Bean Machine

From first idea to a shipped product

The studio writes its name as BeanMachine and describes itself as a full-cycle design and development shop. Its people include interface and experience designers, full-stack developers and several who come from startups, and it builds web apps, websites and mobile applications for young companies and for larger enterprises. It calls itself hands-on, with a strong bent toward collaboration and prototyping, and it frames its goal as helping clients earn a place in people's lives through the products it builds.

Design work: interfaces, prototypes and testing

On the design side the studio covers user interface and user experience design, rapid prototyping, web design, app design and product design. It also runs UX testing, so that a prototype can be tried with real users before the engineering effort is committed. Design and build sit under one roof, which means the people drawing screens are working alongside the people who will write the front end and back end.

Web, mobile and WordPress builds

For engineering, the studio lists front-end and back-end development, React progressive web applications aimed at scalability, and apps for iOS and Android built either natively or as hybrids, React Native among them. It integrates APIs, deploys content management systems and develops WordPress sites, including custom WordPress builds for sites hosted on that platform. Machine learning and AI features appear on its list of capabilities too.

Strategy for growing companies

Beyond building, the studio offers technical advice aimed at startups: road maps for fast-growing companies, planning a move away from legacy systems, monetization models for SaaS platforms and preparation for machine learning and AI. Startups can also get help preparing to approach investors, and the studio has pointed to a commercial real estate marketplace whose MVP it designed and built and which went on to raise funding. A team augmentation service lets clients bring the studio's engineers and designers into their own teams.

Scalability as a design rule

The studio says it does not treat scalability as a bonus feature. In its view it decides the lifetime value of the software, and building with it in mind saves time and money later. The stated aim is a platform that changes easily as user demand changes, using current design practices and coding languages, producing a lean product that fits present needs without extra complexity.

Recent projects

Projects on the site include a custom WordPress website for Supplyframe, a company the site notes was acquired by Siemens in 2021, a platform that lets people invest in fine wine as an alternative asset, and Nurture by Naps, a parenting platform offering expert guidance and resources from pregnancy through early childhood. Earlier work shown by the studio also included a native iOS dating app for adults, built around features meant to discourage ghosting.

A data-led philosophy

The studio's partners say they have spent their careers helping clients understand data, and that this shapes the technical strategies and execution plans they draw up for clients working in the digital market.