But does it work? Beautifully Effective® development

Both beauty and effectiveness can be subjective. It all comes down to asking the right questions. What are we trying to do? Who is it for? How should it work?

Understanding what defines ‘effectiveness’ is the cornerstone of how we measure and benchmark our success. 

At Salad we believe in delivering Beautifully Effective digital services. This means that we focus on both the aesthetic appeal and functional stability of our outputs and digital products, whilst always staying true to the brief: How will we know if this is actually going to work?

But beauty is all about the design, right?

Wrong. A well written, easy to work with and often simple codebase can ensure the foundation of the solution is not just incredibly stable but also capable of scaling, and keeping to a standard that is a cut above the average.

A beautiful digital development process is one that results in a product that is easy to use (for everyone!), delivers on the visual expectations, and is intuitive for the humans who intend to engage with it.

All this while maintaining genuine ‘under the bonnet’ quality throughout the work delivered.

This is managed by a simple but proven process for ensuring effectiveness is carried throughout our efforts and across everything we do here at Salad.

• Functionality:A product that is reliable and performs well will be more successful than one that is buggy or prone to errors. Does it work?
• User experience (UX) design:A product that is easy to use and intuitive will be more enjoyable for users and will likely be more successful. Does it REALLY work?
• Aesthetics:A visually appealing product is more likely to be perceived as high quality and will be more enjoyable for users. Does it look alright?
• User testing: Getting feedback from humans during the development process can help ensure that the final product meets requirements and is easy to use. Seriously, DOES IT F#####G WORK?

Whilst ugly code can easily be hidden (we don’t hide it, seriously we are mega transparent), keeping the above four points ever present during the development phase and process  ensures that Beautifully Effective is written into every single line of code we work on.

But Measurement is subjective, right?

Not at all. What are you measuring? What are your stakeholders looking for? What are you trying to prove? Measures of success should be outlined from the get-go.

Increased traffic to your website, or a jump in online leads are long established and easy to use methods of interrogating the success of a digital service. However, the quality of leads your product generates or the intangible nature of a brand transformation may not align with the usual metrics and means of measurement. 

Whether it be a brochureware website, a custom CRM integration or a bespoke widget, Beautifully Effective is about proving that what has been developed actually works in the real world. Underpin this with minimal reengineering overheads and an ongoing dialog to continue to adapt the questions being asked ensures laurels are never rested upon.

This can sometimes be achieved by looking outside of just the data. Qualitative research is incredibly underutilised in digital services, especially in digital development. However to know if something truly does work, sometimes you just have to ask.

Beautifully Effective in digital is about thinking beyond the data. Good quality, effective code that supports a beautiful interface may feel right, and the brief may well have been met, but actually knowing that what has been delivered works? That’s truly what being effective is. And that really is beautiful.

Get in touch for more information on our Beautifully Effective approach or to discuss how a digital project could help your brand evolve.