Black Antelope

BACKGROUND

Please describe your company and position.

I am the Senior Researcher of Othering & Belonging Institute, University of California, Berkeley

Describe what your company does in a single sentence.

The Othering and Belonging Institute at UC Berkeley advances groundbreaking approaches to transforming structural marginalization and inequality. We are scholars, organizers, communicators, researchers, artists, and policymakers committed to building a world where all people belong.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What specific goals or objectives did you hire Black Antelope to accomplish?

• To transform our research and vision for a project examining climate induced forced displacement and resilience strategies into an interactive database and microsite to house all of the project's components.

SOLUTION

How did you find Black Antelope?

• Referral
• Our institute works with Black Antelope regularly on a number of projects

Why did you select Black Antelope over others?

• High ratings
• Pricing fit our budget
• Great culture fit
• Good value for cost
• Referred to me
• We've collaborated with them on several projects and are always happy with the results

How many teammates from Black Antelope were assigned to this project?

2-5 Employees

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

The Climate Crisis, Displacement, and the Right to Stay project aims to connect demands for recognizing the rights of people displaced by the climate crisis and across international borders–through legal protections as climate refugees–to the transformational changes needed to materialize peoples’ rights to stay home and thrive within inclusive, just, and climate-resilient communities. 

For this project, we hired Black Antelope to create an interactive database and microsite to house the database and other relevant materials and information related to the project. Our team provided Black Antelope with the research, datasets, case studies, the aesthetic and conceptual vision, and the functional needs of the site, and their team of experts brought the project to life. The key deliverables for the project included: 

• The database designed as a world map which incorporates global data collected on climate displacement, climate event exposure and vulnerability, emissions goals and compliance, governance and capacity building for climate resilience and mitigation, and climate finance needs and barriers. 
• The database also needed to include comprehensive case studies on climate-vulnerable countries. Each case study offers a relevant and concise overview of the country’s modern history, geography and climate, economy and infrastructure, demographics and governance, loss and damage from climatic events, and strategies for building climate resilience. 
• A microsite organized with several tabs to help users learn more about the project, review specific countries, and explore relevant resources. 
• A mobile design of all microsite pages and the interactive map for mobile phone accessibility.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

• To see our vision of the interactive map/database come to fruition in terms of design and functionality, and to incorporate critical datasets and case studies into the database in order to advance protections for people displaced by the climate crisis and to connect information and data needed to create strategies in service of the “Right to Stay.” 
• To ensure that the database is automatically updated using APIs. 
• That the microsite overall is user friendly and convenient to navigate, while simultaneously being thorough and comprehensive. 
• Users can navigate through the site and the database using their phones, tablets, etc.

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

Black Antelope’s project management is excellent. They met deadlines and delivered each phase of the project on time, and we were able to launch the project according to our deadline. They were also patient with our team as there were times when we needed additional time to review or discuss certain aspects of the project. 

They were consistently quick to respond to our questions over email and diligently worked to address any needs or concerns we had. The team is solutions-oriented and would approach us with several options or ways to move forward to best meet our needs.

What was your primary form of communication with Black Antelope?

• Virtual Meeting
• Email or Messaging App

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

Black Antelope is a multi-talented digital design and development agency, and we couldn’t be more excited with the database and microsite they created for us. Anything we asked of them, they were able to implement, or they provided suggestions and options for us to consider to improve the project overall. We’re grateful for the opportunity to work with such a capable team of experts in their field. 

Also, on an interpersonal level Eric, Scott, and Leo were truly wonderful to work with. The team was easy to communicate with, was determined to understand our vision to create exactly what we wanted, and worked with us every step of the way to make revisions, adjustments, and problem-solve until we were happy with the result.

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

We are very happy with the database and microsite that Black Antelope created for us, and we’re already planning to work with their team on future projects. The only hiccup we encountered was around our initial contract with Black Antelope, which had one component of the project missing from the total budget. 

Thankfully, we could easily clarify the revised budget with Black Antelope and keep the project moving. Aside from this, one suggestion to help clients better track project hours, project budget, etc., would be to share with the client when the project has reached 50% and 75% of the total hours allocated for the project as per the contract agreement. 

