The Design Laboratory

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m the director and owner of Luna Live Music, a large music venue in London. We’re a grassroots music venue, providing newly formed bands and unsigned artists with a platform to share their music with the community. We also give them a place in East London so they can put on shows. We do shows seven days a week, covering every music genre; we’re very fluid regarding music taste, band styles, and artistry.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with The Design Laboratory?

Ours is a legacy business that our founder established. However, when I joined 18 months ago, I noticed that it didn’t have a clear identity. People knew about us through word of mouth, but our brand identity was non-existent. Thus, I approached The Design Laboratory to help us formulate a brand strategy so that we could have a solid identity.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

The Design Laboratory has helped us with brand identity and web design and development. Initially, we had an in-depth interview with them to figure out the feeling and meaning behind our business so that they could try different ideas. It was a strategy session.

After that session, they developed a couple of concepts for us, and we worked closely with them to provide our input and feedback. As a result of this process, The Design Laboratory refined the concepts and executed the one we ultimately chose.

Then, The Design Laboratory built a custom landing page for us using Webflow. To create it, they incorporated all the branding elements they came up with, such as the color palette, typography, icons, and other elements. Currently, they’re working on additional tasks.

What is the team composition?

We’ve worked with The Design Laboratory’s London team, which consists of 5–6 people, including the owner, the operations manager, and three designers in charge of the creative assets and designs. Other team members have worked remotely on our project as well.

How did you come to work with The Design Laboratory?

The Design Laboratory already had connections with some of our providers, so they came highly recommended. We also saw their work for other brands and new businesses, and we were very fond of and familiar with their work. We were very impressed with what they had done for others, so we felt lucky when we were able to secure them as our vendor.

How much have you invested in them?

We’ve spent close to £30,000 (approximately $34,000 USD).

What is the status of this engagement?

We started working with them around November 2021, and they delivered our branding around March 2022. Still, our engagement is ongoing.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

Thanks to our new brand and website, our social engagement and our revenue have grown; we’ve seen very positive results. The Design Laboratory’s hard work has helped us finally have what we lacked as an organization.

Our current website isn’t the final website, but it offers adequate insight into what we do. The Design Laboratory really took the time to capture what we do and produce something we’re really proud of. We haven’t experienced any crashes or bugs on the site directly tied to their work. Occasionally, Webflow’s platform glitches when I make changes to the text, but it has nothing to do with The Design Laboratory.

How did The Design Laboratory perform from a project management standpoint?

The Design Laboratory has delivered everything on time. Additionally, they’re very communicative and receptive to our ideas and change requests. Their team constantly puts us first, making them a pleasure to work with.

We typically use email and WhatsApp to communicate, and we also have in-person meetings because we’re both located in London. Whenever their staff members aren't available to come to a meeting, they jump on a call to be virtually present.

As for project management, The Design Laboratory documents their work on a Dropbox shared folder to ensure the delivery of assets. Through this folder, they share an Excel spreadsheet containing all the information we need. Whenever I need to complete a round of feedback, they let me know using that document.

What did you find most impressive about them?

The Design Laboratory is very thorough at understanding the true feelings and emotions businesses convey, spending a long time in the discovery phase in asking questions to define what they’re trying to portray. They’ve captured the vision of our organization in their work through logos and patterns, making our business look very different from everyone else’s. Additionally, they’re very flexible.

Are there any areas they could improve?

The Design Laboratory’s price could be more affordable, but we’ve got what we’ve paid for. It has been a big investment for us, but we’ll receive a lot of value from it.

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

I would definitely recommend approaching them as soon as possible. They're a growing team, and they’re gaining more clients on a regular basis because they’re skilled and fun to work with. Their prices might seem like a huge amount of money for small companies, but it is definitely worth it. In return, you’ll obtain great results and long-term benefits because their work will add value to your business.

