Lakeplace Design

BACKGROUND

Please describe your company and your position there.

I am an Engineering Manager for a Building Automation Company.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

For what projects/services did your company hire Lakeplace Design?

We were looking for a new look for our user interface that incorporated innovative features never attempted before.

SOLUTION

How did you select this vendor?

We utilized contacts that have required these services in the past to build an ad specific to our needs. After using a service that specializes in promoting UI/UX Developers we were able to narrow our search down to a handful of companies that we then interviewed. This company had a more extensive knowledge than the others in what we were trying to do so they became the logical choice.

Describe the project in detail and walk through the stages of the project.

Our team had already conducted customer feedback sessions and determined the concept we wanted to follow prior to hiring this company. We downloaded all the information from our customer sessions, the capability the new system will have, and a sample of what the current system looked like. From there, I worked with the company on an initial mockup for the new look and feel and presented to our company leadership.

Then, after we finalized a design, we brought the design to the manufacturer to finalize the capability they could build into the design. Much discussion ensued as we worked through their limitations and capabilities before we came up with a design that worked for us and could be built into the framework from the manufacturer. Then manufacturer updated their system and provided the tools we needed to build the new user interface.

How many resources from the vendor's team worked with you, and what were their positions?

I worked directly with the company's owner/UI/UX Specialist.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

We have successfully tested and begun releasing the new product to our customers.

How effective was the workflow between your team and theirs?

We worked almost daily with each other looking through progress making edits as we went and sharing knowledge from each other's perspectives on our respective expertise.

What did you find most impressive or unique about this company?

Their knowledge of the backend work needed to fulfill the front-end expectation impressed me the most. This helped with having conversations with the manufacturer.

Are there any areas for improvement or something they could have done differently?

We had a few hiccups when trying to get all the changes implemented before meetings due to some miscommunication but nothing we couldn't overcome.

BACKGROUND

Please describe your company and your position there.

I'm the Director of Product Management at Cybersoft Technologies. We build software solutions for the K-12 school food service industry. We support thousands of school districts and millions of students and their families across the nation.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

For what projects/services did your company hire Lakeplace Design, and what were your goals?

Our project was a re-imagination of our previous web-based application. We focused on the modernization of an already great solution in our space. With such a large application, it was a daunting task to simplify workflows, provide an engaging interface, and provide an intuitive solution to our customers.

SOLUTION

How did you select this vendor and what were the deciding factors?

The Lakeplace team had a proven history of modernizing outdated applications. From the start, the team was very understanding of the vision and purpose of what we wanted to accomplish. They provided a quick turnaround of proposed designs to get us started quickly and efficiently with a large team.

Describe the scope of work in detail, including the project steps, key deliverables, and technologies used.

The Lakeplace team jumped in to understand our product's vision and purpose. They worked hard to understand our customer personas and key workflows for accomplishing their daily work. From there, the team proposed high-level workflow models to capture the essence of each role and action.

At the same time, overall UI design choices were being proposed and accepted with theming and styling. We followed agile principles to quickly review, discuss, adjust, and deliver our final design quickly. There was great urgency for the project to get moving quickly and Lakeplace accommodated this request. They worked tirelessly to be with our team during the day and deliver proposed solutions over night.

Agreed upon designs and workflows were then adapted into usable component libraries, base page templates, and a full backlog of requirements that our core team could take and manage throughout the remainder of the project. Our teams utilized Figma throughout the design process for collaboration.

How many people from the vendor's team worked with you, and what were their positions?

Alex, the owner/founder of Lakeplace, was our core contact. He handled the technical connection with our team and served as the UI/UX lead for the project. He also consulted with a number of technical and development decisions.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

Can you share any measurable outcomes of the project or general feedback about the deliverables?

The project will be launched in the fall of 2022 to our market with a plan for early adopters of smaller scale as the first customer segment. Within our stakeholder review sessions, existing customers have shared extremely positive feedback on the overall simplicity of use and appealing design of the product.

Usability studies have also shown for the core workflows that clicks have decreased by 75% and the time to complete actions is down, at minimum, 50%. With our users fulfilling multiple responsibilities (in and out of the software), it was critical for our customers to gain valuable time back for other parts of their "job". We have accomplished this objective with the help of Lakeplace.

Describe their project management style, including communication tools and timeliness.

Lakeplace provided a simple and efficient project management style. We utilized Figma, Jira, and Confluence for our primary tools. We had an agreed upon roadmap and built out a solid roadmap for tracking delivery. Daily stand-ups, weekly design meetings, and sprint review meetings provided a constant stream of communication and collaboration.

What did you find most impressive or unique about this company?

Lakeplace has an eye for great design aesthetics and elegant experiences. They have a knack for helping to simplify very complex tasks into simple, efficient workflows and processes. They are great to listen and understand in order to provide the necessary answers and approaches to challenges with both product and process. They were able to raise the overall expectation with our team and product.

Are there any areas for improvement or something they could have done differently?

There is no glaring feedback for Lakeplace. They did a tremendous job with the expectations and work we requested and working with the constraints of our team/timeline. All of this being done within the difficult timing of COVID was nothing short of a miracle. They were flexible at all times and accommodated our needs.