Artsy Geek

BACKGROUND

Please describe your company.

We are a nonprofit organization [for local businesses]. The organization is based in Oakland, Calif., and it focuses on strengthening local economies. We're a national organization with hundreds of members and leaders all around the country that we connect and bring together.

What is your role and responsibilities, please?

I am the director of community engagement. I manage all of our messaging and our internal and external channels for the website, social media, and everything that we put in front of the public.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What was your goal for working with Artsy Geek?

We have an annual conference, and they are our graphic design and branding partner for the conference.

SOLUTION

Please describe the scope of their work.

We hired them from the beginning to help us with our brand and identity for the conference and to design a logo and all of our materials. One of the biggest projects that I worked with them on was a 52-page conference program book. It was a huge undertaking that took a lot of time. They also designed all of our signage for the conference as well as many of the images, many of which are on our website. They designed the various pieces of our identity material.

It started as just the conference, but we’ve been very happy with them. I envision us keeping them on as a graphic design partner in the future. We worked together for about five months, starting in February of 2014. This was a major project.

I think the work will be ongoing, somewhere in the range of 10 hours a month or more, based on the projects. We have a lot of graphic design needs, and we don’t have the bench strength in house to do it. They did such a great job with this that we would look to them first.

What was your process for selecting Artsy Geek with which to work?

They were a referral from a local host. The conference was in Oakland this year. Normally, it's held elsewhere. I reached out to our partner business alliance and asked for some recommendations for local design companies. I spoke with two other companies, and I resonated with Artsy Geek. They were very excited about the project, so we went forward with them. When I spoke to the other companies, no one stood out the way Artsy Geek did. It meant a lot to me that a partner that we trusted gave Artsy Geek two thumbs up.

Can you provide a ballpark dollar figure for the size of the work that they’ve done for you?

The cost range was in the $10,000 to $14,000 range. I don’t know how many hours it took; probably several hundred hours.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

Do you have any statistics or metrics to track improvement from the project?

This was [our] 12th annual conference. Our executive director and our founder have been present at every conference. They said that this program was the best one they had ever seen and that our signage and branding was the most up-leveling they had ever seen. We took giant steps from people who have seen the evolution of the company and this event. They were blown away by the level and look of everything that Artsy Geek did for us. Having my bosses and their mentors say that it was incredible was all I really needed.

Is there anything unique about them that really makes them stand out, compared to other companies?

I found them incredibly easy to work with. No one is perfect. Any project has hiccups. When there was any sort of a hiccup, we both managed and Artsy Geek handled the issues very well. They were also balancing some other client needs outside of [the main one], and they did a very good job of juggling that and still giving us the time we needed for this project and being clear about what they needed to do with their other clients. I felt taken care of and properly managed.

Overall, they really seemed to get the direction we were going in. Once they got that, they had a good sense of how to incorporate that into all of our imaging. That took a lot of pressure off me. They were great.

Looking back on the work so far, is there any area that you think they could improve upon or that you might do differently?

Not really. I worked with graphic designers on this last conference that we did. This process went so much more smoothly. There was a lot of learning for me in going through that, but they made it very easy. I’ve given them rave reviews within my team about the way they handled this big project.

BACKGROUND

Please describe your company and your role.

We are Kaiser Center Events. I am the operations manager. We run the special events spaces at the Kaiser Center. We’re located in downtown Oakland, [Calif.,] and we operate several facilities from small meeting rooms to 300-person auditoriums. We also operate the special events that happen at the Kaiser Rooftop Garden.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What was your goal for the work?

We do everything from corporate meetings to weddings, and we operate year round. We wanted to rebrand to capitalize on the new space. We’ve been here for about four years, but as a property management company rather than a meeting venue. We rebranded as Kaiser Center Events to make us specifically associated with this building. We operate from an office in this building, so it’s been a transition throughout this year. This was a really big marketing initiative specifically for these venues, but not for the whole company.

SOLUTION

Can you describe the scope of work in more detail?

They started by designing the logo before we actually launched the brand. We brainstormed a series of ideas about what the logo could look like. Artsy Geek was able to help us design something that would fit our client’s needs, but also fit the brand that we were trying to put forward as a special events space.

From that start, we then focused on our website. They helped us assess the needs of our company. We originally had three different websites that addressed the different components of the business. One was our main company site, which had all the information on our venue and how to contact us if you wanted to use the special events spaces. We also had a separate wedding site, so that if brides wanted to look at the wedding spaces they could just focus on the roof garden and all of that information. The Kaiser Center itself is our client, they maintain a website that has basic information about the venue. Artsy Geek took the information from all three and helped us put it together into one main site, which is what we now use, kaisercenterevents.com.

