BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m a residential real estate agent for my own company.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with Cozy Design, Inc.?

I hired Cozy Design to help me with marketing design. Specifically, I needed them to design a new sale sign and branding. 

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

Cozy Design created new signages for me, including “for sale” and “open house” signs. On top of that, they also designed my mails and postcards so that I showed a consistent image and branding across multiple platforms.

I didn’t know which direction to take; I didn’t know what end product I wanted. Given that, the Cozy Design team guided me and came up with a solution that worked for me. They then searched for designs that were unique, sleek, and a good fit for my brand. Around 90% of the creative aspects were their work.

What is the team composition?

I mainly worked with one person from their team, which was Lee (Founder, CEO & Creative Director). I also exchanged emails with the team for feedback on the designs, but Lee was my main contact person for the most part. 

How did you come to work with Cozy Design, Inc.?

I found Cozy Design through a local business networking group. Specifically, I met Lee at a meeting, and I simply liked his style. He was friendly, welcoming, and educational; he wasn’t too salesy. Overall, he was a good fit for the type of people I like working with, so I hired them. 

How much have you invested with them?

We invested around $1,000. 

What is the status of this engagement?

The project lasted from June–July 2018. 

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

I had plenty of compliments at open houses and received a ton of great verbal feedback. Other agents also liked the designs, which were unique. 

How did Cozy Design, Inc. perform from a project management standpoint?

They were incredibly easy to work with and had great communication and listening skills. The team was concerned about my input and feedback, making sure that I liked everything they created. Overall, working with them was truly comfortable — I was pleased with our engagement. To communicate, we used emails. They’d send me designs that I’d review and sign with edits or comments. 

What did you find most impressive about them?

Cozy Design’s creativity is the most impressive thing about them. I only gave them a vague idea of what I wanted because I didn’t have a clear end goal, but they took my idea and created something that truly met my requirements. 

Are there any areas they could improve?

No, there weren’t any. I was truly happy with them. 

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

I highly recommend Cozy Design to you if you’re looking for a new brand and look. If you don’t know what you want, you can work with the team, and they’ll walk you through the process and come up with a final product. 

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m the director of operations and resourcing of an advertising agency. Part of my work is to find freelance vendors and companies to work with when we don’t have the internal resources to cover our workload.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with Cozy Design, Inc.?

Our production team is large, but since we don’t have that many clients who come to us for web needs, we needed to partner with a freelancer or organization to outsource work.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

We partnered with Cozy Design, Inc. on the web design needs for one of our clients. This particular team needed a microsite’s design on Figma. None of our internal art directors or designers were familiar with it, so I required Cozy Design’s team to assist us in wireframing and other web design tasks. They scoped out the project with our creative director, and they did the overall interactive design for mobile and desktop of a campaign page.

What is the team composition?

We worked with four members of their team, including two project managers, a design director, and a creative.

How did you come to work with Cozy Design, Inc.?

They were referred to us by someone from our team who had worked with them in the past. We had other designers among our options but chose Cozy Design because they had a good reputation and our co-worker had a good experience with them before. 

How much have you invested with them?

We spent around $14,000 with them.

What is the status of this engagement?

We worked together from September–October 2021.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

They delivered what we needed, so we were able to check off that box of the scope that we have with our client — they achieved the project’s goals.

How did Cozy Design, Inc. perform from a project management standpoint?

We used email and Zoom for communication because that’s what our team preferred, but they were open to other methods — they adapted very quickly to our requirements.

What did you find most impressive about them?

They were a thorough and responsive team throughout the engagement.

Are there any areas they could improve?

I don’t think there’s anything they can improve on.

Any advice for potential customers?

Ensure that you’re providing as much information as possible; they ask many good questions to offer great ideas and other things that can contribute to the project.

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.
I’m the digital marketing manager of an e-learning leadership company.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with Cozy Design, Inc.?
We were launching a new product and needed a new homepage redesign. Our team also needed additional services for additional website services, which included messaging, design, and architecture.
 

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?
The project was broken down into four parts. There was a large discovery portion in the beginning. Cozy Design, Inc. took the time to get acquainted as well as understand where our company was going and what was changing with the launch of the new product. We provided documents that they had requested and we had on hand. Additionally, they came armed with some competitor research and thought leadership.

