What is Ballard Designs?

What is Ballard Designs?
Ballard Designs is a European Inspired Home Furnishing Company based out of Atlanta, GA.
The business has been around for 25+ years and is a Multi-Channel Retailer, providing sales
through Retail Stores, Catalogs and E-Commerce.
The company was started in 1983 by Helen Ballard Weeks. In 1997, they joined CornerStone
Brands along with other popular brands like Frontgate, Garnet Hill, Grandin Road,
Improvements and Smith+Noble. They were acquired in 2005 by IAC/Interactive Corp. In
2008, the company and it’s sister brands were purchased under the HSN Inc. Brand (Home
Shopping Network).
The company has over 100 employees in the state of Georgia. More based out of the
Cornerstone Brand Offices in Ohio. Retail locations in Florida, Georgia and New York.
A Multi-Channel Retailer
Ballard Designs markets their product through retail locations in Florida, Ohio, Georgia and New York, Catalog
Promotions and E-Commerce (Online Marketing).
Early Career Responsibilities (2005- 2008)
•  Hired in August of 2005 as a Designer
•  Initial Responsibilities involved Catalog Layout, Design and Production Art
•  Promoted to Web Designer in 2006
•  Responsibilities Evolved into Email Marketing, Landing Page Design, E-Commerce Marketing Design
•  Began HTML, CSS and Javascript Development in 2006 (Emails and
Landing Pages)
•  Assisted in Hiring Jr. Designer in 2007 and aided in Training and Development
•  Architected Design of Ballard Style Studio in 2008 (Ballard’s Social
Media Project)
•  Departed Ballard Designs in 2008 to pursue New Career Challenges
•  Report directly to Creative Director and Director of E-Commerce Email Marketing Designs (2005-2008)
Accomplishments (2005-2008)
•  Used Usability and Marketing Analytic Data to Increase Performance in
Email Marketing, Landing Pages and E-Commerce Marketing
•  Worked with E-Commerce Management to Improve Mailing List Growth
from 200,000 to 500,000
•  Orchestrated Segmented Email Campaigns and Dynamic Content to
Target Specific Users
•  Implemented Design of Adobe Scene 7 360/Zoom Viewer
•  Designed Initial Concepts of Ballard Style Studio
•  Designed Initial Concepts for Ballard Designs Market Live Redesign “With great power, comes great
responsibility.” – Uncle Ben
Yes, I quoted Uncle Ben. I departed Ballard Designs in pursuit of career growth and opportunity to expand on
my technical skills in HTML, CSS, jQuery, PHP and Coldfusions. I wanted more hands on responsibility, more
walls to scale, more opportunities to be heroic.
“The prodigal son returns.”
And just like that, I returned to Ballard Designs in 2010 under a different role and higher expectations. My skill
set had improved both as a Design and a Front-end Developer, plus I had increased client communication skills.
Ballard Designs was/is an awesome place to work (The picture is my son).
Career Responsibilities (2010-2012)
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Returned as Sr. Web Designer in 2010
Took Control of E-Commerce Redesign in IBM Websphere
Continued work in Online Marketing including Hiring Staff
Integrated into Product Development Team (Agile/Scrum Process)
Managed Marketing Design Team (Goals and Reviews)
Directed CornerStone Brand Development Support Team
Lead Designer in E-Commerce Redesign
Lead Designer in Mobile E-Commerce Initiatives
Lead Designer in Tablet E-Commerce Initiatives
Researched/Studied Usability in E-Commerce across Device Channels
Reported Concepts, Research, Studies directly to Director of ECommerce, V.P. of Creative, V.P. of Marketing, V.P. and President
Continued Email Marketing (2010)
These Designs were a part of a complete rebranding within E-Commerce. My responsibilities included
establishing the brand (along with the V.P. of Creative’s approval). Once I established a look and feel, I managed
the continued development of Online Marketing creative going forward.
Online Marketing Management Process
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Established Look and Feel for Marketing
Designed and Developed Email HTML for Deployment
Trained Staff on Design and Email HTML Best Practices
Implemented Marketing Management Process using Jira
Manage ongoing Execution of Marketing Task E-Commerce Redesign (2011)
Skeuomorphism was the trend across brand. Textures were a hefty influence on majority of designs. This
included Catalog and Retail Marketing.
E-Commerce Redesign (2012)
E-Commerce Redesign (2012)
E-Commerce Redesign (2012)
E-Commerce Redesign (2012)
E-Commerce Project Process
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Discussed Design/Usability Initiatives with Product Development Team
Executed (Jira) Assigned Task involving Usability Improvements Met Daily (Scrum) to Discuss Design/Development Task and Scope Designed Wireframes for each section of E-Commerce
•  Homepage, Category, Product, Account, Cart and Checkout
Process
Worked with Developers on Interface Concepts
Developed HTML and CSS for Pages in a Controlled Development
Environments
Tested Developed/Integrated Features in DEV, QA and Staging
Environments Approved Completed Task for Stage Deployment and Production
Migration
Iteratively Wireframed/Designed Usability Improvements in E-Commerce with a Sprint Style Process (Lean UX sort of)
Designed, Researched, Studied, Developed, Tested and Repeat.
