Crafton

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m the head of sales and responsible for many marketing activities for an insurance company. We focus on the providing insurance services to the largest corporations in Poland.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with Crafton?

We wanted to know our clients and their needs better. We wanted to build a crowdsourcing platform where our clients could submit ideas on how we could serve them better. We needed a partner who could deliver the concept, the design, the development, and the support for our business idea.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

We started with a workshop with Crafton. They helped us shape the idea for the crowdsourcing platform. Then, they delivered UX wireframes for the main screens of the platform so we could see the product and make adjustments. Next, we tested the wireframes, and they proceeded to provide the desktop and mobile designs. Once we approved, they provided us front- and backend coding. The main feature allows users to submit an idea. Then, users can vote and comment on ideas submitted by other users.

Crafton came up with ideas for gamification for the platform, which was important for its success. We give users badges, points, and various advantages to encourage them to be more active on the platform.

They used their own CMS. The main technology was PHP. For the frontend, they use JavaScript, AngularJS, and HTML5. The backend was custom-designed. We integrated the platform with our internal system so we can see all the ideas submitted by the users. We were able to write to them and submit the ideas to the stakeholders responsible for selecting and implementing them.

When we have requests, they implement them. They also fix bugs that sometimes come up.

What is the team composition?

There were five developers. There was a project manager, one or two designers, and a team of UX specialists. We have direct access to the specialists.

How did you come to work with Crafton?

We had a long RFP process. We screened many companies and selected 3–5. We met with them, and Crafton was excited about the project. They wanted to deliver something outstanding. We were excited by their passion for the project, which was the main reason we wanted to work with them. They had the best portfolio as well.

How much have you invested with them?

We spent 500,000 Polish zloty ($132,755 USD).

What is the status of this engagement?

We started working together in July 2014 and the work is ongoing.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

I was extremely impressed with the number of ideas submitted by the active users on the platform. We have competitions on the platform and the engagement is high. We’re incredibly happy with the results. The team cares deeply about the design and the UX. Crafton delivers a great working software, and they pay attention to detail with a designer’s eye for the UX. It was great for us.

How did Crafton perform from a project management standpoint?

The project manager was great. They use Jira and telephone for the daily communication. We’re really happy with the project management.

What did you find most impressive about them?

They build a personal relationship with their clients, and you don’t feel like you’re just another client for them. It feels like they’re only working for you. They respond quickly, sometimes within a few minutes. The communication is absolutely great. They’re great designers and developers.

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

Select a company that doesn’t just deliver a working product but is easy and fun to work with. Crafton is that type of company.

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m the head of sales for a large rail operator, specializing in domestic and international long-distance transport.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with Crafton?

We needed a complete redesign of our website and web service design for ticket booking and selling. We also needed integration done for all our backend services, and to make our web service more intuitive for our customers. We needed a full responsive web design so it would be perfectly displayed on mobile devices.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

They prepared detailed plans beginning with graphic design and architecture of information. It's a MODX engine based on Open Source. We had to meet the web content accessibility guidelines (WCAG) for people with cognitive limitation and disabilities. They prepared the web design and graphic designs to make our web services to be more intuitive for users. They had to integrate with our booking and selling service.

During that process, they were working with our other providers. They also worked on the website's SEO. They tested several mobile devices and browsers for the purpose of responsive web design to prepare architecture of information for mobile devices.

They also introduced a service that presented a frequency of reservations in our trains, using information from our booking service to present the frequency of all sold tickets. They separated the website to make it more logical for the customer viewing the booking of the tickets. It brought in it a simpler and more intuitive way for buying tickets and also going from the main website to the sales process in the end.

What is the team composition?

There were three frontend developers, one full stack developer, two UX designers, and a project manager.

How did you come to work with Crafton?

They’re known in the market working for national companies. Based on a tender off, we picked their services because of their experience in UX design and graphical design.

How much have you invested with them?

$150,000.

What is the status of this engagement?

