Lots of data on a small screen – quickly
Customer
Readpeak
Industry
Platform Economy
Services
Full stack, mobile
Technologies
TypeScript, React, Redux
The Readpeak DSP purchasing system is used by thousands of marketers across the Nordic countries, which means the platform needs to be fast, motivating, intuitive to use and able to display a lot of data – even on a mobile device.
Readpeak DSP is a platform for optimising programmatic native ad campaigns. We got to test ourselves and milliseconds when an even more polished version of the platform was built. The aim was for marketers to genuinely want to go to the dashboard to see how their advertising is performing.
“We had for years collected feedback from hundreds, if not thousands, of customers and had a clear idea about what we should do. Our vision of an agile platform meant that we were in for a lot of work,” says Tomas Forsbäck, CEO of Readpeak.
Almost as an aside, Tomas mentions that the project was the first truly successful outsourcing in the company’s history. Outsourcing always comes with the risk that the project will take as much as it gives and that the quality of coding will not be high enough either.
The completed DSP, which has now been used by customers for one year, constantly receives good feedback: everything works, hassle-free. Forsbäck is happy.
“When it comes to appearance and user experience, I believe in pixel-perfection. How the platform feels and looks is an important part of the platform and our brand as a whole. The customer’s experience of the tool equals their experience of us,” Forsbäck says.
According to Forsbäck, the positive effects of a successful platform are difficult to measure accurately in euros. “When a platform is user-friendly, it affects a lot of things: the number of repurchases, future marketing efforts, and how likely the customer is to recommend us to others,” Forsbäck explains.
CHALLENGE
The idea was to create an interface that is fast, inspiring, and intuitive to use. It also had to display a lot of data on a small screen.
Excellence doesn't need to be decorated
Forsbäck says he grew to like the way Rakettitiede worked. He remarks that Ylärakkola dared to question things, knew how to introduce new opportunities and achieved results at an incredibly fast rate.
Ylärakkola is undeniably a seasoned coder – so it’s no wonder the project was a success. What added value can a skilled coder bring to the client?
“An experienced expert knows how to speak to the client. The CEO’s focus may not always lie in technical things, while the CTO may have a keen interested in them. An expert does not need to demonstrate their superiority; instead, their communication is realistic and transparent.” Ylärakkola says.
Development work is challenging, but fortunately, even difficult tasks don't need to be done with gritted teeth.“This project was a great example of how tackling challenges can be really nice work when the group is nice.” Ylärakkola summarises.
SOLUTION
Rakettitiede was hired for their developer’s brains and high-quality code. Readpeak’s own UI and UX design was adopted as a joint project to be completed.
3 tips for building a user interface
These tips by Tomas Forsbäck should get you started:
Trim and limit. Consider what aspects are essential to display. Also, carefully consider which buttons to include, meaning which data is most frequently used.
See how others have solved the challenge in other applications. Readpeak DSP's solution means that the user can swipe to reveal more data, and the user is also guided towards it.
Measure milliseconds and tune it’s performance to peak level. Speed is crucial.
FINAL RESULT
Everything works with pixel-perfection and ease. A good user experience is an experience of the brand and the entire company.
“The code may produce the same outward appearance, but the quality of the code is determined by what lies beneath the surface: how flexible is it, how fast do things work, and is it readable to others?”
Tomas Forsbäck, CEO, Readpeak
