Company
Call it the science-fiction geek in us, but we see the world unfolding before us in ways most people couldn't have anticipated. Technology pervades our lives and drives innovation throughout the world and across cultures. It's this excitement about where the future will take us that drives our business. Pair that childlike enthusiasm for building cool things with very grown-up design sensibilities, and you've got Nf. Our foundation is built on a love of clean, attractive design and a natural functionality that enhances the user experience at every level. We spend a lot of time thinking about how people do things online, and crafting interactions based on what users actually do, as opposed to what they might be expected to do.
It's this anticipation of a user's needs and successful accounting for them that makes our work so engaging. At Nf, we love to create designs and applications that not only capture your attention, but deliver on the promise of enriching the time you spend interacting with them. In all facets of the online world, be they corporate, retail, social or personal, we find a connection and a drive to make something unique and memorable on many levels.
Working closely with one another, maintaining productive communication both between ourselves and our clients, we're able to do surprising things in unexpected ways. Practical knowledge in many areas of art and design, technical construction, marketing, and deployment allow us to fully and accurately deliver exactly the kind of experience our clients desire. We enjoy our work, and the enthusiasm we share for it is directly injected into our process, making the relationships we build meaningful and rewarding.
Culture
Loving your work is uncommon in our world, and we're lucky enough to be able to do what we love. We live tech and design - all day, every day - and our lives are filled with exactly the kinds of inspiration we need to utilize in our projects. A close-knit network of friends and acquaintances, we've built our company carefully to ensure that we surround ourselves with the kind of people who want to do great things. It's not just about cranking out a product. We're artists, music lovers (and makers), film buffs, gamers, athletes, readers and thinkers. We are more than the sum of our parts, and we pride ourselves on bringing the more interesting facets of our personalities out in our work.
Our workspace is an area that we've crafted with one purpose in mind - to have a place that engenders creativity and fun. The very idea of spending the better part of our day in a harshly-lit room in tiny boxes makes us physically uncomfortable. Your workspace should never be a point of resentment, lest your work suffer as a result. So we've made ours welcoming, eminently functional, and fun. It offers us an outlet through which we are able to shape our vision of what we want the world to look like... and you're more than welcome to come along with us.
History
Started in 2002 by Justin Marcucci, Nickelfish began as a freelance platform through which he developed a substantial and varied portfolio. In the first years following, Nf was primarily focused on traditional design and some web site construction, but as the shape of business changed, and voluminous numbers of consumers moved to the online world, the amount of traditional work shifted markedly in favor of Internet-based commerce. The singular effort that he embarked on alone began growing and accumulating a wide range of talented designers, developers, artists, and business development specialists.
As the demand for high-level design and development work increased, the company infrastructure grew over the next few years slowly and organically, all the while accumulating more impressive credentials and accolades along the way. Beginning with a more local, NJ-based clientele, Nf quickly gained recognition among more high-profile companies throughout the country as well as global brands seeking to move their marketing efforts into the online space. Through a word-of-mouth campaign carried out by ecstatic clients, Nf continued to branch out to new markets, and soon found itself creating large-scale, end-to-end branding and development efforts for Fortune 500/100 companies in the span of just a few short years.
Nf's progress in the business of design proves to be a direct result of a careful curation of exceptional individuals and a singular goal - to create compelling experiences and new channels through which people can interact with the media that surrounds them.
Process
Nf approaches each project holistically, understanding that the individual parts of a project must be cultivated in order to achieve a successful end product. The company philosophy is a simple one: carefully detailed planning at every step in the preliminary phases of a project will yield the best results. A fully integrated product development cycle typically encompasses the following process.
Discovery is critical to understanding the nature of the product's purpose, and is necessary to gather ideas about the scope of the project. Goal-setting discussions occur, as well as the identification of business drivers to further isolate the points of focus. Comprehensive project planning and scheduling ensure a constant state of momentum in a forward direction, and functional bucketing serves to strip away any superfluous features that might impinge on progress. User interaction and use-cases are meticulously outlined and examined to provide a pathway through which the needs of the user are fulfilled. Annotated information architecture and wireframes visually construct and provide tangible discussion points for exactly how the product's core qualities will be organized and accessed. User experience experts evaluate exactly what the product is, what it is supposed to do, and where the value for an end-user lies before a single creative design is filed.
Following the planning and specification process, creative design and development of the product commences. Stringent attention is paid to the details laid out in the documentation, as it is those previous discussions that drive development progress. Quality assurance testing is performed, and the product is put through its subsequent revisions to flesh out the best aspects and strengthen any that need it. Deployment, assessment, and maintenance follow the product through its life cycle, and provide closure to the creative process while establishing an ecosystem of support around the newly released application.
