Distillery

FitDog is a web-based app and full-service solution for dog-loving Los Angelenos. The adorable app allows users to book anything from a grooming appointment to a beach excursion in one click. The app includes a back-of-house component that makes daily operations run more smoothly for the company’s employees and vendors. Our Work Fitdog and Distillery developed a partnership based on Fitdog’s needs and Distillery’s guidance and expertise. Our team made user experience a day-one priority, interviewing various groups of users to better understand their goals and expectations. Our team turned raw demands into hundreds of wireframes that contemplated all possible user interactions. We researched the competition’s tech and made it a point to outperform them. Our throughline strategy: to provide convenience and functionality while boosting engagement. Ultimately, the web app included: A unique, friendly, and secure payment system A quick and painless onboarding process for new clients to ensure better conversion Integration of engaging, on-brand gamification that tracks pups’ accomplishments A custom-built admin panel that makes Fitdog’s internal team’s day that much easier Fast-content loading supported by SPA React Framework, allowing for better UX and engagement Distillery also helped incorporate the UX and UI from the web-based app into every aspect of the website, including sites for Fitdog Club, Sports and Training. Read More

Our Work Tala had struggled to find the blue-chip engineers its big-picture goals necessitated. Distillery was able to source and place perfect-fit engineers immediately. While Tala staff manage many overall projects, Distillery provides much of Tala’s engineering manpower. We staff the Santa Monica-based FinTech company with the following professionals: Android developers Back-End developers QA automation engineers This team of top-notch, Tala-devoted engineers have specialized FinTech knowledge and are fully in tune with the client’s mission. Our flexible, offshore engineers have forged a strong partnership with Tala, often traveling directly to the client to assist them in constantly improving the Android app’s technology. Per Tala’s request, one Distillery engineer has joined Tala’s in-house team in Los Angeles. Read More

Our work: To develop n?dl’s MVP, Distillery assembled and placed a small-but-mighty team of proven experts consisting of the following professionals: Lead QA engineer Full stack developer Project manager Technical advisor Jason Medeiros, n?dl’s CTO, led our team and spearheaded the MVP development project. We started by providing several months of development assistance. We began with the necessary infrastructure setup, then moved on to setting up the application’s backend of n?dl’s own Amazon Web Services (AWS) server. Next, we created the appropriate intents for handling users’ spoken commands and configuring the intents’ handlers for the app. After that, we integrated APIs of AWS, Audials and Elasticsearch to extend the scan by song, artist and keywords functions, all of which were pivotal to launching a market viable product. Then, we continued work on the backend server, setting strict criteria for it. The server must: Receive a stream of user speech and convert it to text using automatic speech recognition software Store that text in a search index Provide a search API that supports the Amazon Alexa skill The last piece of the puzzle: creating a n?dl API that performed search against the search index and integrating that API to play the stream. Finally, after rigorous testing, n?dl was ready to launch. Read More

Distillery worked closely with Netvest founder Mark Rochelli to deliver a stunning application that melds pitch-perfect UI with fluid UX to provide content and functionality accessible to both new and seasoned investors. The UI acts as a running feed that allows users to follow expert investors trading in real time. The key innovation was condensing investor strategies into “motivation” icons that are instantly scannable on the feed. With uninterrupted access to investor portfolios and posts–including watchlist changes, market updates and explanations for all trades–users are positioned to develop the tools and intuition to make the right investment decisions at the right times. Dual admin functionality allows investors to post trades and Netvest’s small staff to manage all aspects of the application. Netvest’s design is clean, conservative and modern. The interface and iconography are intuitive and easy to navigate, balancing approachability with professionalism to engender trust and confidence. For Netvest, Distillery’s team: Fully designed and developed native applications for iOS and Android A clear, bold UI accessible to all investor levels of investors Innovative “Motivation” icons that condense complex investment strategies into instantly scannable data Unprecedented access to the strategies of the nation’s most successful personal investors, including detailed explanations for their choices and trades Dual admin functionality for investors and Netvest staff All client expectations expanded and exceeded Read More

Tapture brought in the Distillery Product Team to help research, design, and build a new entry in the growing field oflocation-based mobile gaming. The initial vision imagined a geolocation game requiring game players to capture different areas or territories indicated on a map screen. Successful gameplay would hinge on a seamless melding of the digital and real worlds with a playful and highly responsive UX that rewarded gamers for frequent interactions and check-ins. A team structure would further reinforce Tapture’s appeal to young social gamers, helping to integrate the game into their daily lives. Once a brand identity was secured, an engaging and fun new mobile game that seamlessly blends digital andreal-world play was developed within budget and on schedule. Gameplay in Tapture requires players to visitreal-world locations and check in to capture territories via a real-world map overlaid with shapes and outlines that denote the territories to be captured. All players are split into two teams which the user chooses during the onboarding process. The teams accumulate points with each successful capture. With these points, players gain experience and currency. Experience is used to increase rank, and currency is used to purchase in-game bonuses. As a result, all elements of the game design work together to deepen user retention and continually expand the player base. From the gamer’s perspective, a new level of game-life and real-life integration is experienced. Read More

Recent studies estimate the average person spends over five hours a day on their smart phone. For many of us, a significant portion of that time is spent on social media. The Soapbox team envisioned a revolutionary social networking platform where users could post and sell items directly on their feed. The key challenge for our Product Team was to develop a seamless functionality that would enable users to easily monetize their social media presence. Working together with the Soapbox team, our Product Team helped zero in on the target demographic to develop a clear brand identity and design an iOS app that will revolutionize the social media experience. What gives Soapbox its distinctive voice is the pioneering innovation of a new technology that enables users to conveniently and painlessly post and sell items on their social feed. The unique capabilities of this platform empower users with large followings to become key influencers, while scalability allows all users to build their own brand within the Soapbox platform. Read More

Video has become a dominant force in today’s web and mobile communities. Users hungry for the latest content inhigh-demand categories like TV Shows, Movies, Video Games, and Lifestyle too often find themselves frustrated by platforms featuring navigational nightmares and the latest viral cat videos. The dedicated audience is forced to rely on multiple sources to locate desired content. As a result, platform loyalty is strongly discouraged. Cizo came to Distillery after another agency failed to deliver a successful product. With a poor understanding of the target demographic, they produced a prototype that underperformed during usability testing. Distillery’s task was to build a video platform running a continuous feed of official, bleeding-edge content in a pleasing and accessible format. Integral to the challenge was the utilization of a back-end empowering a small staff to upload content in anticipation of user demand. Distillery’s Product Team collaborated as a unit with the Cizo team to deliver a mobile and web app that met or exceeded every goal in just fourteen weeks. A clear standout among competitive players, the Cizo application features an eye-catching, streamlined interface enabling viewers to instantly and effortlessly watch only the most current, up-to-date videos in their chosen category. An innovative selection tool between clips allows users to quickly jump forward and backward through the feed, maximizing both access to content as well as time spent on the app. The Responsive Web Design and official, bleeding-edge content secure strong platform loyalty, while built-inscalability allows for added categories and functionality to meet an expected rise in user demand. To run thefront-end, the team built a comprehensive admin panel empowering a small staff to easily manage and update both users and content. Read More