Funsize

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m a design director for GoDaddy.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with Funsize?

We hired Funsize as an external agency to give us some design support.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

On two separate occasions, Funsize embedded their designers into our team and worked with our product managers and engineers. We used them to work on integrating an existing piece of technology and UX that we had. They did user research through existing clients and also UserTesting.com and tools like that. We started out with some lightweight wires and got into what I’d call high-fidelity designs. They used a lot of our patterns and standards so that we could work toward implementing those into our product.

What is the team composition?

We worked with four designers total, but we didn’t work with more than two at a time. They also had a design director who looked over the designers.

How did you come to work with Funsize?

The product manager that I work closely with had worked with Funsize before. I also knew Anthony (CEO & Head of Design) from a few years before. When I started working at GoDaddy, the contract was in place. 

How much have you invested with them?

The contract ran from April–August 2019.

What is the status of this engagement?

We probably spent close to $200,000.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

I was super satisfied with what they produced. We had two designers on our team, and we grew the team a good amount in that time. They helped us have more design power than we had in-house; without them, I don’t think we would have been able to do nearly as much work as we did.

Working with Funsize was great, and I think anybody on our team, from products managers to engineers, would say the same. We absolutely enjoyed working with them all the time. They were a great, upbeat team that was fun to be around, and the work they produced was great as well. I never had to worry about their deliverables; I always knew it would be sound logic and well-thought-through design. We didn’t have to go back and push them to go farther. They were a solid and competent crew. 

How did Funsize perform from a project management standpoint?

They were really easy to work with. It was great to work with talented local people that we could count on. 

We communicated via email, and they were in a lot of our Slack channels. The way they managed projects was very similar to how we did. Since they were embedded, it was really like we just added designers to our team. Everything ran very fluidly. We had a larger check-in every two weeks with the entire team, which sometimes included the design director or Anthony himself. We had several checkpoints, sprints, and retros to make sure everything was going well on both sides. They were very candid and open to feedback, as were we, so anything we went through that we needed to improve, we did on the spot. The relationship was really great.

Since they were local, they came into our office once or twice a week, depending on what was going on or if they needed to do some research with our internal teams. Toward the end of our engagement, we used them for other work a couple of times, so they were onsite for half-day workshops and stuff like that.

What did you find most impressive about them?

They were great; I can’t say enough nice things about them. They really care for their clients. I’ve worked with external agencies before that were in it for the project or dollar amount, but the entire team at Funsize was invested in how we wanted to succeed or what we needed to get done. They wanted to figure out how else they could help us. They’re very invested in the company and the people’s success, and less so on trying to collect a dollar.

Are there any areas they could improve?

Honestly, no, I don’t have any complaints. Anthony has asked what they can do better, and I’ve told him several times that I have nothing they can improve upon. It was a very seamless engagement from start to finish.

Any advice for potential customers?

Treat them like they’re a part of your team, not an external agency. I think the results will speak for themselves.

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I was the head of product design and research at Toast, which is a platform that enables restaurants to manage their businesses effectively. It started as a POS system but expanded with features that enable customers to engage with their guests. It also allows customers to offer online ordering and helps them manage staff and payroll.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with Funsize?

Our design team was behind the organization’s overall growth. I was charged with helping to grow the design team as well as building a design culture within the organization. When I first started, we only had eight people on the UX team but a plethora of scrum teams. We didn’t have the time or talent to design a visual language that represented Toast's personality while keeping up with the rest of our product design needs.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

Funsize integrated themselves with our team. We didn’t follow an agency model where their team designed in a black box and threw it back at us. We created a collaborative model where the teams worked together, even within the same files.

We had a clear outline to redesign four key products: our POS, kiosk, Toast Takeout, and administrative portal. We chose those products to give us the greatest breadth across platforms and end-users. 

We conducted stakeholder interviews to better understand how our executive team would describe Toast’s personality. That helped drive the brand direction resulting in various stylescapes. Both Funsize and our team took early concepts into the field to gather customer feedback. Then we iterated as needed with a continuous feedback loop.

What is the team composition?

We extended the engagement twice. The first engagement involved a design director and two designers. Once we completed the most comprehensive work, we moved forward with the director and one designer.

How did you come to work with Funsize?

