hedgehog lab
About hedgehog lab
With two decades of experience under our belt, we've confidently established ourselves as masters of our craft, proudly operating from the heart of Northern England.
Our mission is clear: to digitally craft a better world by driving transformative solutions that align perfectly with your strategic vision. Our team's deep expertise and specialised knowledge, enable us to tackle the most complex technical challenges with unwavering confidence.
We don't just develop systems; we architect innovative, scalable solutions that future-proof your business, leveraging our extensive domain knowledge to stay ahead of the curve. We're more than just service providers; we're your partners in innovation.
Our collaborative approach, ensures we work side by side with you, unlocking new opportunities and driving meaningful change. This dedication to partnership has earned us the trust of global brands such as Aviva, AJ Bell, and Accenture.
With two decades of experience under our belt, we've confidently established ourselves as masters of our craft, proudly operating from the heart of Northern England.
Our mission is clear: to digitally craft a better world by driving transformative solutions that align perfectly with your strategic vision. Our team's deep expertise and specialised knowledge, enable us to tackle the most complex technical challenges with unwavering confidence.
We don't just develop systems; we architect innovative, scalable solutions that future-proof your business, leveraging our extensive domain knowledge to stay ahead of the curve. We're more than just service providers; we're your partners in innovation.
Our collaborative approach, ensures we work side by side with you, unlocking new opportunities and driving meaningful change. This dedication to partnership has earned us the trust of global brands such as Aviva, AJ Bell, and Accenture.
Key Insights
Services & Focus
Industry Focus
Client Focus
Portfolio
Dodl by AJ Bell - Your easy-to-use no-nonsense investment app
AJ Bell wanted to introduce a new fintech mobile platform to make investing easy and less scary for everyone. They partnered with hedgehog lab to identify and develop mobile apps for iOS and Android that would really stand out and that's Dodl!
hedgehog lab’s UX research team, had to identify and better understand users' raw behaviours to ensure the apps were meeting real user needs. That led to the understanding that the target audience was feeling overwhelmed by too many choices and proceeded to focus on improving their experience.
The new mobile apps were designed and built on Flutter (a new hybrid technology language by Google) by our in-house developers and after meticulous testing, it was launched early April 2022 for iOS and Android with the following features:
- Optimised onboarding journey - Simplified user experience with fewer steps for easy access
- Guiding the user as much as possible by providing information while assuming they were new to investing
- Invest in UK shares and funds with no fee for buying or selling
- Transparency in the investment opportunities with easy-to-understand themed investment categories available to everyone
- The app offered an enhanced user experience that followed brand guidelines in a smooth and uncomplicated design
- Advanced analytics connected to AJ Bell’s MI systems for a detailed understanding of product experience
Sourced powered by Deliveroo
We partnered with tech unicorn Deliveroo to design and develop a new ingredient sourcing platform for restaurants on iOS, Android and Web.
The platform, which includes bespoke apps for both restaurants and suppliers, gives restaurant owners a quick, easy and convenient way to source new suppliers, order ingredients and track deliveries.
Leveraging our in-house user research capabilities, we carried out research with target users in real restaurants to ensure the apps were meeting real user needs.
Deliciously Ella - An award-winning app
Following rapid growth over the last few years, wildly successful UK health and wellness brand Deliciously Ella needed a brand new iOS app that matched their brand promise and was hotly anticipated by their loyal fans.
They needed an app that boasted the latest UX techniques as well as strategic guidance for adopting an entirely new revenue model for the app itself.
hedgehog lab worked closely with the brand to overhaul the look and feel of the app to provide a premium and up-to-date experience for users through micro interactions and refreshed branding.
A brand new CMS and support for a wider range of content formats were introduced as part of a pivot towards a subscription payment model, fuelling a 93% subscriber retention rate.
The iOS app has proven phenomenally successful, garnering rave reviews from users and has been featured over 30 times by Apple on the App Store.
PixPax - Launching a new brand with Kodak Alaris
Launching a new brand in a crowded marketplace is not easy, but we managed to do just that with Kodak Alaris and their popular photo printing app PixPax.
Working with the legendary photography name, we carried out market and user research to shape design, branding, price and go to market strategy before designing and building both iOS and Android apps.
Following launch, the app has proven extremely popular, garnering rave reviews and has been featured by both Apple and Google.
Go City - Digital transformation for world leader
We partnered with Leisure Pass Group, the world's leading leisure pass provider, in an ongoing multi-year digital transformation project to transform their line-up of iOS and Android apps across a range of geographies and markets.
