Aubergine Solutions | UX + AI + Product Development Consulting

BACKGROUND

Please describe your company and your position there.

I’m a co-founder of and the chief design officer for Snugg Home. Our product, Snugg Pro, is a software as a service (SaaS) that offers home-energy auditing for the U.S. market. I manage the product’s design and development. 

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

For what projects/services did your company hire Aubergine Solutions Pvt. Ltd.?

We were redesigning a home-energy efficiency scorecard for a client who runs an energy efficiency program. To accomplish this, we collaborated with Aubergine Solutions.

What were your goals for this project?

In order to redesign our existing document, we had to consider the shortcomings of the solution, collect input from old and new stakeholders, and integrate the new design in a way that was compatible with our Snugg Pro app and its design language.

SOLUTION

How did you select this vendor?

Aubergine Solutions is an active member of the UX design community in Ahmedabad, India—the city I call home. They organize regular meetups, which is how they came to my attention. Once I met Bhakti (Chief Design Officer, Aubergine Solutions Pvt. Ltd.), I realized she's highly knowledgeable in design and data visualization.

Describe the project in detail.

The project consisted of designing and visualizing home data in a way that allowed a non-technical homeowner to understand the home's performance in terms of energy usage and carbon emissions.

What was the team composition?

Bhakti led the Aubergine team. She and I collaborated to explore design directions. I believe Bhakti also delegated work to another designer on her team in a way that suited the tasks at hand. 

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

Can you share any outcomes from the project that demonstrate progress or success?

Our client loves the final solution. It launched successfully and actually allowed us to expand the role of the scorecard to other territories.

How effective was the workflow between your team and theirs?

Bhakti directed a solid design process, from paper-and-pencil drafts all the way to Sketch files. We went through a number of iterations internally as well as after receiving feedback from the client. They explored a range of ideas and arrived at a well-honed solution.

What did you find most impressive about this company?

They nurture employee growth and actively contribute to the local design community. Bhakti has a lot of academic and practical data-visualization knowledge. She was able to identify the subtle nuances of various approaches and suggest options that I had not considered.

Are there any areas for improvement?

I can’t think of anything.

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

We are developing an auto-updated, synchronized, digitally verified contacts management system for smartphone users with contact backup and restoration processes. Our initial focus was to solve regular problems within the B2C market, specifically regarding automatically updated contact lists that change any contact details, remove duplicate contact numbers, include intelligent call log analysis, and provide a platform for all contacts in the list to integrate with social media and other messenger apps. From there, we evolved the product concept into a robust B2B Dashboard system where SME-based to MNC organizations can easily retain their online phonebook directories to manage all their employees, partners, vendors, suppliers and other business associates contact related information within a private cloud system. Contact details can be shared and updated between users, although the default option is to keep this information private. Our solution also has event management functionalities, providing notifications for birthdays and other events.

After we developed these B2C functionalities, we started work on our B2B solution. We found a lack of organization within small, blue-collar industries. Employers did not have a good way of storing workers’ personal information. Since the process was predominantly manual, we aimed to facilitate a paperless solution that would allow organizations to maintain a standard, mobile-friendly database format that could be integrated with CRMs and other systems.

The solution could also be used to manage information from business associates and clients. We built strong hierarchies based on personal, family, and professional relationships connected with our B2C application. This allowed companies to see the existing professional connections of employees. All the users connected to our application, whether directly or indirectly, would receive continuing updates and reviews based on the services they provided to different companies.

We have created other modules for the support of users and business clients that use the B2B platform, including an employee verification system, an online sales and marketing system, an online office visitor management system, and a business call log analytics and recording system.

I am the chief product officer of the company. I’m in charge of developing our solutions, maintaining the product roadmap, and managing collaborations with business associates.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with Aubergine?

We have a bootstrapped development team of architects and programmers, but we needed help designing the right UI/UX interfaces for both the B2B and the B2C markets. We looked for a team that could offer the best design practices, but our location was primarily associated with the textile industry. After searching in different places, we found Aubergine.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

After discussing our business objectives and B2C product, they proposed a design flavor and framework that would suit our users. Aubergine created a pencil sketch with rough ideas for our design flows. Once we approved the concept, they started work on InVision wireframes. We were given accounts on that tool, which we could use to easily check their progress. We had a few rounds of discussions and iterations based on the changes we suggested.

