Jakob’s law (also known as “Jakob’s law of the internet user experience”) is that users spend most of their time on other sites, and they prefer your site to work the same way as all the other sites they already know. It was put forth in 2000 by usability expert Jakob Nielsen, and it brings a valuable insight: familiarity is valuable.
It’s a key mindset when designing a user’s journey. But I discovered that it doesn’t apply to a journey of a company that designs the user’s experience.
For two reasons:
Business management is all about adapting to change. In my 12 years as a CEO and collaborating with Untitled Kingdom’s partners (never called them “clients”) - it has never been predictable. Nothing about it was "familiar." In fact, the only consistent thing has been - you must always pay full attention.
In some ways, it's good to "reverse" Jakob’s law and put the understanding of what familiarity is back on the users.
In 2023, Untitled Kingdom will be celebrating 15 years on the market. Yet, just a year ago, I felt like what we do in the company (internally) does not match how we look and present ourselves (externally). The story we were putting forward felt comfortable and familiar, but it did not feel true or accurate. Neither to us nor to Untitled Kingdom partners.
As a company, we focused on doing rather than talking about what we are doing. But there was something else too - we have been looking for a way to tell our story. But now, when the rebranding process is finalized. And now that I know how to express what matters to us the most:
2008 → 2014. You probably don’t know that Untitled Kingdom exists. It was just founded and just started to grow.
In 2011 when I joined the company as a Project Manager, the future CTO Bartek Hugo Trzciński was already on board. The project: collaborating with one of the biggest bookstores in Poland. The goal: promote readership. It made a huge difference to work for a good cause.
We made a good team, and that same year, we began collaborating with Untitled Kingdom partners outside of Poland. That's when we began building relationships that taught us new business standards. And that’s when the UK work culture emerged: a quality-first approach to work and transparent relationship-building. Hence our 3 core company values: Quality, Transparency, and Family.
June 2015. We were young, beautiful, and slightly out of focus (in this case, literally).
2014 → 2021. You may not know us, but you might already know the results of our work.
Collaborating with partners like Elvie, Remedee, SPOKE, and Eargo kept us growing and excited to go to work. Plus, it allowed us to define our mission as a company: working only on projects that improve people's health and lives. Because we know that by doing that, we can bring a valuable change – even if it’s improving a tiny part of reality around us, it can hugely affect someone’s whole life.
Working on such projects with such a group of people has been (and continues to be!) rich, meaningful, and purposeful. But it also brought some huge life lessons. In 2014 we were at the edge of bankruptcy. In 2017, we faced (but avoided) huge layoffs. The same year, our mission was tested when despite a hugely needed budget boost, we declined to work on a farming project that was hugely damaging to the environment.
And that brings you to the present moment - with nearly 8 years of collaborating on digital health projects, we gathered Untitled Kingdom partners' feedback and decided to highlight what makes us unique. Now, it's shaping our identity - there is some familiarity to it, yet, technically, it’s a whole new story.
Initially, “Untitled Kingdom” came from the default file name.
“Untitled” like a new folder or document — means endless possibilities of what a new file can become.
“Kingdom” is a tribute to Great Britain, where we developed our first digital health projects.
Now, we’re shifting focus from us “UK” to you → “U.”
It’s 2022, and it’s time you know not just what we do but who we are too.
Welcome to the new Untitled Kingdom.
Equality_starts_with_technology - because technology shapes equity.
Untitled Kingdom’s mission has always been to overcome human barriers through coding and collaborating with partners on MedTech, FemTech, and digital health projects. That hasn’t changed.
What has changed is our approach to bringing digital health and HealthTech solutions to life. UK has been evolving and continues to evolve in-suit the way we present ourselves must grow and change too.
But here’s what remains non-negotiable: a need for a shared belief between Untitled Kingdom and Untitled Kingdom partners. A belief that every life must have equal access to reliable healthcare. Regardless of your location, social status, or financial resources.
This belief motivates me to continue expanding the company with my team and our business partners. To help create solutions that embody our motto: technology that makes us equal.
‘Users’ are Humans and need to be treated as such. The human focus must be at the forefront of every intention we have. In every choice we make.
This was no more true than in the case of Elvie Pump. Years ago, what started as a task to help mothers and nursing humans quickly evolved into understanding how they have been marginalized and stigmatized. Now, we're collaborating and co-designing a product that is overcoming those barriers and helping nursing humans fulfill their needs.
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With my 12 years of experience as a CEO, I had my share of business meetings — team meetings, partner meetings, and Head meetings. All full of anecdotes, negotiations, and sharing points of view. And during these meetings, I realized that what makes a story worth telling is not just having something new to say; it’s the power a story can have to change your perspective.
When you adjust the perspective, you’re offering a new point of view. You’re not just changing how the story is told (telling the same thing in a new way). You shift focus onto new (perhaps, more diverse) themes and allow someone to see the world differently. You may even direct your listener's empathy towards someone (or something) they never thought of.
I'm proud of Untitled Kingdom's values and human-centered approach. And I'm even more proud to openly share that message with the world. It's because I'm excited to collaborate with companies that share these values. I'm always excited to talk to people who feel the same way about a quality-first approach to developing digital health solutions. Are U one of them?
As for Untitled Kingdom’s story - the next chapter is only about to start.