NEUE WORLD

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m the CEO and founder of a global marketplace for luxury fashion called The List. We connect retail stores around the world to customers. If someone wants to buy a Gucci sneaker, they can place an order on the platform, and then it is shipped to their door.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with NEUE WORLD?

We were launching our iOS app and we had to make some improvements on the UX/UI.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

We hired them to help us with the design process from a UX perspective. They’ve worked on screen designs for the current website. They’ve built it so that if a visitor clicks on a product, there are some elements of the product detail page to highlight the authenticity a bit more, along with all taxes and duties that are included. 

There are two versions, which are mobile responsive. The iOS app has a similar flow, from the first screen when users arrive, to the detail pages of the product, designing the story concept, and multiple UI elements.

We have an engineering team, so we’ve collaborated with NEUE WORLD to go hand-in-hand through the design process with alterations and feedback. They’ve also worked on the project specifications a bit and then handed it over in a presentable and digestible way for the engineering team. They’ve taken care of both elements. They don’t just dump the files, they align with our engineering team. 

What is the team composition?

There are three people from their team working on the project.

How did you come to work with NEUE WORLD?

We’ve worked with various agencies that we found online, but they weren’t successful for us. Other teams either had a dumping process or they under-delivered. In this case, we trusted our inner circle for recommendations and we followed a referral. They’re quite a new agency but we went ahead with them based on recommendations from people we know well. 

How much have you invested in them?

We have spent around $10,000.

What is the status of this engagement?

We started working with them around February 2019 and our engagement is ongoing.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

Our conversion rates have increased by 30% and the speed has improved by 20%. We only have smaller metrics to measure since it has been a hand-in-hand collaboration, but their delivery time has definitely been great. We didn’t have to wait three months for delivery since we’ve broken everything up into pieces. 

How did NEUE WORLD perform from a project management standpoint?

Google Docs is mainly what we use — they also use Atlassian with the engineering team and specifications go into Confluence. We are a tech company, so we don’t require big presentations or anything like that. We spoke on a weekly basis and have feedback loops. It’s been a pleasant and pretty efficient process.

What did you find most impressive about them?

The delivery time and level of quality are the most impressive. They frequently get everything done on time and work quickly. Whatever day a delivery is scheduled for, the designs are ready and the quality is good because of their communication and feedback loops with the engineering team. We have a very efficient and fast process — the quality just fits. 

Are there any areas they could improve?

They could have more people so we could give them a lot more work, but I think this is a typical agency problem.

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

Have very good and detailed project briefings. Based on our experience, if we don’t deliver a concrete briefing and clear objective, it’s more difficult for any agency to understand our desires. It means there are more feedback loops needed. If you do your homework first, you will have better results.

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I'm the general partner of a software development firm. We focus on design, but we’re also a development agency looking to scale up on new projects. 

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with NEUE WORLD?

We need consistent designer support as we're scaling up our client base and adding new clients to our portfolio. 

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

We bring the NEUE WORLD team in to augment our process for high-end design projects. We have designers and strategists on our team as well, but I reach out to them when we have a project that fits their expertise. 

They come on board and do 2–3 weeks of discovery with us. As we do the discovery, we learn about the project together. Jay (Founder) gives us some quotes for their designers. Then, we get on calls with them. After we do the scoping and discovery, the team takes a week and does creative mood boarding, deciding where designs can go. Then, we immediately start shifting into development. 

The end deliverable is usually a finite set of mockups that’s pretty much an aggregation of design systems with a strong user experience. 

What is the team composition?

I primarily work with Jay. 

How did you come to work with NEUE WORLD?

I got connected with Jay through a mutual connection. He was referred to me by someone he had worked for in the past. I was trying to carry out some of our processes when Jay was recommended as a talented designer who was also a bit of an entrepreneur. He fit well with what I wanted, which was somebody with a self-starting initiative as well as a team of designers that have an entrepreneurial mindset. 

We got connected, and we got to know each other for a couple of months before we formally started a project together. Once we found an opening, we brought in their team for a project. 

How much have you invested with them?

We’ve invested between $75,000–$100,000 in the past two years.  

What is the status of this engagement?

We started a project with NEUE WORLD in October 2018, and we’ve been working on and off with them ever since. 

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

NEUE WORLD has talented designers. Since we have a strong eye for design, being able to bring in a team that’s in line with our standard for great design has been game-changing. His team has designs that are ready for the market. When the products come, I feel as though they define the categories that we play into. 