A colleague in the UX community referred us to Funsize. We were looking for a partner to function as an extension of our own team. We considered four different agencies and went through a formal RFP process. We quickly narrowed the list down to two agencies. One agency is located in Boston and Funsize is located in Austin. We weighed the importance of proximity and the agencies’ experiences with product design. Although Funsize was not local to us, we chose them for their product design experience and their collaborative model. We're so glad we did!

How much have you invested with them?

We spent between $200,000–$250,000 on their services.

What is the status of this engagement?

We started working together in July 2019 and wrapped up in April 2020. At that point, we had a large enough team that was also established enough to carry the work forward.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

We needed to have a visual language that represented Toast across a variation of products, and the beginning of a true design system. We accomplished all of those things.

How did Funsize perform from a project management standpoint?

We ran the project in two-week sprints, which evolved over time. In the early days, the project management could’ve been stronger, but defining a visual language with a large number of executive stakeholders can be challenging for anyone. Project management for the later phases were much tighter run with two-week sprints and well-defined deliverables.

What did you find most impressive about them?

Funsize was a true partner. They wanted to understand our needs and what the project was to achieve Their team was open, so we felt comfortable sharing ideas with each other. When I worked with agencies in the past, bouncing ideas off of one another wasn’t their norm. They tend to be more comfortable with a model of "unveiling" and "shock and awe." With Funsize, there was a natural back and forth of concepts and ideas, which made them a great thought partner. The collaboration was ultimately what created the richness of our designs.

Are there any areas they could improve?

There could’ve been more project management in the early days. However, we stretched them with our requests.

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

Know what you’re looking to get out of the engagement. They’re often engaged to be supplemental resources, which is great. But I would hope that other companies give them the space to think broadly and strategically because they have those capabilities. It depends on what you’re looking to do.

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I was the interim director for experience design for Electronic Arts, a video game company, and we make Madden and FIFA.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with Funsize?

We partnered with them to work on our internal tools, like customer resource management systems, and monitoring our terms of service tools.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

They started with user research, and did some shadowing session. Then, they delivered research findings, and ran workshops. They partnered with one of our internal leads to create design assets. This included everything from workflows to final mocks and documentation.

What is the team composition?

We would have about four people on our team. A few people came in and out throughout the life of the project.

How did you come to work with Funsize?

I knew the owners and a lot of the people who work at Funsize. I decided to work with them because I knew the quality of the work they produce and wanted the opportunity to partner with them.

How much have you invested with them?

We spent about $700,000–$800,000.

What is the status of this engagement?

We started in about March 2018 and it wrapped up around December 2018.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

We completely revamped the CRM tool, and that improved all of our processes. We’ve streamlined everything and more relevant information to support our technicians. Now we can offer a VIP experience, not just for the end-user, but also for the internal employees that are using the system that we created.

Internally, we wanted to change the outlook of the team and create positive interactions. They had all the right people, the right attitude, and excitement to partner on this project. They made our company look really good alongside them. We treated the contract as a partnership more than anything else, and it was super successful. The feedback we received internally was entirely positive. Our team was ready to move on to bigger things.

How did Funsize perform from a project management standpoint?

They were really great. I was able to set the groundwork, but after a month or two, they were self-sufficient and I just had monthly check-ins with them. It was wonderful to let them take the lead.

We set them up on our internal system, so we used Slack, email, and all the systems that our internal team uses.

What did you find most impressive about them?

They’re really good at getting everybody in the room excited about the work we’re doing. Internal CRM tools aren’t super exciting in general, but talking about things that are wrong with the system and where the opportunity is, really excited our team.

Are there any areas they could improve?

The only that was difficult was the method weeks, because we had a tight timeframe. Having the majority of the team on a project was difficult to work around at times. However, the method weeks are part of the reason why I chose Funsize. They provide that focus on employee experience, and that’s what gives them the knowledge to manage these situations. Even though it was difficult to work around, it was worth it in the end.

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

Be cognizant of your own timelines and plan accordingly.

BACKGROUND

Please describe your company and your position there.

I was the founder and CEO of Greetale. Greetale would let you send greeting cards with your own handwriting to anywhere in the world for just $3.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

For what projects/services did your company hire Funsize?

I worked with Funsize to take the beta version of the app that we had developed and make it ready for our first public version. We wanted to make the app both appealing and accessible to the vast variety of customers we had, from teenagers to grandparents. Funsize was directly responsible for developing a unique UI/UX that could satisfy the opposite ends of the earth when it came to target audience. We had no design members are the team so we relied on Funsize to revamp the entire app from teh ground up.

What were your goals for this project?

