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 artistic and technical engine for a few of the greatest manufacturers in leisure, an {industry} the place efficiency is non-negotiable. Our method is contrarian to prevailing knowledge. We imagine 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 selections that get made, lots of them errors, from junior stage by to senior management. Typically I might discover myself questioning, ‘is that this the way it has to be?’.
Companies I labored for would reduce 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 a scarcity of accountability.
Motivated by this behaviour, I needed to start out 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 lovely and performant, with correct structure and cohesion throughout all contact factors.
Though I’m introverted by nature, and customarily extra fascinated about craft than networking – I’ve been lucky sufficient to construct partnerships with a few of the largest corporations and types on the earth.
The tasks we work on are normally for manufacturers with a considerable viewers, which require a holistic method to design and improvement. We’re notably happy with our work within the leisure sector, which we lately determined was a logical area of interest for us.
Our Ethos
Our guiding philosophy is straightforward:
Designed with goal, constructed to carry out.
Within the leisure house, 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 site 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 underneath strain.
On this context, creativity with out a clear goal is simply noise. A phenomenal design that collapses underneath load isn’t only a failure; it’s a damaged promise to hundreds of followers. That is why we’re laser-focused on creativity and efficiency being complimentary forces, slightly than adversaries.
To design with goal is to know that each alternative should be anchored in technique. It means we don’t simply ask “what does it appear to be?” however “what’s it for?”. A important a part of our ethos entails avoiding widespread {industry} pitfalls.
I don’t know the way loud this must be for individuals to listen to me, however you must by no means construct platform first.
If you happen to’re advising shoppers that they want a WordPress web site as a result of that’s the one device you realize, you’re doing one thing unsuitable. The identical is true of any resolution that you simply ship.
There’s a proper approach and 17 unsuitable methods to do every little thing.
That is why we construct for efficiency by treating pace, stability, and scalability as core options, not afterthoughts. It’s about architecting programs which might be as resilient as they’re lovely. Working with the right tech stack on each undertaking is essential. The consumer expertise is simply pretty much as good because the infrastructure that helps it.
That mentioned, experiential design is an extremely essential 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
Just lately we launched a library you may prefer to attempt referred to as liquidGL, an try to carry Apple’s new Liquid Glass aesthetic to the net. It’s rather a lot trickier within the browser, and there are nonetheless some issues to work out in BETA, however it’s out there now on GitHub and naturally, it’s open supply.
particlesGL
Along with liquidGL, we lately launched particlesGL, a library for creating actually distinctive particle results within the browser, full with 6 core demos and assist for all media codecs together with 3D fashions, video, audio, pictures and textual content. Out there 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 international interplay system, which may be utilized to a number of components. Additionally out there on GitHub and free for private use.
We publish primarily on LinkedIn, so when you’re fascinated about libraries like these, give us a comply with so that you don’t miss new releases and updates.
Chosen Work
Teletech
At NaughtyDuk©, we don’t chase fast wins. With the group at Teletech – one of many largest Techno manufacturers on the earth – slightly than rebranding white label options, we invested years into constructing a mutual understanding of what success seems to be like. This wasn’t environment friendly by conventional metrics, however it constructed a symbiotic partnership that was extra fruitful in a while.
The result’s a collection of market-specific options that persistently ship: internet, recreation improvement, cellular app, and e-commerce; all made doable as a result of we all know the tradition and the homeowners, not simply the temporary. That is why I might encourage different creatives to area of interest down into an {industry} they perceive, and to see their shoppers as companions slightly than targets – you may suppose this cynicism is uncommon however I can guarantee you it’s not.
High quality relationships take time, however they’re the muse of high quality work.
OFFLIMITS
Typically the perfect selections you make on a undertaking are those that nobody sees.
For OFFLIMITS Competition, the UAE’s first open format music pageant that includes Ed Sheeran, Kaiser Chiefs, OneRepublic, and extra, one of the crucial important facets was the power to serve giant content material codecs performantly, at scale.
While Webflow was the precise 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. Certainly one of many hidden adjustments 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 people who merely look good.
PRIMAL™
PRIMAL™ began as a pattern pack library centered on uncooked prime quality sounds. After they needed to increase into audio plugins, we spent eighteen months growing 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 notably happy with, with automated account creation, login, subscription creation, and license era occurring from a single click on. This may occasionally sound easy on the floor, however it required months of cautious planning and improvement throughout JUCE/C++, Stripe, Clerk, React, Cloudflare, and Mailchimp.
Extra data on this repositioning will probably be out there late 2025.
The Built-in Pipeline
Our philosophy of High quality Over Velocity solely works in case your group is structured to assist it. Widespread approaches separate issues like design and improvement. In giant groups that is seen as considerably important, a undertaking strikes alongside a conveyor belt, handed off from one silo to the following.
That is comprehensible, however unsuitable. Bloat and forms are the place imaginative and prescient will get diluted and potential goes to die. Because of this, at NaughtyDuk© we insist on dealing with your complete artistic pipeline.
Having a holistic method means that you can create deeply related digital ecosystems.
When the identical group 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.
Remaining Ideas
Selecting craft over haste just isn’t an indulgence, it’s a strategic determination we make day-after-day.
It’s not that we’re excellent, we’re not. It’s that we’d slightly intention for perfection and miss, than fail to even attempt to accept ‘ok’. In a digital panorama saturated with forgettable experiences, perfectionism is what cuts by the noise.
It’s what turns a consumer 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 might be purposeful, performant, and deeply built-in, we ship lasting worth.
The objective isn’t simply to launch one thing, it’s to launch one thing proper.
