Basics Group was built on the idea that if you bring a few good people together, you can do great things.
Dwight McMillan founded Basics Group in 2003, and didn’t have much of a plan in mind beyond getting a few projects, focusing on customer service, and finding like-minded professionals to work with. Five years in, Basics Group is built around a core team of three principals – Dwight, Hallie Steele, and Dave Piehler. Our team includes a few more people too, and we work with freelancers and other firms as partners when projects require specialized help or additional resources.
We think we’re a pretty easy group of people to work with, and that our value is felt as much in how we work as it is in what we do. We have a lot of ideas about working smarter, being more responsive, and generally doing things the right way. Basics Group is about a common set of guiding principles. It’s about using our combined skills and experience to do more than we can each do on our own. It’s about having a positive impact in everything we do, and leaving everything we touch in a better state than how we found it initially. It’s about a shared belief in the power of focusing on the basics.
As principals, we each have a unique set of skills and background which supports the different roles we have in our projects.
- Dwight McMillan
Dwight started Basics Group after being a principal twice before at a print design firm in New York and a web and multimedia studio in Philadelphia. Prior to that, he was an art director at a commercial real estate brokerage and a marketing manager at a global investment bank. Dwight leads our work and likes to treat projects a bit like puzzles — finding smart solutions and making it fun. He likes to figure out new things and navigate through unmarked territory. Prior to Basics Group, Dwight worked with a number of clients including Accenture, The Nature Conservancy, MTV Networks, Sony Music, TBWA\Chiat\Day, and the Rockefeller Brothers Fund.
- Hallie Steele
Hallie joined Basics Group soon after relocating to Providence. Her background includes working at a branding and design studio in Minneapolis as well as being the senior designer at a large retail company. She takes the lead on any design work at Basics Group and has a range of project experience that supports both the strategic goals of corporate work and the organic, hands-on needs of smaller businesses and nonprofits. Hallie enjoys the craft of design — using the creative process to turn ideas into real things — which is at the core of what we do. She is also very active in the community and is currently loving the new print shop at AS220.
- Dave Piehler
Dave joined Basics Group after running his own web development firm and working with us as a strategic partner. He manages all of our web work and is the point person for any complex web application or technology integration projects. Dave has created and maintained websites, content management systems, and custom database applications for a range of corporate, municipal, and nonprofit clients. He's also very involved in the community, as a board member for AIGA Rhode Island and participating in local groups like the Providence Geeks and RI Nexus.
