The Muse

BACKGROUND

eChalk is a U.S.-based company providing an online platform for school websites, LMS and group collaboration for K-12 schools. I was acting as Director of Marketing for this project. 

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

We needed a new corporate website. We went through a rebranding process with a U.S.-based design firm but we needed a more affordable solution to actually develop the new website and create additional design elements that fit the new brand. 

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

Muse first built the new homepage using the design provided by the other agency. The site was built in Squarespace, but required extensive custom development to create some moving elements, floating left nav, and other effects. Muse then used the new branding guide and design elements to design new interior pages that followed the design ethic of the home page. These pages included a blog, news, events, FAQs, and a Features page. The Features page also required a lot of custom programming to make light boxes and other elements work the way we envisioned. Several of the pages required the creation of new design elements (banners, etc.) to harmonize with the design of the homepage.

I don’t know exactly how many people worked on our project. I know there were at least one designer and one developer. We also had a liaison who was our main point of contact.

How did you come to work with The Muse?

We had a recommendation from someone else who had used them. Cost was a deciding factor. Since they are overseas, they were able to provide excellent service at a much lower rate than an equivalently skilled designer here in the States.

What is the status of this engagement?

The project ran from August to December of 2016. It would have been much faster, but we had delays on our end with getting approvals and making decisions. The Muse was actually very fast.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

Could you share any evidence that would demonstrate the productivity, quality of work, or the impact of the engagement?

Our bounce rate did go down for our Google Ads analytics. We’ve got more engagement on the site. People are doing more on it. I think that’s probably the biggest quantifiable metric that we see.

Muse did an excellent job translating our new brand and home page design into a beautiful new website. They were very fast and easy to work with on the home page development and had the technical skills to make the page work as described. We went through a couple of rounds of revisions on the creation of new design elements, but we were very happy with the final results. We’ve had excellent feedback. Everyone loves the new site.

What did you find most impressive about The Muse?

It was very easy to work with them. When you’re working with someone overseas, and you’ve got the time zone and language differences, it can sometimes be a challenge. They made it very easy and were very accommodating. The communication was very good.

Are there any areas The Muse could improve?

Nothing specific.

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I am the CEO of Remme, a blockchain identity service. Our platforms allow people to ring in without using any passwords.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with The Muse?

We needed to focus on our main product, so we had to outsource some of the less important things. As with any new company, we needed a website, identity, logo, and so on. We also had to produce materials for our Facebook page, templates for investors, and content for presentations. 

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

First, The Muse developed a logo for us within few days, around one week. After that, we decided to create a website. Since we did not have a live product yet, the site was just made up of a landing page and a few other pages. We also needed some visual effects for the website. The website was custom-built on Javascript. They are also doing SEO for our product and general supply. They are still doing maintenance for the demo page.

After that, we had a few meetings with investors and presented in conferences. I asked The Muse to help us with materials for these activities. We created different branding presentations with different lengths: 5 minutes, 20 minutes, and 15 minutes. These presentations were used in different conferences. The Muse also did an executive summary for our pitch deck, approximately a dozen pages in length. Basically, The Muse helped us create all the information for outside communication. This allowed us to focus on working on our product. Everything else was assigned to The Muse.

How did you come to work with The Muse?

We are based in the same city. We first met The Muse during a special event about blockchain in Kiev. It is a professional network.

How much have you invested with The Muse?

We’ve spent about $9,000 on their services.

What is the status of this engagement?

Our first project was around 1 year ago, in November 2015. The relationship is ongoing as they are helping us maintain our website. 

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

Could you share any evidence that would demonstrate the productivity, quality of work, or the impact of the engagement?

I really liked our logo. A lot of our potential clients said it was great. For me, that was the best part of their work, the logo and anything connected with design. It's easy to find specialists to create a website, but it’s not easy to get an excellent design and good programming skills from one place. It’s not so widespread.

How did The Muse perform from a project management standpoint?

We connect with 2 persons from The Muse who are responsible for client service. Their project management was on time and clear for me.