We needed to redo the app from the ground up, and make it an incredibly easy and satisfying experience for the wide range of customers we had.

SOLUTION

How did you select this vendor?

I found their profile on dribble, and after contacting hundreds of designers I fell in love with their attitude towards design and creating a product that impacts lives. I was the only member involved in the selection process, and after chatting with Anthony I knew his depth of knowledge and passion was unmatchable. I immediately knew they were the ones. Anthony understood what I was trying to build.

Describe the project in detail.

We were redesigning an iOS app from the ground up. Every button and functionality needed to be designed in a form that was easy for our iOS developers to implement. In addition to their design services, they were incredibly helpful with strategy and advised on essential pivots that led to a near immediete increase in sales.

What was the team composition?

There were two members on the team, Tony and Anthony. Tony was the main designers and Anthony oversaw the project.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

Their redesign helped me recruit some of the best iOS developers in the US. It also helped me raise several grants. Our sign-ups immediately increased by 504% and our sales also increased dramatically. Their design files were also incredibly neat and my developers really enjoyed implementing their designs.

How effective was the workflow between your team and theirs?

We were in constant communication, and they were very organized in their presentation of progress and taking feedback. Also, the files they delivered were incredibly

What did you find most impressive about this company?

They were so warm and they cared so much. They weren't looking to make a quick dollar. I really felt like they cared about what I was working on and they were bought into my success and the app's success. They were fun people to work with. They had very good intentions. I haven't found a firm that cares about what they are working on as much as Funsize's.

Are there any areas for improvement?

I think they are incredible. I wish they were more affordable, but I don't blame them for having such high prices! They deserve it.

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

When we worked with Funsize our organization was called Keet Health. I'm one of the co-founders and was the key strategy officer at the time. The company was acquired, so it’s a subsidiary. Now, I’m the director of product strategy.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with Funsize?

We initially started with Funsize because we wanted to develop a native mobile application. We didn’t have an inhouse designer and couldn’t afford one at the time. We wanted our UX to be our competitive advantage.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

Funsize designed our native mobile application. We documented the problem and had basic wireframes that were hand-drawn, so we approached the engagement from scratch. They helped us to figure out how to prioritize the app’s five screens within the engagement’s timeframe, which was four weeks. Their team designed the product from the concept designs and wireframes to the visual design. They created an internal design language and identity.

What is the team composition?

Initially, we worked with a lead designer who doubled as the project manager. Towards the beginning of the second engagement, we worked with a different manager. There were times when they engaged the whole agency to promote freethinking on visual designs.

How did you come to work with Funsize?

We had an employee who had a connection with Funsize. To help our colleague, we had an initial meeting with their team. We were skeptical because of stereotypes of agencies that talk about personalization. Their team won us over with their culture and relatively reasonable pricing. They were authentic, so we ended up going with them.

How much have you invested with them?

We spent around $20,000 on our first project with Funsize.

What is the status of this engagement?

We started the initial engagement in May 2016 and the project took four straight weeks. We ended up working with them until December 2016 after the initial engagement.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

This project was one of our keys to success as a company. At the time, it was us and another competitor in the market. We decided to focus on the patient experience whereas our competitor focused on marketing. We were first to market with a native application, which was relatively novel in the market at the time. Their efforts allowed us to win a large enterprise deal and that was one of our competitor’s biggest customers at the time. Our visual design allowed us to leapfrog the inelegant designs of healthcare products and create a sense of wonder around our company.

The app also really helped us with recruiting. People would play around on the app and took us for real. Not to mention, the patient experience was also really great.

How did Funsize perform from a project management standpoint?

Their project management was fantastic. At the time, there were three prongs to management. For itemized management, they had a tracker. We were able to check the status of tasks. We also had a shared Dropbox folder for file collaboration. We had a shared Slack channel for synchronous communication in real-time. I never felt that I didn’t know the project’s status. They went above and beyond to help us even when it didn’t fall on the engagement’s linear schedule.

What did you find most impressive about them?

It’s a lifestyle business, which means that Funsize isn’t trying to hit a particular revenue number or to position themselves for acquisition. It’s also a relatively small agency. Their team fostered a close, collaborative, family-like atmosphere. They’re really talented people.

Are there any areas they could improve?

No, I don’t have anything they needed to improve on with our mobile app experience. I’m shooting in the dark to give constructive feedback, but their team also completed experimental projects with us. On those projects, they could've been clearer with contingency plans.