Instead of working toward final designs from the onset of our collaboration, Aubergine provided multiple sketches from which we could choose. We always had a plan B and C, in case we rejected an approach. Our company’s owner was involved in this process.

We launched a beta version of our application to a closed group of users, shared different design versions with them, and conducted surveys to identify their preferred design. We got feedback from different user types, from company owners to normal staff to everyday people. We shared that feedback with Aubergine’s UI/UX team, and they used it to enhance the color theme, logo, icons, and other elements. They continually focused on creating simple, attractive designs for the regular user.

We've also contracted Aubergine for the design of our B2B platform. It’s a completely web-based application, so it has a slightly different target audience.

What is the team composition?

We have worked with their chief design officer and her team.

How did you come to work with Aubergine?

After receiving some references from collaborators, we shortlisted Aubergine. We looked at their past projects and saw that they focused on the latest design principles. Responsiveness was also a consideration. We got in touch with their two co-founders, had an initial discussion, and shared our thought process.

How much have you invested with them?

The cost of their work has been around $7,000 so far.

What is the status of this engagement?

We started working with Aubergine in December 2017 and the collaboration is ongoing.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

What evidence can you share that demonstrates the impact of the engagement?

Our product hasn’t been launched yet, so we haven’t had any market feedback, but beta users have given us excellent comments.

How did Aubergine perform from a project management standpoint?

We are satisfied with their time management. We’ve had daily standup meetings and weekly review sessions during the design journey. Aubergine understood our work culture and time restraints. They were flexible enough to reschedule meetings for our convenience. We used InVision for file sharing, and Skype and Google Hangouts for calls.

What did you find most impressive about them?

We have been impressed with their work culture, attitude, and commitment. Aubergine is an approachable group. They’re always focused on solving issues and maintaining our timelines.

Are there any areas they could improve?

Aubergine is a startup team, so they do have limited resources. They need to continue hiring the right resources and finding people who understand the latest design trends and user experience principles. To design the right experience, it’s important to understand the psychology of the regular user.

Do you have any advice for future clients of theirs?

I don’t have any specific advice, but Aubergine is a great choice for anyone looking to solve design-related issues.

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I work for a product services company. I am the VP of application services and delivery, overseeing all the projects our team undertake with Aubergine.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with Aubergine Solutions?

We started as a development services company, and didn’t have a UX design team. We decided it was better to affiliate with an outsourced team so we would always have resources available.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

We were designing a complex financial system with invoicing capabilities. We needed to fit a multitude of complex functionalities and information into a single screen, while not making it too complicated. We also needed to ensure that the information could be filtered according to different use cases.

Aubergine started by building wireframes in order to see if the workflow and use cases were approached correctly. This was followed by visual design. We were given multiple options for colors and layouts for approval, in order to reduce the chance of having to rework items.

We have also worked with them on a couple of mobile apps—a learning system and a platform for pet owners and vets. The task was to understand different user scenarios, creating user-friendly, modern, and easy-to-use products.

What is the team composition?

We use a mix of junior and senior developers from their team, depending on the project. Their project manager will do whatever it takes to deliver a project. We’ve had very complex tasks with one-week deadlines, for which she assigned one senior and two junior designers.

We have mainly worked with junior developers from their team for budgetary reasons, but they were supervised by the senior staff who made sure that design practices were adhered to.

How did you come to work with Aubergine Solutions?

A U.S. customer for whom we developed a mobile app had worked with Aubergine. I really liked their designs, so I decided to start a collaboration. We started out with a small project and increased the scope to the point of having a full-time designer on their team.

How much have you invested with them?

The average cost of their services is $2,000 per month, but it can vary between $1,500 and $3,000. We work on an hourly basis.

What is the status of this engagement?

We started working with Aubergine Solutions in January 2017.  

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

What evidence can you share that demonstrates the impact of the engagement?

Aubergine was able to embed our customers’ design standards while also bringing out their own perspective. My clients appreciate their work and it has helped us get more projects. Aubergine is our consistent UX partner.

I’ve never had to explain requirements multiple times to them, which happened with a lot of other groups. The team is detail-oriented and the collaboration is very smooth.

How did Aubergine Solutions perform from a project management standpoint?

I provide requirements for what needs to be built, along with clarifying comments. They work through those requirements and submit designs for me to approve. I receive clickable mockups in InVision, not just screenshots. This is useful for making customers understand what the flow of the product will be. When working with complex scenarios and workflows for each user type, they will often provide video recordings. If the customer doesn’t want to interact with an InVision mockup, they can see a recording of how the UI will work.

