Web Dev for Digital Product Design & Branding Company
- Web Development
- $10,000 to $49,999
- May - July 2022
- Quality
- 5.0
- Schedule
- 5.0
- Cost
- 5.0
- Willing to Refer
- 5.0
"They were easy to work with, effective, receptive, and responsive to requests."
- Other industries
- Atlanta, Georgia
- 1-10 Employees
- Phone Interview
- Verified
A digital product design company hired Hyperlink InfoSystem to take over development for an end client's website. The team helped with DevOps, customized the backend, and addressed the breakpoints needed.
Hyperlink InfoSystem's development work matched the client's visual comps. Additionally, the pages have good load times, and the site is stable. The team was proactive, adapted their communication cadence to the client's needs, and worked collaboratively to create an effective plan.
A Clutch analyst personally interviewed this client over the phone. Below is an edited transcript.
BACKGROUND
Introduce your business and what you do there.
I'm the CDO at MF&K, a digital product design and branding company that serves as a one-stop-shop for all digital and branding needs. We've been running for about two years and work in about five different time zones that shift throughout the year.
OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE
What challenge were you trying to address with Hyperlink InfoSystem?
We needed to complete development efforts for one of our client's websites. Our client was a high-end denim and clothing brand that operates in five storefronts plus an online presence. We had created the first version of their website 5–6 years ago, and they approached us to redo it.
We staffed the project by reaching out to various contractors to see who could step into the fold. One of our developers needed to step off the project when we still had a substantial amount of backlog tasks to be completed, so we hired Hyperlink InfoSystem.
SOLUTION
What was the scope of their involvement?
Hyperlink InfoSystem took over the development of our client's website. The site was about halfway complete when they came on board, and the project manager and I devised a process that could work for our needs. We had done mood boards and wireframes that were approved by the client and moved on to the development phase.
On our side, we created a series of prioritized tickets for them to work on each week and develop the site against the designs we had already created. One developer from our previous provider stuck around and worked with them on the DevOps side during the first month.
The design-heavy site required robust changes from breakpoint to breakpoint, from a 27-inch monitor to a mobile phone. There are a couple of additional breakpoints on the tablet size that needed to be developed that extended to six breakpoints. We handled this with a back and forth; we would stretch the browser, see what was responding, and then they would make comments. The team also worked to customize a free backend system. At the end of each day, they would populate a message that included the detail of which tickets they had targeted.
What is the team composition?
We worked with five people from Hyperlink InfoSystem, including a project manager, two backend developers, and one frontend developer.
How did you come to work with Hyperlink InfoSystem?
My partner knew one of Hyperlink InfoSystem's founders and recommended them when we were trying to pick an agency to work with. We had a few conversations with them about numbers and timing, and we decided to move forward with them.
How much have you invested with them?
We spent $3,500 per resource for the first month, for 40 hours a week. Since we had three resources in that first month, we spent $10,500. For the second month, the project manager worked part-time, and we added two more developers to the mix, so we paid around $19,000. In total, we spent less than $50,000.
What is the status of this engagement?
We worked together from May–July 2022.
RESULTS & FEEDBACK
What evidence can you share that demonstrates the impact of the engagement?
I've worked as a designer for over 10 years and have worn every hat, so I'm a stickler when it comes to the visuals and functionality of a website. I measure Hyperlink InfoSystem's success based on how the site looks and functions compared to how I designed it and denoted the functionality request. Their development build matches the original visual comps, as does the functionality.
Some other things that stand out to me are the pages' load time, the site's stability, and instances when the team made functionality edits without my direction with sound thinking. They came up with dev solutions not documented in my comps that were very good, and I hadn't even thought of them.
How did Hyperlink InfoSystem perform from a project management standpoint?
I would give them high marks for project management. The project was a tall order from the start because the backend system we used isn't built to do much of what we customized it to do. Therefore, we didn't set up the project expecting to see it be fully completed; it was always a matter of how much we could get done and how well according to our timeline and budget. The fact that the team got the site to a logical state with minor CSS styling changes merits high marks.
We came up with a sprint cadence according to our timing, budget, and the resources on hand. Together, we devised a plan considering our timezone difference to be on the same page because we had to work fast.
When it came to talking clearly and straightforwardly, things went in the right direction, so I had no major complaints. However, we faced challenges on the communication side due to our language barrier. We had a Slack channel to centralize all communications, and we would check in one day a week in the first month and then three days a week in the second month as things ramped up with DevOps. We used Linear as an online tacking tool, which was very useful for populating tasks. When we had meetings, we used Zoom.
What did you find most impressive about them?
I was most impressed that Hyperlink InfoSystem could match the design style. The design was done in hard baseline eight; I set up the site on an eight-by-eight pixel grid system, which created a large number of odd spacings between the elements based on the bounding boxes of text frames. They were able to address the breakpoint needed.
Are there any areas they could improve?
We could have improved our alignment on what was reflected in their local environment compared to our own staging environment. This might have mitigated some back and forth. With our difference in timezones, we lost some time because we would sometimes need changes at the end of the day for them.
Do you have any advice for potential customers?
My advice is to align with Hyperlink InfoSystem on week one. Make sure both parties have a successful process moving forward, and don't make any assumptions about how they might work compared to you.
If you have some particulars you might want to see implemented into the process, make sure to communicate. With us, the team was very flexible. They were easy to work with, effective, receptive, and responsive to requests. As long as you communicate and agree on a process, you'll be just fine.
RATINGS
-
Quality
5.0Service & Deliverables
-
Schedule
5.0On time / deadlines
-
Cost
5.0Value / within estimates
-
Willing to Refer
5.0NPS