OAK THEORY

BACKGROUND

Please describe your company and your position there.

I am the co-founder and CEO of CEED Inc, a digital business ecosystem created to help Black cannabis entrepreneurs launch, scale and grow.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

For what projects/services did your company hire OAK THEORY?

We are a newly seed-funded digital platform in need of help articulating our company mission and capabilities to various audiences. We initially hired Oak Theory for branding and their wonderful team suggested a landing page to help pull it all together in a visual way.

SOLUTION

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

We found Oak Theory via breef.com after an extensive yet fruitless web search for visionary creative agencies capable of yielding high quality output for disruptive, abstract conceptual companies. We are somewhat of a unicorn in our industry and we knew that from Oak Theory's past projects plus their proposal, they just "got" us.

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

• Intro
• proposal
• acceptance
• kickoff call
• company summary (research and fact-finding)
• rough timeline and deliverables
• biweekly update call
• client project pivot call
• new timeline and deliverables
• final project review call

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

We worked with the founder & lead developer & designer, a project lead and an additional designer; 3 resources total.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

The Oak Theory team is highly adaptable and very clear on their processes. They knew the right questions to ask to achieve the desired result. Our page has just launched so though we don't currently have metrics to define, we have a beautiful, responsive lead capture page which greatly represents our brand.

How effective was the workflow between your team and theirs?

Though the original scope of work shifted from our end, the Oak Theory team was able to provide clear, timely insights regarding expectations, deliverabilty and any changes or extensions needed ell beforehand.

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

My team and I loved that the agency is both, Black-(co-)owned and female led. These values were reflected in the clarity of their processes, the pivotability and adaptability of their team as well as their effortless understanding of our culture-forward brand and unique market positioning.

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

Though there were a few delays, mostly due to changes from our end, the Oak Theory team remained consistent & clear, managing new deadlines and updates with grace and understanding.

BACKGROUND

Please describe your company and your position there.

UCSF Institute for Global Health Sciences is dedicated to improving health and reducing the burden of disease in the world's most vulnerable populations. I am the communications director.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

For what projects/services did your company hire OAK THEORY?

We hired Oak Theory to design the UX/UI of 9 main pages for our website redesign.

SOLUTION

How did you select this vendor?

I wanted to go with a woman-led, BIPOC-owned person or firm. They were speaking at an online career event that I was invited to attend.

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

Their team set up a project plan and timeline. We started with an extensive brand discovery call, we provided them with content, we had 4 to five rounds of versions for the 9 template designs along with follow-up meetings to provide feedback.

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

Both founders kicked off the process. Then we worked with one of the founders, a project manager and an additional UX designer at any given time. It was great!

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

The fact that we were able to complete the design process and get started on the web development process in 3 short months was amazing. I transitioned out of the organization so someone else will be leading the implementation of the designs that Oak Theory created for us.

How effective was the workflow between your team and theirs?

The team was extremely communicative and organized.

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

Their expertise was stellar. I love that it's run and operated by mostly women of color!

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

Nope!

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

EigenPatterns develops collaborative anomaly detection and pattern recognition systems that blend machine learning and human insight to deliver powerful real-time monitoring capabilities.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with the vendor?

We are building an application to proactively identify and classify anomalies in large systems such as natural gas pipelines and payment processing, using proprietary algorithms, to provide sufficient time for mitigation.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement? 

OAK THEORY helped us design an intuitive workflow and frontend for alert management and pattern classification.

What is the team composition? 

On our side we had a product, analytics, and engineering team. OAK THEORY had a product and design team. 

How did you come to work with the vendor?

We identified multiple vendors gathered from online lists and interviewed them. OAK THEORY seemed like a very smart, talented and motivated team. They seemed to have a solid mix of technical and product skills, and an impressive list of prior clients.

How much have you invested with them?

The value of the contract was around $40,000–$50,000

What is the status of this engagement?

OAK THEORY has completed and delivered the workflows and frontend.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

As an outcome of the project, we now have a solid understanding of the key workflows, data, and user actions. We are now building on this by developing the application backend. 