From our experience, having an update on hours left according to the contract and total budget would have been helpful to prioritize different aspects of the project, or allow us to shift a priority, or hold something for a different phase of the project. Overall, Black Antelope is excellent to work with, and we wouldn’t hesitate to work with them on future projects or to recommend them highly.

BACKGROUND

Please describe your company and position.

I am the Executive Director, Cornish+ of Cornish College of the Arts

Describe what your company does in a single sentence.

Cornish College of the Arts is an undergraduate college for all of the visual and performing arts.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What specific goals or objectives did you hire Black Antelope to accomplish?

• Build sub-site for Cornish+ to offer community programs
• Bespoke e-commerce system
• Bespoke APIs to existing College data systems

SOLUTION

How did you find Black Antelope?

Online Search

Why did you select Black Antelope over others?

• Close to my geographic location
• Pricing fit our budget
• Great culture fit
• Good value for cost

How many teammates from Black Antelope were assigned to this project?

2-5 Employees

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

Design and Development of the new Cornish+ Drupal website. Key project phases: 

• Design phase: November 2022 – March 2023
• Homepage design mostly complete: December 2022 (Homepage design to be refined enough to be shared with other campus stakeholders)
• Development phase: March 2023 – September 2023
• QA: June 2023 – July 2023
• Launch: Most or all of the site before August 1, 2023.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

Website launched 15 days before contracted deliverable date.

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

Project management was done via InVision and Basecamp from their side. InVision was an amazing way to review the design of the website. Basecamp was pretty good for keeping track of all of the various work streams. Overall, work was done on time and very few modifications had to take place. When I made a change in direction, they're responsive to my needs.

What was your primary form of communication with Black Antelope?

Virtual Meeting

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

It's rare to find a team that is as humble yet as competent as this team. I enjoyed my interactions with all of the team members of Black Antelope, even when there were miscommunications or stress regarding deadlines, etc. I was glad I went with a smaller firm - this could have been so much more expensive (and not any better result) if I had worked with a larger or fancier firm.

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

More regular reporting of cost overruns, which is bound to happen in any large project with changes to scope.

BACKGROUND

Please describe your company and position.

I am the Program Director of UC Berkeley

Describe what your company does in a single sentence.

Academic research institute focusing on cybersecurity and policy

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What specific goals or objectives did you hire Black Antelope to accomplish?

• Sleek redesign of website & brand identity
• Website migration to WordPress
• Development of several new webpages and interactive website features

SOLUTION

How did you find Black Antelope?

Referral

Why did you select Black Antelope over others?

• Pricing fit our budget
• Good value for cost
• Referred to me
• Competent and understood our needs

How many teammates from Black Antelope were assigned to this project?

2-5 Employees

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

Website redesign and migration to WordPress. The project was broken up into two phases: the Design Phase, to develop a new brand identity and mock up different pages, and the Development Phase, where the new Wordpress site was mocked up and adjusted. Key deliverables included Screen / Visual Design, Mobile Design, Interaction Design and iterations, Development and Programming, Infrastructure set up and optimization, and Search Engine Optimization.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

We had concrete deliverables during both the Design and Development phases where we were given full mocked-up pages with color schemes and logos integrated. This made it very easy to give feedback and see exactly what we were getting!

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

Black Antelope had incredibly competent project management. They kept the project on schedule, and the tools they used to collaborate made it very easy to give quick feedback on different parts of the site. They responded with lightning speed to all of our feedback, and we hit our final design with minimal changes. They were spot on!

What was your primary form of communication with Black Antelope?

• Virtual Meeting
• Email or Messaging App

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

The team worked very nimbly - we've never had a vendor that was so responsive and available.

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

Nothing bad to say about them - fantastic team, really easy to work with, and they made an enormous website project feel like a breeze. We couldn't be happier with the final product.

BACKGROUND

Please describe your company and position.

I am the Director, CHBRP of University of California, Berkeley

Describe what your company does in a single sentence.

Be the leading public university system in the US, with world-renowned teaching, research, and public service activities.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What specific goals or objectives did you hire Black Antelope to accomplish?

• Re-imagine our website and information-sharing strategy
• Re-imagine our user experience
• Develop a cohesive look and feel
• Build from the ground up, a more flexible and modern web platform

SOLUTION

How did you find Black Antelope?

