The digital world is obsessive about pace.
“Transfer quick and break issues” has graduated from a startup mantra to an industry-wide gospel. We’re informed to ship now and ask questions later, to launch minimal viable merchandise and iterate indefinitely. However within the race to be first, we threat forgetting what it means to be good. What if the relentless pursuit of ‘now’ comes with larger reputational penalties than we realise?
I’m Jack, the founding father of NaughtyDuk©, a design studio and digital consultancy based mostly in Manchester, UK. We’re the inventive and technical engine for among the greatest manufacturers in leisure, an {industry} the place efficiency is non-negotiable. Our strategy is contrarian to prevailing knowledge. We consider in high quality and precision, not as luxuries, however as elementary ideas for attaining higher outcomes.
This isn’t gradual or pedantic. It’s deliberate.
A Story As Previous As Time
I’ve labored for lots of different companies earlier than. Contract, Trade, Company, you identify it… during the last 17 years I’ve seen the choices that get made, lots of them errors, from junior stage by to senior management. Usually I’d discover myself questioning, ‘is that this the way it has to be?’.
Companies I labored for would minimize corners in every single place, and I don’t imply barely under-deliver to protect margin, I imply a perpetual ethos of poor efficiency was not simply accepted, however cultivated by indifference and an absence of accountability.
Motivated by this behaviour, I wished to begin one thing with integrity, one thing a bit extra human, one thing the place worth is decided by quality-delivered, not simply cash-extracted.
Enter NaughtyDuk©
I based NaughtyDuk© in early 2024 with a easy mission: to create digital experiences that aren’t simply useful, but additionally stunning and performant, with correct structure and cohesion throughout all contact factors.
Though I’m introverted by nature, and customarily extra interested by craft than networking – I’ve been lucky sufficient to construct partnerships with among the largest firms and types on the planet.
The tasks we work on are normally for manufacturers with a considerable viewers, which require a holistic strategy to design and improvement. We’re significantly pleased with our work within the leisure sector, which we just lately determined was a logical area of interest for us.
Our Ethos
Our guiding philosophy is easy:
Designed with objective, constructed to carry out.
Within the leisure area, a digital touchpoint is greater than only a web site or an app, it’s a gateway to an expertise. It has to deal with crushing visitors spikes for ticket or merchandise drops, convey the power of an occasion (normally utilizing extremely visible, giant content material codecs like video/audio), be simply as performant on cellular as it’s on desktop, and performance flawlessly below stress.
On this context, creativity with no clear objective is simply noise. A good looking design that collapses below load isn’t only a failure; it’s a damaged promise to 1000’s of followers. For this reason we’re laser-focused on creativity and efficiency being complimentary forces, slightly than adversaries.
To design with objective is to grasp that each selection should be anchored in technique. It means we don’t simply ask “what does it seem like?” however “what’s it for?”. A important a part of our ethos entails avoiding frequent {industry} pitfalls.
I don’t understand how loud this must be for individuals to listen to me, however you must by no means construct platform first.
Should you’re advising shoppers that they want a WordPress web site as a result of that’s the one device you recognize, you’re doing one thing mistaken. The identical is true of any resolution that you simply ship.
There’s a proper method and 17 mistaken methods to do every thing.
For this reason we construct for efficiency by treating pace, stability, and scalability as core options, not afterthoughts. It’s about architecting methods which can be as resilient as they’re stunning. Working with the proper tech stack on each mission is necessary. The person expertise is barely nearly as good because the infrastructure that helps it.
That stated, experiential design is an extremely necessary craft, and on the entrance fringe of this are libraries like GSAP, Lenis, and naturally WebGL/Three.js. Over the previous few years, we’ve been rising the quantity of those options throughout our work, fortunately to a lot delight.
liquidGL
Not too long ago we launched a library you would possibly wish to strive referred to as liquidGL, an try and carry Apple’s new Liquid Glass aesthetic to the net. It’s loads trickier within the browser, and there are nonetheless some issues to work out in BETA, nevertheless it’s accessible now on GitHub and naturally, it’s open supply.
particlesGL
Along with liquidGL, we just lately launched particlesGL, a library for creating really distinctive particle results within the browser, full with 6 core demos and assist for all media codecs together with 3D fashions, video, audio, photos and textual content. Obtainable on GitHub and free for private use.
glitchGL
Following on from particlesGL is glitchGL, a library for creating pixelation, CRT and glitch results within the browser. With greater than 30 customized properties and a configurable world interplay system, which could be utilized to a number of parts. Additionally accessible on GitHub and free for private use.