Incorporating modern UX techniques and a complex system of API integrations, the apps have helped to boost in-app revenue, customer experience and customer loyalty.
Santander
The global banking group, Santander, recognised the banking industry is about to change rapidly, with the growth of fintech digital technologies that are set to disrupt the industry. With this in mind, Santander's innovation team got in touch with our Boston office to explore how AR, VR, MR and mobile could change banking. From there, our team of designers and UX researchers embarked on an innovation exercise involving multiple design sprints to generate an innovation vision for Santander.
Microsoft Hololens and Zero Carbon Futures
Our Immersive team has been exploring ways to raise productivity across sectors by leveraging the potential of mixed reality technology. Shaun Allan has been advocating AR/VR and MR at various networking events and in one such event, he connected with Mike Taulty and Pete Daukintis from Microsoft. They discussed the prospect of using Microsoft’s Mixed Reality hardware in the automobile industry.
Mitsubishi - Connected car, Design & Discovery
Builidng a vision for the Connected Car. We were approached by Mitsubishi Motors to discuss hedgehog lab collaborating with them on a connected car design brief using the Android Auto operating system to produce a Vision & concepts for their European car launches in 2017 and further. Our design team were given an open brief and tasked with holding a design sprint to look at direction and areas we could focus our vision for connected cars on – looking at solutions for the short term in 2017, and also mid term for 2020.
ForeignExchange.com
Gain Capital chose us to help accelerate the Beta launch of their new platform ForeignExchange.com. ForeignExchange.com is a subsidiary of GAIN Capital, a publicly listed financial services company on the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE: GCAP). It was founded in 2015 to meet the growing need for cheaper, easier and trusted international money transfers. The service is designed for anyone to use, from individuals looking to make small one-off payments to corporations making millions of dollars of transfers. They offer over 26 currency pairs that can be delivered to most countries around the world.
Akzonobel The Boat Paint Guide
"AkzoNobel is a leading global paints and coatings company, and a major producer of speciality chemicals. The business turned to hedgehog lab when it was looking to further the development roadmap of an existing in-house app focused on International, a coatings brand used to protect boats for more than a century. The Boat Paint Guide, which runs on both Android and iOS platforms, includes:
A Quick Reference Guide for detailed product information
Health and safety information
A Store Locator to help users find their nearest International dealer
A Paint Estimator that calculates how much paint will be required for a particular project based on a boat’s dimensions
Videos from International Yacht Paint (Europe) and Interlux Yacht Paint (US/Canada)
A compatibility tool for comparing anti-fouling products, which sets out next steps for users looking to repaint their yachts"
Jamie's 15 minutes meal
Channel 4 and Fresh One were looking at developing a second screen mobile companion app for their television show, Jamie Oliver’s biggest television series 15-Minute Meals, hedgehog lab was chosen as the preferred post-PC partner to work with them. With 12 weeks to go to the launch of Jamie Oliver’s biggest television series 15-Minute Meals, Channel 4 came to us with a challenge to architect, design and build a fully working iOS app for iPad & iPhones within this timescale.
DiabetIQ
Living with diabetes can be challenging, often requiring patients to make significant lifestyle changes. Our client, though, was convinced that this need not be a grim endeavour, but that motivation could be sparked through fun, easily trackable challenges, combined with access to key information.
Fitch learning
Fitch is a leader in training and development for the financial services sector. By its own admission, however, its apps had been built for function over form and were lacking strong design. Management therefore decided to outsource maintenance of the suite and contacted us after reading our White Paper on mobile trends in banking.
The Banker, top 1000 banks
We worked with the FT to provide an HTML5 based solution for the Top 1000 Banks project. FT was looking for a partner to develop a web app which they could deploy on multiple mobile platforms while ensuring that the project was ready to meet the publishing deadline for the magazine
Mindz
Dr Tom Mole, of Cambridge University, is one of the UK’s leading experts on meditation and mindfulness. So when he asked us to build an app that would not only help people master the practice, but ultimately aid his research, we were more than happy to help.
EDF
The challenge: how best to engage? EDF, a national leader in the gas and electricity market, caters for homes and businesses of all sizes throughout the UK. To engage this broad customer base, the company’s business and marketing team had been sending out a regular newsletter as a means of circulating dynamic content and keeping people up-to-date on the organisation’s latest activities
Hult prospectus
hedgehog lab is Hult International Business School’s preferred post-PC partner. We have been working on multiple projects ranging from a long-running innovation project to re-defining the prospectus for the digital age.