The secondary stage was to tease out those core messaging priorities. We figured out what we were trying to convince our audience to purchase and why they’d want to purchase our product. The third part of the project was distilling all of the notes we had from the discovery phase and the core messaging document. We put everything into action through a wireframe of the new homepage, looking at how it’d change the overall layout and architecture of the site. The last phase was the design portion. During this stage, Cozy Design, Inc. delivered wireframes and an updated brand guideline that covered our new look and feel. 

What is the team composition?
We worked with a lead designer, secondary designer, project manager, and writer.

How did you come to work with Cozy Design, Inc.?
We chose them because we thought they were professional, friendly, and methodical. 

How much have you invested with them?
We invested $42,000.

What is the status of this engagement?
Our engagement was from January–May 2021.
 

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

What evidence can you share that demonstrates the impact of the engagement? 
We haven’t pushed the project live due to the product having issues; it’s not ready to go yet. Cozy Design, Inc. left us with all the materials needed to push everything live once it’s ready or once we’re close to getting ready. In addition to having great thought leadership in what’s appropriate and modern in a website design look and feel, their team took our verbose guidelines and distilled it down to something actionable. They’re on the top of their game when it comes to web design and CRO.

We appreciated that Cozy Design, Inc. didn’t drastically change our branding. They updated and modernized it, leaving the guidelines intact. Their team took our original branding, which is bold and dark, and made it more modern, lighter, friendlier, and easier to read. Cozy Design, Inc. made our website more actionable. Users should have the ability to know exactly what they’re getting and what they want to sign up for within the first 30 seconds of landing on our website. All in all, we were super happy with what they provided. 

How did Cozy Design, Inc. perform from a project management standpoint?
Everything was on time, and Cozy Design, Inc. kept us on track of what deliverables were needed from us. They were never behind in their deliverables to us. Their team took copious notes and recorded everything. It allowed us to refer back to certain items if we had a change of thought along the way. The Cozy Design, Inc. team kept us focused on meeting our deadlines. They were super responsive and kept us on track. Their team did a good job of reminding us if we were falling behind our own deadlines. We typically communicated through Slack, email, and texting.

What did you find most impressive about them?
From a design perspective, they came up with a design that allowed our brand to evolve in a way that didn’t detract from its original look and feel. They provided us with a 2.0 grown-up brand. We’re a startup so it’s nice to see an evolution of how our original brand can continue to evolve. Additionally, their ability to lean into the audience that we were targeting was impressive. They could pull out the messages that’d resonate with them to make our website and copy compelling so users would hopefully sign up.

Are there any areas they could improve?
From a client communication standpoint, they used very modern tools. They moved away from Zoom to Vox. Vox has great features but it’s such a new product that it missed a lot of features of being able to call into the meeting. We had to be at a physical computer which didn't provide the flexibility that was sometimes needed. In order for Cozy Design, Inc. to use those technologies with their clients, they have to make sure that it fits with their client’s ability to use them.

Do you have any advice for potential customers?
I recommend doing the discovery session. We got a lot out of it. Cozy Design, Inc. asks the right questions. The session isn’t a waste of time. Unloading all of our thoughts allowed us to take a 360 view of where we were going. Don’t discount adding that discovery session into your contract. Additionally, be open-minded about where you want to go from a design perspective by giving them clear guidelines.
 

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m the executive director of a healthcare company. We’re a medical group, and I run the healthcare management component of the organization. We provide administrative services, marketing support, credentialing, and things of that nature.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with Cozy Design, Inc.?

We brought them on for website and UX design as well as logo design and branding.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

Cozy Design, Inc. delivered design files for our programmer to develop on our miscellaneous websites. We’ve had multiple initiatives and projects over the course of the engagement. Typically, we provide the goal of the project and content to supplement the goal. They come back with design files. Then, we usually do a couple of rounds of revisions before they give us the final files.

What is the team composition?

We work with Lee (Founder & Creative Director) and Leanna (Design Director), but there are others involved.

How did you come to work with Cozy Design, Inc.?

I was scanning for companies that worked in the space and then I met Lee. At that time, Lee was his own studio and then he expanded his company.

What is the status of this engagement?

Our ongoing engagement started around February 2017.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

We were looking to make our website more user-friendly, and Cozy Design, Inc. helped us accomplish that. Their team is responsive and detail-oriented. We’ve exclusively worked with them for our design needs for our website and brochures because we’re very satisfied.

