HEPTA : ADDRESSING BUSINESS CHALLENGES WITH THE POWER OF DESIGN
Aleading player in the segment of computer hardware, DELL, was struggling with the low conversion rates of its e-commerce website. This forced the company to reevaluate the effectiveness of the website design. However, the process demanded the aid of a UI-UX (User Interface-User Experience) expert who could turnaround the website’s performance. This was when HEPTA, a Mumbai based end-toend UI-UX and Branding company came into the picture. HEPTA noted that this wasn’t one of those projects that required any technology heavy lifting, but smart yet effective experience upgrades with focus on securing users’ trust through a better looking interface, a better user experience, right animation and cues, optimised checkout process and enhanced speed. With these implementations the company was able to drive higher conversion rates and thus higher revenues. What made this project really special? This project went LIVE around the time when an inorganic traffic generating ad campaign was paused, making everyone expect a substantial drop in revenue the next month. Yet, the new site designed by HEPTA brought about higher conversion rates, resulting in higher revenues despite the drop in traffic; thereby proving the direct ROI benefits of good and thoughtful UI/UX.The aforementioned case in point is one of the many instances where HEPTA helped a business organization mitigate challenges with its expertise over design. Besides, the primary goal of any business is productivity and profit. And with the unprecedented growth of mobile applications and internet users in present times, the focus has shifted to UI-UX which has come to play a critical role in the achievement of this goal. Efficient and highly responsive websites and mobile applications are the norms today. However, while the technology has advanced along with a number of specialists in the field, only a few have managed to leverage UI-UX for a competitive edge. Faraz Naqvi, Founder and CEO, HEPTA, is on a mission to solve business challenges with the power of design. Faraz delineates, “Irrespective of whether it is a B2B (Business-toBusiness) or B2C (Business-toCustomer) business, the targets are people, and everybody is affected by design. We have set out to ensure that every aspect of digital design that users interact with improves their lives and creates a lasting impact.”
Unique Approach to Problem Solving
HEPTA’s services encompass Branding, UI-UX, Front End Development, Back End Development, Hosting and SEO. The branding services focus on setting the right context and appropriate communication. The company has worked extensively in this area with many publicly listed clients, helping them gear up for IPOs by establishing a strong brand presence across multiple digital platforms. The UI-UX services at HEPTA comprise the entire gamut of front-end UI-UX services such as user research, market surveys, personas, wireframes, prototypes, and more.
Believing in planning rather than retrospection, HEPTA starts every project with the team members analyzing the motive and message behind. This is followed by extensive user research and interviews which is often via online or face-to-face mediums, wherein the intent is to unearth user behavior and industry trends. The derived insights are then implemented in the wireframe process. And this is how by the second week of data collection, clients are provided with a clickable prototype of the solution whereby they get a visual representation of the functionalities, sitemap, user journey through the pages and more. The process also enables the team and the client to save time and money.
India today stands as a behemoth in both areas of consumption of data as well as usage of smartphones. Consequently, HEPTA conceptualizes each project from a mobile-first approach. Once the broad framework which includes the creative elements and the overall objective of the platform is determined, the team moves into what Faraz terms as the heart of the project i.e. the story. While Artificial Intelligence is largely being looked upon as a game changer in the UI-UX domain, Faraz opines that an aspect that the technology will never be able to replicate is the story and the context.
Hence, based on the in sights, the team crafts a captivating story for the target users.
Elucidating the capability of HEPTA’s technology and testing services to turn visions into reality, Faraz says, “This is where our inhouse technology team develops amazing interfaces. We put the agreed upon design into production and make sure that they see the light of day. We host the solutions and ensure that they run optimally without security breaches or downtime.” The technology and testing services are in fact one of the key factors that strongly distinguish the company in the market. Driven by a skilled team of in-house experts, HEPTA ensures the delivery of best-in-class solutions. Faraz adds, “While our objective is to solve most complex business challenges with design, I realized that it was simply not enough. A great design may suffer due to inefficient execution. Keeping this in mind, we have handpicked our in-house technology team and trained them to deliver best in class interfaces and technologies.”
Striking a Balance between Technology and Creativity
HEPTA isn’t just another UI/UX agency. The company interweaves the elements of design and technology to tell compelling stories. Everything is custom designed in-house so that the delivered solution is unique. Many times, the company also undertakes collaborative exercises if there is the scope for further enhancements to the project. In this context, Faraz recalls their association with Humans of Bombay where they were tasked with designing the website which would feature Mumbai’s skyline with multiple buildings and monuments. HEPTA collaborated and consulted with an upcoming architect at the client organization to ensure that the illustrations and animations capture the true spirit of Mumbai’s architectural history. The designs were later fused with lightweight, mobile friendly animations to capture the essence of the city and its story. While elements such as illustrations, typography, and animations are crucial for enhancing the visual appeal of mobile applications and websites, making them design heavy can result in poor performance, increased load time and may even distract the users from the intended message. Faraz explains that HEPTA addresses such challenges by leveraging extremely lightweight animations. Providing further insight, he says, “We simply animate in code. It’s easier to render animations powered by lines of text instead of heavy graphics and video formats. We use Javascript, HTML5, CSS3 and SVGs to create no compromise, performance friendly web animations. Our team is technologically sound and creativity rich, striking perfect balance between the two. After we process the context, requirement and potential impact, we set to crafting custom experiences to delight.”
