustrator layouts and elsewhere.

Adobe InDesign

Adobe InDesign CC is our workhorse for printed deliverables with a ton of content, like end-of-year reports, articles and program guides.

Protopie, AfterEffects, and Adobe Animate

Critical interactions need elegant, thoughtful motion, and this trio of tools help us bring our UX to life. They each bring something unique to the table; Protopie has powerful, data-driven interactions with a high degree of polish; AfterEffects seamlessly blends video, motion and 3D effects together; and Animate is a vector-motion powerhouse.

GitHub

We use Github as our core repository for all code, both production and source. Github gives us 3 big advantages: easy, simultaneous collaboration on the same pieces of code between multiple team members; versioning so that we can experiment and iterate without risking our entire project; and issue-tracking, to ensure that everything we deliver is polished and thorough.

As an added benefit, Github also allows us to engage with an active developer community, where we can view each other’s work and share optimizations and knowledge alike.

VS Code

The most popular developer tool on Stack Overflow, VS Code, is an efficient, powerful dev wonder tool. We use it to create everything from front-end HTML, JS and CSS to server-side and CMS code.

Social

Brave has public-facing social properties that help spread the word about our great work, allow us to interact with other thought leaders in the industry, and that keep us relevant and present in important UX discussions.

Instagram

As a team of designers, we’re very visually motivated, and we document our journeys in photo and video on Instagram.

Twitter, Facebook

We’re less active on Twitter and Facebook. We keep a presence, ensuring that all of our information is up-to-date and accurate, including a handful of client reviews.

LinkedIn

Brave also has a LinkedIn account, which is used for professional outreach, hiring, and business development opportunities. While we rarely (if ever) share articles here, we do post jobs and actively manage our profile as a part of a balanced social diet.