Brand, UI Design, and Website for
cloud-centric developer tools
Devcubbies, LLC
The need
Devcubbies needed a brand and user interface for the incredibly complex backend of an advanced technology solution. The project uncovered the need to identify and understand the motivations and pain points of end users, provide users with a comfortable and familiar experience while using cutting-edge technology, and allow sales and marketing to operate efficiently and confidently.
The challenges
The Devcubbies mission is to provide tools and software to make cloud-centric developing more convenient for all developers; therefore, it was vital that the burden of the complexity not fall to the user. We needed a simple, efficient user interface housed in a modern, approachable, and marketable brand experience with messaging that quickly and clearly communicated the functional and emotional benefits of using Devcubbies.
Discovery and brand strategy
Through interviews, discovery sessions, and inspiration-gathering, the team worked to become aligned with the core mission and values of Devcubbies in order to identify the key idea we needed to communicate (verbally, visually, and experientially) to the audience. The design team uncovered a set of brand and experience goals, and began to set strategic guidelines in place to help achieve these goals.
Marketing, Audience, and Competitive Research
We identified three core audience segments and began analyzing research and consumer data in order to gain in-depth understanding of the primary, secondary, and tertiary audiences, as well the competitive landscape. Audience Personas were created for each of the three segments to further distill motivations and pain points which would guide the development of key messaging and marketing strategies.
Brand Design
The Devcubbies brand identity was built to provide easy-to-use brand elements in a modern, exciting visual system. The brand logo includes a scalable, distinct, flexible-use symbol combined with a friendly serif typeface to pay homage to coding and the classic courier fonts. A unique color system was developed incorporating the bright primaries of the entire color spectrum grounded by dominant use of black and white. The graphical system for Devcubbies created a distinct and modern visual style that is easy to use, flexible, and digital-friendly.
UI Design and Design System Development
The product design team created a custom design system and component library to meet the needs of the Devcubbies interface. The system features intentional color signalling, clear and legible type styles, button and action hierarchy, and a comfortable, navigable architecture. We worked closely and collaboratively with the developers to ensure a functional and feasible design approach.
App Implementation and Integration
We implemented a VueJs frontend for quick and easy developer and admin onboarding and daily usage. Developers are the primary user of the tool, so we went a step beyond the ask and also delivered a command-line interface, enabling us to speak to developers in their own language and in an environment they’re comfortable with.
Marketing Plan and Creative Collateral
A comprehensive marketing strategy and plan was created specifically for bringing Devcubbies into the market. This included:
- Deep-dive Search Engine Optimization (SEO) research including keyword analysis based on competitor websites and online developer community / social media sites
- SEO long and short-tail keyword guidelines
- Key messaging and engagement strategy for each of the three audience segments
- Out-bound marketing and advertising channels and budgets
- Branded messaging and visual collateral for targeted advertising campaigns
- Sales goals and tactics
Website Content and Information Architecture
The marketing website was designed to quickly educate potential customers and streamline throughput and self-service conversions. A clear, efficient information architecture was developed to allow site viewers to navigate through the site in a familiar SaaS structure while communicating key messages in the distinct Devcubbies brand. We wrote all copy for the website to effectively communicate the Devcubbies value proposition while educating and orienting users to the cloud-centric coding experience. Insights from the competitive deepdive drove Search Engine Optimization efforts, weaving key terms and meta data (meta title, meta description, and alt text for images) seamlessly into the website content.
Website Design and Development
A mix of product-showcasing vignettes, textural photography, illustrative iconography, and feature demonstrations was used to create the core visuals for the fully responsive Devcubbies website. The WordPress site was built completely custom using Elementor Pro and custom-developed widgets, and designed to provide optimal viewing on any device and port size. We launched only after extensive testing and ensuring SEO best practices including robots.txt, sitemap, optimized header tags, proper image attributes and alt tags, and optimized page naming and linking were deployed and WCAG and ADA Compliance accessibility checks were passed.
THE RESULTS
A beautifully branded app experience for developers, by developers.
The marketing website was designed to quickly educate potential customers and streamline throughput and self-service conversions. A clear, efficient information architecture was developed to allow site viewers to navigate through the site in a familiar SaaS structure while communicating key messages in the distinct Devcubbies brand. We wrote all copy for the website to effectively communicate the Devcubbies value proposition while educating and orienting users to the cloud-centric coding experience. Insights from the competitive deepdive drove Search Engine Optimization efforts, weaving key terms and meta data (meta title, meta description, and alt text for images) seamlessly into the website content.
