Parachute Design Group Inc.

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m the CEO of Workbench Energy, a software company in the power sector. We help large industrial power users achieve cost savings.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with Parachute Design Group Inc.?

We were looking to amalgamate two brands and professionalize our online presence.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

Parachute Design Group Inc. rebranded our company, coming up with a name that worked for the two businesses. They also redid our logo and redesigned our website completely from scratch, working from images that we provided. We also provided them with a general framework which they then turned into a wireframe for the website. 

What is the team composition?

We had one primary contact and worked with one other teammate.

How did you come to work with Parachute Design Group Inc.?

I had done some work with them in the past and had a good experience. While we looked at a number of firms, it was clear that they would be a good fit for us. 

How much have you invested with them?

We invested a little over $50,000.

What is the status of this engagement?

On this project, we worked together from December 2019–April 2020.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

The website, which we launched last week, looks exponentially more professional than it did before. They did a good job of taking a complex service and industry and explaining those concepts in a visual, easy-to-understand way. The website flows smartly and intuitively. We’ve received a lot of positive feedback on it.

How did Parachute Design Group Inc. perform from a project management standpoint?

Parachute Design Group Inc. was able to deliver the project on time and within budget. We also didn’t face any scope changes. While there were small adjustments made, we never found ourselves in a position where we were renegotiating any elements of the agreement.

They did a great job of delivering what they said they would deliver when they said they would. We communicated with their team through a software program called InVision, as well as via email. 

What did you find most impressive about them?

The most unique aspect about Parachute Design Group Inc. is that they get right to the important elements of the project. They don’t put too much weight on big, lengthy, upfront, nebulous exercises around exploring your inner self.

Instead, they get right down to what the project is and what you want to get out of it. The team is practical and doesn’t waste time on exercises that ultimately don’t bear fruit. 

Are there any areas they could improve?

A lot of the interaction was online, which made the process efficient and quick. Call me old school, but I still appreciate more frequent voice communications. I did get some of that but would’ve preferred a little more.

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

Being able to check references is very important. I had a good experience with Parachute Design Group Inc. before so that greatly increased my sense of comfort embarking on a time-sensitive project with them where there was no room for mistakes.

Parachute Design Group Inc. is good at what they do and can deliver an excellent product on time and within budget.

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m a marketing lead for Kohl & Frisch, a pharmaceutical distributor that operates in Canada.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with Parachute Design Group Inc.?

Our website was built in 2008 and hadn’t been updated since. It was time for a design refresh.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

Parachute Design Group Inc. redesigned our website using a customized WordPress template. We didn’t want the new site to look like every other WordPress, and they nailed it. The theme is clean, simple, and unique to our brand. We’re using similar content from our old site, but now it has a fresh, new look.

What is the team composition?

I worked exclusively with Jay (Founder & Creative Director, Parachute Design Group Inc.). I occasionally emailed with another person when Jay was out, but we tried to stick to a single point of contact on both sides to streamline communication.

How did you come to work with Parachute Design Group Inc.?

I searched for Toronto-based web design companies on Google. I checked out 50 firms’ websites and looked at their portfolios. After contacting 20 companies and meeting with four, I was really sold on Parachute Design Group Inc. Their site had an excellent portfolio with working links so that I could explore each example thoroughly. That’s a big part of why we ended up going with their team.

What is the status of this engagement?

The project lasted from May until September 2019.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

The website has only recently been published. We’ve heard positive feedback from employees, and we’re satisfied with the design and the way it reflects our brand. Parachute Design Group Inc. did a great job.

How did Parachute Design Group Inc. perform from a project management standpoint?
The team was highly responsive. Much of our communication took place over email. I have no complaints about any of it.

What did you find most impressive about them?

Parachute Design Group Inc. gave me two options on the design, and they were both so good that I was spoiled for choice. They incorporated elements of each into the final template, and they pushed back whenever a design choice wouldn’t make sense from a user perspective. I appreciated their willingness to customize the site however we wanted.

Are there any areas they could improve?

A lot of our customers use Windows and older browsers. While the website is beautiful on my Apple computer, it doesn’t look as good on Windows. I think Parachute Design Group Inc. could improve their ability to test their designs across multiple platforms. That way, it looks the same to every customer, no matter their browser.