We worked together from July 2014 until 2015. In 2015, they helped us create the landing page for our marketing campaign and did some small projects.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

They improved our SEO practices. The redesign was very useful for the information design and for the use of our ticket booking service. There are hundreds of thousands of customers who use the web service to book and buy tickets. Our marketing team interviewed some of them and the response and the feedback was very positive. It was a success. There aren’t any problems on the front- or backend.

How did Crafton perform from a project management standpoint?

They had very detailed plans about how the project was going to develop over time. Their cooperation was very open and flexible. We communicated through Slack, Asana, and other tools for showing and preparing graphic design. They were very communicative. They prepared the wireframes, showed them to us using web services before implementing them. We closely worked with them and things ran very smoothly.

What did you find most impressive about them?

Their UX team is very flexible and creative. They have an amazing team of UX and graphic designers. All the design stuff was done on their side. They listened to all guidelines, problems, and information from us. They adjusted to adapt the guidelines for people with disabilities. It was very impressive. It was a very quick and efficient process.

Are there any areas they could improve?

They specialize in frontend and UX design. We had only one full stack developer cooperating. There could be more backend resources that would allow for quicker backend integration.

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

It’s good for any company to have a vision and end purpose of the cooperation. Along the way, they will help you achieve the vision using their creative skills. It will make the cooperation quicker and more effective.

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m the head of marketing for our company, which provides citizens with legal advice and counseling.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with Crafton?

We needed assistance with development work for a mobile app.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

We requested end-to-end services from Crafton. They provided low-fidelity mockups and UI/UX design for all pages of the mobile app, along with front- and backend development. The app was developed for iOS and Android. There was a lot of API integration involved as well. The backend was quite challenging. There are integrations with external systems, including Google Maps.

The app provides legal advice. It has an online contact form. One of the app’s key features is a database of legal advisors in the region. Users can choose a criterion based on the type of problem they have, and the app will select a legal advisor close to the user’s geolocation and who best matches the requirements.

What is the team composition?

There were four full-stack developers involved in the project from their side. They had a designated project manager who was responsible for managing all the communication.

How did you come to work with Crafton?

They were recommended to us. We did a lot of research as well. Crafton had an impressive webpage. We wanted our app to be graphically rich, interactive, and functional to the highest level of user experience. There aren’t many companies in our region that can deliver this type of service to high standards. This was one of the main reasons for selecting Crafton. They were also competitively priced. We looked at vendors from Ukraine and other Eastern European countries, but the combination of Crafton’s skills, experience, portfolio, and communication was spot on.

How much have you invested with them?

The overall cost of the project was 200,000–250,000 Polish Zloty or about $53,278–$66,585 USD.

What is the status of this engagement?

We started working with Crafton in June 2017 and finished in January 2018.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

We’ve been particularly happy with Crafton’s UX work. We had no capabilities in this respect so we’ve done a lot of problem-solving with their team. The design, user path, and customer satisfaction approach were left to them, and they did it very well. The overall quality of the product is very competitive.

We have tracked users engaging in the apps, and their numbers are steadily growing. We have around 2,000 active users. Considering that we have a narrow thematic scope and that we’ve just recently released the app, we are happy. We’ve reached out to users to find out what they think and the app was very well received. Its look-and-feel was commented on as neat, and the user path was described as simple and intuitive. The overall feedback has been positive.

How did Crafton perform from a project management standpoint?

We worked in an agile method and had access to their backlog and sprint breakdown. They delivered the project on time.

The project manager started her position shortly before the project kicked off. There were a few hiccups as she found her way, but we were made aware of that from the beginning and we were sympathetic toward that.

They were extremely responsive overall. I have vast experience dealing with external vendors, and it was a huge asset that Crafton really pushed for continuous and seamless communication. We used Slack as a communication channel, and we had access to their repository and Trello board. It was a transparent approach overall.

What did you find most impressive about them?

Their UX expertise and capabilities are more impressive than anything else. The design aspect of the project proved to be the pillar of the product. It’s an underestimated element of product development, and Crafton really emphasized how much it matters. They walked us through various user paths, and the low-fidelity mockups helped us understand how important the navigation is. They have very strong talent.

