02 // Interface & Experience Design

A few years in, digital products start to resemble an old house. You know the type: Layers of slightly mismatched paint, that yellow tile from the 70s, and extra furniture hidden away in a room somewhere. With an application, though, those inconsistencies aren’t called “character,” they’re lovingly referred to as “a maintenance nightmare.”

We take a systems approach to design, avoiding the slow march towards old house. That means componentized, version-controlled interface elements (taking cues from the development process) that’ll gracefully iterate and age with the platform.

Mobile-first, responsive, adaptive; whatever you want to call it, it’s vital to meet users where they are. Could this be done on a watch? Does the interface use space effectively across three monitors? Supporting a range of devices isn’t an add-on, it’s part of our process.

As far as services go, this one’s the most straightforward: Not only is accessibility a legal requirement, your users are owed an inclusive application.

We’re fans from a user experience perspective too, since effort here helps everyone. Designing for motor issues assists someone carrying groceries. Appropriate color contrast is useful in direct sunlight. Subtitles may keep someone from turning the volume up on a crowded train.

Without pulling out our soapbox, human-centered design advocates for the end user — not short-term business objectives. For the long-term health of people on the platform, we’ll champion ethical features and approaches that avoid addiction, tailor notifications, and add the right amount of friction.

Everyone’s product roadmap has data analysis somewhere. It’s easier than ever to add charts to applications, but an aimless chart doesn’t substitute for insight. We’ve created visualizations across the spectrum, including:

• Explanatory: seeking to tell a story with the clearest model possible
• Exploratory: allowing self-guided exploration and discovery
• Maps: pairing data and spatial information