Interactivism

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I'm the science lead of a science products nonprofit. Our organization is chartered to make the science products of NASA's infrared and submillimeter missions accessible to the public.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What specific goals or objectives did you hire Interactivism to accomplish for Caltech/IPAC-IRSA?

We wanted Interactivism to update our UI to look more modern and be easier to use without sacrificing functionality.

SOLUTION

Can you describe the scope of work Interactivism handled for this project at Caltech/IPAC-IRSA?

Interactivism conducted activities related to understanding and defining our issues, including internal stakeholder interviews, first-party user research, heuristic usability evaluation, user journey assumptions, archetype user personas, current-state user journey mapping, and future-state user journey mapping. The team also conducted activities related to UX/UI concepts and design, including defining information architecture, visual style boards, wireframe flows, user testing, and high-fidelity mock-ups of UI design.

Interactivism focused on the most troubling aspects of our very complicated UI tool that we were having trouble managing ourselves. We carried over their visual suggestions to other areas of our tool.

What is the team composition?

We worked with 2–5 teammates from Interactivism.

How did you come to work with Interactivism?

We found Interactivism through a referral. We chose them over other options because during their interview they seemed like they could handle the complexity of our user interface (which is technical and not as simple as a website where you buy things), and because they offered good value for the cost.

What is the status of this engagement?

We worked with Interactivism from August 2022–August 2023.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

It was very obvious when we released a new product based on Interactivism's suggestions that things were much better. We received very positive user feedback regarding the new modern look. Our user panel, which meets twice a year, responded positively to the great step forward in look and feel, and well as organization of information.

How did Interactivism perform from a project management standpoint?

Interactivism was great on communication and delivered what they promised on time. We primarily communicated via virtual meetings and emails.

What did you find most impressive about them?

Interactivism was good at listening to all stakeholders. One of our problems was the disagreement between stakeholders. Everyone thought they were an artist. Interactivism was very diplomatic and made everyone feel heard. Also, our GUI is aimed at experts in a technical field, is very complicated with lots of funcationality, and takes a lot of domain expertise to really understand. Our main worry was that a UI expert wouldn't be able to come up to speed on the domain knowledge to help us make good decisions. But they were very good about walking us through a process that led to understanding the core user workflows.

Are there any areas they could improve?

No, we were extremely happy with the outcome.

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m the co-founder and CPO for tvScientific, an ad technology company.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with Interactivism?

We needed help with UI/UX design.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

Interactivism has been our design consultant and outsourced lead designer since day one. They’ve helped us build the design system, think about our UX, and plan a self-serve B2C web application. The technologies have evolved over the years; we’ve worked with them on Miro, Figma, and Storybook. 

What is the team composition?

We’ve worked primarily with the two co-founders: Erik (Partner & UX Design & Research) and Petra (Co-Founder & Partner). They’ve brought on design assistants and frontend developers from their team. Overall, we’ve engaged with five different people.

How did you come to work with Interactivism?

We’ve had a relationship with the founders since the 1990s. One of our co-founders worked with one of their founders decades ago, so we’ve known them for a long time and have a long history of working together.

When we were looking for partners to kick off this process, Interactivism was at the top of the list.

How much have you invested with them?

We’ve spent a little over $600,000 so far.

What is the status of this engagement?

We began working with them in January 2020, and our partnership is ongoing.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

Company growth is the best success metric given the breadth of the project Interactivism has taken on with us. I won’t share internal numbers, but the product we’ve built has scaled and grown in revenue by hundreds of percent per year. Interactivism has helped us design a product that has raised about $30 million in venture capital and generated compound annual growth. I don’t have good, shareable numbers at hand, but overall, their work has contributed to continuous revenue growth and investment for us.

Moreover, the quality of their work has been phenomenal. Their responsiveness, flexibility, thought leadership, thought partnership, and expertise have led to an incredible, high-quality output.

How did Interactivism perform from a project management standpoint?

They’ve been consistently on deadline and within budget. Interactivism is generally very proactive in communicating when we need to adjust anything in either of those areas.

We have regular stand-up meetings, almost thrice a week. Most of our conversations with them are via Zoom or in person.

What did you find most impressive about them?

They do all the design work exceptionally well, on par with a senior-level design company. However, their most impressive trait as an outsourced partner is their ability to be flexible, responsive, thorough, and understanding of our main context. This has allowed us to do everything very quickly and work with them for so long while continuing to produce value. 

Overall, we’ve had a great experience with all of them; they’re all masters in their craft.

Are there any areas they could improve?

No, I have nothing critical to say. 