How did Cozy Design, Inc. perform from a project management standpoint?

They utilize Asana for project management. We’re very happy with it.

What did you find most impressive about them?

They provide quality work at a fair market price. Cozy Design, Inc. always delivers work in a timely manner.

Are there any areas they could improve?

No, they’ve always been responsive to our requests as a customer.

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

Make sure you understand who your customer is and that your content is developed. Having a separate marketing team that can implement what Cozy Design, Inc. delivers to you is also beneficial.

BACKGROUND

Please describe your company and your position there.

I am the founder of a project management consulting firm focused on digital initiatives.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

For what projects/services did your company hire Cozy Design, Inc.?

I hired Cozy to develop my brand identity inclusive of a logo, color palette, typography, and usage.

What were your goals for this project?

To develop a brand identity that really fits my personality, while remaining professional and flexible.

SOLUTION

How did you select Cozy Design, Inc.?

I was referred to Cozy by a mutual friend here in San Diego.

Describe the scope of their work in detail.

The process began with a discovery meeting where Lee asked a series of questions which really opened up our discussion and narrowed down our ideas. He presented the first round, took my feedback and direction, and delivered the final output which is exactly what I wanted.

What was the team composition?

I worked directly with their Creative Director, Lee, which was great because it was an intimate collaboration.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

I finally look like a legit company now! Lee's help in establishing my company's brand identity took me from one-woman show to a real thriving business.

How effective was the workflow between your team and theirs?

We communicated through email and Slack. The entire process was about 3 weeks, due to Lee's stellar responsiveness.

What did you find most impressive about this company?

I felt that my brand identity was just as important to Lee as it was to me. They really went above and beyond to deliver something that I was happy with and proud to use.

Are there any areas for improvement?

I look forward to working with Lee again!

BACKGROUND

Please describe your company and your position there.

Full Cycle Product Development is a User-Centered Design focused consultancy, providing executive coaching and product consulting services to tech companies. I am the Founder and CEO.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

For what projects/services did your company hire Cozy Design, Inc.?

My website had become disjointed and outdated, as our services have pivoted quite a bit over the years. It was time for a full redesign.

What were your goals for this project?

Apply a sleek, modern design, and reorganize the website to be more readable.

SOLUTION

How did you select Cozy Design, Inc.?

Met them through San Diego Digital Designers. I liked them and wanted to give them a shot.

Describe the project in detail.

They interviewed me to gather my goals, likes and dislikes, and similar websites I wanted to model after. We set the scope of the project. Then they went after it. A week or so later they sent back a much improved website.

What was the team composition?

There was a creative director, a designer, and the founder involved.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

I'm incredibly happy with the result. It looks very modern and professional. They fixed so many issues with layout, spacing, design, imagery, etc. It's a night and day transformation.

How effective was the workflow between your team and theirs?

They pretty much nailed it, so there wasn't a lot of feedback. A few things I asked them to tweak they went ahead and did right away.

What did you find most impressive about this company?

They're just good people. They were a pleasure to work with and I'm really happy with the results.

Are there any areas for improvement?

Not at all.

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m a co-founder of a marketing and advertising company.  We’re brand strategists and we offer brand positioning efforts to our clients.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with Cozy Design, Inc.?

We were looking for a company that has experience in UI/UX design.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

We had a client who needed a brand logo and color palette to be developed so Cozy Design, Inc. helped figure out what their needs were. They helped us come up with something that aligned with our third-party client's budget and tight turnaround.

During the process, they showed a couple of options and we selected from those before presenting them to our third-party customer. 

What is the team composition?

We worked with three people, namely Lee (Founder & Creative Director), Leanna (Design Director), and Abigail (Project Manager).

How did you come to work with Cozy Design, Inc.?

We saw the quality of the deliverables they provided to other clients. In the end, we decided to collaborate with Cozy Design, Inc.

How much have you invested with them?

We spent $4,000.

What is the status of this engagement?

The engagement lasted from August–September 2020. 

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

Our third-party client was very satisfied with their outputs. We didn’t need to revise a lot of their work. 

How did Cozy Design, Inc. perform from a project management standpoint?

Cozy Design, Inc. had a great project management process. We mainly communicated via Slack and Zoom. 

What did you find most impressive about them?

