The Beacon Design Collective Inc.

BACKGROUND

Please describe your company and position.

I am the Owner of Torpy Consulting

Describe what your company does in a single sentence.

Torpy Consulting helps rural and remote communities leverage their capacity by providing emergency management and community development services.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What specific goals or objectives did you hire The Beacon Design Collective Inc. to accomplish?

• Strategy
• Design
• Project Management

SOLUTION

How did you find The Beacon Design Collective Inc.?

Referral

Why did you select The Beacon Design Collective Inc. over others?

• Close to my geographic location
• Company values aligned
• excellent work ethic

How many teammates from The Beacon Design Collective Inc. were assigned to this project?

2-5 Employees

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

The Beacon Design Collective are excellent designers for a wide range of deliverables including multi-page documents, plans, guides, websites, infographics, maps, logos, and branding. I especially appreciate their strategy, project management, and capability to leverage usability tools with design. 

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

Satisfied clients, usable and engaging plans and documents that do not sit on a shelf, more prepared communities.

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

Beacon's secret sauce is that their quality never waivers even though their work ethic and pace is at a tempo that most organizations do not achieve.  Their project management is systematized and effective, even with multiple project partners and deliverables. 

What was your primary form of communication with The Beacon Design Collective Inc.?

• In-Person Meeting
• Virtual Meeting
• Email or Messaging App

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

I like that the team is able to understand client and project partner sectors and needs and then strategize ways to bring them to life with good design. 

Are there any areas for improvement or something The Beacon Design Collective Inc. could have done differently?

I appreciate that Beacon supports remote and virtual teams so well.  The meeting platform, communication pathways, collaborative docs, and tutorial videos have made projects seamless. 

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there?

I’m the director of membership for the Working Families Party, a political party in America. We’re seeking to create a party that centers around the experiences of minorities, immigrants, women, people in the LGBTQ community, and people in other non-conformist communities to influence politics consistent with our interests.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with The Beacon Design Collective?

After undergoing a complete, top-to-bottom rebranding, we needed some design work done to help create a coherent identity across our national brand.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

The Beacon Collective has done several design projects for us. Their work has included a six-week training process, national executive committee reports, graphics for our national event promotion, a 600-page facilitator guide, a 20-page document for specific training, copy editing, full-style design guidelines for our communications, content creation, and much more. Additionally, they help us with content strategy.

One of those projects was focused on our political education series. The Beacon Collective created a mini brand design, taking all our branding elements like fonts, colors, typography, and imagery and adding new elements to make that specific project stand out.

They usually do extensive research to present design ideas and options to us, whether we give them a vague idea of what we want or provide them with more structured ideas. They also use Google Suite and Docs, as well as other tools to do their job.

What is the team composition?

Dani (Art Director) is my main point of contact. She assigns the tasks to her team, but we’ve also interacted directly with two of their designers. Additionally, Matt (Content Strategist & Copywriter) works on copy editing and other aspects of the project.

How did you come to work with The Beacon Design Collective?

I found The Beacon Collective and worked with them at a previous job. I brought them with me for this project because they’re professional and reliable, and they do amazing work.

How much have you invested with them?

We’ve spent less than $200,000.

What is the status of this engagement?

We began working together around February 2018, and our engagement is ongoing.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

The Beacon Collective is irreplaceable, and they’re a dream to work with. Their designs have a quality level that I’ve never seen in the work of other designers, and they have excellent content strategy skills.

Additionally, they’re committed to doing whatever is asked of them, even if we ask for something that they don’t usually do. They always find a way to hire the right people to get the tasks done while keeping costs manageable for us.

How did The Beacon Design Collective perform from a project management standpoint?

Dani is extremely organized. Additionally, The Beacon Collective offers us the transparency to let us see where everyone is on different tasks throughout every project, which helps a smooth and easy collaboration.

Their communication is impeccable, and they have never been late to deliver. We communicate through texts, emails, and worksheets.

What did you find most impressive about them?

The Beacon Collective is impressively competent and resourceful, and Dani’s level of organization has pushed other departments and me to improve some of our processes.

Are there any areas they could improve?

There have been times where Dani has experienced stress due to the sporadic, shifting nature of our work, which affects her level of organization. However, she has learned and adapted, and it has never caused a problem.

