Two Rivers Consulting Corporation is a husband and wife design team. We, Hagan and David Rivers, have been collaborating on designs and improving usability since 1991, bringing our complementary design skills to bear on many types of projects for many companies and organizations. Our philosophy We design computer user interfaces that are attractive, useful, simple, easy to use and targeted directly to your customers. We can work with you at all stages of the user interface design process—from the earliest product concepts to last minute design fixes and everything in between. We believe that great design shouldn't have to be expensive and that we can make substantial improvements to your product's usability and appearance, even on a tight budget. Want to see for yourself? Take a look at our design portfolio. We believe that the world we all live in could use better design—especially software applications.

Our experience

Hagan Rivers has a Bachelor's in Computer Science from Massachusetts Institute of Technology with additional coursework in design at MIT's Media Lab (1989).

David Rivers has a Bachelor's of Science in Engineering Psychology (better known as "Human Factors") and a Minor in Engineering Management from Tufts University (1991).

Prior to establishing our consulting business in 1995, we spent the formative years of our careers at Netscape, Apple and Sun Microsystems designing and usability testing products - some of which are still in use after over 10 years.

Not only did we design some of the very first web applications, but we continue to work with clients that push the limits of what can be done with the latest web-based front-end technologies—HTML, CSS and Ajax, and have worked with a tremendous variety of back-end technologies.

We have designed products for a broad range of industries—finance, business analysis, information management, medicine and healthcare, education, research, chemistry, biology, communications—for a broad range of user groups, from general internet users and office "knowledge" workers, to statisticians and analysts, system administrators, people with disabilities—you name it. Our point is that even if we haven't worked on a product or with users just like yours, we will not have any trouble quickly coming to understand the issues, constraints and dependencies of your particular situation.

We have also provided training for clients and at conferences. Our training seminars are well received and highly praised. Hagan taught Deconstructing Web Applications class at the UIE conference in 2004 and 2005 and she has been a speaker at the Boston area Computer Human Interaction group. David has trained clients in conducting their own research. Hagan is also a guest lecturer at Massachusetts Institute of Technology's course Communicating in Cyberspace. Read what others have said about our training skills:

"This course is well organized and contains excellent examples of major concepts in web application design." ... "[Hagan has an] easy and comfortable presentation style. Engaging." ... "Course was well organized and thought provoking." ... "Excellent overview of concepts and great examples of how to do things and not to do things.

What makes us different?

Some of the other design firms you encounter will focus on art and presentation. They will know very little about how users think and behave. While they may create works that are beautiful, the designs often lack substance and need a reality check. These designers rarely have experience in the interaction design that makes user interfaces intuitive, approachable and powerful.

Other firms you may meet will be usability specialists. They will know a great deal about how users think and how to make the components of your product function more easily. But they often have a difficult time stepping back and looking at larger issues that when addressed properly will make your product refined and compelling, not to mention beautiful.

Did we mention that neither of these firms will be able to develop designs that can be easily implemented? Remember, we've both got engineering degrees and lots of industry experience—we've adopted the mantra "work smarter, not harder".

You may also encounter larger design firms that stick a sales liason between you and the junior designers actually doing the work. Not so with Two Rivers—you'll be working with one (or even both) of us. That means top notch work the first time around, and people who understand what you're talking about the first time you describe it.

Unlike some large design firms we don't have an agenda for how you must approach the design of your product. We work with you the way you want us to, and fit into your development team in the way that is the most practical for you. We know that you need to build and ship the best possible product on a tight schedule.

Want to see some examples of our work? Take a look at our portfolio. Interested in learning how we would go about collaborating with you on your project? Contact Hagan at 978.352.2585.

Copyright ©2008 Two Rivers Consulting Corporation. All Rights Reserved.
Telephone: 978.352.2585 and ask for Hagan Rivers
We are located on the North Shore of Massachusetts
Email: moreinfo at tworivers.com (we don't link to our email address so we won't get spam)

Two Rivers Consulting Corporation never sends mass mailings (spam). If you think you have received spam mail from us, then you have been misled. We detest spam mail and we do not support its use. The Coalition Against Unsolicited Commercial Email can help you track down and stop unsolicited email.