Inference AG

Branding, Designing, and Building a Blockchain Authority

Inference homepage

THE CHALLENGE 

Design and build a cohesive and authoritative brand and website from the ground up on a compact schedule.

OUR APPROACH 

Leverage flexible components and a static site generator to move quickly.

THE RESULTS 

We delivered a snappy and well-designed site along with brand collateral to transform a nascent blockchain startup into a market player.

Creating a brand from the ground up

Inference AG is an auditor of smart contracts — utilizing a combination of the blockchain, client feedback, and an iterative process to determine security.

Outside of a company name and description of their purpose, we had a blank canvas to work with. To maximize time and effort, we had three designers explore different concepts and coalesce thoughts into design explorations, or “art-like objects.” These functioned as abstract expressions of a brand direction, allowing us to gather feedback before building out more rigid wireframes and site designs.

Over the course of a week, we explored different interpretations of Inference’s name, purpose, and process to spread a wider net of possibilities in a condensed time frame. After getting feedback on the range of options, we synthesized elements from each moodboard into one direction that became the basis for the site design.

Inference Moodboards
Inference brand guidelines

Designing for efficiency

In the face of a tight deadline, we had several factors working in our favor: the site is relatively quite small; developing it as a static site helps reduce the complexity; and there were plenty of opportunities to utilize design components in multiple places.

For example, the site contains a couple of types of content — Blogs and Resources. In our wireframe process, we compared the necessary meta-information to portray these items clearly so that they remain distinguishable but using the exact same structure and schema. Additionally, outside of the homepage, every page uses the same header with a simple color or background switch.

Inference resource component

Expediting development

Presented with such a narrow window for development, our first instinct was to build the site with a static generator. Gatsby, due to its significant built-in functionality, was the ideal choice. In addition to expedited development, a static site provides a much more secure base to build on, a key request from the client.

As a company, Inference holds security in high order, so we needed a framework for their site that reflected this mission. We chose Gatsby due to its server-side rendering and off-app backend which made common security attack points obviated.

Inference website on different screens

All under one roof

From custom design to development, we’ll take it the distance.