Onion Creative: An Agile Approach to Product Development

"Agile is not only a project management tool. It is a framework we rely on, and a core component and principle in our creative process that helps us solve complicated design problems and deliver the best products to our clients,” says Kelvin Lee, managing creative director of a digital creative agency, Onion Creative. With a vision to solve its clients’ complicated problems effectively, the company invests a great effort in remodeling traditional agile methodologies that often fail to work in tandem with the agency environment.

The most prevalent concern among clients is the agile approach’s inability to provide detailed scope and specifications of products upfront. Addressing this issue, Onion Creative helps its clients in defining a clear set of directions for their projects by spending ample time in understanding their exact needs. “We work closely with our clients to ensure that they first get to know their users properly. Also, understanding our clients’ core values and their vision for the next five years is paramount to us,” adds Lee. Most importantly, the company communicates strategies to its clients for establishing a common understanding of the project’s objectives and direction. The Onion Creative team thereafter designs UI/UX and works on small pieces of the product’s features while constantly adhering to the broader picture of the clients’ predefined goals.

Furthermore, the company’s elevated approach that incorporates agile right at the beginning of a creative process ensures the early development of products by eradicating the need to wait for a finished design.

This, in turn, paves the way for speedy releases as well as rapid prototyping, allowing clients to test the product, collect feedback, and even revert to the design team promptly in case of any necessary alterations. Having a head-start on the technical infeasibilities enables the design team to amend the glitches in advance, leading to effective risk management and saving clients their time and money. No wonder, the company enjoys a 100 percent completion rate with regard to all of their projects across industries.

Exemplifying the merits of Onion Creative’s agile approach is its association with a client who needed to build a conversational UI/UX for Google Home devices within a short span of time. “Neither did we have any prior experience with conversational UI/UX nor were we familiar with the associated technology,” mentions Lee. Agile facilitated the company to design the dialogue flow and simultaneously research about the features of conversational user interfaces, specifications, and technical requirements. Even during the creative process, the implementation of some of these features was initiated along with developing the code for the dialogue. In addition, the project, in collaboration with Google, provided the technical proficiency of Google’s engineers to assist in the development process and review the resulting early releases. These engineers also delivered immediate feedback and support on issues that, in their opinion, could be improved. Eventually, Onion Creative succeeded in launching the product—from design to development—in just four weeks.

“Product design in its entirety, and not just creating engaging UI/UX, is our core strength,” states Lee. An exposure to various business aspects—as a result of working with clients across several industries—helps the company develop products that support the clients’ business objectives completely. Onion Creative now aims to effectively accommodate branding, marketing, operations, logistics, and all other aspects of product development. Owing to its successful collaboration with Google, the company looks forward to growing in the conversational UI territory along with expanding in Greater China, South East Asia and Taiwan in the next few years.