How did the vendor perform from a project management standpoint?

OAK THEORY is very easy to work with. They were flexible with the start date as I secured funding. They helped drive the project forward and had clear timelines, which they were able to meet. OAK THEORY was proactive in understanding the business requirements and we built a roadmap early on.

They mapped the process flows in detail and delivered solid design. They created a detailed plan that accommodated my timeline and delivered on schedule.

What did you find most impressive about them?

The founders seemed to take a personal interest in the project. The team was very motivated and invested time to understand the business need/technology beyond their immediate focus, which I think helped build a superior interface and workflows.

OAK THEORY was easy to work with and the team was very smart and highly motivated. They bring cutting edge tools, an excellent design sense, and good product intuition. And, it was a fun experience to work on the project with OAK THEORY!

BACKGROUND

Please describe your company and your position there.

I am the Vice President of Product & Operations at a mobile advertising company.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

For what projects/services did your company hire OAK THEORY?

We wanted to reimagine our platform experience for a particular personalization tool we used. With no definitive style guide and the need to build from the ground up, we needed talent that was familiar with the advertising landscape & our personalization technology, as well as the needs of the users we were looking to solve for.

SOLUTION

How did you select this vendor?

An internal product manager who had worked with the founders of Oak Theory at a previous company recommended them. Given that their prior experience was exactly what we needed in terms of understanding the landscape and the particular problem we were solving, enlisting their help was a no brainer.

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

The project was to deconstruct a tool we had already had and build it from the ground up. All the while, building a new imagine and brand for the tool. They started with asking to understand what brand image we wanted and began work on the style guide simultaneously.

As we aligned on that general direction, with the expectation that we would refine it along the way, as we iterated on the actual platform, they began remapping the screens of the tool we had into a brand new, user friendly, fresh, and bright user experience. All the while, they worked with the product managers & stakeholders to continue to capture feedback, iterate, and help us with decisions on key UI/UX elements we wouldn't have otherwise known to look at.

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

Initially it was just Hannah & Vee, with Hannah participating as Product/Project manager & Vee as UI/UX designer. As the scope grew, they added two more members to support in capturing requirements & hitting deadlines.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

We were thrilled with the prototypes they delivered and how intuitive it was. What they shared with us demonstrated a deep understanding of the original tool we had as well as a grand vision on how we can rebuild. The success was demonstrated in the ultimate deliverable, the user experience, the speed at which a user can run through a "build", and how they're able to activate their builds. This product now serves as a launchpad for future iterations of our tool.

How effective was the workflow between your team and theirs?

Incredible. They dove right in & got onboarded into our Slack. They quickly met the whole team and knew who was working on what part of the project. They consistently reached out whenever more was needed from our side and were involved every step of the way. They also ran numerous feedback sessions with our product team & also demoed how to use their prototypes to our engineers.

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

Aside from being an absolute pleasure to work with, it's impressive how easy they made the entire process. We came in with a very wide open ask - help us redefine our style guide while building a new product. There were many decisions that were to be made along the way and they were one step ahead and more than willing to help us define the project in steps. Their expertise on the ultimate platform we delivered also demonstrated a deep understanding of our technology.

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

Nothing comes to mind.

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I'm the founder of Growth Blazers, a global community for modern marketers and growth leaders sharing actionable advice and strategies for sustainable growth, business growth, and career growth. We produce multiple virtual and in-person events.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with OAK THEORY?

The biggest challenge that we always have is how to present our brand and to make sure that it's credible and trustworthy. With us being a new player in the field, it's important to have a very professional design. As a result, since I know one of the co-founders of OAK THEORY, I reached out to them to help us.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

We spent quite a bit of time outlining the core of how we want to be perceived and who we were. We communicated that to their product manager, who also helped us work directly with the creative team. After some time, we received several options and mood boards. Based on what they presented, we chose how our logo would look like and what our main colors would be.