They have good time management, respect delivery dates, and maintain good communication. We have regular sync-up calls through Google Hangouts in order to share screens and explain the work.

What did you find most impressive about them?

They do excellent UX work and I appreciate the fact that they can understand business use cases very well. They have performed studies of competitive products and helped us find a good differentiator when building our UX, considering required functionalities, key roles, and objectives. They have a product-building mindset. There’s very little rework involved in our projects, and the team takes feedback well.

Are there any areas they could improve?

Providing HTML and CSS files on top of InVision mockups would make the development process much faster. They’re very receptive and detail-oriented, so I don’t have anything else for them to improve. Whenever my requirements were misunderstood by a junior designer, Aubergine didn’t charge me for the work.

Do you have any advice for future clients of theirs?

It’s important to know exactly what needs to be built. For the team to be effective, all use cases have to be considered. If there are any ambiguities in the scope, the client needs to work with the team to clarify them.

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I am the founder and CEO of Truecom Telesoft, a startup based in Ahmedabad, India. We focus on telecom software and devices.

We develop solutions for public Wi-Fi systems at hotels and airports, including one-time password (OTP) systems and the insular components around them.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with Aubergine?

We were working on a different product that focused on college solutions. It was an enterprise travel system that required us to embed a lot of data in very limited real estate, particularly in mobile apps.

Aubergine helped us solve our user experience challenge. They focused on defining the UI from the end-user's perspective, which they accomplished by taking our inputs, challenging our expectations, and asking why we did this and and didn’t do that. We redesigned various specific items. When we started our current project, we went back to them.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

In our case, Aubergine mainly worked on UX design rather than development. We had an initial meeting during which we summarized our UX design, and then they worked with our HTML developers to account for every pixel and create very detailed specifications. They oversaw the branding, including the color scheme, mood, app layout, and icons. Deliverables were in HTML form.

We have worked on four products with Aubergine. By the time they began the second one, they understood how the entire process worked and what our expectations were. They asked many back-and-forth questions, starting with the product name, the mood, and the target base. Aubergine was involved in branding, but not marketing.

What is the team composition?

We worked with four or five people from their team. Our main discussions were with their lead designers, and the work was completed by their junior designers. For the first five sessions, I and another person oversaw the collaboration. It was also a learning experience for us.

How did you come to work with Aubergine?

We have spent around 1 million Indian rupees. [$15,000 USD]

What is the status of this engagement?

We started working with Aubergine in December 2016. The last project was finished in August 2017.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

What evidence can you share that demonstrates the impact of the engagement?

We worked with them from our products’ inception, so I have no comparative quality scale. One of the products we’ve built with Aubergine has been sold to a lot of customers and gained a great presence. We were one of the first companies to offer a solution like it, and it was pretty well-designed. The feedback has been good.

How did Aubergine perform from a project management standpoint?

We shared documents using Google Drive, and communicated mainly through Google Hangouts. Because we are in the same city as Aubergine, and not too far apart, we met often to discuss bigger items. The project management was done well, using time sheets for tracking hours. They followed through with every item, and always arranged the next meeting.

What did you find most impressive about them?

There is a large web development ecosystem in my city. I could probably find two providers in my own building, and I have a small team myself for in-house product development. The biggest thing we were missing was design, specifically in the initial phase when we were trying to define the project goals, target users, and product design. That was Aubergine’s biggest strength.

Are there any areas they could improve?

At that time, they couldn’t work on too many projects concurrently. They have expanded since that time and changed their office thrice. There is nothing else I can think of.

Do you have any advice for future clients of theirs?

Involve them from the start. Many people get to the UI/UX part too late, which is a mistake I made. Clients need to start working with the designer from the beginning, and even take a break from development if they need to. Aubergine’s team is flexible, and they charge on an hourly basis, so it makes sense to involve them from the early stages.

BACKGROUND

Please describe your company and position.

I am the Strategic Assistant to the CEO of Axletrees

Describe what your company does in a single sentence.

Financial Connectivity Provider

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What specific goals or objectives did you hire Aubergine Solutions | UX + AI + Product Development Consulting to accomplish?

• A new look and feel of our online portal

SOLUTION

How did you find Aubergine Solutions | UX + AI + Product Development Consulting?

Referral

Why did you select Aubergine Solutions | UX + AI + Product Development Consulting over others?