• Online Search
• Referral

Why did you select Black Antelope over others?

• High ratings
• Great culture fit
• Referred to me
• Company values aligned

What was the size of Black Antelope’s team?

2-5 Employees

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

Design, development, and data migration for a brand new Drupal 9 site for our program.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

• Fully laid out project proposal with key metrics, deadlines, and pricing estimates. Aggressive timetable.

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

Superbly responsive, focused, and on-time.

What was your primary form of communication with Black Antelope?

• Virtual Meeting
• Email or Messaging App

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

We work under crazy deadlines, and support legislative decision-making in California with rigorous independent analyses of complex health care topics. We had the good fortune to partner with Black Antelope to help us complete the redesign and build our website, all in just a 4-month time period. We have been very happy with their creativity, professionalism, great communication, and reliability.

They have provided great design/usability guidance and helped us to make sound decisions that have improved our site's functionality and experience of navigating for users. We highly recommend Black Antelope.

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

It's hard to think of anything. They are highly professional and responsive.

BACKGROUND

Please describe your company and your position there.

I am a project coordinator at UMass Boston. UMass Boston is a public research institution and a Minority Serving Institution for AANAPISI populations (Asian American, Native American, Pacific Islander Serving Institution). I work in the School for the Environment, a transdisciplinary department and manage a few different projects.

One of them is a grant funded project from NASA's Office of STEM Engagement under the MUREP INCLUDES program. Our project, Partners Aligned to Heighten broad participation in STEM (PATHS) kicked off in September of 2021 with a goal to increase diversity in engineering in Massachusetts.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

For what projects/services did your company hire Black Antelope?

PATHS needed a website that functioned as a place for our community to gather online. A place to find events and opportunities, connect with other BIPOC engineers or engineering students, share our video stories, and visually see the data we were going to collect. We hired Black Antelope to help us create this online space with our limited budget by modifying existing Wordpress themes.

SOLUTION

How did you select this vendor and what were the deciding factors?

We knew of Black Antelope from their prior work on ClimateInterpreter.org. We spoke with several web designers, but Black Antelope came back with the best quote that also fit our budget.

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

After setting a scope of work and contract in place, Black Antelope set up accounts on Basecamp and InVision for us to manage the work and see it in progress. These worked very well as we are on separate coasts (I'm on the East Coast, Black Antelope on the West Coast).

The site was built on Pantheon and also hosted there. The team at Black Antelope worked with us to design our logo, decide which features were most important, and then to build a site that incorporates them. To do lists and comments were organized on basecamp.

InVision used most successfully with the logo design and back and forth comments. The page launched in May, but Black Antelope is still available by email if we have an issue, or if we need a few more plugins installed (just happened last week). I am able to do most of the daily maintenance and content adding myself.

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

In total we worked with 3 people, though only 2 directly. Scott managed the project and did much of the web design, Leo is the designer who did the logo, and Eric is a programmer who helped with trickier bits.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

We now have a website, www.pathspartners.org, where we continue to build our community and advertise events and opportunities.

How effective was the workflow between your team and theirs?

Task list for the different work items were maintained on Basecamp and sometimes through email. Their team was very used to Basecamp, however ours was not. Luckily email would post to basecamp as well, and if it didn't, their project manager updated Basecamp where necessary to keep work organized.

The workflow was separated by different time zones and space, but for an online project it worked well and we became accustomed to asynchronous work and for us, connecting in the afternoon for anything pressing.

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

This is a small company, but I was impressed with their ability to offer what we needed at the small budget that we had written into the grant. They are willing to do, or figure out how to do, what we needed. I felt they genuinely cared for the work they were doing.

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

The theme we chose was complicated, Join Up. It is a social media type theme that allows people to join the community and communicate -exactly what we wanted. But it is complicated and there are parts of it that I still don't fully understand, and I believe parts of it that the designers at Black Antelope also don't fully understand.

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m an assistant director for marketing and outreach at UC Berkeley. I work for a program called the Berkeley International Studies Program where we work with visiting international students from around the world, to study at UC Berkeley.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with Black Antelope?

