Celebrating Univers Labs 7th Birthday!
This week, we’re celebrating our 7th birthday!
Just like any birthday, it got us thinking about just how far we’ve come in our short 7 years of business. We have worked with some of the World’s most forward-thinking organizations, such as the BBC, Visa and The World Economic Forum just to name a few. We’ve also won our fair share of awards along the way too, including two CIM awards, A Webby Award and The 2019 German Design Awards. It’s fair to say we’ve come along way since we first began but none of this would have been possible without the amazing people who make up Univers Labs.
We’re lucky enough to have a fantastic team here at Univers Labs, who are friendly, fun and each bring a unique set of expertise and skills to our company and without them, Univers Labs wouldn’t be what it is today.
To celebrate our 7th Birthday, we’ve put together 7 interesting things about Univers Labs that make us…us. From how we started out, what we can create and how we keep work fun and sociable. Read on to find out more!
- How We Started Out
Univers Labs was founded in 2012 by brothers Nat and Louis whilst they were still in full time education. Univers Labs started life in Nat’s bedroom where they began designing websites for small business. Through Louis’ friendship circle at University, Univers Labs was then introduced to a variety of creatives working in London for brand and design agencies. These agencies were looking to get digital and development work made for clients and brought Nat and Louis on board to help! From there our client base began to grow and the rest they say is history.
2. How we got our Name
When Univers Labs first began, we didn’t have a name for it but we quickly realised that we needed to come up with one! We we’re submitting our first app to Apple and needed a company name for the submission. Univers is originally the name of a large Sans-serif typeface which was created in 1957 by Adrian Fruitiger. When Nat and Louis were trying to come up with a name, they had the Univers font up on their laptop screen…after a couple moments thinking, they put two and two together and Univers Labs was born.
3. We Love to Experiment
Here at Univers Labs, we’re always pushing the boundaries on what we can make. Whether it’s something new and innovative for our clients or just something fun for the office, we’re always experimenting and making new things! One of the biggest projects we have created is the Super Looper app. Super Looper is a music-making app that allows users or Super Loops to create their own retro-electro beats with sounds from Yamaha, Roland and ARP. Super Looper achieved hundreds of thousands of downloads in its first few weeks and is now used by organizations across the world, including the music production company, Building Beats.
Some of the other cool experiments we’ve made include our office CO2 monitoring system. Whilst carbon dioxide levels will never reach dangerous levels in our workplace, studies suggest that even slightly elevated levels of CO2 can have a significant impact on the concentration, performance and productivity of employees. Therefore, we monitor the air quality of our office to ensure that our team is happy and comfortable whilst at work. When CO2 levels are higher than usual, our CO2 monitor will send out a message to all employees, so they know to open a window or two to help improve it.
4. All work. All Play.
At Univers Labs, we believe in creating a happy, fun and relaxed workplace for our team. Our work ethic is all work and all play and we frequently implement social events into our work rota. You can usually find us at the pub on Wednesday evenings for a beer or two and we often participate in meals out, go-karting, escape rooms and the occasional pub golf night!
5. Projects we’ve Worked on
We’ve worked with incredible clients on some ground breaking projects in our 7 years of business. Some of our most memorable work includes creating a completely redesigned user experience for Easy Hotel, to increase conversion rates on their website. Developing a bespoke integrated platform for Datarama, with over a million data points to explore complex relationships. Designing and developing an app for Sigmavision’s revolutionary 3D tyre scanning device. And working with data journalist David McCandless on a data visualisation, exploring the complex relationships in the Middle East!
And we’ve got a busy year ahead of us still with lots of exciting projects in the bag and we look forward to sharing more on these soon.
6. Fudge and Honey
Life is always better when you’ve got a furry friend or two by your side. Fudge and Honey are our two friendly office dogs who always brighten up our working day when they’re about. Whilst they don’t seem to get much work done…they’re considered a vital part of the team!
7. Beer Fridge Friday
Our team work hard all week, that’s why on Friday’s we like to thank all their hard work with a nice cold beer, cider or whatever drink they like. On Friday afternoon’s you can usually find us having a laid back meeting, rounding up the week and discussing the great work our team have done…cheers!