Growing Organically
HEPTA was incepted following Faraz Naqvi’s zeal to solve business problems and touch lives with the power of design. The story begins with the entrepreneur at a garage with his laptop. Growing organically year after year, the company is now led by a team of designers, testers, engineers, front-end and back-end developers, who are working with a unified vision. HEPTA has no business development team and relies solely on client recommendations and references to help them grow. Having perfected their service angle within this duration, the company is currently focusing on developing proprietary products. One of the upcoming products aims at optimizing websites for greater visibility over Google search listings. Another product which HEPTA is betting big on an eCommerce SAAS for SMBs, complete with marketing dashboards, AI powered analytics along with DIY integrations with major inventory management solutions, shipping vendors and payment gateways. HEPTA’s eCommerce SAAS will enable businesses to get an enterprise grade eCommerce website up and running within 24 hours, at a fraction of cost it usually involves. HEPTA, staying abreast of the latest trends, is also working closely with technologies such as Blockchain, Artificial Intelligence and Machine Learning.
Elucidating the capability of HEPTA’s technology and testing services to turn visions into reality, Faraz says, “This is where our inhouse technology team develops amazing interfaces. We put the agreed upon design into production and make sure that they see the light of day. We host the solutions and ensure that they run optimally without security breaches or downtime.” The technology and testing services are in fact one of the key factors that strongly distinguish the company in the market. Driven by a skilled team of in-house experts, HEPTA ensures the delivery of best-in-class solutions. Faraz adds, “While our objective is to solve most complex business challenges with design, I realized that it was simply not enough. A great design may suffer due to inefficient execution. Keeping this in mind, we have handpicked our in-house technology team and trained them to deliver best in class interfaces and technologies.”
Striking a Balance between Technology and Creativity
HEPTA isn’t just another UI/UX agency. The company interweaves the elements of design and technology to tell compelling stories. Everything is custom designed in-house so that the delivered solution is unique. Many times, the company also undertakes collaborative exercises if there is the scope for further enhancements to the project. In this context, Faraz recalls their association with Humans of Bombay where they were tasked with designing the website which would feature Mumbai’s skyline with multiple buildings and monuments. HEPTA collaborated and consulted with an upcoming architect at the client organization to ensure that the illustrations and animations capture the true spirit of Mumbai’s architectural history. The designs were later fused with lightweight, mobile friendly animations to capture the essence of the city and its story. While elements such as illustrations, typography, and animations are crucial for enhancing the visual appeal of mobile applications and websites, making them design heavy can result in poor performance, increased load time and may even distract the users from the intended message. Faraz explains that HEPTA addresses such challenges by leveraging extremely lightweight animations. Providing further insight, he says, “We simply animate in code. It’s easier to render animations powered by lines of text instead of heavy graphics and video formats. We use Javascript, HTML5, CSS3 and SVGs to create no compromise, performance friendly web animations. Our team is technologically sound and creativity rich, striking perfect balance between the two. After we process the context, requirement and potential impact, we set to crafting custom experiences to delight.”
All businesses, b2b, or b2c, target people and good design effects how people behave. We have set out to positively influence this behaviour with good design
Growing Organically
HEPTA was incepted following Faraz Naqvi’s zeal to solve business problems and touch lives with the power of design. The story begins with the entrepreneur at a garage with his laptop. Growing organically year after year, the company is now led by a team of designers, testers, engineers, front-end and back-end developers, who are working with a unified vision. HEPTA has no business development team and relies solely on client recommendations and references to help them grow. Having perfected their service angle within this duration, the company is currently focusing on developing proprietary products. One of the upcoming products aims at optimizing websites for greater visibility over Google search listings. Another product which HEPTA is betting big on an eCommerce SAAS for SMBs, complete with marketing dashboards, AI powered analytics along with DIY integrations with major inventory management solutions, shipping vendors and payment gateways. HEPTA’s eCommerce SAAS will enable businesses to get an enterprise grade eCommerce website up and running within 24 hours, at a fraction of cost it usually involves. HEPTA, staying abreast of the latest trends, is also working closely with technologies such as Blockchain, Artificial Intelligence and Machine Learning.