What did you find most impressive about The Muse?

I'm satisfied and I hope all our partners in the future will have the same skills and the same level of productivity. Their main advantage for me is their taste and their ability to create great design.

Are there any areas The Muse could improve?

It would be good if they got some more programmers so they could create more products.

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I have a company, Rob Beardsley Design. My clients range from small to mid-level businesses of all kinds: restaurants, schools, independent businesses, startups, etc. I do a lot of corporate identity programs for new businesses. I’ve been in the design business for a long time; 40 years. I’m an independent, freelance web designer in Boulder, Colorado.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with The Muse?

I had a client, a school, and I was looking for a programmer. The programmers that I had been using for some years had either retired or moved on to full-time development positions at other companies. For whatever reason, I was losing my freelance programmers. I’m not a programmer, so I rely on them to do the actual coding and developing for the sites that I design.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

I have a Photoshop template from Divi by Elegant Themes. After realizing that I was not going to use Squarespace as a platform, I put all the content from my client's old site, images, and everything, into Photoshop documents to the Divi theme. In all our communications, I was telling them exactly what I was going to be sending, and they asked the appropriate questions. We settled on a price. I sent them the Photoshop documents.

They came back with a couple of questions, and within a week, I believe, they said, “We’re ready for you to look at it.” I was surprised that it was that quick to start with. When I looked at it, it was almost perfect, almost exactly like what I sent them in the Photoshop documents, which is a problem I always have with programmers. I am anal about being pixel-perfect because I am a designer more than I am anything else. I’m very visual, so what I put down in Photoshop is what I want to be shown in the final product. What they showed me was just that. I went through and talked to the client. They made a few corrections. I had to make a few modifications, and we were ready to go live within 24 or 36 hours after I sent back my information. I would say start to finish it probably took no more than ten days including all of the corrections from the time they got the files until going through all my changes, the client changes, to where we went live, which was fantastic.

Once the site went live, we went back and forth adding additional things to the site. The client wanted additional pieces and elements added to the site, parent portals, a calendar, those kinds of things, which were available as plugins or options to the Divi platform. They put all those together. We went back and forth adding and tweaking. "Oh, that looks great; now can we add the parent portal? How do passwords work?" They were very helpful in all of the things I didn’t know about that could be done to the site, and they came up with affordable solutions to all of those.

How did you come to work with The Muse?

I was going to use Squarespace for this particular client, and as I got further into looking at Squarespace, I realized that it was not really a good platform for this client. I contacted my connection at Squarespace who is a certified Squarespace programmer or assistant, and she recommended The Muse. I looked into Muse, and the one thing that bothered me was that they were in Europe and I’m in Boulder, Colorado. I’ve always heard horror stories of agencies and companies using people in Europe or Asia who have been ripped off, so I was very skeptical. This person that I often use and speak to often from Squarespace gave her high marks, so I contacted them. They gave me a price, and I decided I’d go for it. It was a great decision. I’m glad I went ahead and took the leap.

How much have you invested with The Muse?

It was between $1,000 and $1,100. It wasn’t unreasonable for what they were going to do, and the client had no problem with it.

What is the status of this engagement?

My first contact was March 11th, and it took approximately 10 days for it to be complete.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

Could you share any evidence that would demonstrate the productivity, quality of work, or the impact of the engagement?

I was skeptical about using a company of developers in Europe; I was very anxious about whether or not I could trust something like that. I have worked with programmers where you give them a project and what they let you see the first time is absolutely nothing like what the Photoshop documents that I sent them look like. They’ve taken the liberty of changing colors, the size of fonts, or spacing, and things that don’t line up properly. What I got back from Muse was almost perfect. It was just like what I sent them. I was so pleased that, "Oh my gosh, maybe I found somebody I can trust now, that I can use and have faith in and not worry about it." As of now, I do a lot of Squarespace sites and small business sites that are mostly WordPress, and I would go straight to The Muse.

