Our methods

The 7 methods for outstanding digital experiences

The top 4 digital challenges
of our customers

With over 20 years of experience, we have a good understanding of what challenges our customers face. Because of the recurring issues, we have developed approaches and use methods that eliminate these challenges.

High speed

The ability to respond quickly to new market events provides a competitive advantage. Rapid product development ensures your competitiveness.

Flexibility & adaptability

Findings must be adapted. It is important to remain flexible, because the new strategy must constantly adapt to the world of tomorrow.

Reliability & scalability

For this fast-paced environment, you need a reliable partner. It is also important to rely on state-of-the-art security and scalable technology.

Human needs

Digital products are often developed without people in mind. For too long, technical limitations and pure efficiency thinking have destroyed digital products.

Our plan-of-attack

Design thinking

Creativity is intelligence having fun.

“Design thinking is a people-centered approach to innovation that draws from a toolbox to connect people’s needs, technology opportunities, and business success requirements.”

Tim Brown, Executive Chair IDEO

Empathize
We want to understand the real customer needs and their pain points by changing our perspective and taking our time in research and observation.

Define
After gathering enough information and structuring it, we evaluate the most promising findings and set a focus.

Ideate
Ideas are generated here, and lots of them. Quantity before quality. There is no right or wrong. We produce as much as we can as a team until our heads are smoking.

Prototype
For the best ideas we develop prototypes with wireframes, click dummies, mood boards and create first technical approaches for the possible implementation.

Test
Do the prototypes last? The proof of the pudding is in the eating. We settle on the best prototypes and test them in the team and sometimes even externally.

Implement
The best idea, with the highest potential, which fits best to the company, their goals and creates the highest benefit for the customer will be implemented.

Atomic design approach

From the smallest unit of a website to the largest composite unit

Atomic Design ensures consistency in product development. The large selection of ready-made components enables fast implementation. This allows us to create systems that promote consistency and scalability while showing things in their final context.

Atoms

Atoms are abstract elements such as color palettes, fonts, shapes, buttons, input fields.

Molecules

Molecules are groups of atoms bonded together. For example, an input field with a button forms a search field.

Organisms

Molecules give us some building blocks that we can assemble into organisms. For example, a navigation that consists of a logo, labels and a search box.

Templates

Templates consist of groups of organisms that are assembled into pages. E.g. a navigation, header, text modules and a slider.

Pages

Pages are specific instances of templates. Here, placeholder content is replaced with real representative content to give an accurate representation of what a user will eventually see.

Design systems

A design system is the only “source
of truth”.

It brings together all the elements and components to design, realize and develop digital products. The design system is constantly evolving with the product, tools and new technologies, so it always stays current. We have developed our own REICHLUNDPARTNER design system, which we customize and expand for our clients. Thus, your digital project is set up sustainably and provides a great foundation for the future.

Functionality

A user interface consists of a multitude of components, similar to a Lego construction set. Thrown together, they make a pile. A design system sorts these components and arranges them clearly. Thus, similar to Lego, different sides can be built.

Advantages:

The wheel does not always have to be reinvented.
Design systems save time in product development and thus money for the customer.
They ensure a consistency through which digital products become uniform.
They reduce the error rate in terms of responsiveness.

Frontend style guide

The digital corporate design manual

Similar to print, the frontend style guide can be thought of as the corporate design manual of a digital product. For this purpose, the design system is implemented in the programming and prepared in a separate interface for further use. In the frontend style guide, all atoms (e.g. fonts, buttons), molecules (e.g. search box, slider), organisms (e.g. navigation, footer), templates (products overview page & detail page) and pages (e.g. finished home page with final content) are created. The customer can thus experience all components in “real”, feel them and see how they behave responsively. The frontend style guide can then be connected to a backend/CMS.

Agility

Agility means vision-driven work.

At its core, agility is characterized by developing an initial, usable version of a product or service as quickly as possible in order to make it available to the customer at an early stage. Based on customer feedback, further versions are subsequently developed that solve the problem ever more effectively.

Classic way of working

In classic project management, the project is organized in a plan-driven manner. This means that all functions (scope) were precisely fixed by means of a service description and also the costs and the deadline were contractually defined. The sequence takes place in the classic waterfall and is rigid. Changes and new requests are reacted to only at the end of the agreed scope and a new offer is made. Thus, flexibility is not possible and a go-live of the project could be delayed due to the new requirements. Efficiency and, above all, product quality also suffer because features that have already been implemented are rebuilt after the fact.

Agile way of working

In agile project management, the product is implemented in a vision-driven manner. The quality and size of the features are flexible. The costs and the deadline are specified in the contract. Thus, an agile way of working does not mean that costs are exceeded. Features can be prioritized, changed, and added from Sprint to Sprint. After each sprint a finished result is available, which can be switched live immediately. Product quality is increased as a result, since the user is always at the center of attention and it is possible to react quickly to their needs. Agile working makes sense for large projects, as requirements will change over a development period of 6 – 12 months.

An agile way of working means on …

Customer level

Flexibility
Save time and nerves
Gain a real competitive advantage

Agency level

better quality
Increased user centering
more fun during the development

Restless reinvention

We stay in the loop.

This approach is based on the notion of constantly looking for new ways to innovate to solve existing problems and thus make the digital product better. KPIs give us insights into whether we are on the right or wrong track with the measures we have taken. With this awareness, we create the best possible user experience. We implement something, observe, reflect, plan an adjustment and implement it. We remain in the loop, which is never completed. From iteration to iteration, optimization is caused.

One-Team-Approach

We are in the same boat.

We want to work with you on an equal footing.
The classic separation of powers between client and agency is broken down.
We are in the same boat and have the same goal.
Together we want to create the best product for your customers.
We value open, honest communication and feedback.

Design squiggle

Our creative process is like doodling.

Our creative process is not linear, but can best be represented with a doodle. The journey of research, discovery of insights, development of creative concepts, iteration of prototypes, and finally finalization of a single solution. It should convey the feeling of this journey. It begins on the left with disorder and uncertainty and ends on the right with a single point.