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

Funsize will be as effective as you are clear with communicating the problem that you’re trying to solve. We found that when we went above and beyond with referenceable material, they were fantastic. When I was more removed from the engagement and as the provider side of our application was more nuanced, the product wasn’t as good. The designs weren’t poor, but they operated on assumptions and we had people on the team that weren’t that close to the customer. Get your customers involved in the engagement so that you can make them an extension of your brain.

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I am the founder and CEO of a company called Handsome App. We are a mobile application and professional network designed specifically for the beauty industry, providing a community where people in the industry can build a digital portfolio, network, and find jobs.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with Funsize?

Neither I nor my co-founder has a design or technical background, and we are serving one of the most highly visual and creative industries out there, so we needed to make sure that we hired a seasoned, knowledgeable team to help us put a product out there that was chic, clean, and really well thought out.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

Because they were taking over for another team, the first step of the process was for them to get up to speed on the work we had already done and then help us complete those projects.

Those included our user onboarding, usability, and notifications. From there, we started new sprints with their team to deliver functions and features new to the app like education and events.

What is the team composition?

The incredible thing about them is that you literally work with their entire company, which makes it feel like a much fuller experience. We had a designated team of about five individuals that we consistently worked with, but they would pull in other teammates into all the different parts of the work just to diversify the conversation and creativity.

How did you come to work with Funsize?

We were referred to them by our previous design firm, who had actually shut down during our project. They were able to understand our branding and exactly what we were doing from the start, which convinced us that they were the right team to bring on board.

How much have you invested with them?

I believe the total scope of the project was around $50,000.

What is the status of this engagement?

The project officially ran from January–July 2019, but they continue to provide unofficial support on a strategy advisory level.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

One of the key elements that we were focused on during the engagement was decreasing the friction for users onboarding into the app. By doing so, the goal was to increase the ratio of registrations to downloads, and we definitely saw a really strong positive increase in registrations, which we attribute to the experience in UX design that they brought to our project.

The other biggest achievement was in creating a rabbit hole effect with the features so that each click, or page can send you to another page, and you never hit a dead end or a wall in the content. That way, you can significantly increase in-app time and thereby maximize people’s engagement.

How did Funsize perform from a project management standpoint?

Their team is exceptional. We’re an early-stage startup, but if we had more capital, I would absolutely bring their entire team onboard. They meet every deadline, and work totally collaboratively, so I really don’t think there’s a better team to deliver design services.

What did you find most impressive about them?

The Funsize mantra is treating everyone like family, and they really live that out to their core. You’re never just a coworker or a client – when you sign a contract with them, they will do everything they can to help your business succeed, not just to complete the contract. That’s something that you really don’t get from the majority of design agencies like them.

Are there any areas they could improve?

The only reason we aren’t still working with them was that we didn’t have the funding as an early-stage startup. There really isn’t anything that they could do better, but I do wish that our relationship could’ve been more ongoing.

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

Go to their office and have an open conversation about what you’re looking for. The moment you enter the office and sit down in their conference room, all of the energy is apparent, and it’s totally clear that they’re there to help you succeed and thrive.

BACKGROUND

Please describe your company and your position there.

At Modernize, we match homeowners to contractors to get projects done. At Modernize, it's our goal to offer the best resources to bring home upgrades to life. We do this by providing quality educational content to inspire ideas, and by connecting you with our network of industry-leading contractors to get projects done.

As the Director of Homeowner Communication, my role is to ensure our homeowners receive a great experience in their matching process with contractors. We use multiple communication mediums to manage homeowner feedback, messaging and communication. All of this is then measured by how many homeowners complete the project with our contractors. Our technical roles are marketing automation, research and content strategy, product marketing as well as email and SMS marketing.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

For what projects/services did your company hire Funsize?

We hired Funsize to help us improve our overall UX processes as well as solve a specific issue core to our business. Modernize was seeking to increase its overall homeowner experience by providing homeowners with an inclusive digital product to support the planning of their project to ultimately ease the frustration of the home improvement process. We also wanted Funsize to prove out our product hypothesis on the homeowner resource center. We wanted to build a homeowner resource center which provides homeowners with their contractor matches based on the needs of their project in a trusting and transparent way. In addition to providing information on the matches, the homeowner will receive additional resources to support and encourage setting up appointments with these specific Modernize contractors.

What were your goals for this project?

