infogr8

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m one of the owners and marketing director of State of Flux. We help very large organizations manage their biggest, most strategic suppliers. We do a lot of work in financial services, oil and gas, and fast-moving consumer goods with big businesses.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with infogr8?

We do research every year to see how large organizations are managing their strategic suppliers. We have a model of best practices, which we’ve designed and refined over 13 years, and have to present our information in interesting ways. We needed help with marketing and print design and were looking for someone who was creative and could take data and make it inspiring to read.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

They helped us in producing a creative visualization of our data. They also designed the report that gets published in a print format and an online document, which we share with the clients that have participated in the research and also potential clients. We wanted our readers to stay engaged and change what they’re doing as a result of what they’re reading.

What is the team composition?

There was a designer, who was great, and a project manager, who kept things rolling. Their content manager was very good at helping us shape our ideas and came up with ones that we could combine with our own.

How did you come to work with infogr8?

One of our team members found them. I liked their previous work, specifically the data dashboards they created and their exciting ways of presenting findings.

How much have you invested with them?

We spent between £10,000–£25,000 ($14,137–$35,343).

What is the status of this engagement?

We worked together from September to October 2017.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

We’ve had really good feedback from our customers and our team. Creativity isn’t their strength; we’ve had more creative designers in the past. However, they’re very good at creating a nice, clean, and crisp report. Our clients said that it was the right length and size of a report and a very easy, fast read.

How did infogr8 perform from a project management standpoint?

They’re brilliant in this regard. We always could get a hold of them and they always dealt with issues in a timely way. We had a really tight deadline and they did whatever it took to deliver on time. On the occasions when we didn’t think things were creative enough, their owner would get involved and fix it over the weekend.

What did you find most impressive about them?

They’re really good at scoping out projects, and the account manager had a really good understanding of content and how to make it engaging. I saw him as a real partner in this project and I’m very impressed with him. He had lots of good ideas and shared examples of their previous work.

Are there any areas they could improve?

They did okay with the creative aspect, but if they were to look at improving their team, hiring some skilled designers would be great. We had a lot of back and forth on things like ads within the report that weren’t really creative enough, and I didn’t see any illustrations. They relied a lot on us finding graphics and images.

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

Be willing to partner with them and be very clear on what you want the content to achieve and define your audience. We saw them as an extended part of the team.

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m the marketing communications manager of a city government's financial department. My office focuses on supporting and promoting the countrywide financial services industry. We produce quite a lot in the way of research materials.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with infogr8?

We needed help with marketing materials for our department.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

They helped us out with a report launch. They didn’t do the main report layout, but they did take care of all the supporting collateral (e.g., videos, social media content, a static infographic). The audience is made up of industry-related people as well as local and national policy makers. It’s also a big media piece for us, so we usually get quite a lot of media pick up on it.

They were really good at bringing a story to life, which is what we wanted. It’s relatively dry content to some degree and I found them to be quite good at bringing vibrancy to the story without sacrificing accuracy.

What is the team composition?

We worked directly with two or three different people, all of whom were excellent. An account manager was our main point of contact. We were in closer contact with the designer and the people directly involved when we really got into the project. This was helpful because we didn’t have to go through more people than was necessary.

How did you come to work with infogr8?

I’d known about them for a long time. We’d done a couple small projects with them in the past, but I’d been waiting for the right project to work with them on. We really wanted to be able to leverage their data visualizations skills and put them to best use.

How much have you invested in them?

We spent between £10,000–£25,000.

What is the status of this engagement?

We worked with them from September–November 2017.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

They were terrific and very easy to work with. The product was exactly what we were after. They really brought data visualization insight to it and thought carefully about how it would play out. They were very flexible and accommodating when we wanted to see changes or adaptations. We’re very happy with the product we got.

How did infogr8 perform from a project management standpoint?

We had a bit of trouble getting through to people on the phone quickly, but they were always extremely responsive over email.

What did you find most impressive about them?

They were good at generating ideas. They were also comfortable and able to provide solutions when we presented them with problems. They were happy to be creative from the get-go without too much direction and also very responsive to feedback and comments.

Are there any areas they could improve?

It would be useful to have someone on hand to answer direct calls if people are not at their desk.

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

They’re very easy to work with and I wouldn’t hesitate to recommend them. I don’t think I need to put any precautions.

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I am the chief product and analytics officer for Burning Glass. We are a job market analytics company. We are dedicated to understanding the job market in real time and in very specific detail to help job seekers find jobs and employers find the talent they need.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with infogr8?

Our large and often unwieldy database is full of information that we have collected in the job market. Our core challenge is taking that information and making it manageable to understand and making it beautiful for our users and readers of our content.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

We have done a number of projects with them including print design, where they have built infographics and report layouts. We have had them do some web development work building customized visualizations and microsites. They have worked across platforms matching the technologies that we are using and what our clients are using. They are helping us build out better map visualizations. And finally, we are building career pathways and figuring out what the next step options are for users given where they are in their career and what they should do in order to get there.

What is the team composition?

We typically have an account manager/project manager as our initial point of contact. They typically bring in a data journalist role who helps us tell the story in compelling ways. Then, they bring in designers to make sure that the look-and-feel conveys the right message and to manage any co-branding involved. We also have developers who execute the site.

How did you come to work with infogr8?

We found them through a search. We saw some of their work and liked some of the visualizations they had done. I had serious conversations with several firms, but I liked infogr8’s samples best. Their work honored the richness of the data they worked with, didn’t make the visualizations too complex and didn’t feel like a visualization just for the sake of visualization. I was excited by the balance of richness of data embedded within a compelling narrative. Their data storytelling is what really draws me to them project after project.

How much have you invested in them?

We have spent between $50,000–$200,000.

What is the status of this engagement?

We began working with them in 2016 and the relationship is ongoing.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

They have been great with all of the projects they’ve done and are doing for us.

With respect to the cross-platform work, they have been very helpful and flexible across the range of technologies that we have needed them to use.

And, with respect to building map visualizations, they make maps function the way you expect them to and tell a story, which takes a lot of data-savvy. They have created some of the best maps that I have seen and used across the industry.

And finally, with respect to building career pathways, infogr8 has done a really good job of working with us to translate the complex nature of the job market. Most of our careers are not linear; infogr8 translates them into visualizations that are compelling and user experiences that are engaging.

How did infogr8 perform from a project management standpoint?

They have a well-structured, graduated process. They bring deliverables at a sketch level first to make sure they are getting it right. Then, they bring low-fi wireframes, and then, add color.

They are very clear at each step along the way when it comes to the feedback they need from us. This process leads to very efficient project completion because we are giving the right input at the right time and we never have to backtrack.

What did you find most impressive about them?

They hold themselves to very high standards. If they do something that isn’t up to their standards but meets ours, they call themselves on it and say they can do better. Several times, they have taken a step back from their initial designs and told us they aren’t getting to our goal, and they redo it unprompted by us, which is something I really appreciate.

When you hire people who have an expertise, you want to make sure you are getting the full breadth of that expertise and that they are not simply meeting the goals you set out and then making sure you are happy. They also make sure it meets their own high standards.

Are there any areas they could improve?

No, we have been excited about the work we have had from them.