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

You must come to the conversation with a point of view and expectation of what you want to get the best work from them. However, you can trust them to lead the design thinking.

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m the SVP of platform development at Zefr, a data and technology company.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with Interactivism?

We were looking to upgrade our design and user flow.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

Interactivism helped our product team develop UI/UX iterations, wireframes, and low-fidelity prototypes. The subsequent phase involved fine-tuning those initial deliverables to provide robust wireframes and prototypes to our development team.

What is the team composition?

We worked with 3–4 different resources, including Petra (Co-Founder) and Lorraine (Senior UI/UX Designer).

How did you come to work with Interactivism?

Our SVP of product and technology recommended Interactivism’s team to us.

How much have you invested with them?

We spent about $150,000.

What is the status of this engagement?

Our engagement with Interactivism ran from August 2020–February 2020.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

Interactivism helped make our product release possible, and that’s our main success metric for their work. We wouldn’t have accomplished three different tools had they not used their UI/UX expertise to activate our targeted frontend design and technology.

How did Interactivism perform from a project management standpoint?

We relied on Miro for project management. From our perspective, Interactivism was a data-oriented and organized team that delivered high-quality results on time. It took some time before we achieved a well-paced workflow, but they did what they could to make sure that we got all the information we needed.

What did you find most impressive about them?

We were most impressed with their top-notch design language and UI/UX skills. Interactivism delivered straightforward yet highly effective design solutions that streamlined our product development process.

Are there any areas they could improve?

Both our teams initially struggled with setting clear goals and timelines — however, the clearer we were in outlining those, the better Interactivism got in directing their focus towards meeting our needs.

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

Have a good sense of what you really want, and Interactivism will take it from there. You can trust their team to deliver high-quality work on time.

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m a software development manager for a defense contractor.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with Interactivism?

We were looking to bring some outside perspective to  our UX. Our team attempted to design our UX ourselves, and we decided we needed some external help.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

They were full-service. They did case studies, user interviews, risk analysis, which led to them providing us with full-color mockups. They were all for client-facing products.

What is the team composition?

We worked with four people—one worked on UX, one was the primary designer, and there were two others.

How did you come to work with Interactivism?

It was a referral from an old friend.

What is the status of this engagement?

The project lasted from about August–December 2018.  

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

 I thought they were awesome. This was my only experience with a UX firm, but it was great. They’re truly experts in their field and their design work is impeccable. I was dazzled the whole way through.

How did Interactivism perform from a project management standpoint?

From the minute we engaged with them, until they provided us with the final mockups, they were on time, on budget, and it was great. They led us through the whole thing. There was no overhead, and they were extremely easy to work with.

What did you find most impressive about them?

Their knowledge of UX was amazing. They knew everything we didn’t, so they were a very valuable partner.  

Are there any areas they could improve?

No, I don’t think so.

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

Trust them upfront. We did, and it really worked out well. They asked for the information they needed, and were able to deliver what we wanted.

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m the co-founder and CEO of a startup called Practis. Our company offers a customer interaction training tool that helps establish messaging consistency and capabilities with end users on the frontlines of customer service.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with Interactivism?

We had several ideas around how to go about our training solution with a web portal and mobile app, but there were several hurdles we had to overcome. Interactivism worked with us to ideate on those challenges and refine the UX of our product.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement? 

We collaborated with Interactivism to design the UX for our customer interaction training tool. At the time, we’d already worked with previous designers to come up with an early draft for the user flows, and we had a fairly evolved product spec. But there were still blockers to overcome.

Interactivism was very helpful in figuring out a simpler, more intuitive experience on both ends of the product. They were involved closely in ideating the web and mobile sides, working through the use cases that posed the biggest challenges for us. 

Ultimately, we were able to build a solid training tool. Our software system allows companies to establish a central repository of their messaging, which is then dispersed through mobile apps to trainees. Trainees can interact with virtual customers through an automated roleplay scenario, and management has the opportunity to provide feedback and monitor their competency. 

What is the team composition? 

We primarily worked with three members of the senior staff. There were also 2–3 junior designers who helped execute the senior members’ efforts. 

How did you come to work with Interactivism?

We found them when we were building a different product about seven years ago, and they came highly recommended. It was a positive experience. The team was bright, capable, and seasoned, so we thought that they would be a good partner to work with. 

How much have you invested with them?

For this project, we spent approximately $73,000.

What is the status of this engagement?

This project lasted from December 2018–May 2019. We would’ve stuck with them, but we needed to bring design in-house.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

First and foremost, they’re a pleasure to work with. The staff has seen and done a lot over the years, which means they’ve developed a robust process.