We believed that our Homeowner Resource Center was the way to both increase contact rate to our call center but also improve our overall homeowner experience. The goals of the project were to create design solutions that will increase KPIs including Maintain Modernize Conversion Rates through the Landing Page Funnel Modernize Contact Rate Contractor Appointment Set Rate

SOLUTION

How did you select this vendor?

After reviewing referrals from other partners as well as searching online for local design UX firms who could help us we selected Funsize. We found Funsize online through a local google search. Funsize was selected based on the flexibility to work with our proposal.

We wanted to start small as UX was very new to us and Funsize was extremely understanding in that. Additionally, Funsize challenged us directly which is part of our culture- it felt natural between the two parties.

Describe the video(s) and the process in detail.

Funsize was to help us with understanding the homeowner journey, building out user testing and building out the wireframes and designs for our homeowner Resource center. The project included Design Research and Strategy, Digital Product Design and visual Design Direction.

• Digital Product Design
• Information Architecture: Requirements, hierarchy, etc. Experience Design: Paradigms, flow, wireframes, interaction design, etc.
• Visual Design Direction: Conceptualization of unique look and feel.
• Applied Visual Design: Design of flows and screens.
• Prototyping: Clickable and advanced/animated prototypes.

What was your vendors' project management or feedback process?

Slack and Email

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

Funsize provided us with a testing roadmap to help increase overall contact rates with our homeowners. We are in the process of testing three of these ideas in parallel (speed and efficiency!). We have seen positive trends with 1 of these tests, however, it is still in progress.

How effective was the workflow between your team and theirs?

The workflow was efficient in that Funsize supported us through our normal communication channels. They immediately adapted to our cadences and channels.

They integrated into our Slack channel and supported our executive meetings. In addition, with us being local, Tony was available to sit with us in office. It helped for Tony to meet with other unknown stakeholders while also showing the importance of the project.

What did you find most impressive about this company?

Funsize has incredible talent. They are fast, understand problems quickly and propose solutions. They also are extremely supportive to the culture of issues while also challenging them carefully. Funsize can get work done and make changes within organizations with speed and accuracy.

Are there any areas for improvement?

Timing and documentation of the timing of different deliverables could have been slightly better, but slack really made up for when we had to ask questions about deliverables.

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m the CEO of a SaaS startup. We primarily work with legal teams.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with Funsize?

We were in the early stages of our company’s development, so we engaged Funsize to help us design our product.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

Funsize helped us design our MDP. Their services consisted of research, user research, user experience, and functional design.

What is the team composition?

There were about four people from Funsize, mostly product designers, assigned to our project.

How did you come to work with Funsize?

After finding Funsize on Google, we reviewed their portfolio and were impressed with their work, so we decided to partner with them.

What is the status of this engagement?

The project took place from July–September 2017.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

Funsize’s work is very detail-oriented. The team is extremely personable — we went to their offices for a few days to engage with them, and they were very welcoming and hands-on. They always responded to our feedback and iterated on design, producing a fantastic deliverable. 

How did Funsize perform from a project management standpoint?

The team performed well. We used Slack and Asana to help us reach the finish line.

What did you find most impressive about them?

Funsize works with the end-user in mind. They implemented details that really elevated the project.

Are there any areas they could improve?

It would’ve been helpful if they had provided a bit more user research.

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

Come to the project with an understanding of the problem you’re looking to solve. With every service provider, the best engagements happen when you start off ready to collaborate and contribute to the project as well. 

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m the former VP of product design for a consumer financial service company.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with Funsize?

We lacked the in-house design resources necessary to meet our engineering and product management needs.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

We brought in Funsize to quickly augment our design team, which allowed me to spend more time building an in-house team. Funsize was critical for us to keep things moving throughout that process. They partnered with us to directly work with our product management department. 

They created brand-new designs for things that we were shipping. They sometimes created designs that were extensions of an existing feature or capability; they’d review the work we had in the market and the metrics and analytics for how those products are performing. 

For each project, they led in-house usability testing and then work with our product team to make sure that the designs they made were performing well in area tests. They then made adjustments and iterated on those designs until they got it right. After that, it would scale up 100%.

What is the team composition?

We worked with a team of 3–4, but sometimes it went up to a team of six. Our central point of contact was typically Natalie (Partner & Design Director). Anthony (Partner & Head of Design) was also frequently involved in the work.

How did you come to work with Funsize?

One of our in-house designers recommended them. They’d worked with one of Funsize’s founders at a previous company.