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m the assistant to the CEO of CYCLE, a last-mile delivery fleet provider. We provide last-mile delivery customers like Gorillas or Flink with fleets of electric bikes for their couriers. We’re based in Berlin, Germany.

For this project, I was responsible for coordinating the rebranding and was the main point of contact for The Design Laboratory. I was involved in all the areas, ensuring each department did everything needed.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with The Design Laboratory?

We started the business four years ago and were known as GetHenry. When we started, the company was different from what we do now. Initially, we rented out fleets of e-scooters to hotels for the guests to use. When the pandemic started, we had to shift our ideas completely; all the hotels suddenly closed overnight because people weren’t traveling anywhere. However, we noticed that e-commerce and online deliveries were booming because everyone was at home, ordering things. Also, people who were out of work started to ride as couriers to get some short-term jobs.

We decided to shift our business to renting out e-bikes for couriers and companies. The name GetHenry didn’t match anymore, so we decided to change our name, logo, and colors completely. The mission and vision also had to develop along the way because we wanted a brand that could strongly convey what we did and why.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

We came across The Design Laboratory and decided to work with them to take over all the design aspects of our rebranding. They guided us from the beginning and helped with the entire brand effort, including wireframes, digital guidelines, brand guidelines, and everything that involved the brand’s design.

We had a kick-off workshop; it was around three hours and involved different people. We gave them the background of our company, what we did, how we did it, and our values. They knew what information they needed from us to start working, so they asked many tailored questions. They went into it granularly to get the best understanding possible. Then, they took that away and created a brand concept that showcased how they wanted to portray our brand.

Afterward, they provided us with two different options. They were initially mock-ups, but after we chose one, they went into further detail to develop it with the proper fonts, colors, brand personality, and tone of voice. They also created the brand guidelines so we could move forward quickly and know how to use the branding.

We already had the GetHenry website; they took the guidelines for the new branding and wholly redesigned it by themselves. Additionally, The Design Laboratory did a presentation template that we could use internally.

What is the team composition?

We had three main contact points: the co-founder and CEO, the operations manager, and a graphic designer.

How did you come to work with The Design Laboratory?

They were brought on board before I started, but I’m sure they were a contact of one of our investors. They’d worked with them previously on another company. We had a conversation with The Design Laboratory, and they seemed confident in what we wanted to do, so we decided to go with them. We couldn’t do the rebranding in-house, and they seemed like good partners.

How much have you invested in them?

We spent £32,000 (approximately $37,000 USD).

What is the status of this engagement?

We worked with them from February–July 2022.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

We went live a month ago, so it’s been a short time to tell if there’s been an increase in traffic. We’re also trying to get all the stuff done in the background in Google to ensure we’re ranking high enough in the search results. Nonetheless, we had a lot of press attention from the rebrand, which led to an increased number of leads of customers interested in working with us. Moreover, our website improved compared to the last one in terms of the user journey and displayed information. All of that was down to the work of The Design Laboratory.

On the other hand, they were very professional. Their people had a lot of experience in design and branding in general. We were really happy with the result and had a lot of good feedback about the brand and how it looked. We’d definitely recommend them to other companies because they delivered excellent results.

How did The Design Laboratory perform from a project management standpoint?

They were great with communication, and everything was good. We usually communicated through email and Zoom.

What did you find most impressive about them?

Their creativity and professionalism were outstanding. The brand they created was complete and exciting from a creative standpoint. We were really pleased with it.

Are there any areas they could improve?

No, I don’t think so. There were a couple of delays, but they were always well communicated, so it wasn’t a problem.

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

They’re an excellent partner. As long as the communication channels stay open, anyone will be happy with the results they deliver.

BACKGROUND

Please describe your company and your position there.

I am a foresight lead for BAT. I am interested in opportunities created by emerging science and technologies, and how these in turn disrupt consumer aspirations and competitive landscapes.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

For what projects/services did your company hire The Design Laboratory, and what were your goals?