People often hire designers because they have a certain flair for aesthetics, but that doesn’t mean that the person is disciplined enough or has a strong underlying process. That can be frustrating to work with at times.

In contrast, Interactivisim is professional the whole way through and can execute in a creative way. Petra (Co-Founder) has wonderful taste, in my opinion, and is good at what she does.

How did Interactivism perform from a project management standpoint?

They used InVision, Sketch, and Slack to coordinate. We met in person, too, which was really helpful.

What did you find most impressive about them?

The team approaches projects with a sensitivity to the marketplace. They’re able to design for lots of different needs and have a great aesthetic.

They’re also good problem solvers. Product managers might know best practices on how to get around certain challenges, but creative designers can see things through a different lens. They’re effective at proposing solutions that you might not have thought of.

Are there any areas they could improve?

No, nothing comes to mind. We only switched from them because we needed to have a resource in-house.

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

With designers, it’s helpful to make sure that you’re aligned on your vision and expectations. Start with a fairly closed and simple engagement so that you get a sense of how they approach a challenge, and watch how they execute from a design standpoint.

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m the director of marketing for a clean energy company that’s committed to eliminating the need for fossil fuels in all sectors of the economy. We’ve created and patented a technology that concentrates sunlight on temperatures high enough to replaces fossil fuels. For instance, we can make cement using the power of the sun.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with Interactivism?

We didn’t have an online presence of any kind because our team has been working to perfect our technology through R&D phases and launch preparations. So, we needed to get the word out about our scientific breakthrough.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

We essentially needed a landing page that defines the breakthrough and explains its functions as well as it’s intended audience. The page was supposed to be pretty high-level. While it is a landing page, the site is a bit more robust than that. The end WordPress site is slick and provides all the necessary contact information for our team.  

What is the team composition?

I worked with three people on their team. Our main point of contact was a co-founder who architected the UI/UX. We also had a front-end developer and a backend developer. 

How did you come to work with Interactivism?

They came highly recommended from a large-scale tech incubator. In our search, we also considered two other agencies. We ended up selecting them because of the quality of their work, their affordable price points, and their close proximity to our offices. They’re located on the same street as our team.  

How much have you invested with them?

We spent between $25,000–$50,000 on their services.

What is the status of this engagement?

The engagement lasted from May–November 2019.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

The final site is top-tier, slick, and modern. From soup to nuts, they delivered. Our industry doesn’t necessarily prioritize design, as long as the message is communicated. They not only enabled us to communicate a message, but it has resonated extremely well with people. Their team incorporated a very clean, intuitive design. I couldn’t be happier with the results. 

How did Interactivism perform from a project management standpoint?

The team was accessible and helpful with information throughout the process. They use Slack for communication and Dropbox for file sharing. Throughout the project, we worked off a timeline that was presented to us at the beginning of the development. It included milestones that helped push the engagement along. We stuck to those milestones because they held us accountable to them. It was a great relationship, and they were available throughout.  

What did you find most impressive about them?

They offer a personal touch through their accessibility and responsiveness. Our main contact reaches out even after the launch to check in and thank us for our collaboration. They offer to fix or adjust anything on the site that needs attention. In fact, they sent over a list of recommended improvements, which we implemented on the day of the launch. That was hectic, but they were correcting things as they broke throughout the first night to get things running smoothly.  

Are there any areas they could improve?

There is a second phase planned for the site, and they’ll be high on our site of vendor options. I don’t have anything negative to say as of now. It’s all been positive. 

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

For any engagement, make sure that you have a point person on your end to take responsibility for milestones. Otherwise, your team will be a big holdup in getting your own project finished. This works both ways, so they should assign a project manager to you as well. It takes two to tango.

BACKGROUND

Please describe your company and your position there.

I was the COO of FanBread, a platform that enables digital influencers to quickly design and launch their own content.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

For what projects/services did your company hire Interactivism?

We needed someone to develop our brand and style guidelines and design our platform MVP.

What were your goals for this project?

We wanted to enter the market with a brand that reflected our company and develop an MVP that incorporated UX best practices.

SOLUTION

How did you select this vendor?

We reached out to 10 design agencies with our RFP and invited five to make a presentation. The decision-making team included me, our CEO/Founder, and our engineering team.

Describe the project in detail.

Interactivism provided three distinct branding options for us. We picked our favorite aspects of each, and they blended them into a new version that reflected our point of view. They then delivered logo files, a style guide, and an image library. Regarding our platform MVP, we provided the requirements, and they worked with us to review each screen, from wireframes to the final design.

