Ben Spencer

Ben has a passion for blending design and writing into a cohesive product narrative. An advocate for research, strategy, and discovery at the front end of any project, Ben excels in high-level thinking about how to most effectively tell a brand’s story in an authentic and relevant way.

Ben received Bachelor’s degrees in Film Studies and Religion from Whitman College, as well as a Master’s in Education from Lipscomb University. He studied UX Design and Content Strategy at General Assembly before joining Fresh’s team in January 2016.

Outside of work, Ben enjoys reading voraciously, watching horror movies, playing video games, and building his skill as an aspiring novelist. He spends every second he can with his wife and his two beloved Boxer dogs, California and Tennessee.

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UX Lessons Learned from the Hawaii Missile Alert
Community, Design, Expertise, News, UX/UI Design

UX Lessons Learned from the Hawaii Missile Alert

Is there such a thing as a user error? Or when errors are made, does the blame lie with the design of the interface? On January 13th, the state of Hawaii realized firsthand the danger of what some are calling a “user error.” If you’re a designer, and see the interface, you’ll likely agree that
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5 Ways to Simplify Your Writing for the Web
Design, Expertise, UX/UI Design

5 Ways to Simplify Your Writing for the Web

When we’re designing high-end user experiences, our primary focus is usability. What’s the best way for users to reach their goals? How do we iron out the wrinkles, decrease friction, and create experiences that sing? There are many approaches. One that is often overlooked is simplifying your writing. Whether you’re writing short-form website copy, or
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Continuous Integration Testing
Expertise, Software

Continuous Integration Testing

What Is It? A tool (continuous integration server) performs automated testing. “Integration” refers to combining individual developer changes with the existing shared code base. The purpose is to see if changes can be combined or if they conflict. When Should it be Done? Should be conducted with every code push (also called a “commit”) to
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Functional Testing
Expertise, Software

Functional Testing

What Is It? Functional Testing focuses on testing software against a design document, use cases, or a requirement document to ensure that it meets the standard. Checks the software to ensure that it provides the output required by the end-user or business. Requires a significant investment of time to build out documentation. When Should it
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Compatibility Testing
Expertise, Software

Compatibility Testing

What Is It? Checks to see if the software can be run on different hardware, operating systems, bandwidths, databases, servers, and browsers. Compatibility testing identifies issues that are unique to different use cases (scenarios in which a user would use the software). Not all use cases are equal in importance, but each requires testing to
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Static Code Analysis (Linting)
Expertise, Software

Static Code Analysis (Linting)

What Is It? Analyzing and evaluating code without executing the program. Syntax, comments, naming conventions, and functions of the code are reviewed. When Should it be Done? Should be conducted in real time, every time a change is saved. Linting should as be done as a part of continuous integration. Helpful Tools Checklists, manual or
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