We submit primarily on LinkedIn, so in the event you’re interested by libraries like these, give us a observe so that you don’t miss new releases and updates.
Chosen Work
Teletech
At NaughtyDuk©, we don’t chase fast wins. With the workforce at Teletech – one of many largest Techno manufacturers on the planet – slightly than rebranding white label options, we invested years into constructing a mutual understanding of what success appears to be like like. This wasn’t environment friendly by conventional metrics, nevertheless it constructed a symbiotic partnership that was extra fruitful in a while.
The result’s a set of market-specific options that constantly ship: internet, recreation improvement, cellular app, and e-commerce; all made doable as a result of we all know the tradition and the house owners, not simply the transient. For this reason I’d encourage different creatives to area of interest down into an {industry} they perceive, and to see their shoppers as companions slightly than targets – you would possibly assume this cynicism is uncommon however I can guarantee you it’s not.
High quality relationships take time, however they’re the inspiration of high quality work.
OFFLIMITS
Typically the perfect selections you make on a mission are those that nobody sees.
For OFFLIMITS Pageant, the UAE’s first open format music pageant that includes Ed Sheeran, Kaiser Chiefs, OneRepublic, and extra, one of the crucial important features was the flexibility to serve giant content material codecs performantly, at scale.
While Webflow was the appropriate platform for the core necessities, we determined to forgo a number of of Webflow’s personal options, together with their types setup and asset dealing with. We opted to make use of Cloudflare R2 to serve movies and audio, giving us granular management over caching insurance policies and supply. One among many hidden modifications which had been invisible to customers, however important to efficiency. Taking time for correct choices, even boring ones, is what separates experiences that ship from those who merely look good.
PRIMAL™
PRIMAL™ began as a pattern pack library targeted on uncooked top quality sounds. After they wished to broaden into audio plugins, we spent eighteen months creating customized audio plugins and architecting a complete ecosystem from scratch, as a result of complete options create lasting worth.
The result’s one thing we’re significantly pleased with, with computerized account creation, login, subscription creation, and license technology occurring from a single click on. This will sound easy on the floor, nevertheless it required months of cautious planning and improvement throughout JUCE/C++, Stripe, Clerk, React, Cloudflare, and Mailchimp.
Extra info on this repositioning shall be accessible late 2025.
The Built-in Pipeline
Our philosophy of High quality Over Velocity solely works in case your workforce is structured to assist it. Frequent approaches separate issues like design and improvement. In giant groups that is seen as considerably important, a mission strikes alongside a conveyor belt, handed off from one silo to the subsequent.
That is comprehensible, however mistaken. Bloat and forms are the place imaginative and prescient will get diluted and potential goes to die. For that reason, at NaughtyDuk© we insist on dealing with your complete inventive pipeline.
Having a holistic strategy means that you can create deeply related digital ecosystems.
When the identical workforce that designs the model identification additionally builds the cellular app and designers the backend, you get a stage of coherence that merely isn’t doable in any other case. This results in higher outcomes: decrease operational prices for our shoppers, much less patchwork for us, larger conversion charges, and a superior buyer expertise that feels seamless and intentional.
Ultimate Ideas
Selecting craft over haste will not be an indulgence, it’s a strategic resolution we make daily.
It’s not that we’re good, we’re not. It’s that we’d slightly intention for perfection and miss, than fail to even try to accept ‘adequate’. In a digital panorama saturated with forgettable experiences, perfectionism is what cuts by the noise.
It’s what turns a person right into a fan and a model right into a legacy.
Our work has been lucky sufficient to win awards, however the actual validation comes from seeing our shoppers thrive on the again of the additional care and a focus to element that goes right into a High quality Over Velocity mindset. By constructing platforms which can be purposeful, performant, and deeply built-in, we ship lasting worth.
The purpose isn’t simply to launch one thing, it’s to launch one thing proper.