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

Be as organized as possible upfront to make the process easier for everyone. Dream big and trust that they are the experts; they’ve got you.

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m the manager of project communications for a federal port authority.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with The Beacon Design Collective Inc.?

We needed help with graphic design for our communication channels.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

We rely on The Beacon Design Collective Inc’s team to provide graphic design, support, animation, and other content efforts for us. It’s a collaborative process, and their involvement depends on the content that we’re looking for; if it’s a brochure, we provide word copies with the content. If we’re looking for animations, we give them maps and more technical design files so they can create new content, and so on.

Their efforts also include animation videos and renderings, which we also use on our social media, websites, forums with external audiences, public meetings, and workshops with stakeholders, among other applications.

What is the team composition?

We mainly work with Dani (Creative Director) and Jazmin (Graphic Designer).

How much have you invested with them?

We’ve spent over $100,000 with them so far.

What is the status of this engagement?

We started working together in January 2019, and the engagement is ongoing.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

I trust they’ll understand our vision and provide creative solutions whenever we ask for their support in creating a good product.

How did The Beacon Design Collective Inc. perform from a project management standpoint?

They’re solid in that area and incredibly fast in their turnaround times —they’ve never missed a deadline. I also appreciate how communicative they are; if there’s a situation budget or timewise, they let us know, which I appreciate from a transparency perspective.

They also have useful tools to track the progress, which they taught me how to use when I first joined them. I’ve never seen this level of transparency with any other provider.

What did you find most impressive about them?

The quality of their work is outstanding; they approach tasks in a creative way, which helps in solving problems through their ideas and recommendations — they’re very collaborative.

Are there any areas they could improve?

I don’t think there’s anything they can improve on — my team gave them a lot of work, so as long as they maintain their good performance and grow their team, everything will be fine.

Any advice for potential customers?

Set a good onboarding process to set up a meeting and explain your vision of the project. They’re on top of everything, and they’ll be clear about what they need to provide a successful service.

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m a project manager for multiple projects and organizations, including a group of leaders in the progressive sector. We all support a politician with the release of an article.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with The Beacon Design Collective Inc.?

We decided to convert this article into a zine that could be printed, have activities within it, and be written in. The article had been published on three different platforms, all online. Still, we wanted to convert the written text into a more interactive theme. Therefore, we reached out to The Beacon Design Collective Inc. to help us out.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

The Beacon Design Collective Inc. helped us design the zine we needed based on the article while still including everything it had been written. The team created the zine in English and Spanish. Moreover, they helped us design a website to promote the zine so that the design was similar. We wanted to make it clear that the zine and the website went hand in hand.

Initially, we had a meeting with Dani (CEO) and Casey (Project Manager) to talk about what we had in mind. Then, they came back to us with a proposal including their thoughts and a budget. Once we agreed on the proposal, we established the contract with The Beacon Design Collective Inc.

Two months after The Beacon Design Collective Inc. completed the project and everything they needed to do on their end, I reached out to Casey because we realized that there was no copyright on the zine, which we felt was definitely important if we wanted to print it.

What is the team composition?

We worked with around five teammates from The Beacon Design Collective Inc., including Dani, Casey, and Jazmin (Senior Graphic & Web Designer), who also helped us proofread the zine's Spanish version. However, I wasn't very sure of how many more teammates were involved in the project.

The Beacon Design Collective Inc. had a very capable team with various capabilities. By our second meeting, very specific teammates from The Beacon Design Collective Inc. were present because those were the teammates who needed to be involved. For example, they had at least one illustrator on staff who created wonderful images for the zine.

How did you come to work with The Beacon Design Collective Inc.?

We found them through a referral. Someone working within the politician's party had worked with The Beacon Design Collective Inc. before, so they recommended them for this zine design.

How much have you invested with them?

We spent around $30,000.

What is the status of this engagement?

We shared our first email in February 2023, and the team completed the copyright process in June 2024.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

The main metric of success was the satisfaction of our planning team members with how the zine looked — we achieved the ultimate thumbs-up for the output. We haven't actually printed the zine yet, but we feel like we'll be 100% satisfied once that happens. That said, we were 100% satisfied with The Beacon Design Collective Inc.'s work quality and flexibility.

How did The Beacon Design Collective Inc. perform from a project management standpoint?

