How EXNIHILO HOME Approaches Digital Projects

Updated

EXNIHILO HOME describes its process in three named phases: Discover & DEFINE, Design & Develop, and maintain & Improve. The agency positions itself as a boutique shop that helps clients "research, strategize, plan and execute high-visibility digital projects," with the stated aim of arriving at "the right solution, at the right price point, for the right audience, and designed to achieve the right goals." That framing is the clearest signal of how it works: the process is meant to align user goals with business objectives before and during build, then continue after launch.

The three phases

Phase What the name implies What the site says about it
Discover & DEFINE Research and strategy work that establishes the problem, audience, and objectives Listed as the first phase under "Our Work"; the agency says it helps clients "research, strategize, plan"
Design & Develop Design and build of the digital product or program Listed as the second phase; the agency says it helps clients "execute high-visibility digital projects"
maintain & Improve Ongoing support and iteration after launch Listed as the third phase; the Textron example notes the portal is "now in its third generation, and continues to improve with each year"

The site does not publish a detailed step-by-step methodology, timelines, or deliverables for each phase. What it does publish is the phase names and the general claim that the work balances "important user goals with critical business objectives."

What the client examples show about the approach

Two case summaries on the page illustrate how the phases play out in practice.

Textron: enterprise employee portal

  • Background: Textron is a multi-brand company (Cessna, Beechcraft, Bell Helicopter, E-Z-GO, Jacobsen, and others) and has been an Exnihilo client for more than a decade, through leadership and business changes.
  • Strategy: Let employees in different locations, businesses, and access levels find the information they need, share expertise, and manage careers online — while giving the corporation a reliable way to broadcast information to the right people at the right times.
  • Solution: A mission-critical, enterprise-wide employee portal with identity-management access control and cross-business collaboration and search.
  • Outcome: The portal is in its third generation and continues to improve; for the first time in the company's 90+ year history, tens of thousands of employees across disparate businesses use one platform for critical business information and resources.

This example is the strongest evidence for the "maintain & Improve" phase — a decade-plus relationship and three generations of the same product.

IGT: PlaySpot mobile lottery pilot

  • Background: IGT is a gaming technology company and one of the world's largest commercial lottery operators, planning a new smartphone-based product.
  • Strategy: Pilot the technology locally to test it and gauge viability. PlaySpot was introduced in Rhode Island restaurant and bar locations, using the establishments' pre-existing secure connections to the state lottery; patrons could connect wirelessly and play lottery games on their phones.
  • Solution: Exnihilo contributed to product UX, then designed and built a promotional program.

This example shows the "Discover & DEFINE" logic in action: test viability in a limited setting before a wider rollout, and treat UX and promotion as connected parts of the same engagement.

How to decide if this approach fits your project

The published material supports a few conditional judgments:

  • If you need research and strategy before build, the Discover & DEFINE phase and the "research, strategize, plan" language suggest this is a core part of the engagement, not an add-on.
  • If you need a long-term partner rather than a one-off build, the Textron relationship (over a decade, three portal generations) is the relevant evidence.
  • If your project involves a pilot or limited rollout, the IGT PlaySpot example shows the agency has worked on a local test before broader deployment.
  • If you need published pricing, timelines, or a named deliverable list, the site does not provide them. The page mentions "the right price point" as a goal but lists no pricing signals, so cost and scope would need to be discussed directly.

The site also states the agency works with organizations "large or small," so company size alone is not presented as a filter.