Artsy Geek helped us come up with everything from the graphics; we just provided the copy. Their team was really great at suggesting things that they thought would be beneficial to us in terms of the way the form functioned and the way that our gallery functioned, this is the first time that I’ve managed a project like this. It was a really great thing to be working with Artsy Geek on our team.

What was your process for selecting Artsy Geek for the work?

They were recommended to us by a marketing consultant that has worked with them before. They submitted a bid, and it was exactly what we were looking for. The thing that really attracted me to Artsy Geek was meeting Jennifer [Heller, founder of Artsy Geek]. I just really liked the way that she presented herself both as a company and as a person. From the beginning, I was really excited to begin working with her.

Can you give a sense of the size of that project with either a general cost range or just the amount of hours it took on their end to complete?

I think it was about a six-week process. It was pretty time intensive, both on our end and on their end in trying to get it all going and meet our launch date. In terms of the whole scope of the project, everything from graphic design and all of the revisions, we actually did a second design of the logo and we added an extension of the design work for the website itself. I think, at the end, it came out to probably about $14,000 in total.

When was the work completed?

We launched the website on April 23, 2014.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

Do you happen to have any statistics or metrics you can share to demonstrate the success of the work?

I do not have analytics, but we’ve received really great feedback from our website. I’m actually the one that answers the phones. A lot of clients will tell me they love it when I send them to the website. This is so beautiful is a common response or this is so much better. The information is very easy to find. I think generally the usability of it and the user experience has really improved, which is really what our goals were.

Can you assess Artsy Geek’s performance in terms of scheduling, budgeting, and responsiveness?

I love the experience working with their team. Their principal met with me three or four times onsite. We also had multiple phone meetings. Anytime I needed anything, within 30 minutes I’ll have an email back from her either with an update of where they were in the process or with information. The project was completed and her response never changed despite one of their main members getting married during the project.

When working with them, is there anything else besides what you’ve already mentioned that’s unique or special about them compared to some other companies?

I think it’s really their employees. There’s a certain energy that comes with working with them and just the attitude and flexibility. I think that’s the main thing that really attracted me to them.

In retrospect, is there anything that you think they could improve upon or something your organization might do differently?

I think, on our end, we could have approached the project having everything ready, and I think that would have made the process faster both for them and us. As it was our first time, I think they did a phenomenal job working with what we were giving them and how it sort of trickled in. I would have loved to hand them a big package at the beginning and tell them to go for it, but little by little things were coming in and they were amazing with it.

BACKGROUND

Could you provide a brief description of your organization and your role there?

I’m the development associate at the West Contra Costa Public Education Fund. We’re a nonprofit that serves public schools in the Richmond, Calif., area. I do fundraising for the organization.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

Could you describe the business challenges you were trying to address?

We had wanted to do a marketing and branding overhaul. We hadn’t changed our logo for 30 years. We engaged Artsy Geek to come up with a new logo, new colors, new website, and new brochures. Anything and everything related to our marketing and branding, we asked her to refresh and create new content.

SOLUTION

How did you select Artsy Geek as your solution partner?

We started out by looking online and decided to examine Yelp reviews. We actually found Artsy Geek through a personal reference. Our IT [information technology] consultant knew about their founder. Obviously, Artsy Geek was not the only candidate up for consideration. We solicited multiple bids. We felt that Artsy Geek’s bid was the fairest and gave us the most value for the amount of money.

Is this ongoing work or is everything completed?

Most of the work was completed. The only relationship we have now is related to our website with regard to maintenance and Web hosting. From time to time, we contact Artsy Geek if we have issues with the website.

When was the main work completed?

The main work was completed spring of 2013.

Could you provide a sense of the size of this initiative in monetary terms?

It’s about $15,000. It took six to eight months to complete the whole process, keeping in mind that it wasn’t just the website, but creating a donor information packet, an eight-page booklet for the organization. We started that from scratch.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

In terms of results, could you share any statistics, metrics, or user feedback that would demonstrate the effectiveness of the work they’ve delivered?

We’re very satisfied with the deliverables Artsy Geek produced. More people are now visiting the website. Our website is a lot more functional. People are now using the website to sign up for our products and services. They’re using our website to sign up for events. They’re using our website to look up images from our events and look up work. These are all functionalities that our old website didn’t have.