We needed someone to migrate our website to a new design and a new backend system.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

Black Antelope provides web development and web design services. The first phase of the project was to migrate our WordPress site to Drupal’s infrastructure. The second phase is when we start reorganizing the site’s structure. Additionally, they’re currently in the process of adding Google Analytics to our website for SEO integration.

We had requested Scott to provide us with several recommendations of different sites — so we can identify the direction of the design for our website. We agreed on a more travel and promotional approach, to highlight different cultural events international students could learn about through our website.

Scott (Project Manager & Designer) has shared some ideas on how to utilize Google suites on our site to help us track inquiries, and improve our content marketing moving forward. Right now, we have not asked them to focus on that, as they’ll likely be diving into that aspect during phase two.

What is the team composition?

I work closely with Scott, Eric (Partner, Owner & Lead Developer), and another team member who does the design work.

How did you come to work with Black Antelope?

Black Antelope came highly recommended from the Department of Sociology, who’ve previously hired them to redesign their website. Additionally, they’ve also completed multiple websites throughout campus — which means they were already comfortable with the UC Berkeley system.

They understood that we’re a large university and that there are certain design aspects we have to take into consideration. However, their portfolio is aligned with what we’re looking for, and we felt comfortable with the designs they shared with us.

How much have you invested with them?

I believe it’s around $45,000.

What is the status of this engagement?

We started talking to them in April 2020, but the official start of the first phase was in June 2020. The partnership is still ongoing.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

The first thing is that they are easy to collaborate with. My teammates and I have very specific ideas about what we want with the site, and Scott and his team are very receptive to all of them. They would offer us different design considerations as we develop the framework of the overall feel of the site — this process is incredibly helpful for us to get ideas.

Their communication is also very quick and thorough. If something is brought back to them, they usually turn it around as quickly as possible. The design aspect is fast, efficient, and top-notch.

There was a lot of trust that was established early on and we felt like we were in good hands. The website launch and backend migration went very smoothly. 

How did Black Antelope perform from a project management standpoint?

We decided to launch the site in the middle of January, so we can be ready for our fall recruitment cycle. It was a fairly ambitious timeline, but they were very open to it. We keep track of everything and establish deadlines through Basecamp.

What did you find most impressive about them?

I would say, first and foremost, their ability to communicate and support the client is superb. The delivery itself is also excellent, and we’re very happy and proud of the website. It’s very different from the older version.

They are able to provide the visual for when we explain some of the key things we were looking for. They were also really receptive to the changes we made to the design that they initially shared. They listen and are able to navigate what our needs are.

Are there any areas they could improve?

I can’t think of anything specifically, as we just have a very positive experience with them. We’re very pleased with the way everything is going and obviously, we’re going to continue to use them for our phase two development.

I would highly recommend them in the future.

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

I would advise them to establish the lines of communication early on and determine the goals you need to prioritize.

We initially talked about what our goals were and how to prioritize them. We then discussed what was feasible in the first phase of the development. After a more in-depth exploration, we ultimately decided to break the project into two phases.

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m the director of the department of statistics at the University of California at Berkeley.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with Black Antelope?

We wanted to design and develop a brand-new website.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

As a department, we wanted a new website to use as an outward-facing branding and marketing tool. It also had to prioritize user-friendliness for iinternal stakeholders, including students, faculty, and staff. Black Antelope created an overall look that was representative of our branding and a navigation system that was intuitive.

I was direct with them about the ideas I had for the branding. We wanted a photo slider, a particular set of icons and graphics with a statistics feel, and more. The overlays also had to be statistics oriented. We gave them all that as a guide, and then they showed us what they created. They built the site in Drupal because that’s what we were familiar with.

What is the team composition?

I worked with Scott (Project Manager, Designer) and Eric (Software Developer), specifically. Scott was involved with the design and ran the first half of the project. Eric handled the development half of our relationship.

How did you come to work with Black Antelope?

They’d done some websites on our campus already, and I loved their work. The department Black Antelope had previously worked with highly recommended them.

How much have you invested with them?

I would estimate that we’ve spent between $40,000–$50,000.

What is the status of this engagement?

We’ve been working together since March 2018.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

We judged their work by how well our faculty likes it, as the website is a home for them. They’re very pleased with it and say that it is very much an authentic representation of them. We’ve also seen a decrease in emails coming to the department administration about how to do tasks on the website. Finally, in the week we’ve been live, many people have asked us who built our website because they like it so much. We’ve gotten incredible feedback.

