This month, We Create Digital turns 15. We've been designing, building, and maintaining websites and platforms since 2011 - and a lot has changed since then, but the things that matter most haven't.
This month, We Create Digital turns 15.
We have been designing, building, and maintaining websites and platforms since 2011. We started out with a straightforward belief: that websites should be simple to use for their users and the people updating them. The technology has changed beyond recognition since then. The expectations have shifted. The sector has grown, matured, and gone through several reincarnations. But that core belief hasn’t moved.
Fifteen years is long enough to have seen a lot of trends arrive and disappear. It’s long enough to have worked with organisations in most sectors. It’s long enough to have made mistakes, learned from them, and made better decisions the next time. It’s also long enough to really understand what makes a digital project work, and what makes it fail.
What the last fifteen years have taught us
The most consistent thing we’ve learned is that the projects that go well are almost never the ones where the brief was perfect. They’re the ones where there was trust on both sides, where clients gave us the space to push back, and where we were honest when something wasn’t right. Good digital work is collaborative in a way that isn’t always comfortable, and the teams who accept that tend to end up with something they’re genuinely proud of.
We’ve also learned that the things that feel like constraints – accessibility, performance, sustainability – are actually what lead to the best outcomes. Not because they’re boxes to tick, but because they force better decisions that ultimately give better results. A site that’s fast has to be lean. A site that’s accessible has to be clear. These aren’t separate goals from making something that works; they’re the same goal, approached properly.
Another big learning for us is to not overthink. Last year we launched Rofinery as a SaaS platform after a number of years hesitating over whether anyone would want to use it. We’re currently working on Kindweb, and hope to get it to a similar position later this year. Again, we’ve been working on this for a while. While we have complete confidence in what we produce as an agency for our clients, when we treat ourselves like the client, it feels very different. But over the past two years, we’ve sought advice from others in the industry, carried out testing, got training, and now have the confidence to put our products out there. We’ve seen others do the same with much poorer offerings and have realised we simply need to get over it and not hold back any more.
What comes next
Honestly, who knows. No one is making predictions right now, because even imagining what the next six months might look like feels uncertain.
What we do know is that we’ll keep approaching everything the same way: carefully, honestly, and with genuine attention to whether what we’re building actually makes things better for the people using it and for our clients.
Here’s what we’d like to achieve:
- Working with organisations in a wider range of countries. We know that with accessibility as such a core strength, we have a lot to offer.
- More agencies using Rofinery, to improve their processes, be more profitable, and provide a stronger foundation for their teams.
- Organisations using Kindweb to help keep their websites accessible, low-carbon, and high-performing.
If you’ve been part of the journey so far – thank you. And if you’re just finding us, welcome! Hopefully you can see that everything we do for our clients comes from genuine care and the best possible intentions.
How we’re marking the occasion
July isn’t the best time to have a birthday party – it’s too hot, everyone is getting ready for the school holidays, and it’s also our busiest time of year. So we’ll be celebrating with a party later in the coming months. With plenty of cake, of course.
It won’t be a big thing. That’s not really our style. But it will be something to say thank you to the clients who’ve trusted us, the partners who’ve worked alongside us, and the team who’ve made We Create Digital what it is.