Are there any areas they could improve?

I know that they’re still growing, but the range of technology solutions that Crafton offers is still quite narrow. We were lucky in that the product we requested matched their technological capabilities. If they want to expand their reach, they really should think of adopting a broader range of technologies and more diverse projects. The project we worked on was unique for them as well, and they enjoyed it for this reason. I wish them all the best.

Do you have any advice for future clients of theirs?

I advise future partners to really push for communication. Crafton is open to this, and they’re not overwhelmed by the quality or quantity of feedback. They will take that feedback, and this will help the product in the end. They’re even happy to work on more iterations than initially planned. I would take advantage of their communication openness.

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m the marketing manager for an online photography platform that gives photographers who travel a platform to share their photos and build their own websites with our web builder. I build and manage the site’s themes and I'm also responsible for developing technical products.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with Crafton?

We came up with the idea to create an online platform for traveling photographers to display their work and engage with other photographers, but we needed someone to execute our vision. We needed a team that could create a website and prepare a technical structure with unique graphic design and which would provide a user-payment function.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

Crafton provided all of the technical functionalities and design for our site. When we approached them about working with us, we had a design concept in mind, but Crafton presented their potential designs and we ended up using those. We also provided a list of the functionalities we wanted the site to provide—including a payment plan that allows subscription services and automatic payments, a way for users to sell their work, and a way for users to register accounts—and they implemented them for us.

They also provided us a logo and did all the graphic design for the site. We told them certain features we definitely needed but left the design up to them, and everything they gave us was professional and original. Before the site launch, we even had a dedicated team at Crafton that made sure our graphics functioned as we wanted. Since the launch, we’ve contacted them for any problems we were having with the site and they’ve always provided a prompt solution.

What is the team composition?

We had two project managers, both of whom were communicative. We would also engage with other members of their team, like the head of UX, for example, who could explain formatting decisions and why Crafton chose certain designs.

How did you come to work with Crafton?

We’re both located in Poland, and Crafton is one of the most popular and well-regarded companies in the region, so we were aware of their work before we began looking for a design group. After a colleague recommended them to me, I tried to arrange a call with someone from their team, but they suggested we visit the office instead. From there, we were able to discuss our ideas and how Crafton could help us. Overall, it was their location, a recommendation, and their reputation that led us to choose them.

How much have you invested with them?

Over the course of the project we spent about $1.2 million.

What is the status of this engagement?

Our partnership started in September 2015 and is ongoing. Even though our site is launched and the platform is accessible to users, we still use them for technical assistance.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

The company have grown since we started working with Crafton: our team is about three times larger than when it started, and we’ve been able to create an internship program. Additionally, since launching the platform, we have over 100 paying users and over 3000 users non-paying users. We also get compliments from both users and media companies about our web design, which we know helps build users’ trust in the platform and ultimately prompts further growth.

How did Crafton perform from a project management standpoint?

We never had any trouble communicating with Crafton. Though the deadlines we established at the beginning of the project were standard—we didn’t need anything rushed—Crafton met each one, even if we’d had unplanned requests for them. They also set up a blog for us to use as a resource for site design and functioning, so we can make some changes and adjustments to the site ourselves.

We met with our project managers in person several times, but it was also easy to get in touch with them over Skype. For a period before we launched, we had daily Skype calls to address last-minute edits or additions.

What did you find most impressive about them?

Their customer service and work are outstanding. They always responded to our emails on the same day, usually within the hour, and they had a lot of creative ideas and strategies to share with us. Being able to rely on them for a quick response and professional designs made our partnership easy to manage.

Are there any areas they could improve?

No.

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

It’s important to know what you need, even if you can’t express how you’d like a final design to look. They’re professionals who are capable of leading design projects, and all they need is a detailed concept to bring an idea into reality.

BACKGROUND

Please describe your organization.

I am the Managing Partner of Vintage Consulting, a boutique consultancy firm that helps on infrastructure and projects in Poland, Romania, and Ukraine. We consult for big contracting companies. I wanted it to be visually appealing so that people who visit the website don’t close it in five seconds.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What business challenge were you trying to address with Crafton?