We hired the Design Laboratory to visualise the logic behind future changes in people's aspirations and lifestyles resulting from emerging scientific and technological applications.

SOLUTION

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

The ideas we wanted to convey were highly conceptual. I needed an agency able to grasp them and then use lateral thinking to convey them in a concise & intriguing way to entice viewers to engage with in depth content.

Describe the video(s) and the process in detail, including the project steps and all stages of production.

We shared a draft of the report we wanted our internal audience to engage with and described what communication styles works for them. I also described what I find cringing & misleading about videos of the future (i.e. metallic blue tropes with loads of tech. to convey fast changing & disorientating futuristic worlds). I shared examples of visioning work I like and those I hate.

Who did you work with and what was the feedback process like?

After familiarising themselves with the topic, The Design Lab presented two conceptual routes to visualise our key messages. We selected the most distinctive one & aligned on the exact text. The agency then created an initial version of the video, which we approve with minor changes before they finalised it.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

The video has helped sell our key messages across functions and seniority levels (we use it as an trailer for the main report and related tech. briefs). It bears repeat viewing and can be used for a long period of time since it does not feature any faddy representation of the future (but makes a deeper comment about how the world is changing).

Describe their project management style, including communication tools and timeliness.

They were very specific about what and when they required from us to meet our fairly tight deadline. The project progressed smoothly throughout without much input from us after the initial brief.

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

They got what we were trying to convey rapidly. (even thought the ideas were highly conceptual & In-Progress at the start of the project) We requested only minor amendments at each stage of the video creation.

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

Improvements would have come with extra costs

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m the CEO and founder of Piper HQ, a B2B Saas Company in the HR tech industry.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with The Design Laboratory?

We needed help with web design and our brand identity.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

The Design Laboratory helped with our brand identity; I started the company about a year ago, and we didn’t have a logo or any visual identity. They worked with me to figure out what our logo should be and what our brand identity should be. They also designed and developed our website using Figma for the customer side — they interviewed potential customers to understand the market, the sector, and the product's user.

What is the team composition?

The project manager is my main point of contact, but we're also working with 3–4 other people.

How much have you invested with them?

We've spent $50,000–$60.000 with them so far.

What is the status of this engagement?

We started working together in November 2021, and the engagement is ongoing.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

They created a unique and strong brand identity for us and an effective website.

How did The Design Laboratory perform from a project management standpoint?

Project management is great; they set a timeline and budget before starting work and keep us informed at every stage. Also, they deliver everything on time — if there are delays, it's only because we change requirements. Regarding communication, we use Slack, email, phone calls, Zoom, and Google Meet.

What did you find most impressive about them?

They know how to give us attention as a startup and take good care of us.

Are there any areas they could improve?

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

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

Have them research what you like and allow them flexibility and freedom to develop ideas.

BACKGROUND

Please describe your company and your position there.

Otentu is a new discovery and development platform for young art and design students. I am the founder and CEO

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

For what projects/services did your company hire The Design Laboratory, and what were your goals?

We needed to establish our brand voice both for students as well as millennial affluent customers who appreciate creativity. we are disrupting an existing industry and offering a brand new solution. Our goals were to develop a visual communication language and platform for our new innovation.

SOLUTION

How did you select this vendor?

We conducted an search and a request for proposal from several firms and then conducted interviews and portfolio reviews.

Describe the scope of their work in detail, including any steps and the final deliverables.

The project included several steps

1. alignment and expectations setting
2. Data sharing
3. conceptualization of new ideas
4. development of final brand platform with focus on digital assets
5. development of non digital brand assets including print items
6. development of social platform templates

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

5 people

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

We have received complete and detailed brand platform that guides all the future development and marketing efforts. Design Lab were always delivering beyond expectations with extra examples and applications to help us visualize the end state and give us some extra items to work with. They were passionate about the project and were personally connected and it shows in the final deliverables.

Describe their project management style, including communication tools and timeliness.