How did Black Antelope perform from a project management standpoint?

We used InVision and Basecamp to collaborate. InVision allowed us to say yes or no to designs, and we communicated the development to-do list over Basecamp. There were about three in-person video meetings throughout the project, which is a pretty amazing number. I hate having to have a lot of meetings, and Black Antelope saved a lot of time by using InVision.

What did you find most impressive about them?

I gave them a sketch of the homepage on a piece of paper, and aside from one other conversation about how I wanted it to look that was all they had. They really heard what I said and translated that into visuals that matched exactly what I asked for. Their instincts about what looks good are spot-on.

Our company has very specific branding guidelines, and I’m not an expert but I didn’t need to be. Black Antelope already knew UC Berkley’s guidelines. That was so helpful for me.

Are there any areas they could improve?

This isn’t a negative for them as much as evidence of me not being a website developer. I was expecting someone on their side to set the timeline and take the lead on how we managed the project. We had to contact them a few times to see what was going on or if they needed anything from us. In retrospect, I’d have a conversation with them at the beginning about how we’re going to keep the process moving.

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

Be upfront with them about how you’re going to structure project management. Don’t expect them to be super, super proactive; they’ll assume that you’re busy and that you will communicate with them when you want to. Block out your calendar for your project and have a conversation with them about the timeline; perhaps assign someone from your side to stay on top of the project.

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m the deputy director for the Global Maternal Newborn Health Research Group at the Institute of Global Health Sciences at the University of California, San Francisco (UCSF).

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with Black Antelope?

We wanted to create a website where we could together with our collaborators talk about our work and projects more effectively. If someone wanted to get a snapshot of an individual person, they could go to the page of that person and see what they do and get connected to all of their projects. Then, from there get routed to whatever is most interesting.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

Black Antelope works with one of our very close partners to develop this site. Our partner had already developed the site, but it wasn’t exactly what we wanted. We wanted to leverage that, but add some other features of our own. So, Black Antelope is working on implementing the features we want and the site is based on Drupal. As the website evolves, we constantly think of new things that we want to add to it.

What is the team composition?

We work with about three people including Scott (Project Manager & Designer), Eric (Software Developer), and one other person that was part of the development team.

How did you come to work with Black Antelope?

Our partners had a positive experience with them so when we were looking to do something similar, we immediately went to them. What I think set them apart from other design firms was they spent a lot of time trying to figure out the functionality of what we wanted to achieve. Other design firms may make something really pretty but it may not come with the same kind of functionality and thoughtful design.

How much have you invested with them?

We’ve invested about $16,000.

What is the status of this engagement?

We began working together in June 2020 and the relationship is still ongoing.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

We’re going to just continue working with them because we’re so happy with them. They finished the first draft of the site back in September. We were creating the delay and they didn’t get to the point of finishing their first scope of work until November. It was a big shame on us, but they were very kind and worked with us on that. 

So far, everyone we’ve shown the site to has been very excited. The way that we plan to move forward is that we’re going to get our collaborators to contribute funds toward the continued development of this. So far, out of the half a dozen investors that we’ve shared it with, they’ve all agreed to give us some funding to continue development.

How did Black Antelope perform from a project management standpoint?

They’ve been great. They’re super responsive and are the type of people that get stuff done. The team is able to get things done in a timely fashion, even when we change plans and create delays. Communicating clearly, they were very professional and flexible as well. We communicate mostly through email and sometimes request calls.

What did you find most impressive about them?

I’ve found that when I get disappointed, it’s because my expectations were just different from what they delivered. They manage their expectations well, so we know exactly what we're getting with every dollar we invest. Scott is really thoughtful about what we’re trying to do and he really wants to understand so that he can let us know the best approach. We’ve had a great working relationship with him.

Are there any areas they could improve?

No, they do a great job.

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

Make sure you’re aligned with what you’re getting and that everyone is on the same page.

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I work on the network management support team for the National Network for Ocean and Climate Change Interpretation.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with Black Antelope?

The network has been growing a lot over the years, and we’ve been using a website as an online hub for the network’s activities. As we’ve grown, we’ve had different needs from the site, so we hired Black Antelope to redevelop the site to better meet the community’s needs. 