Tablet E-Commerce Concepts (2012).
As Tablet E-Commerce began to grow, we began to test our Market. I led these concepts using inspiration from
HSN, Target, Amazon and Nike. The goal initially was to create an HTML5, Web E-Commerce Application that
users could engage for product browsing and shopping.
Tablet E-Commerce Concepts (2012).
Tablet E-Commerce Concepts (2012).
Tablet E-Commerce Process
•  Coordinated Initial Meetings with Stakeholders to discuss Internal
Assumptions for E-Commerce and Mobile
•  Wireframes and Designed Concepts based on Study and Research of
Market Trends
•  Studied Development/Technical Acumen for Mobile Design Initiatives
and Suggested Paths for Development Team (HTML5 Web vs Native
iOS vs Responsive Web)
•  Implemented Designs for Development Team (HTML, CSS)
•  Work through Conceptual Prototypes in Sprint Cycle
•  Test Concepts with Users using Gorilla (face to face) Tactics
•  Studied Usability through Video Recorded, Scripted Sessions
•  Collected, Analyzes and Suggested Improvements based on User
Feedback
Digital Catalog Design (2011-2012)
We also tested a Digital Catalog Concept with our Market. We released 4 issues through 2011-2012,
downloadable via iTunes App Store.
Digital Catalog Design (2011-2012)
The Digital Catalog had both Browsing and Shopping capabilities.
Tablet Digital Catalog Process
•  Coordinated Initial Meetings with Stakeholders to discuss Internal
Assumptions for Digital Catalog
•  Studied Market Trends in Digital Catalog Design and Development
•  Implemented Test Application for Stakeholder Presentation within 3
Days
•  Implemented Designs of Initial Issues for Release in August 2011
•  Released Application to iTunes App Store August 2011
•  Release, Studied, Research Usability of Application for Future Issues
•  Organized Usability Testing through Scripted Test and Gorilla Testing
Techniques
•  Used User Feedback to Iteratively Improve Digital Catalog through 4
Issues
Ballard Style Studio Redesign (2011)
Style Studio Process
•  Coordinated Initial Meetings with Stakeholders to discuss Internal
Assumptions for Style Studio Redesign
•  Focused of New Feature Implementations in Redesign
•  Created a Mobile Responsive Approach to New Features
•  Managed and Directed Web Designer on Branding, Design,
Development and Implementation of the Project
•  Organized Meeting with Internal Stakeholders to Review Requirements
and Ensure Project met Expectations
•  Manage Outside Development Team on New Feature Implementations
•  Launched Redesign in December 2011
My Product Development Involvement?
I received a lot of questions in regard to my involvement with Product Development. Here’s a list explaining my
general involvement in the process of implementing improvements across the board.
Product Development Involvement
•  Coordinated Initial Meetings with Stakeholders to discuss Internal
Assumptions for Projects
•  Worked Directly with Project Managers on Defining Requirements for
New Projects in which I was the Lead (Table E-Commerce)
•  Reviewed Requirements for New Features or Projects with Project
Manager
•  Active in Sprint Process and Met Daily to Report Project Updates
•  Work included Design (Wireframes, High Fidelity) and Front-end
Development (HTML, CSS, jQuery)
•  Continued to Work on Improvements as Assigned in Jira (Agile
Process)
•  Reported Directly to Director of E-Commerce, V.P. of Creative, V.P.
Marketing, V.P. and President (on occasion)
Technical (Front-end)Development Involvement?
Surprisingly I’ve done quite a bit of front-end work. Most of my experience has required HTML, CSS or jQuery
Development. To a lesser extent, I’ve been ask to build out dynamic pages using PHP, Coldfusion or .Net. My
dynamic content relates to Content Management and E-Commerce Product Management Integrations.
More questions?
Obviously I enjoyed working at Ballard Designs. I worked there twice and it’s the most
organized experience I’ve been a part of. As a Home Shopping Network brand, online
projects were highly encouraged and budgets were abundant for conferences, training, user
study and improvement. Hopefully you can gather from the presentation that my experience is of great value and my
motivation is strong. However, if you have additional questions, please do not hesitate to ask.
You may also view my work online.
Arthur MacMillan
703.731.9524 | www.arthurmac.com
www.linkedin.com/in/arthurmacmillan
www.twitter.com/GoodToKnowArt