Project management was organized and on time. they kept us to deadlines and made sure we receive all the revisions within hours sometimes to make sure we keep on track.

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

They are professional and cool designers. But their personal connection to the project and their belief in it was shining difference. It was clear that they loved working on our project.

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

No

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m the head of strategic partnerships and co-founder of GranterUK. Our company specializes in tax credit services for the UK agricultural and agritech markets, along with other related spaces. 

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with The Design Laboratory?

We wanted to differentiate ourselves visually from a branding perspective in the market. Our company needed Design Laboratory’s expertise and advice to do this. 

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

Essentially, Design Laboratory gave us a branding guideline and built a website based on it. We already had a website, but we wanted to rebrand so they developed another one from scratch. This website essentially served as a funnel into our platform. 

On top of that, the team created other materials we could use in our sales processes and products. They also provided us with a concise way of boiling down our visual representation into text. That way, we could have a more specific brand vision. Overall, they worked on giving us a brand identity to differentiate ourselves from a visual standpoint. 

We’ve completed this project, but we’ll go back to them to do more work. We just have other priorities to complete at present. 

What is the team composition?

We’ve worked with a team of six people overall, including junior designers and senior members of the company, such as their director of operations. 

How did you come to work with The Design Laboratory?

I looked at various portfolios and had a wide view of different companies. We wanted to work with designers in the UK because our concept was abstract and difficult to translate for overseas companies. We found Design Laboratory and decided that they had the best portfolio. On top of that, I liked the companies they’d worked with and the brands they created for those firms. We believed they could do the same for us, so we hired them. 

How much have you invested with them?

We’ve invested about £30,000 (approximately $41,500 USD). 

What is the status of this engagement?

We started this project in April 2021, and the engagement is technically ongoing. 

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

For success metrics, we haven’t used any quantitative analysis. Rather, we measure success in terms of how we like their outputs and whether they’ve presented our brand in a visually interesting and captivating way. Overall, the end result we’ve achieved is good. 

How did The Design Laboratory perform from a project management standpoint?

Their project management has been good overall. 

What did you find most impressive about them?

The actual brand guidelines we’ve received from them have been impressive. 

Are there any areas they could improve?

It will be an improvement if there’s more transparency in terms of the engagement’s process itself. Design Laboratory’s priorities have shifted away from us a little bit when other clients are involved. Other than that, the whole process has been good.

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m the director and owner of 2020 Recordings, an audio company. We have specialists and experts in every field of audio and do voiceover, music, and sound design. We do everything from audiobooks, gaming, adverts, and podcasts to sonic branding and making tracks within the music industry. We’re a warm, friendly organization, but we’re experts in what we do.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with The Design Laboratory?

We had a couple of different companies that weren’t joined together. There was one for audio, one for music, and so on. We felt the lines were being blurred between all the industries. We wanted to bring everything together, stamp the brand through, and have a website that incorporated all but had separate areas within that.

Overall, we wanted to show how we were different from other audio production houses and made us unique. We had great clients in each of those separate areas, and we’d been growing 50% and operating word of mouth until COVID-19. We had time to consolidate during the pandemic, so we thought it was an excellent opportunity to do all of this.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

The Design Laboratory made a brilliant logo for us. We were looking at name changes but decided to stick with the name. They’re currently designing and developing our website, as well as handling the whole branding aspect. We plan to launch in September.

We first started with a stage where we asked ourselves who we are. We wanted to show what we do, what we offer, and target those specific industries. We had a unique team of people working together from different industries in audio, so it wasn’t just about having the studios and equipment, but also about the people and how we handle our clients. We had to capture our culture and communicate that in the logo and messaging.

About a week ago, they gave us an initial presentation, and I wasn’t expecting to see much, but they delivered a complete overview of the website. Now, we’re going through it, taking things out, and filling in things. The layout is well-balanced and cleverly designed, so we’re keeping it simple and slick.