We’re especially pleased with our donor packet. Before that packet, we didn’t have anything to give to major donors. The only thing we really had in terms of marketing materials was a brochure. We’re really happy that Artsy Geek was able to design something professional for us. Whenever we’ve given it out, we’ve always received compliments about it.

We’re also very happy with the new color scheme. We think it’s very modern, and we’ve actually received similar feedback from a lot of donors and clients as well. Overall, we’re very happy with the scope of the project.

When working with Artsy Geek, is there anything you’d consider unique or special about their approach or development methodology that distinguishes them from other vendors you’ve used?

One of the reasons that we selected them was they’re a female in business. Given the fact that we’re nonprofit, we try to give opportunities to minorities. Essentially, in the field of Web design, Web development, women are a minority. We’re more than happy to support them in that regard.

In retrospect, are there areas that you think they could improve on or that you would do differently?

We were the first education nonprofit they’d worked with. They were a little unfamiliar with our content, especially when it came to writing content for the website or the donor information packet, we ended up doing a lot more work than we thought we would because they didn’t have experience marketing a nonprofit. We’re more than happy to give them their first experience, but that’d be something to be mindful of. Their experience with education nonprofits is limited.

BACKGROUND

Could you provide a brief description of your organization and your role there?

I am the communications officer at the Fistula Foundation. 

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

Could you describe the business challenges you were trying to address?

Our website was extremely outdated and was not functioning. The donation pages on our site were not working as well as we thought they should be working. We looked at different firms and settled on Artsy Geek as the vendor to redesign our website.

The overall goal was to drive more donations through the website?

Yes, and to give ourselves a facelift. Our old website was very old and looked very old.

SOLUTION

How did you select Artsy Geek as your solution partner?

We put out a request for proposal to a few different vendors that we were already working with and through the Young Professionals Network in the San Francisco area to look for recommendations. We had 12 to 15 proposals that came in and Artsy Geek was our favorite.

Is this ongoing work or is everything completed?

It was one project that was completed, but we had retained them on an ongoing basis to make adjustments. We’re about to work with them to make an overhaul design addition to the website.

Could you provide a sense of the size of this initiative in monetary terms?

It was $22,000 or $23,000 for a complete redesign and making a mobile version of the site as well. I know they put in more time than they billed us for. They worked so hard on it for us. 

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

In terms of results, could you share any statistics, metrics, or user feedback that would demonstrate the effectiveness of the work they’ve delivered?

I know that we have had fewer people complain about navigating our site. Just anecdotally, donors that call tell us they really like the way we look now online. It’s cleaner to navigate and the donation process is a lot easier for people to understand than it was prior to the redesign. The donors seem to like it for the most part.

Can you assess their performance in general?

You work so often with vendors that come in and don’t do their job. They just tell you all the things that are wrong that they should fix. But, Artsy Geek, they came in, they listened to what we wanted, and they gave us exactly what we’re looking for. It my experience, it can be very rare with consultants and outside vendors.

What we were looking for from them was the ability to take our vision and translate it onto the Web, and they did that. They were really terrific to work with every step of the way. Running things by us, meeting deadlines, offering suggestions where it was a fit with something we had already expressed an interest in doing was great. What we really enjoyed about working with them most was that it felt like a partnership, not just a transactional relationship.

In retrospect, was WordPress the right platform your organization?

Yes, I think it is.

When working with Artsy Geek, is there anything you’d consider unique or special about their approach or development methodology that distinguishes them from other vendors you’ve used?

The personal touch is special. They really listen. It felt that they really made an effort to understand us and the work that we do. It seemed like that carried through in the RFP [request for proposal] process, other websites that they shared with us. It seemed very similar. The organization’s look and feel seemed to come through in the work that they did a lot. It was really great to work with them because they got to know our organization and our mission. That really helped in translating to the Web and how we present ourselves to the public.

In retrospect, are there areas that you think they could improve on or that you would do differently?

No. They were great. The only thing they could improve upon is cloning themselves, so there could be more of them working. I’m hesitant to talk and give a glowing reference because I don’t want them not to have time for us. They were really responsive. It was really nice to have a Jennifer [Heller], who runs Artsy Geek, her design, knowledge and expertise. Lindsay Gatz is their artistic director. She’s also fantastic. The way they work together is really terrific. We were really happy with the artwork they created for us. For the website, they did different kinds of graphics and other imagery that we were really happy with and that we were able to use offline as well, in reports and other places. That was a nice value add.