DREam UK
UX/UI and engineering for a retrofitting carbon reduction software.
The Project Brief
DREam is a dashboard UI for landlords and social housing managers to track renovation requirements on their housing stock to comply with EPC change in legislation by 2025/30.
DREam platform helps housing providers discover energy-saving opportunities in seconds using their own property data, and without blowing the budget.
We were tasked with re-designing the dashboard for DReam in order to improve its usability and accessibility for its users. In addition to this, we were responsible for engineering the software that helps users to see what impact certain energy solutions have on efficiency and performance in their homes. All of this had to be communicated clearly and simply, without requiring the user to have an IT degree.
The Yellow Sub Approach
UX & UI Design
We elevated the product design so that users could reach the information they needed at a glance and also have the option to request a feature to be added to their dashboard and in turn, gain valuable customer insight. We initially worked closely with the IRT team to attain customer feedback through testing and bug reports. This feedback became one of the contributing factors that motivate us to build an automated test suite.
Software engineering
We pride ourselves in our experience with quickly picking up complex 3rd party systems, understanding them, and providing detailed consultation that establishes the best steps forward with the bigger picture in mind.
In terms of software architecture, with projects of this size, we use a test-driven approach. In this case to aid in refactoring, and more broadly to catch any potential issues before they occur in beta testing.
We also conduct penetration testing when it’s appropriate and always build and refactor with security being of paramount importance.
Using this approach we were able to reduce the existing code base from 750,000 lines down to just over 10,000 with minimal disruption to the end users, making the system considerably less time-consuming to maintain and enhance.
Logo Design
Once we developed the DREam product UI, it became obvious that it needed its own identity separate from the parent company, IRT Surveys. We designed the new DReam logo and developed a mini-identity for the product.
IRT has been working collaboratively with Yellow Sub for a number of years now and will continue to do so for three main reasons. The quality of work is first rate, the staff understands our needs, wants and pressures without having to explain it too much and the team are really nice people to work with. Nothing is too much hassle or trouble for YellowSub. We really appreciate their “can do” attitude and genuinely helpful approach.
Stewart Little, Managing Director at IRT Mears
Project Outcome
A newly designed and built tech stack for our client IRT Surveys based in Dundee.
The refreshed UI and improved UX Design received positive feedback from the product users as well as the stakeholders.
We took a codebase from 750,000 lines of unmaintainable code into sizable components totaling 11,000 lines of code upon release. The development of our platform aided the final sale of IRT Surveys to the largest contractor of housing maintenance in the UK the ‘MEARS Group’.
As Yellow Sub we’re excited to see where we can take Dream next, and be part of the journey.
