Our Work

We're a busy shop with a wide body of work and diverse client roster.

That means no bad habits—— we grow new muscles every day. You get to work with people that ramp fast and offer deep value that spans audiences and industries. We get to be inspired and do what we love.

Available for hire. Some past work:  

FAQ

Q —— When did you start?

A —— In 2012, Ryan Janecek, Jay Beckman and Matt Retzer started Northern Ground to offer customers an experienced digital shop oriented for complex work. They left a prior agency to stay close to clients.

 

Q —— What are you best at?

A ——  Large-scale digital projects with a balance of strategy, UX, design and code. 

 

Q —— What else do you do?

A —— At times we let our best clients twist our arms to make content, even full full branding projects, in context of our digital work. When clients trust us with their brand and appreciate our design sensibilities, they often ask for more. If we can't help, we'll send you to people we trust.

 

Q —— What don't you do?

A ——  Ongoing SEO and PPC, media buys, PR, comms and most traditional ad agency stuff. But, we partner well and understand that large projects require close collaboration with AORs, PR firms, social shops, etc. We bolt-on to your agency partners while giving you the specialization you deserve. 

  

Q ——We're having issues with website accessibility. Can you help? Do you guarantee compliance? 

A ——Yes we can help and no we don't guarantee compliance, no one can. There are no laws outlining what compliance means. There is no perfect tool, score or cheap plugin. There are however guidelines from WCAG that you should strive towards. If someone is promising you compliance, they aren’t being honest. Compliance is a process that is part art and science. We are an experienced accessibility firm. We use a combination of designers, developers and paid/open tools to audit, prioritize and improve accessibility over time.

 

Q —— Do you only work on the web?

A —— We're multi-platform. We build for mobile, interactive retail, IoT, custom apps, and fully embedded hardware systems. If you can think it up, we probably have some code to start with. We build software for healthcare companies, live event experiences for auto makers and mobile apps for fintech firms.

 

Q —— Are you accepting new clients?

A —— Yes, we are continually starting new work. 

 

Q —— Is Northern Ground big enough to help us?

A —— We can likely output way more than you need. Think of us as a 12-person project team. We're built lean on purpose and it works. Large companies know that small agile teams can have huge impact. No gaps, no filler, no speed bumps. Contact us if you need to decrease your time to market.

 

Q —— Where did the name come from?

A —— Northern Ground means ambition with foundation; risk with pragmatism; adventure with practicality. 

 

Q —— How do you charge?

A —— We step through a series of scope definers and then lock in a fixed bid project, in most cases. We're an experienced shop so pay is on par with performance. For most projects we can submit a high-level proposal within 24 hours. We bill T&M for some work including complex dev or tracking down bugs in third-party code.

 

Q —— Are you hiring?

A —— Yup! An Agency Marketing Specialist.

Have a question we didn't answer?

Contact us to talk.