Web Design &
Development
Good design is invisible.
What matters more than how it looks, is how it works!
Designing, developing and maintaining websites
Over these two decades we have built a host of complex solutions with a host of different technologies. Currently we specialize in Ruby on Rails, Jekyll and Middleman.
We are not in the business of building websites. We are interested in designing solutions that solve real-world problems and address real-world opportunities.
Everyday language often uses the word 'design' to refer to visual appeal of an artefact. Of course, aesthetics matter. But 'design' encompasses much more. Some of it is invisible.
It is easy to mistake beauty or novelty for 'good design'. The only measure of good design is usability. But very few organizations invest in usability audits or usability testing. It is a great opportunity lost. And additional revenue too.
What matters more than how it looks, is how it works!
Good design is invisible: Our approach
We try to avoid taking on one-time design assignments. We prefer to engage in longer term projects where we can build iteratively -- tracking real user feedback and not just a few exalted opinions.
Telos is a Greek term made famous by philosophers such as Aristotle. It roughly translates to the study of objects with a view to their aims, purposes, or intentions. All good design starts with the overall goal, aim, purpose.
Ergon is a concept borrowed from ethics that is most often translated as function, task, or work. Sharpness is a virtue in a knife designed to cut, but not one designed for display. All designed artifacts need to serve a function -- defining it is key to design.
It seems as if everybody always wants everything yesterday. Sure speed is important, but resist the temptation to quick-fix now that may lead to cascading unraveling later.
Digital allows for ongoing iteration. Create early prototypes, onboard feedbacks and keep refining.
While this adage may have originated in architecture it has special relevance in the design of consumable media. How it looks is important, but what it does, or lets you do is way more important.
Even if your goal is to change the user's goals, you have to start with defining and understanding the user's goals. And help her navigate your product.
Practice test driven development (TDD). Not just in your code but in your design too.
Long-term partnership
We are selective about taking on only those projects where we can be long-term partners.
We are not obsessed with growth. On the contrary we are passionately committed to staying small (read this if you are wondering why). We are interested in doing meaningful work that brings joy to us and to our partners. We often work with startups to help them create MVPs (Minimum Viable Products) and deployable go-to-market products. We have multiple projects/clients that we have worked with, for 10 years or more.
Since we do not exit after delivering websites, we make sure that our solutions keep future-proofing in mind, we worry about the challenges of long-term maintainability, we plan for change, that must inevitably happen over time.