Propelling higher education toward its potential since 2012.

Global impact, Austin roots, remote-first

Bravery Media was founded in 2012 as a higher education-focused web strategy and design agency in the capital city of Austin, TX. Our proximity to world-class institutions, one of the fastest-growing tech hubs in the USA, and a vibrant creative scene provided Bravery with unmatched access to the best technical and design minds in the world.

Now our team and independent partners are spread across the United States, Canada, the UK, and Europe. This wide net provides even more opportunity to learn from and partner with educators, designers, technologists, and institutions.

Combined, our team members have worked on hundreds of websites across the higher education, B2B, hospitality, e-commerce, and consumer sectors. Our work is beautiful and performs at the highest levels for millions of web users every day. What other higher ed agency can say the same?

Leadership

Joel Goodman, Principal

Joel Goodman / Principal + CEO

Joel has been working in higher education web marketing since 2007 when he took his first university job in Southern Illinois. Since then, his work has centered around digital strategy and transformation. Whether rebuilding a university website from the ground up or helping institutions get the best performance from their digital properties, Joel’s focus is always to maximize the value of his partners’ digital strategy practice.

He holds a master of arts in Media Studies from The New School for Public Engagement in addition to over 15 years of applied higher education web marketing experience. He cohosts a higher ed marketing podcast and regularly speaks on digital strategy topics at conferences.

Kristin Van Dorn, Heade of Client Strategy

Kristin Van Dorn / Head of Client Strategy + Research

Kristin Van Dorn has worked in higher education web marketing since 2009. Before Bravery Media, Kristin worked in user experience consulting and digital strategy roles across the University of Minnesota, including as an analyst in their world-class usability lab, where they facilitated over 80 unique evaluations and product tests per year. In 2013, Kristin completed an interdisciplinary master’s degree where she studied higher education institutions' unique branding and marketing challenges.

Kristin is currently a PhD candidate at the University of Minnesota, earning her doctorate in Organizational Leadership, Policy, and Development with a focus on Higher Education. Her academic research investigates higher education’s role in building students’ democratic capabilities and skills. At Bravery, she blends her advanced academic research skills with user experience methods to provide teams with sophisticated and reliable user intelligence.

Values

Bravery is built on the reality that every human has value and deserves respect. We accomplish this through hospitable design and full-stack ethics.

Equity + Justice

  • We work with people of all different backgrounds, experiences, abilities, and viewpoints.
  • We support colleges and universities that provide opportunities to underrepresented communities.
  • Our design and code start with accessibility and inclusivity.

Hospitable Design

  • Care and respect are for everyone.
  • Real people are at the center of everything we make.
  • Empathy isn't worth much without kindness.

Full-stack Ethics

  • Ignorance is not an excuse. We pay thoughtful attention to the software and code we use.
  • We don't take consultations lightly. We make recommendations that we believe in.
  • We are responsible and accountable for our work.
  • We our honest and keep our promises.

Sustainability

  • Websites hosted with Bravery run on renewable, green energy.
  • Websites designed and built by Bravery are fast and efficient, crafted to use less energy than other websites.
  • Our distributed staffing model reduces our individual impacts on the environment.
  • We care for our staff and contractors and make sure the work we do is individually sustainable and supported.

How can Bravery help you?

We'd love to talk, even if just to meet you. Send us an email.

Talk to us

Our Services

Research + Strategy ↘︎

The best place to start is with sound strategy. Bravery offers research and strategy services for brand, audience, content, UX, and more.

Web Optimization + SEO ↘︎

Fast sites lead to record enrollment. Let Bravery give your institution's site a performance tune-up.

Design + Development ↘︎

Beautiful, fast, and accessible. Bravery's human-first design and dev services start providing ROI the day we launch.

Content Direction + Production ↘︎

From content strategy to content design, Bravery produces website content that converts. Content really is that important.

Training + Professional Development ↘︎

Get your college or university MarComm and Admissions teams up to speed with customized training from Bravery.

Web Agency of Record ↘︎

The ultimate performance value in higher ed. Empower your marketing team to do their best by leaving the technical work to Bravery.