How did The Muse perform from a project management standpoint?

Kseniya was the account person that I spoke to from start to finish, which was another good thing. She was the first person I contacted and the last person I contacted. That’s happened in agencies where I’ve worked at over the years where you start a project with one person and halfway through; you’re speaking to someone else. It’s just not as smooth as when you speak to one person start to finish.

She kept me apprised of everything. I didn’t have to email her and say "What’s going on with this?" In fact, once we got into doing those additional elements, they weren’t a high priority on my end, so I tended to let those things slip. I would get emails from her asking, “Are we still going to be doing those projects? Do you have any questions about them? Are there any more things we can clarify?” I was very happy with that.

The only negative about the whole thing was the fact that the long distance is a 12-hour span, so if I sent something in the middle of the afternoon or before the end of the day, I sometimes didn’t get a response for 12 hours. There were very few times where we were able to go back and forth on email where I knew she was right there, but I understand that that’s the distance. Convenience-wise, that was something I could live with. This project didn’t have a horrible deadline, so it didn’t present any issues. I think if I gave them a project where I had a tight deadline, that’s something that I would clarify upfront. I would make sure that I was available to speak to her live, either on the phone or via email or text at whatever time was convenient for her. If it meant me getting up at one o’clock in the morning to do that, that’s something I would’ve done, but that never had to happen.

What did you find most impressive about The Muse?

In my many years of designing websites and working with third-party vendors, whether it’s developers or other kinds of contract help, a lot of the time, they’re flaky. Sometimes they are also so busy that they don’t manage their time properly. I’ve dealt with many programmers over the years that are like that where I think I have a good thing going and then everything fall apart.

I don’t feel that with Muse, at all. Once I got that project back and realized that it was almost perfect, I just knew that I could trust them to do what I asked them to do. I’ve had so many bad experiences with programmers. When I started 20 years ago there was no responsive, there was no phone situation or different device sizes or all the different things that are important nowadays in designing modern websites for businesses. It’s really good to have peace of mind as an independent businessperson to know that I’ve found someone that I can trust to do those kinds of things.

I’ve spoken to three of my peers that I’ve known over the years that have the same problems that I’ve had with programmers. Working with either local programmers or programmers within the States, we all have the same problems with them, and I’ve told them my success story and that I recommend The Muse highly.

Are there any areas The Muse could improve?

I really can’t think of anything other than I would love for them to move to Boulder, Colorado. As far as what they did, they did everything exactly the way they said they were going to do it. They didn’t come back and say "Oh, by the way, this is going to cost this much more now that we’ve looked at it," which has happened many times to me, and that’s also very frustrating. If I’m giving a project, I want to be given a price based on expectations of what I’ve told them. If they have questions about it, then I want to answer the questions before we start the project, not after.

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I own Sarah Moon + Co, a small design and strategy company. My clients are small businesses that are growing, non-profits, people in the arts and creatives field, etc. I help them develop their online strategy and web presence.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with The Muse?

I have a variety of people that I work with because I can’t do it all. The Muse is one of the folks that I work with. It’s a two-fold challenge. Either a client wants me to do something that I don’t know how to do or they ask me to do something that I’m not very good at. That’s when I will get in touch with Kseniya’s team at The Muse.

I’m a Squarespace specialist and I’m listed on Squarespace’s roster of experts. But I am more of an expert in the training, strategy, and design side. There’s development stuff that I could do but I would probably not do it very well. It’s actually really hard to find people who are experts in the way Squarespace works from the developer’s side. If I have urgent requests that I personally can’t accommodate, I’ll call on them to help me fill in those gaps. 

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

The Muse has a couple folks who are really expert in doing development for Squarespace. They handle quite a broad scope of tasks. Most of the time, I work with The Muse if someone wants something very specific. Sometimes, we come up with a strategy that requires a really specific interface. That means we’re pushing the platform in a direction it doesn’t naturally go.

