Fresh Consulting: A Review of The Websites of UX Companies

Table of Contents: Select a Link to be Taken to That Section

Executive Summary

Companies offering UX consulting and other services should have very usable and effective websites.
We review them to see how they stack up.

Introduction

UX companies should have terrific websites. In this case, we review the website of Fresh Consulting.

Our References for This Article

See this link if you want to see our references for this article and other related Brightwork articles at this link.

Main Entry

The first page of Fresh Consulting looks fine. The UX is to scroll to see more and more of what Fresh Consulting does.

The Menu

However, while scrolling the website, a problem becomes immediately apparent. There is a strange excess of space between the different elements. It wastes space and worsens the experience of using the website. The padding also appears to be appearance-driven rather than having any practical reason for existing. For example, why is the “See Terminology” text so distant from the description?

Overall, why is there so much white space?

Here is another example of the same problem. It is pointless to have so much space between the tiles. Consider how much of the entire space on this page is text, how small the text is — how the detail is difficult to read, and how much overall space is empty. This is a sure way to get a reader to checkout from reading your text.

The Fresh Consulting Services

The part of the website that describes Fresh Consulting’s services is not compelling. The explanations come across as generic and technobabble.

Portfolio

The portfolio case studies are filled with little detail, but a great deal of corporate marketing speak. I lost interest in reading the descriptions.

The Blog

Fresh Consulting has a blog section, and many of the articles are written by people who should not be writing. There was a robotic nature to the articles with little in the way of original thinking.

Here is one example.

Artificial intelligence is software that can complete tasks that a human would normally accomplish cognitively. In most forms, AI can observe its environment and use accumulated knowledge to maximize its success in making decisions. For example, when you ask the voice assistant on your phone to show you pictures of golden retrievers, it interprets your request, decides how to best respond, and performs some action. Often the response from the user is taken as feedback and added to the AI’s knowledge base to be used in future decisions.

I don’t know about this. This seems like a description for morons — written by a person who should be writing on a subject they know far better.

Here is another example

Writing code isn’t the only skill you need to deliver software, but it might be the most important skill for everyone involved.

Every role involved in delivering and operating modern systems is beginning to use tools to automate their jobs. Instead of having a deployment checklist, you can define each step in code and have it be done for you automatically. Sometimes this is code written in an actual programming language like Python or Java, but it can also be configuration files written in JSON or YAML.

My God. Is this quote condescending or banal? It is both. I learn that coding is important for delivering software. But I knew that already. And every role in modern systems is using tools to automate jobs? Really? I would have to disagree. Requirements gathering does not use automated tools. Then I learned that code is written in an actual programming language like Python or Java.

The fact this article exists on the Fresh Consulting website shows that there are people being asked to write, who should not be, and there is scant editorial oversight at this company.

All the blog posts I read at Fresh Consulting read like this.

White Papers

Here is the white paper section. This section looks enticing and makes a user want to download white papers.

The white papers look good. However, upon reading some of them, I could not future out why Fresh Consulting chose some of the subjects they did.

Here are some quotes on their white paper on AI.

In 2017, there were already four billion AI-powered devices in use worldwide. Some of the biggest tech companies in the world – including Apple, Uber, Facebook, and Microsoft, in addition to those mentioned previously – have dedicated significant resources to AI and are using it to improve their products. AI gives businesses the ability to meet consumer demands more effectively, both directly (such as with personal assistants) and indirectly (such as by using AI to make smarter suggestions to consumers).

Why is a UX consultancy writing the 5000th generic white paper on AI? Nothing in the article had anything to do with UX or with Fresh Consulting.

Here are some more quotes.

IBM, one of the most influential tech companies of the last century, has been working on an AI called Watson for the past several years. While Watson first gained notoriety for beating the Jeopardy! world champion, IBM has continued to develop the program for business applications.IBM, one of the most influential tech companies of the last century, has been working on an AI called Watson for the past several years. While Watson first gained notoriety for beating the Jeopardy! world champion, IBM has continued to develop the program for business applications.

What sets Watson apart from other AI is its ability to perform the same tasks as other AI entities with less information. By “training” Watson, businesses can use the software to make more informed decisions, share the knowledge and experience of each employee with all employees, predict and prepare for disruptions, and
detect liabilities.

I could not find a publication date on this white paper — however, as I cover in the article How IBM is Distracting from the Watson Failure to Sell More AI, not only has Watson been a failure, but IBM has failed in the vast majority of its AI projects — and a significant reason for this is IBM always lies to its prospects about both what AI can do, and IBM’s AI capabilities.

This white paper makes it appear as Fresh Consulting writes on topics it does not know anything about.

Here is another quote.

YouTube uses AI software to help manage the billions of hours of contentv that are uploaded to the site every day, determining if content breaks certain site rules. While the effort is commendable, there have been numerous cases of creators on the site being wrongfully flagged by the AI, while other harmful content has managed to slip by.

It is unclear how much this is AI. YouTube actively censors content based upon keywords. The system does not appear intelligent at all. This, if anything, is an example of either fake AI or defective AI.

Artificial intelligence makes intensive computer tasks effortless. Whether it’s understanding the scope of your company’s expenses, maximizing on marketing strategies, or providing customers with memorable and unique experiences, AI can save you money and time by doing the heavy lifting for you. AI’s ability to learn from interactions and become more efficient with time means that the sooner a business invests in the technology, the more of an advantage they will have against competitors. AI is still in its infancy stage, making it easy for early adopters to set themselves and their service apart. Along with modernizing business practices, AI tools can provide users with nearly limitless benefits and
use cases.

AI has helped companies raise a lot of money, but AI has been massively oversold. Articles like this one, written by a company or an author at a company that does not appear to be willing to write a realistic article on AI and seems to be accepting the hype of those that write on AI without a basis in reality, are a significant reason why.

Conclusion

The Fresh Consulting is just ok. It is more attractive than UX savvy site. However, the website really falls down on the content it provides. Both the UX writing and the long-form text are poor. The text is borderline offensive in how it is poorly thought out, while at the same time condescending to the reader with a type of false authority, and it is also riddled with false assumptions and logical errors.

Overall, we rate the Fresh Consulting website a 3.5 out of 10.