Slock.it – a Web Application Based on Blockchain

The Challenge

Our cooperation with slock.it started over 3 years ago. We’ve met them after the football match (our CEO, Radosław, went there to see the RB Leipzig and SSC Napoli) – yes, we love to combine work with pleasure! We discussed the most important needs of the client and came to an agreement.

Slock.it gave us a task to bring a web application to life. We received a library which was one of the most complex we ever saw. To create something users will understand and use with ease is a complicated task. But to develop an intuitive web application based on blockchain technology, that’s a real challenge!

Our aim was to make it as user-friendly as possible. That is why the UX and UI of the product were so crucial. Moreover, we needed to pay attention to consistency with the existing mobile app. Our objective was to select solutions for the effective development of the web app.

After we sat down with the client and discussed their vision of the project, we were ready to outline and schedule the creation of the final product. Our main goal was to choose the right technologies and architecture in order to provide the best possible usability of the web application as much as possible for both, our client and the end-user. All these goals had to be fulfilled dealing with the complexity of the blockchain technology and client’s library and maintaining its aesthetic integrity.

Technological Solution

To develop the front-end of the application we chose the Vue.js framework due to its numerous advantages like versatility, scalability, and blazing-fast performance. Moreover, Vue.js is a very approachable framework so it’s really easy for developers to jump into the code if they are familiar with different frameworks like React. Because it’s based on JavaScript, Vue also allows integrating with the existing applications very easily and can be integrated into any other applications built on JavaScript. Thanks to it, Vue.js is useful for developing web applications from scratch as well as altering the pre-existing applications. This integration is possible because it has components for everything. That is why we’ve chosen it for this project.

Our UX/UI designer took care of the emotional and visual design, choosing blue as a dominating color to symbolize trust, elegance as well as high quality. Black and grey were chosen as accent colors to emphasize simplicity and don’t distract the user from the main purpose of the web app. These colors together we found to be a perfect match for a blockchain-related web application.

The Outcome

That is how we’ve developed the web application for slock.it. Despite the distance between us, the whole communication process with the client went really smoothly. We have started our cooperation with workshops, so we could establish the needs of slock.it correctly and assess all the tasks.

Later on, when needed we communicated on Slack and consulted the most important aspects of the project. Our project manager, Piotr made sure that every aspect of the product is agreed with the technology, client’s needs, and user preferences. Moreover, he strived for high consistency with the mobile application.

In spite of challenges that came with blockchain technology and advanced library created by the client, our skilled crew released the product with success and within the determined deadlines. It took us 700 hours and a team of 3 and we were satisfied with the result. What’s more, the client was too! Slock.it could promote a shared economy and its blockchain-based product with its new web application!