Tech For Good – Feat. LEAP

We recently caught up with Nick Lewis, Senior Sustainable Web Developer at LEAP. Leap is an award-winning design agency focused on incorporating people, planet and profit into the design process.

The purpose of the Tech For Good series of interviews is to create a platform that showcases and champions companies, products and technologists who are using technology as a force for positive change in the world.

Sky @ ADLIB: Can you please introduce yourself, what your business does and what makes your business and offering unique and a force for good?

Nick: My name is Nick and I’m the senior sustainable web developer at LEAP. We’re a full service creative agency that believes there is a better way to design – one which places equal importance on people, planet and profit. I’m helping to steer the digital side of the business, ensuring we can deliver low-carbon, creative solutions for the websites and overall digital presence of our clients.

Sky @ ADLIB: Can you share the story behind the origin of your business and Service / Product?

Nick: LEAP has been passionate about working sustainably since long before it was cool. LEAP was founded by Matt Hocking in 2004. This was after heading up Eden Project’s graphic design team. His passion for creativity, sustainability and designing for change formed LEAP’s foundations. We’ve been advocating for sustainability in design ever since. Every project we’ve delivered doesn’t just meet a client’s business goals, it helps make the planet a better place – either directly or by changing the way a business thinks and works.

Sky @ ADLIB: Can you share some tech challenges or barriers you had to overcome to create a Product / Service offering with potential, whilst remaining ‘for good’?

Nick: Digital is always on the move. Always changing. One of the biggest challenges is keeping up with the tech; making sure we are offering both the best for our clients, as well as the best for the planet. The other challenge is often an educational one. Many people understand the potential environmental impacts of the physical items in their lives, but not so much about the internets impact. So part of our work is helping to teach people about the negative effects the internet and websites can have on the world. We guide our clients, showing them ways to make their websites more sustainable by reducing their carbon footprint. This leads to reducing the scope 3 emissions of their business, shrinking a small part of overall emissions.

Sky @ ADLIB: Why do you think it is a growing trend for tech professionals to seek out opportunities to work in purpose-driven businesses?

Nick: The widespread knowledge of the climate crisis and the shifting mindset that we need to change for the better has no doubt filtered down to creatives across the globe. Clients, as well as consumers, are demanding better from businesses, therefore the need for purpose-driven creative individuals has risen.

I believe that people have been craving more purpose in their work lives for some time. There is just now the demand and opportunities for those people to fulfil.

Sky @ ADLIB: What has been the key thing you’ve learned about ‘tech for good’ and your target audience specifically?

Nick: We have a wide range of clients across different industries. From local charities to global ones. From dynamic start-ups to large multinationals. People driven and product driven businesses. We’ve worked with a whole spectrum. The great thing about working with so many different types of client is that we’re constantly learning from them and with them. One key learning is that technology can be used for good; to push forward positive change for both people and the planet.