FAQs

We are Johannes (tech) and Dorota (design).

Johannes has studied computer science (Dipl.-Inf. (FH)) and philosophy (M.A.). He has been working at a digital agency for 7 years, then freelance for the past 8. He lives in Berlin.

Dorota is a visual designer specialised in visual communication for knowledge transfer. She holds an M.A. in Graphic Arts and is completing a second M.A. in New Media. Since 2013, she has worked independently with clients across Europe, developing visual systems, interfaces, and communication strategies. She is based in Helsinki. Her work can be found at dorkastrong.com.

Our favorite clients are research groups, science institutions, and public organizations.

So far we have mainly worked with groups from agricultural and landscape research (list).

We help with the IT side of research projects, from plan to start to finish.

→ It's mainly two things: web apps and consulting.

1. Our web apps aim to connect researchers with their audiences, both expert and public. We build:

• interactive maps
• decision support systems
• multimedia storytelling apps
• data-driven infographics
• collaborative editors

For a web app to be a success, it needs to be useful to all sides. It should also be interesting and pleasing, but usefulness comes first. Therefore, we try to understand our clients' and their target audiences' goals before anything else.

→ We also create the surroundings for such apps, like CMS-based websites, or integrations into existing websites, and explainer videos.

2. We offer consulting for typical questions and needs that research groups have facing IT, for example:

• Concept development and estimates for the IT part of project funding applications, sometimes writing non-binding proposals years before the planned project start.
• Evaluation and ranking of submissions from other IT service providers to an ongoing call for proposals.

→ Generally, we are an experienced partner when it comes to the bureaucratic intricacies of working with publicly-funded projects. And we are small enough to stay below the threshold of a full procurement process for most consulting jobs.

→ Besides these main offerings, we are also able to provide help with search engine optimization, social media, and native mobile apps.

We like to work Agile, which in our experience is a good fit for scientific research projects.

→ The general direction and framework is given, but the details will change as research results come in.

→ To understand our clients' goals, we read their publications and project descriptions.

→ To understand their intended audience, we look into the relevant social media channels, and welcome exchange with representatives of those groups.

We use video calls, email, and collaborative tools like notion in our daily work.

Client communication can be in English or German.

A simplified idea of what could happen when you hire us to build a web app (of course we adapt to your process as needed):

1. We are already familiar with your project's requirements, because we have already written a detailed project proposal.
2. Based on that, we have a kickoff meeting to discuss any updates and decide on the features for a minimally viable prototype.
3. The prototype and some screen designs and layout sketches are developed in parallel, with short meetings for presentation and feedback as needed.
4. We put the prototype on our server as soon as possible (behind a password).
5. Design and layout progress are available for review and comments, typically using figma.
6. All relevant information, along with your comments and questions, is collected in a wiki-like structure using notion.
7. We aim to prepare everything for when the research result data becomes available. Integrating the real data is typically a phase of increased collaboration.
8. We transition the web app to the IT infrastructure of your institution, or we move it to an external hosting service.
9. When done, we hand over all the code and data. If you want, we keep backups too, so we can still help out in the future.

The IT industry has been gathering experience with AI agents for a while now, mostly for coding, but lately also for design assistance.

We are careful and transparent about how we use this:

→ We take responsibility for our production code and design deliverables, we never defer it to AI.

→ We don't use AI for personal human-to-human communication.

→ If we address humans using AI-generated content, we label it as such.

→ We pass on efficiency gains to our clients:

• they go into our estimates
• we only bill real human time spent

We are experts at using AI agents, we do not have to learn or experiment on the job.

→ Their use often results in:

• better feature detail depth and fewer compromises while meeting time constraints
• shorter time to interactive prototypes
• auto-generated, up-to-date internal documentation
• quick automation of recurring tasks like data transformations and deployments

→ We are happy to discuss our insights and help you with using AI for your own workflow.

→ We'll propose customized AI functionalities for your web app where it makes sense.

We prefer open source products, but use proprietary cloud AI (like claude code) for certain tasks. That being said:

→ There can be many reasons for not wanting AI in the creation of a project. We can constrain the use of AI as follows:

• european-only cloud services (f. i. mistral.ai)
• no cloud services, only local AI agents
• no AI (we each have over a decade of experience working like that)

Yes!

→ Our work on web apps and sites, especially for larger projects, is typically accompanied by visual design work.

→ Our focus is on structure, legibility, and conceptual coherence, rather than purely on commercial branding. This includes:

• Visual identity systems
• Printed materials such as publications, posters, and exhibition matter
• Animations and motion graphics
• Illustrations and custom visuals
• Infographics and visual explanations

→ We like to develop visual and technical elements together, and apply design to help communicate complex ideas.