We wanted a website for our business and wanted to make sure it looked modern and done in a Western culture since most of my clients come from English speaking countries.

SOLUTION

Please describe the scope of their involvement in greater detail.

They did everything from our logo to our business cards to our company letterhead to the website. They made sure everything was harmonized and looked modern and accessible. The website is pretty large for a small company. We do a lot of things like trainings and different services. They made sure each service had its dedicated sub-website, and that our references and pictures were shown properly and in an accessible manner. I think they used WordPress and they gave me a content management system that I can log into and I can update my blog there or add new references or services without involving them, which gives me the flexibility that I can build my website further without them charging me all the time for every additional, little thing.

How did you come to work with Crafton?

Crafton was recommended to me by a friend and I spoke to four companies when I was searching for someone to do my website. I didn’t base my selection on price, but on the feeling I got in the interview of understanding what it is I need. I didn’t want somebody that was going to try to persuade me to make the website how they want it to look. I felt Crafton was actually listening to me and allowing my input of what image I wanted to create for our company.

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

Around 15,000 zł [$4,200].

What is the status of this engagement?

We started working with them June 2014 until February 2015.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

Could you share any statistics or metrics from this engagement?

When the website was launched, I got a lot of positive feedback even with new clients that I didn’t know. For example, I would be going to a meeting and the client that was on my website before the meeting would say that I had a very nice website.

How did Crafton perform from a project management standpoint?

They were very responsive to feedback from us. They never replied later than 24 hours from the email that they received. Their reply would be the actual answer to a question. I think it’s a company policy they have. When it got into the details and I wanted to change what I submitted, they didn’t have any trouble with updating the content.

What distinguishes Crafton from other providers?

Crafton seems to understand the ideas that I have in my head. They were able to pull it out of me. I could tell them how I wanted the website to look and they came back to me with what I had in mind.

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m an advisor for employee engagement of a holding company. We support SMEs [small and medium enterprises] in Saudi Arabia with various services they may need throughout their lifecycles. Most of the support comes through an online portal which various vendors design, develop, code, and perform UAT [user acceptance testing] on.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with Crafton?

We didn’t want the overhead of a fully-functional IT department. We wanted to have a small aspect of IT within our company, but have vendors perform the rest of the work.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

We mainly use Crafton for design, but sometimes we need them for frontend development. The platform was officially launched at the end of August last year, but it was not up-and-running 4 months prior. Crafton was involved in the first creation and launch of this custom platform.

We described to Crafton what the objective was of the specific service within the portal. The portal has many services, and each service has its own frontend or home page. Crafton designed the user interface, graphics, etc., on the main portal, as well as the various services within the portal. We tried to give them the idea behind each service, and then they provided us with different options on the look-and-feel and color scheme. They essentially gave us an overview of what the site, for each particular service, would look like.

Whenever we want to start a new project with them, a member of my staff will go to their online form and fill out our requirements. Afterwards, they work on the graphics and user interface, and sometimes, they just give us the designs and we use another vendor or our own developer for execution. Other times, they give us the designs, and then go ahead with implementation, as well as frontend development, to get it functional and working. They also created simple automated videos and other graphical elements.

What is the team dynamic?

I’m unsure of the composition of their team, or whether the resources were dedicated to our project. When we first contracted with them, they had about 10–15 employees.

How did you come to work with Crafton?

Our IT team and management went to a couple of countries, including India and Poland, because they had heard there were good design and development companies at a reasonable price. They met with 3–4 companies, and selected Crafton to work with going forward.

How much have you invested with Crafton?

We’ve invested between $80,000–$100,000 for the projects I’ve managed.

What is the status of this engagement?

The relationship started before I came on board, so I’m unsure when it started. We launched at the end of August 2016, but development started much earlier than that. We’re still actively working with them on other projects.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

Another part of our team is responsible for following up on the portal and numbers. We recently achieved 1 million visitors to the site in 10 months, and we have about 12,000 registered users.