The biggest and most important project that they helped us with was the design of the collateral and the theme design for our entire event series. We went with a special theme that they suggested. They also assisted with a little bit of copy and overall brand positioning. The team continues to support us with our branding needs.

What is the team composition?

We’re in touch with their project manager, product manager, lead designer, and junior designer.

How did you come to work with OAK THEORY?

I knew one of the co-founders of OAK THEORY for many years, not necessarily from a professional standpoint, but I knew she was a good friend of my wife. I also knew that she worked as a designer for Sephora and some other large brands like HBO while working on a different agency. Based on that, I knew that she produced high-quality work. When she formed her own agency, they were the first choice for me.

How much have you invested with them?

The project was around $50,000–$70,000, but we only paid it partially in exchange for sponsorship of our events.

What is the status of this engagement?

We started working together in January 2020, and the collaboration is ongoing.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

We track the conversion rate on our website and we've noticed that with the new branding and design, the conversion rates on our website have tripled. It was really hard to provide a good representation for a virtual event through a website and through sponsorship, but their designs were so good that we were able to attract really big brands like Salesforce to join us as our sponsor. We also attribute our recent conversations with Facebook and Google to OAK THEORY’s designs.

How did  OAK THEORY perform from a project management standpoint?

We usually have bi-weekly calls, and we use ClickUp to track everything. One person on our team communicates with our assigned project manager. The team uses Figma for the design. Once in a while, we also have review meetings with their lead designer or junior designers.

What did you find most impressive about them?

The team's creativity and quality of work are impressive, which allows them to create unique designs. Their lead designer also understands and quickly absorbs what we’re trying to go for. Overall, they’ve done a great job, and we’re very happy with their work.

At a previous company that I worked at, we had a larger operation and I was running a conference with a larger budget. We spent over $100,000 with another agency and there was a month-long process just in creating the brand and doing all of the exercises. However, OAK THEORY’s accomplishments within two weeks represented us better than what the previous agency created — even though we paid much more to that agency.

Are there any areas they could improve?

Everything has something to improve. I know that they’re struggling to attract new talent because they have such high standards. Perhaps, they should lower their standards a bit so they can bring in more people and scale faster because in some cases they're unable to take on more work. With our specific scenario, they’re doing pretty well. However, I know every small agency is struggling with that.

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

Don't underestimate the fact that they're a small team. They might not have dozens of people executing tasks, but they’re able to accomplish a lot. More importantly, they can deliver work that some enterprise-sized agencies will charge double for.

In addition, don't think that their prices are too high. You should definitely keep in mind that you're paying for the quality of work so don't look at the size of their agency. Instead, look at the talent that you'll be working with. I also know that they do a really good job with software applications, which I believe is their specialty, based on the feedback from other friends that I referred them to.

BACKGROUND

Please describe your company and your position there.

I am the owner of 800CashToday, which is an online lead generation service provider nationwide.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

For what projects/services did your company hire OAK THEORY?

Design and develop a strong website creating a national brand identity. Our loyalty and relationship with Oak Theory continues as they assist in developing online and offline marketing campaigns. We anticipate a very long and beneficial business relationship.

SOLUTION

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

First and foremost, an amazing team of ladies with each having an exceptional skill set. After several interviews with Oak Theory and multiple other contenders, it quickly became obvious Oak Theory was the team for the job.

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

After several meetings to discuss our market, customers, and industry rom initial concept to brand identity to site design, format and target marketing - they took the reigns and seamlessly provided an amazing website and brand that is second to known in our marketplace.

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

The entire team of seven was available anytime with short notice.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

Exact, detailed, specific, and efficient — one cannot ask for a more well-run operation.

How effective was the workflow between your team and theirs?

Seamless and flawless.

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

Creative as all can get. They provided several options (all very good) to choose from and provided enhancements to boot. They are a very smart group of ladies.

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

Any advise I would give would not improve their services. They were very impressive, and they worked hard to prove their capabilities.

BACKGROUND

Please describe your company and position.