What is the team composition?

We work with Boris (CEO & Co-Founder), the director of operations, and 5–6 other people who have been main contacts. For various stages, we’ve had different teams and specialists, and they’ve all been phenomenal.

How did you come to work with The Design Laboratory?

We’re based in the same complex — it’s a huge community of about 80 studios. I would bump into Boris in the mornings, and we’d chat, so we got to know each other. I looked at a couple of other people on-site, but The Design Laboratory ticked all the boxes. Also, I liked Boris as a person and had a great relationship with him. I decided to just run with it because it felt good. He had the vibe and knew what I was about.

How much have you invested with them?

We’ve spent £30,000 (approximately $42,000 USD).

What is the status of this engagement?

We started working together in December 2020, and the relationship is ongoing.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

The rebrand was a big job and responsibility, and they held our hand the whole way. Working with The Design Laboratory has been an amazing experience. We’ve become great friends, and they’re really in tune and passionate about who we are. Both of our companies work well together, so it’s been a super enjoyable project.

For the logo, they gave us three choices of where we could go with the whole idea, and they were all really good. It was a hard choice, but we definitely chose the right one. We also have an excellent photographer on board, and he loved the branding. I’m going to link him in with The Design Laboratory.

Overall, the experience has been invaluable and much deeper than I thought it’d be because it really got us thinking about who we are. They’ve been enlightening and positive through every step. Additionally, I’m 100% sure that what we’re spending on it is just a drop in the ocean to what we’re going to achieve.

How did The Design Laboratory perform from a project management standpoint?

Project management has been brilliant. We’ve been happy to work around them; it’s pretty effortless. We haven’t had rigid deadlines; we initially aimed to have it done by July, but we slowed it down. The Design Laboratory has been flexible and patient with us when we’ve gotten busy.

What did you find most impressive about them?

They’re passionate and committed. They genuinely care and want to do their best for us. Working with them has been a creative, innovative process. We can say exactly what we want, so it’s really easy to work with them.

Also, they have different impressive skills within their workforce, and the way they work together is seamless.

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

They know what they’re doing, so you can trust them 100%. Let them run with stuff and allow them to know everything about you and how people view you. Being honest will help the whole process. Moreover, enjoy the process. It can be super intense, but it’s also really fun.

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I am the co-founder and CEO of a tech startup in the sustainability space.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with The Design Laboratory?

Our business was new, and we needed to go through a full branding, identity, and tone exercise. We wanted to ensure that the brand was scalable. It must also properly represent our goals, the reason we started the business, and our core value proposition to potential customers.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

We approached The Design Laboratory for a brand and identity process. They facilitated a brand discovery workshop where we tried to understand our goals. The workshop also dug into our business motivations and the pain points that we wanted to address through our services and products. Based on this workshop, they gave us feedback and suggestions around brand tonality, positioning, and underlying principles. This session was followed by name brainstorming sessions and brand strategy workshops. In the naming sessions, we also discussed our brand strategy. They submitted reports and suggestions on what we should do next and what our options were. 

Once we decided on a name, brand, and strategy, they started working on concepts. The Design Laboratory took all of our inputs and developed three visual and brand design concepts to a large degree of detail. We then reviewed these concepts and gave feedback. After submitting the concepts back to us, we chose the one we preferred. From there, they built our brand identity and tone. Their resources then presented the first finalized branding concept to us. 

After the presentation, we gave them our feedback and discussed it with them. Then, they developed the final branding guidelines and assets. These included core colors and guidelines for designers. In other words, they produced a branding bible that guided our team around the logos, colors, photograph choices, fonts, and alignments we should use. This was also their final deliverable for this scope of work. After giving us this branding guideline, they designed our website, which they created on WebFlow. 

The first iteration of the work has been delivered, including the website. We’re currently in talks about the next steps and set of tasks.

What is the team composition?