For example, one of my clients was an architecture firm who wanted a specific functionality on their website. They wanted to use Squarespace. We worked with The Muse to figure out how to make that functionality happen. Then they did a lot of the development work on that particular project. 

They’re actually working on a new logo for my company right now, so they do that sort of thing for me as well. I just can’t do that on my own; I’m too close to it. They have done other work as well. One of my clients had migrated from WordPress to Squarespace. Unfortunately, one of the things that is not native on Squarespace is a recent comments widget. I didn’t think you could do that, honestly. I just took a flyer and emailed Kseniya and said, “Have you ever heard anyone doing that?” She said, “One of our developers is really interested in that. Let’s see what we can do.” They developed that widget for my client and she was absolutely thrilled. 

Designers will reach out to me and want me to implement their design into the platform, and I don’t do that. I get those inquiries several times a week. I send them over to The Muse and say, “They’ll take great care of you. They’ll do good work.” Honestly, that to me is almost more valuable because it’s my reputation on the line if I recommend someone.

How did you come to work with The Muse?

Kseniya actually reached out to me because I am on that Squarespace list. She said, “Hey, we have these capabilities and I just thought we’d reach out.” We had a conversation back and forth. I don’t usually respond to those cold solicitations, but she was so clear in what their capabilities were. I thought, “Okay, I think they know what they’ve got going on.” 

I had been playing around with an idea for a custom blog template that I wanted to offer to clients or maybe use myself. I thought about pursuing that with them because I haven’t been able to work on it. That little project was my trial for The Muse, as it wasn’t very high risk. I was thrilled with how fast they did it. They did it exactly as I asked and the communication was great.

How much have you invested with The Muse?

I’ve paid $5,000 for their services.

What is the status of this engagement?

We started in 2015 and the relationship is ongoing. I have them scheduled for a few upcoming projects. It’s been a nice partnership.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

Could you share any evidence that would demonstrate the productivity, quality of work, or the impact of the engagement?

The Muse is great at coming up with solutions that stay within budget while effectively creating the things my clients want. They were a great partner on several projects.

I actually have a nice anecdote. This was literally a half-hour job they did for a client of mine. This woman is a former local reporter and people know her and really like her. It was really important that things were perfect for the project launch. She was starting an online magazine for parents. I had been working with her to build her website and get the flow down. She was so frustrated with the feedback after the soft launch. People said that the slideshows of the stories were confusing. I sent The Muse an email asking, “Hey, do you have any ideas for this client? Because I am completely out of ideas.” They replied, “Well, you could just move the descriptions down and then add some navigation elements. That would take maybe an hour.” I was like, “Do it. I will pay for it for this client because it will make her so happy.” It’s a little thing, but it made such a difference. That was the thing that put that project over the top. It’s those little things that really made my clients happy. It was just these silly dots and these arrows, but my client was so thrilled. Now, she still talks about how she loves what we did.

How did The Muse perform from a project management standpoint?

It’s always been great. They always get things done faster than I ask them to. I sent them a request this Monday and they said they’d have the first round of work by this coming Monday. That’s really fast in my opinion, faster than I am, actually. I’ve never had any issues with anything being delayed. They’ve always been really great about communicating timelines, options, and how things could impact the timeline. That is something I really appreciate since I am in that same line of work. I’m always telling clients, “Well, if we go in this direction, it will take longer.” I really appreciate that they have the same practice that I do. We have a nice workflow with them. They seem to work really hard all the time and I appreciate that.

What did you find most impressive about The Muse?

I appreciate that they have this specific niche in the developer side of Squarespace. Even though I’ve worked with that platform for a really long time, there’s stuff I still don’t know. It’s good to have a partner that has had experience in a different way than I have. Plus, they’ll also tell me honestly when things can’t be done or if something is a bad idea. A lot of folks will just take your money and try to hack at it. I’ve presented a few things to them and they have said, “I would not do this.” I’ve really appreciated their willingness to say, “Hey, we wouldn’t feel comfortable doing this work.”

Are there any areas The Muse could improve?

No, not really.