I am the Founder & CEO of ByePuck

Describe what your company does in a single sentence.

ByePuck is a new brand celebrating BIPOC excellence, culture and community in the sport of ice hockey.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What specific goals or objectives did you hire OAK THEORY to accomplish?

• Establish a Brand Identity and Foundation
• Enable Community Credibility and Storytelling

SOLUTION

How did you find OAK THEORY?

Online Search

Why did you select OAK THEORY over others?

• Pricing fit our budget
• Great culture fit
• Company values aligned

How many teammates from OAK THEORY were assigned to this project?

2-5 Employees

Describe the scope of work in detail. Please include a summary of key deliverables.

The specific objective for this engagement included establishing a brand identity and foundation. Oak Theory was tasked with grounding Bye Puck’s visual presence with a modern, culturally resonant identity. This included aligning on a core vision and audience, then translating those insights into a logo, color system, typography, and visual language.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

What were the measurable outcomes from the project that demonstrate progress or success?

• Brand Discovery & Alignment: Completion of one to two workshops, resulting in documented moodboards and audience personas.
• Visual Identity Development: Creation of three distinct visual directions for the logo, with two rounds of refinement based on feedback.
• Final Visual Assets: Delivery of a finalized primary logo (in vector and PNG formats), a color palette, typography system, and iconography library.
• Brand Guidelines: A comprehensive PDF documenting rules for logo usage, color codes, typography, and layout principles.

Describe their project management. Did they deliver items on time? How did they respond to your needs?

Oak Theory’s project management was exceptionally professional and highly structured. They utilized a phased, research-driven approach that ensured every design decision was grounded in Bye Puck’s core mission. Throughout the collaboration, they maintained clear communication through scheduled check-ins at key milestones and used tools like Slack and Google Meets for seamless day-to-day updates. Their process was collaborative yet contained, providing expert recommendations while ensuring that we, as the primary decision-makers, were always aligned.

What was your primary form of communication with OAK THEORY?

• In-Person Meeting
• Virtual Meeting
• Email or Messaging App

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

As a firm founded and led by women of color, they bring a perspective that is tragically rare in the design world. Their mantra, 'Diversity is not our initiative, it’s our DNA,' isn’t just a slogan; it was evident in every workshop and deliverable they produced.

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

No. We are extremely satisfied with how the project turned out and most importantly, we are already repeat customers!

BACKGROUND

Please describe your company and position.

I am the Co-Founder of Impact Rising

Describe what your company does in a single sentence.

We provide consulting services in impact design, tracking & reporting for nonprofits.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What specific goals or objectives did you hire OAK THEORY to accomplish?

• To design a visual ID
• To design a PowerPoint template design

SOLUTION

How did you find OAK THEORY?

Referral

Why did you select OAK THEORY over others?

• High ratings
• Great culture fit
• Company values aligned

How many teammates from OAK THEORY were assigned to this project?

2-5 Employees

Describe the scope of work in detail. Please include a summary of key deliverables.

The scope of work for visual ID consisted of: interactive workshop, word logo (3 options), color palette, typography (primary & secondary), with two rounds of revisions. The scope of work for PPT template design consisted of: PPT template design (5 pages), 1 cover page, 1 end page, and 3 content pages, with two rounds of revisions.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

What were the measurable outcomes from the project that demonstrate progress or success?

Visual ID and PPT Template Design for our new company.

Describe their project management. Did they deliver items on time? How did they respond to your needs?

The Oak Theory team worked with us on the branding of our company's core services Impact Academy, and from the very beginning we were so impressed by their approach to discovery and how they drew out the essence of our work. The creative process was grounded and supportive, we were partners in design led by collaborative experts who encouraged us during each step in the journey. 

What was your primary form of communication with OAK THEORY?

Virtual Meeting

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

The end products were beautiful and of exceptional quality. We are hopeful for continued engagement over time and highly recommend others to partner with Hannah, Veronica and the team at Oak Theory. It was no doubt the best partnership decision we've made as a team.

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

No, nothing --