JIN Design

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m the owner and president of Velintech Solution. I initially ran my own freelance portal, before starting my own company.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with JIN Design?

I was involved in the front- and backend development of a portal and I put JIN Design in charge of making the entire design.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

They created mockups, turned them into final designs, and turned them over to us to build the portal and upload it to the server. We liaised with them in order to make project requirements.

They understood what we and the client wanted, producing the final design within two weeks. The entire project took a month to go live. The site is still running and we’re still getting good feedback from the client.

What is the team composition?

I’ve worked directly with Yugene (Managing Partner and UI/UX Designer, JIN Design) and with Yun (Project Director and Senior UX/UI Designer, JIN Design), who took over the project and discussed project requirements and changes with me. We worked back and forth until we launched the project and closed it perfectly.

How did you come to work with JIN Design?

I chose them based on referrals and their portfolio. Some friends of mine were working with JIN Design, and put me in touch. I found that they produced beautiful designs and that they were UX experts. I was looking for a design agency at the time, so I gave them a try. It worked really well, so I gave them other projects after that.

How much have you invested with them?

Their price is neither the lowest or highest, but we got what we paid for in terms of quality.

What is the status of this engagement?

I started working with them in January 2017. We’re currently working on an educational game app for an institution. Alongside us, Yugene is in charge of design and development.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

We depend on each other, given that my company focuses on development, and they primarily focus on design. We're more than happy with their work and we expect to have a long-term collaboration. I hope we’ll scale up together.

They've produced some beautiful work. They know what they’re doing on the UX side and their designs aren’t just beautiful; they measure every aspect, such as user-friendliness, color, aesthetics, design, and so on. They’re not just a common design company; they’re UX experts. They’re a great team, and I look forward to working with them again on future projects.

How did JIN Design perform from a project management standpoint?

We meet each other once or twice a month in Singapore. They’re a young, dedicated, and responsive team. We use Slack or other group chat tools to communicate changes, and their replies are fast-enough for us to work on our development track. Their team is responsive, they know what they’re doing, and they know what we want. The communication between their members and us is quite smooth.

We use InVision and Zeplin for design work, Slack for communication, Trello for QA items, and WhatsApp for any urgent feedback. We're still using an Excel sheet to keep track of the timeline.

What did you find most impressive about them?

I’ve worked with other design agencies, which often had a corporate style, whereas JIN Design is mobilized and agile. Other companies work based on procedure, while JIN Design focuses on fulfilling client needs. If something doesn’t go the way we want, they’ll change it. Rather than working on a development lifecycle, they use an agile methodology. We’re working together as a team, despite the fact that we have a client-agency relationship.

Are there any areas they could improve?

They’ve made a few mistakes that slowed us down. After requesting changes, they uploaded some of the material to our server, but not all. They should put more QA in place.

Do you have any advice for future clients of theirs?

They’re UX experts, and working together with them is like working in a team. They’re not limited to the client-vendor model; they’re more like an in-house team working together with the client, continuing until the work is done perfectly.

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

We are an IT services and digital/social media marketing venture established in 2014 to capitalize on the growing need for mobile, digital and social media business expertise as well as app developments. The team consists purely of developers and practitioners only, no salesmen.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with JIN Design?

We engaged JIN Design to assist with project management as well as UI/UX design for our clients.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

They oversee project management for my client projects, from requirement gathering, user study workshops, wireframing, to the final design work. JIN Design directly engages and communicates with our clients regarding all matters related to the scope of the project, UX/UI direction, wireframing, and designs. They've worked on over 10 projects with me.

One of the projects we worked on together is supporting the filming of Mediacorp's Dreamcoder television drama. My company provided hand sketches, wireframe, designs, mobile app prototypes and other digital props to be used in the television drama, which revolves around a mobile app development company. JIN Design delivered design mockups, paper sketches, mascots and avatar sketches and designs, as well as mobile app wireframes. My company delivered consultation during the script writing process as well as functional mobile apps shown in the drama.

What is the team dynamic?

At least two team members were assigned to each project. (We have multiple concurrent projects with JIN Design). I do not need to be part of the process of assembling these teams. I trust JIN Design to select the right team members for the job.

JIN Design’s team members are the primary communicators when it comes to design and UX work. My company’s team members are the primary communicators on the development/tech portion. I communicate with them daily. I interact with at least two staff from JIN Design on a regular basis. At least two of them are dedicated project managers.

How did you come to work with JIN Design?

I found them by asking around through my contacts in the Singapore startup/tech community. I hired them for their strong design portfolio and past works, professionalism, and effective methodology when tackling new design challenges.

How much have you invested with them?

SGD 100,000 – SGD 200,000 [USD ~$150,000].

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

My clients have given very positive reviews of the work by JIN Design and their fast turnaround time, which typically takes only hours and at most days. Many other suppliers take at least 3–5 working days to entertain simple requests and changes.

How did JIN Design perform from a project management standpoint?

We communicate via Slack, email and Google Drive. JIN Design manages the projects and my clients proactively with zero instructions or intervention from my end.

What did you find most impressive about them?

At the end of every project, they conduct a review to understand what went wrong in each project, what could be done better, and where they can further strengthen their force. With this process, JIN Design becomes stronger with every project they take.

Of all the suppliers, JIN Design is our preferred supplier due to their professionalism and proactive approach and sorting out the needs and requirements of the clients.