We appreciated that they always wanted to get their work right. We were impressed with the level of detail they provided and their thoughtful design process.

Are there any areas they could improve?

I don't think they have any areas they could improve on.

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

Be clear on what you want them to do. As long as you’re clear, Cozy Design, Inc. will be happy to meet the mark.

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I worked with a small business loans company. We provided capital to small businesses that needed cash. I was the director of digital marketing.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with Cozy Design, Inc.?

We just finished a redesign and rebranding with a different agency. We had style guides and other documents, but that project only took us so far. We needed a team to do additional design work for us.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

They were our creative resource for ad graphics, website enhancements, and other design needs. A lot of the pre-planning was two-fold. We used data and insights to drive decisions, so we presented Cozy Design, Inc. with use cases for ads. We gave them the specs, and they produced images that adhered to our branding guidelines and that would help drive traffic.

On the website, we were hypothesis-driven, and we focused on a CRO project. We reimagined our forms and decided on creative ways to speed up and improve conversion rates. Through visual exploration, we examined several options. We got creative feedback from our teams, then we collaborated with Cozy Design, Inc. to make the deliverables we needed.

What is the team composition?

We worked with a graphic designer and a creative director. They were both very responsive.

How did you come to work with Cozy Design, Inc.?

I already had experience from a previous agency. We had a network of partners there, and Cozy Design, Inc. was one of them. When I started as the director of digital marketing, I activated that existing collaboration.

How much have you invested with them?

We spent within a $50,000-$100,000 range.

What is the status of this engagement?

I worked in this position between May 2016-December 2017. The website launched in January 2017, and we worked together for the rest of that year.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

The forms project was successful, and our results were definitely positive. Elements of that project are still live today, and several of their designs were clear winners.

How did Cozy Design, Inc. perform from a project management standpoint?

We communicated through Slack, which was a very efficient way to give feedback and get work done quickly. They adopted Teamwork, which is the platform I normally use. They used the tools that I was comfortable with, and they did some double posting on Asana. They managed both systems, and they were always efficient and responsive.

What did you find most impressive about them?

They strive to come up with good design, and they focus on all the right things. The quality of their work is high, and all the deliverables are very well-organized and professional.

Are there any areas they could improve?

They're very academic, and they occasionally overshare the information that supports their point of view. That is helpful, but they could edit a little more.

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

Think about your desired outcomes. They're very goal-oriented, and it helps to have specific end results in mind.

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m the general manager of iQuoteXpress, and we are a B2B software company that specializes in proposal management software. We are a fairly small player in a very crowded space, so we really try to be smart with our money in order to compete at a much higher level.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with Cozy Design, Inc.?

We had an internal marketing team at the time, but we felt that the level of expertise that we were getting from our internal team was not sufficient, so we decided to outsource those needs.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

We use Cozy Design, Inc. as an outsourced digital marketing team. They handle everything from our branding to our look and feel, to our PPC advertising, and everything else that a marketing team would do inside their own company. We had a pretty antiquated look and corporate branding, so they started refreshing our look and feel, as well as the UI on the actual application that we run and our marketing efforts.

The primary goal of their efforts is to help us acquire leads, so what they do now is write a lot of content on our behalf. They handle blog content that goes up on our site as well as B2B marketing sites as well as our trade show booth and brochure design. The work they do helps us frame the conversation on why a CPQ sales automation software like ours would be beneficial for the small and medium-sized businesses that we focus on.

What is the team composition?

We have a dedicated account manager who works in conjunction with some other members of their team. The owner is involved with a lot of our activities as well, so we feel like we’re in pretty good hands.

How did you come to work with Cozy Design, Inc.?

We’re located in Southern California, and they’re based here as well, so we encountered each other in the software space and realized that we could benefit from a partnership with them.

How much have you invested with them?

We probably spend about $6,000 a month with them at this point, which is between $300,000–$400,000 in total.

What is the status of this engagement?

We started working together in 2013 and are continuing to do so.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

We do a lot of tracking as far as cost per lead acquisition, and cost per conversion and all of those metrics have dropped significantly since we started working with Cozy Design, Inc. In the case of lead acquisition, we used to pay an average of $100 per lead that converts into a webinar demo, and now we have that number down to about $20 or so.

The sessions and contacts that we get on our website have also gone up astronomically. It’s increased at least threefold since we started using them. Organic search and social media referrals have all continued to skyrocket. We’re really pleased with the sheer amount of content that they produce for us.