We work with around 7–8 people, and we mainly interact with their CEO and co-founder as well as with the head of operations. Our collaborations are more on the administrative and operational side. We’ve also interfaced with five designers from their team, including senior and junior teammates. 

How did you come to work with The Design Laboratory?

After kicking off the business, we needed an agency to develop our brand. We started looking around and did some research. Our team even asked our investors for recommendations. Off the back of that, we had a long list of 20 design and branding agencies in Europe and London. We went through the agencies’ portfolios online and shortlisted around five of them.

Our resources reached out to them individually and set up meetings to give them an overview of our company and needs. The agencies came back with proposals around how they worked and their fee structures. The Design Laboratory was one of them, and we eventually chose their team because their pricing wasn’t out of any insane ballpark.  

On top of having the most reasonable price, they also had the most sensible proposal, which showed us that they truly listened and didn’t simply paraphrase our words back to us. Their team actually processed the information and thought about how they could provide value to us. There was a clear indication of quality, so we hired them. 

How much have you invested with them?

We’ve spent around £30,000–£40,000 (approximately $41,000–$55,000 USD). 

What is the status of this engagement?

We started in January 2021, and the partnership is ongoing. 

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

The Design Laboratory has a great level of engagement, and their team listens to us carefully to come up with meaningful solutions. They've met our expectations in terms of brand direction and naming, capturing what we want from a tone and branding representation perspective. In all of these processes, the team’s engagement has been incredible. 

Overall, they’re truly talented. They apply their own thinking to what they deliver and listen well to our feedback, applying what we say decisively and speedily. In terms of time management, they’ve been great. There haven’t been any major overruns in timelines other than what’s unavoidable, which are on our side. 

Finally, we also measure success by looking at the deliverables and how useful they are for our team members, including UX designers and frontend engineers. Using the brand guidelines they’ve created, our products are designed to look good and consistent with our branding. Quality isn’t lost in translation. 

How did The Design Laboratory perform from a project management standpoint?

Project management has been a big part of our engagement. Their head of operations has worked well and plugged in seamlessly within our team. Even though she isn’t a designer, she participates in all discussions and provides her own inputs. She makes sure that everything runs smoothly, things are on time, and our expectations are managed. On top of that, the schedule of work is clear. If anything changes, it’s clearly communicated with me and our co-founder. In other words, their project management isn’t only effective; it’s also seamlessly part of the process. It doesn’t feel awkwardly bolted on the side. 

In terms of tools, they’ve used Miro to run the workshops, collect data, and provide outputs. The deliverables have been given in PDF format, which is great because we want to read and understand the content. We haven’t met in person, and the workshops are facilitated remotely and online. Overall, they’ve provided the most seamless workshops I’ve seen. 

What did you find most impressive about them?

The level of engagement and the fact that they truly listen to us differentiate them from other providers. The tangible design and brand deliverables reflect this in terms of content, tone, copywriting, visuals, and designs. Moreover, their attention to detail is incredible. They put an enormous amount of thought into the brand and all of its elements, which ultimately reflects the principles we’ve discussed over many workshops. 

In a nutshell, what we love about working with them is their attention to detail and ability to translate that into a coherent, high-quality branding that’s neither trivial nor gimmicky.  

Are there any areas they could improve?

We haven’t had the luxury of having personal interactions. Doing things in person can have interesting impacts on our engagement, though such impacts can be positive or negative. This is no fault of theirs, but it’s clearly the missing piece of the engagement.

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

Branding and identity design isn’t something you can throw over the wall; you can’t simply put a brief together and email it, expecting to get great results in return. Companies and teams like The Design Laboratory do their best work when you engage them properly. That's because their job isn’t to come up with your brand; it’s to shape your brand based on what you want your business to do and the reasons you’re doing it. In other words, you’ll get a much higher-quality output when you engage with The Design Laboratory properly.

