Bristol is one of the most successful cities for tech startups in the UK.  As a matter of fact, the city’s tech industry has a long history, and starting with 2020, the sector is booming. Things got so serious that even the area was name Silicon Gorge. 

Another surprising fact is that Bristol was called the UK’s Leading Smart City back in 2017,  a nomination that one wouldn’t expect from this city. The top was made out of 20 cities around the UK and surprisingly none of the other cities managed to reach the progress Bristol did.  

Also, an interesting fact is that in 2018, Bristol hosted more than 35K digital jobs, and successfully launched 225 startups, according to the Technation report. The growth of the city as a hub for new tech would seem to be a continuation of this long tradition of engineering excellence and innovation.

Today’s success of Bristol in the tech & IT industry was only partially due to the long history of the industry in the area. Another huge contributor to the entire digital ecosystem is companies that promote and highlight the city’s digital behavior and leading innovations.  The mutual support - from companies to the city and vice versa launched many incubators, partnerships, accelerators, and competitions that most of the time work for citizens. 

Projects such as The Engine Shield, SETsqared Partnership, Silicon Gorge Pitching Competition, and Oracle Startup Cloud Accelerator marked the city’s digitalization and highly contributed to the economical and financial development of Bristol, but as well as of the entire area. 

In addition, Bristol is the home of several tech giants that also invest and create most of the digital workspaces for the community. Companies such as Nokia, BT, Amazon, Vodafone, or Sony consolidate the IT sector in Bristol and support the tech and IT development as well as launching startup programs, incubators, accelerators, and partnerships as such that were named above.

The Southwestern UK region in IT is dominated by two tech hubs: Bristol and Cardiff. And respectively the only city to compare Bristol is Cardiff. While Bristol is considered one of the leading tech hubs in the UK, Cardiff also benefits from high popularity in the same industry. 

Many companies are struggling to choose their next location or the second office in one of these two cities while planning to expand in the region. This happens because the IT infrastructure is pretty much similar, and big tech companies have offices in both locations.  

Yet, Bristol is considered to lead in specific fields of IT, such as cybersecurity, business development for digital startups, and programming. At the other end of the table, Cardiff is more known for web and graphic design, content marketing, and digital marketing overall. In this way, we can categorize Bristol as a more technical city, and Cardiff as a creative center, even though there is no serious difference between these two. 

In terms of salary competitivity, Bristol surpasses Cardiff. We took as an example the job of a Java developer and compared numbers. The average for Bristol is £57K/yr while in Cardiff is £42K/yr according to glassdoor. Even though the difference is obvious, please keep in mind what was mentioned in the city profile, while one is more technical, the other is more creative. 

All in all, Bristol’s tech industry continues to develop and is expected to grow despite the pandemics in 2020-2021. Yet, the IT boom comes in entire Europe, not only in Bristol, so the leading position that the city has now can only be controlled by the community, the city’s effort, and large investors. 

 

Have you ever noticed how some websites and apps just feel easier to use than others? That's because of the UX/UI design - basically, the people who make sure everything looks good and is easy to navigate.

UX/UI design services are closely connected, but they are not the same. They are actually about different parts of the design and to be effective they must work together.

• UI (user interface) design concentrates on visual elements. It is all about how things look and work on a product, like colors, fonts, and buttons.

• UX (user experience) refers to the overall experience a person has with a product  – how easy it is to use the product, how it makes the user feel, and whether it is possible to easily get what is needed from it.

According to research conducted by Forrester, a well-designed user interface (UI) can increase a website's conversion rate by 200%, whereas a better user experience (UX) design could raise it by up to 400%.

In this connection, the importance of UX/UI Design cannot be overstated. Nowadays users have high expectations for the products they use, if a product is not easy to use or enjoyable, users will quickly abandon it. 

UX/UI design can help:

• Enhance user satisfaction

• Reduce bounce rates

• Lead to higher customer retention and revenue

UX Design has also an important role in Inclusive Government Design, which makes government services accessible and user-friendly for diverse and marginalized communities.  

But how do choose the right UX/UI Company? 

1. Review the company's portfolio and make sure they have experience in your industry

2. Look for companies that understand your target audience to meet their needs.

3. Inquire about their design process: research, wireframing, prototyping, and testing.

4. Choose a company that maintains transparent and open communication and keeps you involved throughout the design process.

5. Read client reviews to check their reputation and client satisfaction.

6. A good design company should be up-to-date with the latest design trends and technologies.

Taking into consideration all these tips you will manage to select the right UX/UI Design Company that will help to achieve your goals. 

There are over 8766 UX/UI Design companies on the TechBehemoths platform. Check their profiles, their strong portfolios, and previous clients' reviews before you make a decision. With the help of smart filters, you can easily find suitable partners to deliver exceptional digital experiences. Alternatively, you can submit your project, and this way we will find the best match on your behalf.

 Moreover, if you are interested to know UI and UX Design challenges, discover a few bad UX Design examples and find out how to fix them, we invite you to our blog.