How did Cozy Design, Inc. perform from a project management standpoint?

They’ve been excellent when it comes to project management. They have dedicated managers for our processes, and we have weekly meetings to keep track of our progress. We also call to keep track of how things are going, so we have a lot of collaboration throughout the course of the week as well. The communication tends to occur primarily over texts, emails, and phone calls, so we’re able to use whatever is most convenient at the time, which we appreciate.

What did you find most impressive about them?

They’re a very well-rounded organization and have people with different backgrounds and levels of experience. They were able to provide help with everything from digital to print advertising, to all of the specific activities that we target for particularly niche markets, which was incredibly valuable.

Are there any areas they could improve?

I limit their ability to do certain things in terms of spend because we have a limited budget, but I never worry that they won’t be able to accomplish anything that we provide them the resources to do. They satisfy all of our requests, so I don’t have any complaints.

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

I would make sure that it’s a good cultural fit. These people are young, smart, and energetic, and they really have a finger on the pulse of my industry, but it would be smart to make sure they have a good handle on the industry of other clients who wanted to work with them as well.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

They're continuing a lot of the work on re-brand which is a massive lift with the merger. They've also worked on some co-branding with an insurance company as well a Savings product microsite.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

How did your relationship with the vendor evolve?

I started working with other consultants and found the quality of their work falling short of that of cozy.

How was project management handled?


Our project manager is the best. Her thoroughness keeps us all on track. 

I understated the value that Cozy provides by being timely and maintaining superior documentation. Having worked with other consultants since then, I find myself wishing for the same diligence and rigor that Cozy applies to keeping projects on time, budget, and research.

Is there anything that the vendor did well or that you would consider a strength?

As mentioned before, I started working with other design consultants and upon reflection, Cozy’s communication, working style, and research knowledge is pretty unparalleled. There are a lot of ‘UX/UI’ folks that are just there to design something and move on. However, Cozy cares about not just the client but the customer in the process which is a rarity in the consulting world.

UPDATED REVIEW

This review was published on January 15, 2021.

Senior UX Designer, Online Lender

Financial services

51-200 Employees

San Diego, California

$10,000 to $49,999

Jun 2018 - Ongoing

Project summary:

Working on retainer for an online lending company, Cozy Design, Inc. provides UI/UX services as well as content strategy consultation. They produce both low and high-fidelity deliverables in this role. 

Feedback summary:

The team delivers high-quality design work that aligns with requirements. Their consultations and recommendations add value, and they push for best-fit opportunities when appropriate. Their professionalism and empathy as a partner distinguish them from competitors.

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m a senior UX designer for an online lender that’s local to San Diego. 

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with Cozy Design, Inc.?

They’re our UI/UX agency on retainer.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

They’ve done everything from conceptualization for page redesign to content strategy. In my work with their team, they’ve put together HMTL prototypes as well as content strategy for the organization. As our agency on retainer, they’ve been responsible for both low and high-fidelity UI/UX work.  

What is the team composition?

We work with 2–3 people on a consistent basis. Depending on our current project, there will be an additional designer, developer, or content strategist as well.

How did you come to work with Cozy Design, Inc.?

They were working for my company before I started.

How much have you invested with them?

They’re contracted for $200,000. So far, we’ve spent about $100,000 with them. 

What is the status of this engagement?

They’ve been working with us since 2018.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

I’ve appreciated their quality of work. As consultants, they’re very effective as well. They know when to push for certain initiatives and when to step back. 

How did Cozy Design, Inc. perform from a project management standpoint?

Our project manager is the best. Her thoroughness keeps us all on track. 

What did you find most impressive about them?

When they recommend something, we’re confident that it’s reasonable and will add value from a business perspective. That sense of professional empathy makes them stand out.

They have a good sense of who to contact to accomplish tasks. Other agencies may be fast, but they’re efficient. They’re thorough with their work.

Are there any areas they could improve?

Our visual aesthetic preferences may differ a little, but they deliver high-quality work. 

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

Know your business outcomes. Their team is great about filling in the gaps on all other levels. That’s pretty general advice for any professional engagement.

Star Ratings

Overall rating: 4.5

Quality: 4

Schedule: 4

Cost: 4

Willing to Refer: 4.5