What was the team composition?

For branding, we worked directly with Petra (Partner, Interactivism). For the product design and UX, we worked with Eric (Partner, Interactivism).

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

They provided us with all the deliverables we requested, and we used their branding to launch our company. We did bring on a freelancer to provide work on a more consistent basis, but we were successful in raising nearly $3 million in venture capital funds.

How effective was the workflow between your team and theirs?

It was great. They were professional and receptive to our ideas, and we were all quite happy with the result.

What did you find most impressive about this company?

Petra and Eric truly understand startups’ needs. They were responsive and worked with us to meet tight deadlines. They also understood how, in the MVP process, they had to focus on the most important things, instead of getting bogged down by unimportant details.

Are there any areas for improvement?

No, not that I saw.

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m the co-founder of Scoutables, a baseball insurtech platform. We provide a new way to handle disability insurance for professional sports organizations.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with Interactivism?

We engaged Interactivism at first to provide branding advice and design services. We ultimately relied on them to help develop our platform’s UX and to test our platform.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

Interactivism first helped us identify our brand identity and the value of our assets. We had years of statistical data and applications around major league baseball performance. We considered using the data to build consumer applications, create visualizations of baseball stats, or make gambling tools to predict outcomes. Interactivism helped us test and validate each idea.

We started with a consumer application; Interactivism advised that that approach could bring high value. Our side conducted discovery style interviews to identify potential customers and their wants and needs. Meanwhile, Interactivism built complex visualizations with our data for a variety of purposes. They also designed and developed an iPhone app of our platform. After some testing, however, we decided to pivot our platform to financial services, specifically focusing on the insurance market.

What is the team composition?

Petra (Partner/Co-founder, Interactivism) served as my main point of contact at first. I then worked closely with Erik (Partner/UX Design & Research, Interactivism) once the project scope changed from brand and design towards developing apps and the platform’s UX.

How did you come to work with Interactivism?

I’ve known Petra for over 20 years; we’ve worked on various startups in the past, and we have similar approaches to innovation. When I started Scoutables, I reached out to her to talk about what we were doing, and we then started working together.

How much have you invested with them?

We spent $50,000–$199,999.

What is the status of this engagement?

We started working together in November 2015 until 2017.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

Interactivism set the groundwork for our business before we switched courses into insurance. Their UX design work and their testing brought our platform to where it is today.

How did Interactivism perform from a project management standpoint?

The project ran smoothly from start to finish. Interactivism delivered high-quality products on time and communicated throughout the process. We enjoyed our collaboration so much that we became partners instead of a typical vendor-client relationship. Interactivism invested in equity in our startup while providing their services.

What did you find most impressive about them?

Interactivism adapted to changes and challenges with ease throughout our partnership. They could extract ideas and needs from our team, understand them, and communicate them well. Their execution was outstanding; they provided interactive imagery that responds to people’s inputs and outputs.

Are there any areas they could improve?

No, we were thrilled with their work.

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

Interactivism is a highly professional team that delivers extraordinary products. We’d be happy to work with them again, which is the highest praise I can give.

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I'm the VP of User Experience for an AI startup.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with Interactivism?

I've worked with Interactivism at multiple companies over the last six years. When I initially started, I only had a frontend developer and needed more designers than just myself. Based on my past experience with Interactivsm, I knew the team included highly-skilled employees. I wanted to bring them on board as quickly as possible. Additional talented resources would make our projects more successful. 

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

The scope of Interactivism's involvement has varied from company to company. They’ve supported a wide variety of activities over the years including web-based and mobile apps. I provide the requirements, specifications, and some of the design work ahead of time and we work in close collaboration.

For the most part, they've focused on B2B applications on my projects. These products can be very complicated. Creating great, usable designs out of complex concepts requires an exceptional capability to tackle these challenges. Interactivism is highly skilled in this area. Our projects often include brainstorming concepts, interaction design, visual design, and creating Axure prototypes.

What is the team composition? 

I've interacted with at least 7–8 teammates over the years. One person works as part of my team almost full-time. I regularly speak with the co-owners, who are fantastic people.

How did you come to work with Interactivism?

I first met and started working with Erik (Partner, UX Design and Research, Interactivism) in 2012. As he and Petra (Partner and Co-founder, Interactivism) grew Interactivism, I also began to work with Petra, our partnership blossomed, and I continued to work with more people on their team.

How much have you invested with them?

I can’t disclose that, but it's a significant amount. Interactivism has been a significant part of my team for the past six years.

What is the status of this engagement?