 Although we didn't complete the project within the timeline that we initially planned, this was caused by the fact that we took longer on our end. Every week, they sent us an email that clearly laid out what was done in the previous week, what information they needed from us (either feedback on or approval of), and what was still remaining to be done.

In addition to email, we also had a couple of phone calls with them. However, we didn't use project management tools, although they might have used them internally.

The Beacon Design Collective Inc. was also great because they were flexible, adaptable, and willing to work with such an unusual client as we were. For example, when we reached out to Casey again to talk about the copyright, she was great about it and put her team to work on it. That was the kind of flexibility I appreciated about them.

Are there any employees from the service provider's team that you would like to give a shout-out to in this review?

I would like to thank Casey for her flexibility. We were not an easy client due to the unusual nature of our group.

What did you find most impressive about them?

The Beacon Design Collective Inc. was very organized, which we really appreciated because we weren't as organized since we're not actually an organization.

Are there any areas they could improve?

If our conditions had been different, such as being an actual organization or company, we could have moved a lot faster. However, we were dealing with executive directors of organizations who were volunteering their time to be part of this group. Whenever The Beacon Design Collective Inc. sent me emails, I would then email the leaders who were part of the planning team, and they often took a few weeks to respond.

Additionally, at one point, we had a miscommunication issue. One time, Casey thought that she was waiting on me for something, and I thought that I was waiting on her for something. This caused an unfortunate three-week lapse until I finally reached out to her. However, this was a mutual issue.

One piece of feedback to avoid these issues in the future would be to not necessarily answer on the same email thread unless the email talks about the same topic. When there are 20, 30, or 50 messages in a thread, a lot can get lost because the thread gets too long to scroll and becomes no longer relevant to the initial conversation. Starting a new email thread for every topic could have prevented miscommunication issues.

Do you have any advice for future clients of theirs?

Go ahead and contact them!

BACKGROUND

Please describe your company and position.

I am the Senior Geotechnical Engineer of BGC Engineering Inc.

Describe what your company does in a single sentence.

Applied earth science consulting. 

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What specific goals or objectives did you hire The Beacon Design Collective Inc. to accomplish?

• Design of report.

SOLUTION

How did you find The Beacon Design Collective Inc.?

Other

Why did you select The Beacon Design Collective Inc. over others?

Location

How many teammates from The Beacon Design Collective Inc. were assigned to this project?

2-5 Employees

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

Beacon completed design on two reports that collectively support emergency management by the Fraser Valley Regional District. This included a report outlining hazards affecting the District and an Emergency Management Plan.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

The two reports were delivered and to exceptionally positive feedback from the client. 

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

Beacon had diligent project managers. They provided weekly summaries of progress and communicated changes as needed. 

What was your primary form of communication with The Beacon Design Collective Inc.?

• Virtual Meeting
• Email or Messaging App

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

We were impressed by their dedication to accessibility for all readers.

Are there any areas for improvement or something The Beacon Design Collective Inc. could have done differently?

Early communication on the needs to achieve the scope.

BACKGROUND

Please describe your company and position.

I am the Manager of Emergency Management of Fraser Valley Regional District

Describe what your company does in a single sentence.

Local Government Services

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What specific goals or objectives did you hire The Beacon Design Collective Inc. to accomplish?

• Design a Hazard Report that is user friendly and public facing
• Design an Emergency Management Plan that is user friendly and public facing

SOLUTION

How did you find The Beacon Design Collective Inc.?

Procurement Process

Why did you select The Beacon Design Collective Inc. over others?

Best collaborative proposal

How many teammates from The Beacon Design Collective Inc. were assigned to this project?

2-5 Employees

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

The design and delivery of 2 stand-alone and interrelated documents: a Hazard Report and an Emergency Management Plan, both with end users in mind and e-reader friendly.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

Project completion and adaptability to address unique approaches.

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

Yes. We had a myriad of timeline interruptions on this project that were beyond the scope of control for both us and the design team. The team was understanding and worked with us to see them through.

What was your primary form of communication with The Beacon Design Collective Inc.?

• Virtual Meeting
• Email or Messaging App

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

Their ability to take concepts and apply them to structure is amazing!

Are there any areas for improvement or something The Beacon Design Collective Inc. could have done differently?

N/A