• Pricing fit our budget
• Good value for cost
• Referred to me
• Company values aligned

How many teammates from Aubergine Solutions | UX + AI + Product Development Consulting were assigned to this project?

1 Employee

Describe the scope of work in detail. Please include a summary of key deliverables.

UX designs for the Portal starting with login flows, support tickets, transaction view, etc.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

What were the measurable outcomes from the project that demonstrate progress or success?

Increased visibility into the portal and better user experience 

Describe their project management. Did they deliver items on time? How did they respond to your needs?

The project is being managed well, and the team maintains a high response rate.

What was your primary form of communication with Aubergine Solutions | UX + AI + Product Development Consulting?

• Virtual Meeting
• Email or Messaging App

What did you find most impressive or unique about this company?

Ease of working

Are there any areas for improvement or something Aubergine Solutions | UX + AI + Product Development Consulting could have done differently?

N/A

BACKGROUND

Please describe your company and position.

I am the COO of an insurance company.

Describe what your company does in a single sentence.

The Company is engaged in the business of developing, maintaining and administering
software-as-a-service applications for use by the insurance and reinsurance industry, including
brokers, agents, risk-bearers and others and an end-to end-transaction systems.  

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What specific goals or objectives did you hire Aubergine Solutions | UX + AI + Product Development Consulting to accomplish?

• Redesign of UI/UX to improve system usability

SOLUTION

How did you find Aubergine Solutions | UX + AI + Product Development Consulting?

Online Search

Why did you select Aubergine Solutions | UX + AI + Product Development Consulting over others?

• Close to my geographic location
• Pricing fit our budget
• Great culture fit
• Company values aligned

How many teammates from Aubergine Solutions | UX + AI + Product Development Consulting were assigned to this project?

2-5 Employees

Describe the scope of work in detail. Please include a summary of key deliverables.

UX Design service with development of intuitive user interface to manage end-to-end data processig for complex workflows.  Provide scalable design, modern user interface, supporting multiple languges, accesibility compliance, multiple monitors support to improve productivity and consistent design system to support other modules. 

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

What were the measurable outcomes from the project that demonstrate progress or success?

The proejct was designed in four phases:

Discovery - Understand the domain, users, current product, ideas, vision, competition, etc.

Define - Define the architecture of the entire product so that it is scalable.

Design - Design core workflow of the application and track status using modern design concepts; wireframing, prototyping, testing, and visual design.

Deliver - Detailed specifications and a scalable design system (framework).  Test the designs after development. 

Describe their project management. Did they deliver items on time? How did they respond to your needs?

Aubergine was proactive in terms of the proejct management and setup a clear plan to accomdate team members located on 3 continenets.  They came up with a work schedule that will accomodate US, UK, and India while being mindful to our day-to-day job requirements.  Each meeting has clear objectives and deliverables for the next meeting. 

What was your primary form of communication with Aubergine Solutions | UX + AI + Product Development Consulting?

Virtual Meeting

What did you find most impressive or unique about this company?

They have a great culture that promotes creativity and innovation. They have an outstanding ability to understand our core conerns and come up with practicle and innovative solutions - even though they were new to our business domain.  

Are there any areas for improvement or something Aubergine Solutions | UX + AI + Product Development Consulting could have done differently?

Working with a global team spread across 3 continents is always a challange from timezone / scheduling point of view.  While Aubergine made every effort to accomodate our team, it did create a bit of a challange to balance our day-to-day duties and project meetings. 

BACKGROUND

Please describe your company and position.

I am the Founder of Orca

Describe what your company does in a single sentence.

I was trying to develop a MVP for an Analytics Solution.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What specific goals or objectives did you hire Aubergine Solutions to accomplish?

• Help Develop the POC
• Brainstorm Ideas

SOLUTION

How did you find Aubergine Solutions?

Referral

Why did you select Aubergine Solutions over others?

• High ratings
• Referred to me

How many teammates from Aubergine Solutions were assigned to this project?

2-5 Employees

Describe the scope of work in detail. Please include a summary of key deliverables.

I approached Aubergine to help me develop a POC using Figma that can be shown to the customers. 

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

What were the measurable outcomes from the project that demonstrate progress or success?

1. Demonstrate Understanding of my requirements. 
2. Thorough research of useful metrics. 
3. Regular updates. 

Describe their project management. Did they deliver items on time? How did they respond to your needs?

Aubergine was very professional. The team that included Ruchira, Sanchit, and Prakriti were phenomenal. They understood the deliverables and worked on producing a quality product. 