We're never trying to design anything that's subpar. We're always trying to design something that's going to push our client inches or miles ahead of the competition, and that's hard. It's not easy to take all the data, look at the competitors, and then design something seamless and that looks and feels better than everything else. NEUE WORLD executes on that hard challenge really well.

A lot of designers are visual designers, but you’ll see true UX designers in the way they craft their mindset around a problem. They propose thoughtful solutions and strategies. Ultimately, it’s easy to find a visual designer that can do layouts. However, it’s a lot harder to find someone with whom you can address a problem.

NEUE WORLD gives our clients a clear vision of not only what the product would look like today but also for the years to come. Our clients say they’re able to make changes and be a bit more flexible with the way they develop things because of the components they can modularly move around. 

How did NEUE WORLD perform from a project management standpoint?

Jay’s team and their vision around executing design and making thoughtful, cutting-edge deliverables are the reason I reach out to them. It’s easy to work with them because Jay manages the team in a way that’s preferable to us. 

The team in general is very good at timelines and they’re able to almost always hit deadlines. They’re very communicative when we need to plan ahead or manage expectations. There’s never a point where I can’t get in touch with the team. We understand exactly where we’re at and follow up from there. 

We generally use email and text, as we do with everyone else we work with. Primarily, we’re managing projects within Asana, and that’s been very successful. I never have any problem assigning tasks, providing documentation, or giving feedback to the team. The tasks are addressed within 24 hours.

What did you find most impressive about them?

Their biggest differentiator is their initiative in terms of taking guidance and directions, and they have a solution-oriented mindset. NEUE WORLD puts together great solutions instead of simply reacting to feedback in an analog way. Instead of designing mockups and building off of them, they start and spend a lot of time up front planning a design system. 

The way NEUE WORLD addresses a problem elevates our clients’ goals. They think about a problem for a couple of days, and we spend a bit more time up front before doing things. This tends to result in compelling solutions. That’s good because, in the world of technology, we’re only as good as the solution we design. That’s NEUE WORLD’s real value — we get much better end results than if we rush into the process.

This has opened up so much time for us to focus on other things and scale-up. The design team takes initiative, makes decisions on their own, and crafts great solutions. We all do it in collaboration, but it’s a lot more work when we have to tell everything step by step. NEUE WORLD’s process has allowed us to close more deals, spend more time with our clients, and get projects done faster. 

Are there any areas they could improve?

No, there’s none. I've seen NEUE WORLD improve over time in terms of becoming more communicative and testing out new solutions. They're constantly improving. 

As they scale up, they're going to organically improve their culture. That's good for them because their team already has a strong culture around solution-oriented design. If Jay can scale that within the designers he brings on board, it will be a formula for success. 

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

You can get the best bang for your buck if you can be patient and spend time upfront to see long-term results. Jay succeeds in being aware of timelines while spending more time thinking about the challenges. The more time you spend analyzing how other people are trying to solve a problem, the more you can craft a unique solution that builds an identity for your product and company. 

We think about speed as the number one priority all the time, but you have to be thoughtful to craft a great product. Patience is part of the development process. If you let Jay’s team spend more time up front to think through solutions, I guarantee you’ll have an even better product. It does take a bit of time and iteration, but if you let Jay ask questions and poke and probe the problem, they’re going to come up with incredible solutions.

BACKGROUND

Please describe your company and your position there.

I am the VP at Engineering Services. We provide exploration services in the oil and gas sector including aero gravity and magnetic surveys, 2d and 3D surveys and interpretation.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

For what projects/services did your company hire NEUE WORLD?

We hired NEUE to do our branding, website and emails.

What were your goals for this project?

We wanted to have a branding and identity for the company.

SOLUTION

How did you select NEUE WORLD?

Through a mutual friend recommendation and by their initial proposal submission.

Describe the scope of their work in detail.

NEUE submitted a detailed branding work, worked on all the contents of the website and making it to live, they also designed our logo, letterheads, created our email forum and run the website for us.

What was the team composition?

We primarily interacted with Jayant Rao.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

Since creation, Our company has attracted a lot of attention due to the appearance of the website which has contributed a lot in the coming of new business.

How effective was the workflow between your team and theirs?

Very effective. NEUE was always available whenever we had queries or wanted to discuss their proposed designs/ works.

What did you find most impressive about this company?

The creative understanding was an important aspect of our work together. The flow was very natural with the way things came together.

Are there any areas for improvement?

None we can think of!