Crafted Future: Driving Innovation 

Innovation is a continuous process of turning bold ideas into reality, and true innovators are those who dare to push the bounds of what’s possible. 

To explore how the fusion of creativity and technology is shaping the future of the web, WP Engine and The Webby Awards hosted Crafted Future: Driving Innovation. 

In this most recent Crafted Future event, experts discuss the strategies and tools they’re using to push boundaries, craft scalable solutions, and redefine the standards of digital excellence. Whether it’s through adopting cutting-edge technology, embracing new ideas, or ensuring seamless user experiences, the conversation explores what it takes to lead the charge in crafting forward-thinking, memorable digital experiences.

Panelists included Long Lead Editor John Patrick Pullen, DD.NYC^Ⓡ Creative Director and Managing Partner Anjelika Kour, and WP Engine Director of Digital Experience Caleb Eubanks. Together, they shared their perspectives on the big question facing agencies and developers today: How do you successfully balance creativity with technical excellence in the pursuit of digital greatness?

Read on for insights about the tools and perspectives that are setting new digital standards and driving the future of web design and development.

Defining innovation: a thoughtful, collaborative process

The panel opened with a discussion that addresses the big theme of the day: What does “innovation” really mean in a technological sense, and how do we define it?

Panelists’ unique experiences informed their understanding of what innovation means. 

For Pullen, everything comes back to an editorial lens, so innovation means telling a story that imparts crucial knowledge to an audience in the most resonant way. 

For Kour, innovation means taking a sober look at a specific industry, deciding what changes would make the most impact, and taking meaningful strides within that niche to drive better experiences. She also cautioned against a need for speed, sharing that true innovation requires thoughtfulness, not haste.

“The best way to describe it is to take strides within each industry to push it forward,” she said. 

“But you can go too fast if you’re not communicating to your audiences.”

For Eubanks, innovation means improvement for both the storytellers and product designers behind the scenes and for the end consumers of that content.

“For me, it’s about solving age-old challenges in new ways,” he says. 

“As long as you’re focused on the end user and solving problems in better, faster, and more efficient ways to reduce strain on them, that’s innovation.”

From there, The Webby Awards general manager and panel moderator Nick Borenstein asked for specifics about two sites featured in this year’s Crafted With Code showcase: Hawkridge by DD.NYC and Lifting Ukraine by Long Lead. 

When asked how he approached digital design as a non-technical professional, Pullen shared that asking questions and dreaming big are vital to an innovative design process.

“I ask a lot of stupid questions, I say a lot of uninformed things, and then ask how we make this a reality,” he said. 

“A lot of times the answer is that it can’t be done, but I’m often surprised how often things can be done.”

Eubanks echoed that sentiment, taking a moment to share how collaboration is key to driving innovation.

“We have a fantastic product team here at WP Engine, and what they create is amazing. So, on the marketing side, we like to drink our own champagne by using those products and tools,” he said. 

“Then, we’re lucky enough to partner with those teams to create real-time feedback loops which allow us both—product and marketing—to innovate together and ultimately provide better service to the designers and storytellers using those products every day.”

Headless architecture, personalization, and embracing humanity in technology

As developers and creatives collaborate to drive thoughtful innovation across the web, choosing the right tools and technologies is vital to creating better, more human-centered products.

One such technology is headless development, which provides the foundation for both the Hawkridge Austin and Lifting Ukraine sites. Borenstein asked each panelist for their thoughts on headless technology and how it can enable more personalized web experiences.

“There are a lot of benefits to a headless platform. At a base level, headless technology allows greater flexibility across your entire ecosystem and is inherently modular and more flexible,” says Eubanks. 

“The separation of the front and backends allows you to choose the tools that are right for you, and headless allows content to be delivered across multiple platforms to improve the omnichannel experience.”

According to panelists, two of the main benefits of headless web architecture are the flexibility it offers and its ability to enable more personalized experiences.

“Headless architecture really gives us that flexibility across every project. We use headless in most of the projects that we do at DD.NYC,” she said. 

“Our agency utilizes headless to be able to create any design possible. By disconnecting frontend from backend, we can further scale even highly custom environments.”

And because even the most beautifully designed sites aren’t guaranteed to resonate with all users, headless’ ability to enhance personalization is a huge boon for both web developers and businesses that rely on web traffic for continued growth and brand awareness.

A truly personalized site must simultaneously gain valuable information about users and apply that knowledge to their on-site experiences. 

“Personalization is incredibly important—frankly, it’s table stakes in the modern digital economy,” said Eubanks. 

“Personalization is a matrix, so the more you know, the greater your technology stack is connected, the more you can personalize.”

Headless technology enhances the ability to create deeply personalized experiences on lightning-fast, completely custom websites, which is why experts believe it will continue to drive innovation web-wide.

Innovations on the horizon

As the conversation took a turn from what’s happening now to what’s possible in the future, experts discussed a number of trends they expect to continue growing, from minimalist site design to embracing artificial intelligence. 

“I would say that minimalism is one of the trends we do employ quite often at DD.NYC, and that’s because we want sites to be innovative at launch but also have longevity,” said Kour.

“We’ve built websites nine years ago that are still referenced today in client briefs today because they think it’s something that we built last year.”

Embracing artificial intelligence (AI) was another hot topic of discussion, and experts were excited to see how AI can be leveraged to drive future innovation.

“AI and machine learning are just tools that speed up the processing of data, which you can then leverage, but data is the important piece,” said Eubanks.

“Embracing AI is about using data for rapid experimentation to get to better outcomes faster.”

The most important innovation panelists noted, however, doesn’t come down to a single tool or technology—it comes down to design. Innovating the way information is presented to make it more attractive to a wider audience will be the driving force behind how and why designers make certain decisions.

“What we’re trying to do is push the [journalism] industry forward. There’s better ways to present information, and that’s what we’re endeavoring to show,” said Pullen. 

“Lifting Ukraine, for example, is a photo essay, so I think it would surprise some of you to know that it’s 7,500 words. You don’t feel that because it’s so rich in its visuals, but it’s a long story.”

In the end, innovation is about using creativity and technology in tandem to create compelling digital experiences that impart both knowledge and a specific sentiment upon the end users.

“For me, it’s about an emotion. Design depends on your audience, who you’re trying to reach, and what emotion you’re trying to convey,” said Eubanks. 

“A lot of websites look a lot of the same ways, so you have to be innovative and exploratory to create truly new experiences.”

What is Crafted Future?

Crafted Future is a series of compelling panel discussions created in partnership with The Webby Awards. The virtual event series explores topics impacting the work of digital professionals as told by top-level experts in their fields.

You can find previous Crafted Future discussions on The Webby Awards’ YouTube channel.

Craft your future with WP Engine

Thank you to everyone who joined us for Crafted Future: Driving Innovation—we hope the discussion inspired you to explore new ideas and find ways to infuse creativity into your workflows.

At WP Engine, we are dedicated to empowering developers, designers, and businesses to push the boundaries of what’s possible online. With cutting-edge WordPress solutions, we help our customers build secure, high-performance, and scalable websites that drive innovation and deliver exceptional user experiences.

Ready to craft the future of the web? Explore our hosting plans or connect with an expert to discover how WP Engine can support your next big idea!