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

We are an advisory firm providing services for the impact investing and environmental, social, and governance (ESG) sectors. In particular, we deal with international development in emerging markets in Africa and Asia. I'm the CEO.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with The Design Laboratory?

We were trying to develop a brand identity that could thoughtfully express what it is that we're doing. That's why we approached The Design Lab.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

We started by providing The Design Lab with instructions on what kind of brand we wanted to create. We made sure to be very clear on the things that our company stood for, and their team brought that into the design. 

The project was a mix of multiple creative works. Design Lab came up with new branding for our company, developing and designing our website, materials, and overall brand identity.

What is the team composition?

There were three people working with us.

How did you come to work with  The Design Laboratory?

A good friend of mine, who's a CEO of another company, had used their services before and recommended them to me.

What is the status of this engagement?

The partnership began around September–October 2019, and it wrapped up three months ago.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

Our clients are super happy and we’ve constantly been getting good feedback about our website.

How did  The Design Laboratory perform from a project management standpoint?

Our marketing manager is better placed to answer this question, but from what I remember, we had regular calls with The Design Lab and communicated via email. We also used Slack at some point.

What did you find most impressive about them?

We were super happy with The Design Lab; they were really creative, understood where we were going, and were very respectful of the subject methods. That balance worked well for us.

Are there any areas they could improve?

Honestly, no. They did an incredible job.

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

Be open to what The Design Lab team has to say, agree on the deliverables, and work closely with them.

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m the founder and managing director of Warrior Addict, a men’s yoga brand. 

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with The Design Laboratory?

We were only beginning our business and hadn’t even launched, so I needed to find someone to work with to design our first clothing collection. 

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

The Design Laboratory helped me with the clothing collection’s design and reworked my branding. Initially, I did all of our branding by myself, so they took what I’d done and came up with a concept for our logo and brand marks. 

Meanwhile, our first collection consisted of men’s yoga wear. I sent my ideas to them and met with them to discuss the tasks. Then, they came up with a price. At every step of the design process, I’d meet them to either approve their outputs or make some adjustments. Among the things they designed were shorts, sweatpants, t-shirts, long-sleeve shirts, vest tops, and yoga mat bags.

What is the team composition?

I worked with four people from their team. They were all designers and associated with the college of fashion I attended. We also worked with more senior teammates who had plenty of experience in branding and design. 

How did you come to work with The Design Laboratory?

The Design Laboratory had an association with a college of fashion in London, and I’d done a few courses with them. I contacted the college and they recommended The Design Laboratory.

Moreover, I liked Yann and Boris (Co-Founders and CEOs), who were enthusiastic and supportive of what I was doing. On top of that, they were knowledgeable, so I decided to work with them straight away. 

How much have you invested with them?

We invested around £14,000 (approximately $19,000 USD).

What is the status of this engagement?

The project lasted from January–August 2016, or approximately eight months.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

The project centered around branding and design, so success metrics were difficult to measure. However, I was truly happy with them, their work, and the quality of the outputs they produced. In fact, I continued to use the logo they designed for me, including the color scheme they chose. I’d never change it. Overall, they definitely did their due diligence, and I was happy with the results. 

How did The Design Laboratory perform from a project management standpoint?

Their project management was excellent. There were fewer project management tools years ago, so we mainly communicated via email and face-to-face meetings.

What did you find most impressive about them?

Yann and Boris were brilliant; they were incredibly creative, clever, and passionate about what they did. I could tell that they loved working with brands and that they loved their job, making them a real pleasure to work with all the time. I wouldn’t have had that level of service at any other design studio. I was so pleased with the work that I remained in contact with them.

Are there any areas they could improve?

We were a tiny brand, and we had to stop working with them because we didn’t have the budget. They were quite expensive, and a lot of their customers were massive brands. That being said, their services warranted their price, so I couldn’t really fault them for it. 

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

If you want to launch a business and want a company to help you with your branding, use The Design Laboratory. They’re good, and I highly recommend them.