How did Crafton perform from a project management standpoint?

They’ve been very good in this area. They use project management tools as requested, and if we have quick or small tasks, there’s no need for a project plan. They’re also timely.

What did you find most impressive about Crafton?

They were professional and extremely responsive to us as a customer during the 3–4 projects we’ve worked on together.

Are there any areas Crafton could improve?

We would like to see them move into software development so that we can have end-to-end service.

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

We are a global medical device company with a presence in over 100 countries and over 4,000 employees. I am responsible for the global marketing communications for our franchise.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with Crafton?

We wanted to develop a microsite that would achieve the following objectives; gather all information and content on one of our products in one easy-to-navigate website, connect interested users with our local representatives around the world, and facilitate the sharing of information with interested users

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

The project was fluid, was and it was easy to work with Crafton. Everything was specified at the beginning; including things that were important to us such as the need for responsive design and CMS etc.

We went through an initial artwork phase in order to finalize the look, feel, and usability of the site to make sure it was going to meet our business objectives. We are used to working with our own independent art director and Crafton showed great flexibility with this. We essentially formed a new team which consisted of myself, our internal people, Crafton and our art director. Everybody was open to working together and there were zero conflicts. Often you may find that agencies resist sharing the design aspect of a project but Crafton adjusted and responded extremely well and openly which ensured a real team collaboration from the very beginning which was refreshing. I think their objective is to simply generate the best possible work and they are ready to adjust their ways of working in order to ensure that this goal is met and the client is happy.

The website is designed to be read. When you scroll down, information appears in an organic yet interesting way. Every page stands alone and is easy to navigate. We had very specific contact forms that had to be generated, as well as video hosting on the site. The whole site is built around video hosting, so that was really important and executed very well.

As a client, I would say we are perfectionists and the level of what I was looking for was extremely high. I appreciated how Crafton responded to our expectations and I never felt that our requests were met with anything less than an attitude of great service and willingness.

How did you come to work with Crafton?

We were considering 2 agencies, both of which had superb proposals. In the end, we felt that Crafton would be more flexible and disciplined with deadlines. Everything just felt like it was going to be easier and even at the proposal stage, we knew that we would not have to hold their hand during the project. Once they received the brief they just ran with it. If something was missing, or if they came across an issue we had not thought of they simply took the initiative and solved it.

What is the status of this engagement?

We started working together in March of 2017, and the site launched 2 weeks ago. We have already initiated additional projects with Crafton.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

Could you share any evidence that would demonstrate the productivity, quality of work, or impact of the engagement?

The feedback has been exceptional both internally and externally. The usability of the site appears to be working very well – it’s early days yet so we don’t have any substantial metrics today but I’m optimistic.

How did Crafton perform from a project management standpoint?

They met every deadline and responded to my emails within 5 minutes. When things needed to be fixed, they always did it within a day. They’re such a flexible, responsive agency. We didn’t use any project management or communication tools between our teams – there was no need.

What did you find most impressive about Crafton?

Their flexibility and willing attitude make them stand out. I don't think they ever said something couldn't be done. I hear that a lot from other providers. Also, they never bothered us with how difficult something might have been to do. Whenever we asked for something, they had no problem accomplishing it. They don’t expect the client to do everything. They put a lot of thought into the work on their end. They’re very proactive in developing additional items like the graphics. They didn't wait or ask if we wanted additional graphics etc, they just pushed forward and generated them. I find that very rare. With Crafton, I believe we have found a real partner.

Are there any areas Crafton could improve?

So far, we have worked on just one project together but looking at this project I can’t find any faults.

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

Karvansarai is a travel design company.  We create tailor-made travel experiences for our clients.  I am the owner and founder.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with Crafton?