We started our most recent project in January 2018. The work is ongoing, so we're still engaged with Interactivism.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

Interactivism has an outstanding caliber of talent on their team. Our collaboration is absolutely seamless. Interactivism fits in perfectly as a part of our overall team. They are talented and wonderful people.

How did Interactivism perform from a project management standpoint?

Interactivism is spot on. They are true to their word and excel at project management. Their complete reliability is one of my favorite things about working together. Whenever we discuss the timing and cadence of a complex project, they accurately estimate and deliver the work.

We mostly communicate through videoconference, phone, and e-mail. I usually interface with our points of contact remotely via frequent video conferences, but we occasionally meet in person. Over the years, our communication style has varied depending on where my work has been located. Erik and I started working together in person and forged a strong partnership which has grown ever since.

What did you find most impressive about them?

Interestingly, I’ve managed in-house user experience teams longer than anyone else in the world, and also teach UX professionals worldwide with how to manage teams. I've worked with numerous agencies over the many years I've been in this business. Interactivism is my go-to agency whenever I need extra help with a new project. 

Are there any areas they could improve?

Interactivism is absolutely fantastic. The co-founders are always on top of everything. Nothing can be perfect all the time, but they address and resolve anything suboptimal we notice immediately. 

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

Future clients will be lucky to have Interactivism as a partner. I recommend taking full advantage of their creativity and talent. They have amazingly skilled senior resources on their team.

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m the VP of product management for ReachLocal. We’re a subsidiary of the newspaper publisher, Gannett Co., Inc. ReachLocal is a digital agency that supports our parent company with technology solutions.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with Interactivism?

We were building a sophisticated sales enablement platform that would also be client-facing and used for advertising. The goal was to help local businesses understand their digital health and how they could stay competitive. Everything was built from scratch, so it was difficult to develop a set of tools that combined well with the platform. After several unsuccessful programming attempts, we reached out to Interactivism to help us complete the project.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

Interactivism’s primary responsibilities involved UX design and analysis. Their role was to internalize user feedback, understand the complexities of different products, and develop a smooth UI/UX. They quickly grasped the issues we were experiencing and analyzed what was needed to design an interface that was conducive to user engagement.

Their team held user interviews to deliver the product quickly and with the least amount of iterations possible. That effort helped move the project along seamlessly. They used InVision to demonstrate potential workflows, and Zeplin to share design screens. They may have implemented other technologies internally, but those were the mainstream UX applications used to show their work.

What is the team composition?

The project was extremely hands-on, so we didn’t have assigned project or account managers. I worked directly with their team while building the product.

How did you come to work with Interactivism?

We were lucky enough to have partnered with them before this project. They’d helped us design the client center portal that serves as the reporting side of our business. Therefore, it felt natural to go back to them for help with another front-facing product. Additionally, we knew they’re capable of delivering high-quality products within incredibly short deadlines.

How much have you invested with them?

We spent roughly $200,000.

What is the status of this engagement?

This project took place from January–June 2018.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

Quantitatively, we have a high adoption rate from a user base that’s difficult to please. People were excited about using the platform designed by Interactivism. They found it found it fresh, exciting, and fun to use. Our feedback seems to indicate that the toolset provided is one of the better products to hit the market in several years. Even though Interactivism didn’t build the backend, their design contributed to the platform’s overall usability.

How did Interactivism perform from a project management standpoint?

It’s beneficial to have a partner like Interactivism because they’re vested in the success of our project. They’re also incredibly organized and timely. We had regular meetings and check-ins with them. Internally, our team had a lot of other priorities, but Interactivism did an outstanding job of keeping us on schedule and within budget. They communicated effectively throughout the engagement.

What did you find most impressive about them?

I was impressed with how quickly they were able to understand the project’s nuances and build a solution that addressed our previous issues. Most external partners will generically deliver solutions, but Interactivism’s understanding of our industry made it possible for them to succeed on a new level. That made all the difference.

They offered a lot of expertise that we didn’t have internally. It was great to have a partner that could provide valuable advice. Their ability to produce exceptional work under aggressive deadlines further sets them apart from similar firms. They’re phenomenal.

Are there any areas they could improve?

No. We worked so well together that I can’t think of anything they could’ve done differently. Some parts of the exploration process may have side-tracked us a bit, but that was needed at the time. They were in-tune with what we needed, and that helped us a lot.

Do you have any advice for future clients of theirs?

Clients should engage them by communicating the problem and not requesting a specific solution. Their greatest strength is understanding challenges and coming up with actionable solutions. This approach will allow clients to utilize them to their full potential.