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

Their team handled both web design and development for our site. The platform is built on Drupal. 

What is the team composition?

We mostly worked with Scott (Project Manager & Designer) and Eric (Partner & Owner & Lead Developer). Scott worked on the account management and design side of things, and Eric was focused on the development. 

How did you come to work with Black Antelope?

Black Antelope had been existing contractors on the site, but we did consider other options when we knew we wanted to redevelop the platform. Black Antelope just had unique expertise and were really responsive and easy to work with. They were uniquely interested and invested in the success of our organization, which made them the best fit for us.  

What is the status of this engagement?

We worked together from October 2017–October 2020. They’ve been working on other things for us in the interim, though. 

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

Originally, our goals were based on user feedback and a user needs assessment. We got really feedback from users who saw their concerns and needs being addressed through the launch of the redesigned site. 

Their work has allowed the network to continue to grow its activities to train climate communicators across the country. Over the years and with Black Antelope’s support, we’ve been able to train hundreds of climate communicators who communicate with millions of people as a result. Their team’s support in making sure our site could operate and meet those needs was an integral part of the project. 

How did Black Antelope perform from a project management standpoint?

It was really easy to manage the process virtually with them because they had a lot of great systems in place. We used Basecamp to manage the workflow and InVision to share, comment, and approve design concepts. We also did web conferences for longer discussions and they were available by phone or email if something more timely came up. 

What did you find most impressive about them?

Their level of investment in our goals made them unique. They went the extra mile to understand our goals as an organization and thought of the website in terms of how it served those goals. That was very impressive and not necessarily something I’d expect from any web design studio. 

Are there any areas they could improve?

There’s nothing that really comes to mind. We were really satisfied with their work. 

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

They are people who you can just consider partners on your projects. 

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m the owner and editor-in-chief of the World’s Best Wedding Photos. We promote wedding photographers and we have an extensive database that allows us to tag and put all the information for their images. It’s essentially a subscription model. People who are posted pay for the exposure that we give them, but it’s by invitation only.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with Black Antelope?

There are a lot of wedding photography businesses that have an old school look. I chose Black Antelope to design my site.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

We started with design and then moved into development. One big challenge was our database, which was quite robust. So they worked with the backend and the way that it interacts with the website. Things went quickly. We had a ton of changes, and they did a great job getting into the photographer’s mindset, and into our mindset, about what we were trying to create and how it was different.

What is the team composition?

I worked with Scott(project manager & designer)  and Eric (owner & developer), and they brought in another team member for graphics.

How did you come to work with Black Antelope?

I met Scott in a coffee shop and we talked for like an hour. I liked the work they had done. I felt like he was a super nice guy. Very approachable, they responded quickly, and offered a good budget. Once we went back and forth over the numbers and what they could provide, I decided to go with them. We received bids from four different companies, but they delivered a timely and detailed proposal.

How much have you invested with them?

We spent $50,000–$100,000.

What is the status of this engagement?

We started in June 2019 and we launched in January 2020.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

A lot of the developers I’ve worked with in the past haven’t put in a lot of effort for SEO, but Black Antelope really built that into the site. Within a few weeks, we were on Google for the search terms that we were looking for. It was much faster than I anticipated.

I couldn’t be happier with the site. We haven’t had any bugs and it’s been clean since the launch.

How did Black Antelope perform from a project management standpoint?

We used Trello as our management system. They methodically went through things as we put them up. We communicated efficiently and things were done really easily.

They were available, so I could call them whenever I needed them. When things weren’t clear, I was able to get ahold of them. And they were very patient with me, even when they were super busy.

What did you find most impressive about them?

The database is amazing. And really the whole thing. I love the look of the site and the ability to go into the database and come up with editorial ideas for both my own business, and also for media aggregates. Now I have visual and editorial content ready to share whenever I need it. Now we can create content very easily and keep things running.

Are there any areas they could improve?

No, I can’t think of anything. We had zero problems.

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

Get your three-year business plan together, understand what you want to do after you launch, what your next markers are. For example, we’re going to be launching other sites with them as well, and that was all built into our site, so it could easily be duplicated for other purposes.  It’s all standard business advice—think big.