How much have you invested with them?

We spent about $500,000–$600,000.

What is the status of this engagement?

The partnership ran from August 2017 until May 2019.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

Over two years, the in-house design team grew from four people to 52. We were very satisfied with Funsize’s designs in the meantime. Our metric for every product design was whether it met or beat the same level of engagement lifts, revenue lifts, or click-through rates as existing products on the market. If their design couldn’t meet those metrics, it wouldn’t scale or launch. 

My main metric for their work was the number of escalations I heard from our product and engineering team, which was zero. They never complained; if anything, they asked for more people from the Funsize team. I also looked for soft metrics like on-time delivery, high-quality work, and communication cadence. Funsize definitely met those as well. 

How did Funsize perform from a project management standpoint?

Their reject management required minimum overhead. They had really senior people overseeing work. We had weekly meetings for updates and daily contact over Slack, but the frequency would depend on the project.

What did you find most impressive about them?

Their versatility impressed me. We were able to throw any kind of project at them, from a conceptual idea to a much more tactical one. No matter what we threw at them or how many projects we gave them, they were great at mode shifting. They’d pick up the right design tool to do what we needed and deliver the work. What’s more, if we ever had a difference of opinion on how to execute the design, they were good at taking feedback.

Are there any areas they could improve?

If they could use the same tools as we did for usability testing in-house, that’d cut out an extra step for us. Also, they started to ramp up their ability to help with visual systems, but I’d recommend they continue to do that.

Any advice for potential customers?

Focus on the start conditions. Make sure you know internally what you’re trying to do and what success looks like. A few times, we didn’t give them enough input and weren’t clear on what we’re looking for. 

BACKGROUND

Please describe your company and your position there.

Hitch provides comfy, shared car rides between cities. I have a product design background and serve as the Founder & CEO at Hitch.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

For what projects/services did your company hire Funsize?

We've taken on the hitchhiking brand with our name Hitch but had never explored how we could articulate the safety, calmness that comes with modernizing hitchhiking. In addition, there was no consistency between our marketing, landing page, and product.

What were your goals for this project?

We wanted to have better design guidelines and a system that could be used throughout all facets of the business. Consistency is a huge priority for us, and achieving that was a goal. In addition, we wanted App/Play Store reviews to increase as the app was the part of the experience that customers loved least.

SOLUTION

How did you select this vendor?

I had met Anthony - a founder of the firm - through a local investor. I chatted with a bunch of design firms in Austin and didn't see anyone as thoughtful or high-touch as Anthony and Funsize. With our project, we didn't have any large, legacy systems to work with so we wanted a group of folks who'd be really integrated and caring about our mission and what we're building. Funsize was the only firm that I saw that had those qualities. Perhaps helps to mention that everyone in Austin speaks highly of this firm and the work that they've done.

Describe the project in detail.

Branding, Mobile UI/UX, and Website. We first started with the high-level brand in a brand-sprint and explored lots and lots of angles there. After landing on one that the team loves, we moved to integrate this brand into the mobile product. Soon after, we realized that we needed to refactor the entire experience as well as the product had changed since we first started.

We discussed all of the business logic with the designers, who were really quick to get up to speed, and began working on the mobile re-design. In a quick 5 weeks, we designed the full end-to-end experience with the team. I'm a product designer myself, and I've never worked with a smarter, more creative design team.

After the mobile product, we began exploring landing page options to project the new brand. The designers worked really closely with the engineering team to ensure pixel perfect implementation throughout the process.

What was the team composition?

Started with about 4 designers with different strengths: copy writer, team lead, 2 UI/UX designers.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

Our engineering team is still working on launching the product. Our beta tests with users have shown tremendous increases in happiness (as measured by what they would rate this experience from 0-5 - avg. 4.9)

How effective was the workflow between your team and theirs?

Really nice. very proactive team that is well versed with notion, slack, asana, and Figma. Collaboration was never a problem.

What did you find most impressive about this company?

I was blown away by their attention to detail and care for our product. It was shocking at times to see how quickly they could understand our business and output product ideas within hours. They're not only great designers but now also great friends. Usually it's hard to get that from a contracting relationship, but it's super important to have with designers.I'm really happy that we got that. The list goes on.

Are there any areas for improvement?

Wish we we had a higher capital allocation for the firm as we would've invested in a copy writer! That would've sped up the process even more but that's obviously our fault more than theirs. Really really happy with this team and can't wait to work with them again in the future.