A lot of companies make things complicated. They conduct endless meetings which accomplish nothing and allow poor design decisions to go uncontested. In the end, both sides end up feeling like they didn't get to do what they set out to do.
We keep things simple. We think the best way of working is to build enthusiasm quickly and do everything in our power to keep it alive throughout the project. That means skipping the typical 'client and vendor' relationship and treating each other as partners.
Each design project is handled by a small, focused team, and we ask that you have one, too. Small teams coordinate and make decisions, while big ones quibble and form committees.
We work this way so that we're not only proud of the final product, but eager to start it all over again—we'd rather build a long-term relationship with each client than hurry through a one-off rush job that results in a mediocre product.
The sections listed to the left explain our capabilities in more detail.
Everyone is full of ideas at the beginning of the design process: we both know how we want things to turn out. The real challenge begins after the million-dollar idea—it's a huge obstacle to take those raw ideas and distill them into an amazing and intuitive interface.
Huge obstacles don't require complicated solutions, though. We find elegance and simplicity in logical answers. We've found that simple is always beautiful, and over-designing is our single biggest enemy. Our team's design reviews pare away unnecessary baggage, leaving us with an intense focus on creating clean and functional user experiences.
We approach every interface as users first and designers second. We don't want to confuse users with excessive flourish and we don't want to create anything that we wouldn't want to use ourselves. With these goals in mind, even complex design challenges become easier to solve.
We know that execution doesn't stop with design, and neither does our attention to detail. We believe close collaboration between designers and developers yields the best results, and our team of talented developers knows how to turn our meticulously crafted designs into powerful, pixel-perfect web apps.
Our developers work closely with our designers to polish every interaction and bring their detailed vision to completion. They work together to add thoughtful touches—like a perfectly-placed animation—that make an amazing design instantly understandable and satisfying.
We accomplish this by pushing the limits of the latest technologies at every level, including leveraging Ruby on Rails to build fully custom apps. We use the same technologies to build our own products: Flow is a great example of our team’s work.
While we think the web is a great platform, we believe the iPhone and the iPad represent an incredible opportunity to build apps that reach beyond the desktop.
Our team knows how to create apps that don't just faithfully translate designs, but also utilize iOS's built-in frameworks as thoroughly as possible. The potential to improve any given app using iOS-specific features is huge, and our team seizes that potential to create exciting and responsive apps. Our expertise includes everything from audio and video manipulation to location and mapping services.
We've built iOS apps for huge companies, but we've also built them for ourselves - our in-house team designed and developed Flow for iPhone. Using push notifications, data synchronization and a ton of custom UI, it's a perfect companion to Flow, and a solid representation of what we could do for your app.
Not all of our clients come to us with fully-formed ideas. Some of our best work has started with a rough idea and a slew of brainstorming sessions. If we think an idea and the people behind it are good enough, we love taking something from a napkin to the real world.
We have the fortunate experience of having been down the product path twice on our own (with Flow and Ballpark) and more than a few times with clients. We understand the value in having a second set of eyes on a new idea, and the clarity that can come from getting help from someone who's already been down the road. We've been through the long hours and the intense back-and-forth dialogues, and we've seen the amazing results that can come out of these partnerships.
Involving us with your project from day one puts us right where we want to be: as partners and investors (even if not in the strict business sense). It takes some of the executive burden off of your shoulders, and lets us use our experience in the driver's seat to take your idea to the next level.