Hult Feedback
Hult redesigned their One-Year MBA curriculum to fully integrate the teaching of critical ‘soft skills’ and measure students’ development in a systematic and comprehensive way. We helped and build the responsive web platform in HTML5 to underpin this.
Hult Journeys
hedgehog lab is Hult International Business School’s preferred post-PC partner. Hult Journeys was one of the data-driven apps which we developed as part of our partnership with Hult. The app has 385 interviews with students from all over the world describing how studying with Hult has progessed their careers studying for One-Year MBAs up to Bachelor of Business Administration
Booths Loyalty Scheme App
Booths approached us to enter a partnership to develop a mobile solution for their retail loyalty scheme. Out of this partnership came an engaging and immersive mobile app which provided Booths consumers to interact with their beloved brand at a personal level. We worked alongside Booths’ existing digital agency & the supplier of their brand new retail loyalty scheme to deliver an engaging & immersive iOS (iPhone & iPad) app with rich photography on recipes, ability to check their purchase history & view latest offers from the stores.
Thank you Rugby
"CBRE is a market-leading commercial property consultancy, ranked at #321 on the Fortune 500 list of the largest US-based companies in 2015. It’s the highest ranked company in the real estate sector, offering outstanding services to real estate owners and investors.
As the title partner of England Rugby’s CBRE All Schools programme, which is committed to delivering a real rugby legacy to England, they approached hedgehog lab alongside England Rugby to design and develop web app for a campaign
In 2016, CBRE and England Rugby are celebrating the fact that 100 schools have graduated from the CBRE All Schools programme. This web app allows schools and the general public to thank rugby for what the sport has given them.
The app, which went live on Monday 23rd May, aims to bring the entire rugby community across England together. It was used to celebrate the positive impact that rugby has on schools, students, individuals and communities on Sunday 29th May, coinciding with the capped England."
Dooey
"The multi-thread social and business messaging app. Dooey lets you message in groups and branch out into different topics. Chat with friends and family or use it for business, speak to clients/teams and share files easily.
Dooey’s founder, John Connor, approached us with a vision for a new kind of messaging app – one that would simplify users’ lives by bringing work and social communications together in a single place. Based on a clutter-free interface, Dooey would also offer a clear alternative to typical messaging platforms.
With this brief in mind, we divided the app into two dedicated a channels, allowing users to switch seamlessly between ‘social’ and ‘business’ modes, and to allocate contacts to one or the other. We also developed a communication tool known as ‘branching’, which allows users to stray from the main thrust of conversations to focus on certain points using connected chat boxes.
Central to the design team’s thinking was clean and clear functionality."
Portl
"Portl, as our solution is known, is a universal app – that is one that works on both the iPhone and the iPad, using the same codebase. It differs from the competition through emphasising ‘introductions’, not just available jobs, and is highly user-friendly, with intuitive registration and easy onboarding processes.
At the heart the app is a search feature that lets clients find freelancers based on different criteria. Once they have narrowed down their selection, they can then purchase credits to ‘unlock’ freelancers’ profiles and access contact details. We even included an availability update request so clients could first ensure selected individuals will be free to work when required. The app, which integrates geolocation, also allows users to communicate via email, text, WhatsApp or social media."
Show Real
"A video-based dating app promoted by Geordie Shore’s Charlotte Crosby, ShowReal aims to give users a better sense of potential matches than its more ‘traditional’ rivals.
To get started, would-be-daters simply submit a video of themselves answering four straightforward questions, at which point the app splices the material together to create a ‘ShowReal’ for them
They can then search for other people’s ShowReals, matching specific preferences, and can view those people’s profiles through Facebook and Instagram integration.
Should they like what they see, they can choose to ‘Keep’, shifting the selected ShowReal user into a
‘Real Messages’ list. Otherwise, they can either ‘Cut’ or – should some potential exist – offer a second chance through requesting the user re-do his or her ShowReal.
The app also offers a secondary list, showing users those who have ‘liked’ them or whose preferences they match.
UI-wise, it includes a unique circle video recorder."
Tenant Genie
"Tenant Genie provides cloud-based tools for landlords to help manage rental investments, making sure tenants are safe and properties are taken care of.Tenant Genie approached hedgehog lab as a startup, looking to create an online platform that cuts out online agents and allows landlords to manage their properties themselves.
A web app has now launched as its first product, it can be used to store and deal with paperwork in a handy ‘Binder’ feature, organise repairs with contractors and interact with tenants; without paying the high costs associated with agents.
“I have been pleasantly surprised by the consistently high quality service delivered by hedgehog lab and would highly recommend their services to anyone looking for a hard working company in the Software Development sector.” –Zuhair Taher, Co Founder.
