Contra’s project calculator is a gamified experience that helps users determine whether hiring a freelancer or full time roles is appropriate for their needs. The calculator analyses the requirements and benchmarks cost against time spent to compare total spend and time to impact for each option. The experience aims to create an engaging, memorable and shareable experience to promote Contra’s offering.

Contra’s project calculator is a gamified experience that helps users determine whether hiring a freelancer or full time roles is appropriate for their needs. The calculator analyses the requirements and benchmarks cost against time spent to compare total spend and time to impact for each option. The experience aims to create an engaging, memorable and shareable experience to promote Contra’s offering.

With both aesthetics and utility of the device to consider the design of the Contra Calculator device was a nuanced process. The art direction was inspired by retro tech, we wanted the device to have a tactile and nostalgic feel to it. Buttons that depress and switches and levers that click and clack – a break from the soulless touch screens we use today. This in itself created a number of challenges, the biggest of which being the device needing to fit and function across all screen sizes whilst still maintaining an aesthetically pleasing form overall. We went through a huge amount of iterations and prototypes until we were happy with the final form, made from a number of interlocking parts which helped create that interesting flow through the site.