What was your primary form of communication with Aubergine Solutions?

• Virtual Meeting
• Email or Messaging App

What did you find most impressive or unique about this company?

Accountability

Are there any areas for improvement or something Aubergine Solutions could have done differently?

I think they did exceedingly well. 

BACKGROUND

Please describe your company and position.

I am the Founder & CEO of POGR

Describe what your company does in a single sentence.

Linkedin for Gamers

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What specific goals or objectives did you hire Aubergine Solutions to accomplish?

• Front-End for $100,000 client integration
• Design cleanup through entire Figma

SOLUTION

How did you find Aubergine Solutions?

Referral

Why did you select Aubergine Solutions over others?

• High ratings
• Pricing fit our budget
• Good value for cost
• Referred to me

How many teammates from Aubergine Solutions were assigned to this project?

6-10 Employees

Describe the scope of work in detail. Please include a summary of key deliverables.

They are an incredible partner for our startup. Delivered work on time and had clear updates throughout our experience. They led a 6 figure client integration in conjunction with our team.I high recommend them for any team that needs to add fuel to their fire.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

What were the measurable outcomes from the project that demonstrate progress or success?

On Figma, they went through our entire platform flow to add missing pages and made the user experience complete. For the Client integration, they lead the frontend team. This made the timeline achievable for us

Describe their project management. Did they deliver items on time? How did they respond to your needs?

They delivered everything on time, and they responded quickly to our needs.

What was your primary form of communication with Aubergine Solutions?

Virtual Meeting

What did you find most impressive or unique about this company?

They care about the companies they work with. They went the extra mile to make sure success was achieved.

Are there any areas for improvement or something Aubergine Solutions could have done differently?

No, they are a top-tier agency, and we will use them again in the future.

BACKGROUND

Please describe your company and position.

I am a manager at The Workforce Development Trust

Describe what your company does in a single sentence.

Skills for Health are an integral part of the Workforce Development Trust group, taking our charitable objectives to the health and social care sectors throughout the UK. As the Sector Skills Council for Health, the team within Skills for Health provide workforce development, leadership and OD, eLearning and learning management solutions, digital rostering management, national critical workforce research and much more that is recognised by the UK’s leading health authorities.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What specific goals or objectives did you hire Aubergine Solutions to accomplish?

• Application UI Design
• Application UX Design
• UI and UX Design System

SOLUTION

How did you find Aubergine Solutions?

Referral

Why did you select Aubergine Solutions over others?

Previously used by another part of the business

How many teammates from Aubergine Solutions were assigned to this project?

2-5 Employees

Describe the scope of work in detail. Please include a summary of key deliverables.

UI and UX design work

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

What were the measurable outcomes from the project that demonstrate progress or success?

UI and UX design tool kit and visual design in Figma

Describe their project management. Did they deliver items on time? How did they respond to your needs?

They delivered all tasks on time and responded to my requests sufficiently.

What was your primary form of communication with Aubergine Solutions?

Virtual Meeting

What did you find most impressive or unique about this company?

Team working, communication, presentation of solutions, delivery of a comprehensive design system in Figma.

Are there any areas for improvement or something Aubergine Solutions could have done differently?

Nothing that I can think of

BACKGROUND

Please describe your company and your position there.

I am the CPO of a B2B Machine Learning Platform, based out of the UK.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

For what projects/services did your company hire Aubergine Solutions ?

We were looking for a long-term partner to help drive improved UX processes across our platform.

SOLUTION

How did you select this vendor?

I had previously worked with Aubergine Solutions in another B2B Software business and I found their work to be excellent.

Describe the project in detail and walk through the stages of the project.

The team have helped us to review our existing UX/UI, as well developing several new areas of the platform, using clear consistent principles and design standards.

How many resources from the vendor's team worked with you, and what were their positions?

We engaged with three team members, who embedded with us, to support our Product Design process.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

Can you share any outcomes from the project that demonstrate progress or success?

Aubergine have helped us to refine our UX, removing unnecessary steps as well as driving innovation in our Front End experiences.

How effective was the workflow between your team and theirs?

Aubergine communicates clearly, with constant engagement via Slack and Figma, and regular standups to review progress.

What did you find most impressive or unique about this company?

Their processes and models of B2B UX are excellent, and they're not afraid to ask first-principle questions.

Are there any areas for improvement or something they could have done differently?

N/A