Working in partnership with Tenant Genie, hedgehog lab have thoroughly enjoyed making the platform a reality and are delighted with the end result."
Police Media Uploader
Medialogix specialises in digital workflow and digital asset management solutions with a strong presence in the public sector helping the NHS, Government and Regional police forces to manage sensitive media assets.With mobile becoming a key tool in the policing front, they approached us to build a Media Uploader app for a regional police force that allowed officers to capture images, video and audio in the field, fill in a form with relevant case information and upload it to a central asset server. This would enable officers to spend more time out in the field and less time filling in paper work.
Site Seeker
"SiteSeeker is a campsite search tool from The Camping and Caravanning Club, offering users detailed information at their fingertips. The app is used to find, filter and favourite the right campsite for their needs. Club members can get access to over 1,500 Certificated sites also.
Since 1901 The Camping and Caravanning Club has helped its over a third of a million members reap the maximum enjoyment and value-for-money from their camping. They had an existing app and felt it was time to refresh and update it so we were tasked with reviewing, redesigning and rebuilding SiteSeeker.
Users will now be able to search for sites using a distance slider, and get directions to their chosen site through their device’s own map app. Other changes have been made to improve reliability, download times and provide a better user experience and increase user interaction with the app. We have also developed the companion app Out & About for CCC members."
Klipcraze
"Klipcraze is the first ever competitive social app where users can win amazing prizes for free. Everyone has the same chance to win, there are no judges or random winners. Users find a prize they like, join the craze and complete the task to win.
We were initially engaged to rebuild the front end of an existing iOS app, attaching to existing APIs. The design of the app was severely outdated so after suggesting a number of quick wins, the client requested us to refresh the UX and UI on key parts of the app to bring it up to date with current iOS design standards.
After seeing multiple issues with the way the APIs had been written, in terms of coding standards, missing functionality and ease of integrating them into the front end, we took on a full rewrite of the API dataset as well as rebuilding the data structure."
Thinking Digital Conference App
"The official App for the Thinking Digital conference, includes real-time updated full schedules across the 3 day event. Masterclasses, real-time speakers schedule with now and next feature to keep users up to date with talks and last minute changes. The app allows attendees to connect directly with speakers and other delegates.
Thinking digital is a three-day event drawing together exceptional talent from the worlds of technology, media, science, industry and the arts. It attracts speakers from around the world to come to Gateshead to share their wisdom and experiences to encourage delegates to pursue their passions and dreams. Importantly our Thinkers leave each year with a greater sense of connection to their passions and insight into the world around us.."
1up
"The app for competitive photo and video posting - post or vote in a wide range of sports and other competitions and showcase your skills!
- Whether it's BMX, skate, free running, tricking, training or anything else, watch your posts get voted up.
- Climb the leaderboard by winning points and win sponsored prizes.
- Be the judge yourself and vote for others in brand-sponsored competitions and those created by 1UP users.
- Be part of a community that inspires you to push yourself and inspire others with your posts!
Key Features:
- Create or enter a competition by uploading your images or videos.
- Nominate friends to post a competing entry.
- Vote for your favourite posts.
- Win points and sponsored prizes and rise up the leaderboard.
- Create public or private groups and invite friends and others to join.
- Be alerted as others vote or comment on your entries, nominate you for competitions and when winners are declared.
- Take part in hosted tournaments."
Foodmood
"The idea of FoodMood was envisaged by our clients when thinking about the problems of searching for local restaurants online.Searching for a restaurant online is often tedious, with long lists of of restaurants whose names don’t mean much, as well as not being personal to the users own likes and dis-likes. We wanted to change that…FoodMood was created as a solution to this problem which emphasises on a personalised, visual and fun user experience to find a restaurant in the most efficient way."
New College Durham
"Show off your work to your friends, family and prospective students via the New College Durham app. Our students will be able to upload images, video or sound content onto the app and share it with their peers for reviewing and feedback.The app is available to download for non-students of the College as well, but the commenting and reviewing can only be accessed by current students. This means your parents, students from other colleges or prospective students can see the great practical projects are students undertake during their time at the college."
KatchIT
"KatchIt originally approached us with the whole idea of making life more efficient whilst also having a cool and trendy app that people want to useThe app revolves around the use of Bluetooth technology, therefore little or no signal is not a problem, and users will still be able to exchange details quickly and efficiently. The key to KatchIt is simplicity, on the surface, things are just a couple of clicks away and you’ve shared your details, with the bottom line being KatchIt will change the way people meet each other forever."
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