I was just starting the company and building a brand. We had never built a website before. After doing research, we decided we wanted to design a website from scratch that was tailor-made for us.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

We had a very clear idea of what we wanted, but we couldn’t do it ourselves. Crafton helped us understand everything including hosting and all of the different aspects of building a website.  They helped us make the decisions.  Then we designed ourselves, in Illustrator files, what we wanted our different pages to look like. We sent our designs to them, and then they would translate our drawings into actual pages.  We also specifically told them that we wanted a website where they would build it, but it would be very user-friendly for us to maintain it ourselves. The site is built on WordPress with GoDaddy as the host. The complete backend is very user-friendly so that we can regularly make our own updates and changes there. 

A few of the pages are not published right now because we’re updating them. We wanted interactive maps, so they integrated the Google Maps into our site. We also wanted a timeline. It was a lot of the taking drawings and creating what they could for the web. They were very good at the design, and then it’s very functional.  It works very well.  They were always advising to us what would actually work on the web.  From the start, they made our website so that it would be responsive. They did a lot of work in our travel design section. We have a section where users fill out a questionnaire which they designed very well. They helped us with graphics.  The site is very user-friendly. We had a lot of ideas, and they helped us both manage the cost and find out what was essential to us. They helped us keep the site simple but functional.

How many resources have been assigned to your project?

I mostly interact directly with Piotr [Kulczycki, Managing Director]. Occasionally, I have interacted with someone else from his team, but he was always the main point of reference for us, and then he delegated to his team members.

How did you come to work with Crafton?

We researched many different companies that build websites, and we were warned that it’s quite a nightmare to build your own website. Then we came across Piotr’s own personal website, which is a photography website, and we really liked it. We liked the features on it. It was complex enough that it was interesting and didn’t seem generic, like many of the other ones.  It seemed quite unique, but then it was also not complicated. A lot of times, they try to make something really interesting, but then it’s not user-friendly or practical. It was that right balance.  We reached out to him, and he said he actually had a company, which was Crafton, who could build our website. 

Before that, we had already spoken to four or five other developers. Some of them, we found their pricing was too high. We found Piotr was very fair with his pricing, and also helped us reduce our costs. His time frame was very good.  The turnaround was very quick, whereas others required a lot more time. 

How much have you invested with Crafton?

We have spent around $8,000 with them so far.

What is the status of this engagement?

We started working with them in June 2015, and the work is ongoing. We keep adding new things.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

Could you share any evidence that would demonstrate the productivity, quality of work, or the impact of the engagement?

We do have Google Analytics on our website, so we can see what the traffic is. It's been very good.  Given our business, most of our clients do come to us word-of-mouth.  It’s not so much driven by the website, but it’s the first thing that new clients go and check before working with us.  They usually just check the “About Us” page to see where we’ve been, what our travel design is, and then they come and work with us. The feedback from the client is always that they’re impressed. People are very impressed by the website.  It looks very professional and elegant. It’s our own photography, but the way it’s been presented leaves a good impression, and then our clients come to us.  We’ve had a few clients who’ve actually booked through the website, so everything functions well. The website is something that these new clients check to be sure if they want to work with us.

How did Crafton perform from a project management standpoint?

Their response time is something I was extremely impressed with.  You send an email, and within five minutes, usually, you already have a response. That was very important.  If anything, they were chasing us most of the time to get them designs, not the other way around. Many people warned us that we would be chasing our web developer, but it was the other way around.  They always gave good estimates of what it’s going to cost.  We were overall very pleased with the experience. They have always stuck to their deadlines. For bigger projects, they have online software they use to design the pages. We opted not to do that because there were just two of us designing it.

We gave them the brief of what we wanted, and they gave us the estimated cost. They didn’t go over budget, and they met the deadline they had set. I had many questions and always got responses immediately.  They were able to make the changes that we wanted. I’d say it was managed very well. We communicated through email and Skype.

What did you find most impressive about Crafton?

They’re very reliable. I’ve been working with them now for quite a while, and I still continue to work with them. I’ve recommended them to many other people because they’re extremely reliable. Also, their pricing is very competitive.  The quality of the work is excellent.  We always gave our ideas, and then, most of the time, they were able to translate those into what we wanted.  If there was anything that we wanted to change, we would do revisions, and then they would get it.  I would say those are all very important things in building a website. Their communication skills are very good.  We communicated always in English, and I’d say the overall experience was very good.

