In order to preserve continuity across interactions with the company, I was tasked with designing the user interface for Nine Technology's desktop/server client application. Because their business model is one based on service-provider partners, branding had to work on two levels: the partner logo underpinned with the 'powered by nine' logo, and the rest of the visual language referencing back to the Nine Technology brand.
The design philosophy was to keep things as simple as possible, or to paraphrase (since backing up your data is a complicated task) – as simple as possible, but no simpler. Basic tasks are the biggest interface elements, with secondary icons kept to a minimum. Because the application has to serve users from the most novice to the most experienced, the basic guided view had to give way seamlessly to the more advanced. So far feedback has been tremendous, so the client is quite pleased with the outcome.