Are there any areas Crafton could improve?

Not really.  We’ve been really happy with everything that they’ve done. If they didn’t translate our design exactly as we wanted it to look, they revised it and got it how we wanted it.

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

Netvariant is a software web app development company based in the Middle East. We currently have our headquarters in Beirut and a branch in Saudi Arabia. We focus mainly on online banking and telecoms.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with Crafton?

We had our own in-house graphic design team, but the quality of graphics required at the time was not sufficient. Shortly after I joined the team, we looked for options as to where we could look for a new graphic design team.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

The projects we did together were really versatile. They would change very frequently because we had a lot of clients asking for a website or for app design, and we’d outsource the frontend design work to Crafton.

We had several portals. We had banking site pages, logins, and other small bits and pieces. They also did the branding for our company. They did the logo and they did all these colors, profiles, stationary, business cards, etc. When required, they would really put their hand into the creative aspect of the work. They would think out the elements as opposed to just following a set of instructions for the app to work. They would contribute creatively to making a superior design and it usually exceeded expectations.

I don’t know how many resources we had from Crafton. I had one point of contact who was very hands-on in discussing with me what was required. He’d relay it to the design team, come back to me, and I’d give feedback.

How did you come to work with Crafton?

Initially, we were looking for a design agency. I personally wanted a European influence on the design being done because we have an Arab audience mainly. After searching online through quite a lot of companies, we came across Crafton’s website. The origami design they had on their website at the time was very eye catching. I was just playing around with the website—it’s like a test, and the prize was their profile. If you solve the origami, then it would tell you, “Here’s your prize.” When you clicked on it, their profile came up. I was really impressed by it. I was looking for a company that was completely different from all the others. That was a major factor in determining who we’d hire for the job. It was a mind-blowing experience at the time. The first thing they did for us was our website, and that was just an awesome design that we’ve kept since. They think differently and their creative standards immediately became apparent right from the start.

How much have you invested with Crafton?

We spent $5,000 for an individual project. The cost was based per page.

What is the status of this engagement?

We started working with them in 2012, and the work is ongoing.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

Could you share any evidence that would demonstrate the productivity, quality of work, or the impact of the engagement?

From a design point of view, the clients were satisfied with the design work. At most, they might ask for very minor changes. The designs that were produced were accepted either fully or with minor adjustments. The clients had their own reasons to alter the design. We had sales people and a project manager who would meet with the client, and when they came back with feedback, it was all smiles and “He loved it. We want more.” That explains our relationship with Crafton and why we’ve had them for so long.

How did Crafton perform from a project management standpoint?

It was usually Crafton that was under pressure because the type of clients that we have in the Middle East. They’re very demanding. They would sometimes make absurd requests like an entire website done in under a week or they’d want radical changes done over the weekend. Crafton, every single time, would actually feed straight back to us and get entire teams doing this stuff, and they never failed us. The worst case scenario was that we’d have a client request, something ridiculous like an entire site done in four days. They would require at most maybe a 12-hour extension. Crafton would always meet the deadlines. It was never a problem. Our communication is by email and Skype.

What did you find most impressive about Crafton?

It was extremely, extremely comfortable to work with them. They don’t communicate in a cold-cut way. Financially, they were quite lenient and supportive, and they were willing to help us out when we were in tougher situations. It was a very easygoing relationship. We communicated on quite a personal level. We would joke from time to time while doing the work. It made you feel like you could enjoy the project that you were doing with them.

The company as a whole, their ethics, the way that they do stuff, it’s something that I personally value. That’s another reason that I went with them, because of their approach to the work. They actually made the job enjoyable and you can have fun doing what you’re doing and experiment and learn new things at the same time. You also get to see things and do things that you wouldn’t have thought of before. Creatively, they’re very inspirational, and that transfers across to our side. They’re very influential. The way they work inspires us to do better on our side.

Are there any areas Crafton could improve?

There’s very little I can say. They’re always on time. They always complete the criteria. They exceed expectations. The pricing wasn’t always apparent to me, but I think that’s because of the relationship he had with the chief executive officer dealing with the finances directly. They had a Dropbox system for project materials where you pick it up from a secured online location.

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

We are a digital media company. I’m the owner.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with Crafton?

We used them to outsource our graphic design, HTML, CSS, and Wordpress builds. We didn’t want to build out our team too quickly. We like the outsource model. We had some high-end clients that would’ve required a big team on board, so we outsourced the work to Crafton.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

They worked on about 15 projects of ours. One of them was for an IT service provider. They provide managed Cloud solutions, service infrastructure, and Microsoft Office 365. We had to completely redesign their website from the ground up because they just weren’t explaining what they were doing at all through the website. It was also non-mobile responsive. We brought Crafton on board and started with a user experience exercise. We looked at what the current traffic is doing on the website, how the current users are interacting and their use of the software. We did some user tests to really find out what the problems were with the current side in terms of content gaps, usability, navigation, content structure, the information architecture, etc. Crafton then proposed some wireframes of different layouts, menu structures and different content blocks that the site would need. Once that was signed off, we had a good idea of how the project would look, feel, and flow in terms of a user journey. They went ahead and did all the design mockups and designs. Those 15 different design pages were then signed off by the client. That was all done really quickly and done on time. They always hit the deadlines. Then it was the HTML and CSS and cut up of the designs which were then tested by us. We tested them and then sent any bugs back to Crafton, which were then fixed. We tested it on mobile and different devices, different browsers, etc. They were always good to respond and it didn’t seem like a hassle to get any changes implemented. We then implemented that particular project onto our own content management system.

I have worked with them where they also implement onto WordPress. That was a different project for a company that sells wills and estate planning. It was the same process where we did some UX exercises and low-fi and then hi-def mockups, HTML, CSS, and then they did that on WordPress and did all the custom filled integration and trained us how to use the WordPress system. That was a deeper project where they handled it end to end.

We’ve done some branding stuff with them as well. We did branding for a government body for their relaunch of their brand. It was a corporate redesign rather than a tone and voice exercise.

I went to meet them and recognized some of their names. There was a project manager, and I also had direct contact with the designers and developers. I worked with 10 different people from the Crafton team.

How did you come to work with Crafton?

We started with a test job and it turned into a longer-term partnership.

How much have you invested with Crafton?

We’ve spent $200,000 over the course of our relationship.

What is the status of this engagement?

We started working with them in 2012, and the work is ongoing.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

Could you share any evidence that would demonstrate the productivity, quality of work, or the impact of the engagement?

One particular project which was funded by the government to help dads here in the UK, we actually helped over 2.5 million dads. We raised the page views from about 45,000 a week to about 70,000 a week. We were doing millions of sessions per month with that particular project.

The redesign helped improve the number of page views on the site and the sessions were lasting longer because people were finding more relevant information. It really increased the engagement thanks to the UX exercise and the redesign of the structure of the site that Crafton did.

How did Crafton perform from a project management standpoint?

Piotr is my contact there. The project management seems pretty straightforward. They’re very, very flexible in terms of how you want to report back to them. They’re always looking for really fine detail on exactly what you want. It’s not like Scrum or Agile. I don’t know if they run that internally, but for us, it’s pretty easy. We set up a call, go through a list of issues of ideas, and then they go ahead and implement it to the agreed timescale. I can’t think of one thing that they’ve ever delivered late in five years.

What did you find most impressive about Crafton?

Their creativity while remaining true to the business goals of the project is impressive. Their ability to take on a brief, understand it, and then make it into something that the people will not only use, but will enjoy using. That’s definitely one of their strengths along with all the little touches and the animations and things that go along with a smooth portfolio piece. That’s where they’ve stood out against some of the lower-end providers that are further offshore.  

Are there any areas Crafton could improve?

The only thing would be a bit more structure around how you report. If I wasn’t a digital agency myself, then I might not know as a client how to report on issues and things like that. Maybe a bit more training up front of certain key staff within my team of how to deal with their team. Maybe they do that for their non-tech clients.