Any advice for potential customers?

When working with any outside vendor, have a single point of contact. Otherwise, having multiple chains of communication going on at once will cause confusion. 

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m the director of ASPIRE at Toronto Finance International. We’re a membership organization and an industry partner for financial services in Toronto. We promote Toronto as a global financial center and develop talent initiatives for our industry.

We’re currently running a work-integrated learning talent initiative to attract, upskill, and retrain student talent from outside of the traditional finance and business majors.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with Parachute Design Group Inc.?

Our website for ASPIRE was static and only had one page. We received $2.1 million in government funding to build out the program, so we needed help making our website a dynamic, informational hub.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

They built the website using WordPress. From there, we were impressed with their skills and extended the project to include improving backend functionality. Their developers created features that allow students to download materials, apply to programs, upload documents, etc. They also built tools so we can access important site information, including the total number of applications and where individuals are in the process.

What is the team composition?

Our main point of contact is Jay (Founder & Creative Director, Parachute Design Group).

How did you come to work with Parachute Design Group Inc.?

We searched online and reached out to four firms. Jay’s RFP application was more detailed and aligned with our expectations than the others. We knew exactly what their vision was and what the timeline would be.

How much have you invested in them?

We’ve spent around $70,000 so far.

What is the status of this engagement?

We started the project in April 2018, and the work is ongoing.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

We’ve been able to advance our projects because of the fully functioning website they produced. Everything runs smoothly, and we’ve had no concerns.

How did Parachute Design Group Inc. perform from a project management standpoint?

Having Jay as a project manager is useful—he motivates his team while holding us accountable. His team ensures we’re updated and not falling behind. If something needs to be approved, Jay reaches out and keeps us informed. They take responsibility for their role in the project.

What did you find most impressive about them?

As a team, they’re efficient and insightful. Parachute Design Group Inc. don’t rush their work–they produce quality work that is worth its price. They always let us know if there is a more cost-effective, productive way to achieve our goals.

Are there any areas they could improve?

Though they’re highly skilled, their team is small and can’t provide as many consistent resources as a larger group. When Jay was unavailable, we knew his skill set was unavailable. However, we prepared for this when planning the project, so it wasn’t a big challenge.

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

If your project requires both design and technical skills, Parachute Design Group Inc. are the right people for the job. In retrospect, I would have liked to use their team for more of the design work.

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m the co-founder of Tom&Sawyer, a highly innovative pet food company. We provide the highest quality pet meals globally by self-imposing strict human edible food regulations and sell direct to consumer both online and in our own retail stores, providing a very differentiated retail experience to pets and their owners.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with Parachute Design Group?

Because we were doing something completely different – we use all restaurant quality ingredients and have an open kitchen in our flagship retail store here in Toronto – we were looking to create an equally differentiated and disruptive brand experience.

If you look at pet food brands, they tend to be hokey and pun-lace – not cool or professional. We wanted to make sure that we led with a brand that was contemporary but also portrayed our values of high-quality, trust, transparency, and, of course, fun and cuteness. We got into this business because we love our dog Sawyer, so we wanted to communicate that.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement Parachute Design Group?

We wrote down a lot of our own ideas for our logo design and our wordmark (word graphic) orientation, and Parachute worked through various iterations. We then collaborated and zoned in on a particular look and feel that we liked. Once they saw what types of things we liked, they started gravitating towards them as well. Jay at Parachute ended up coming up with the pet head icon, and we absolutely loved it!

They also wireframed the designs of our main e-commerce site. Our web experience is all laid out according to their design, except where our chosen technology platform complicated our design enablement. We recently scoped out a redesign project with Parachute now that we will be launching a new platform we developed in-house. This is going to be especially important moving forward as we look to expand globally.

What is the team composition?

Their founder has been our main point of contact, but I know that they have had numerous team members work on elements of our T&S work.

How did you come to work with Parachute Design Group?

Having been disappointed by other agencies, I searched online and came across the Parachute portfolio. Something in their clean and contemporary design and execution really struck me, so I contacted them. We initially used them on projects for other companies we own and decided to see if they could tackle a different kind of challenge with our pet food brand.

How much have you invested with them?

This project cost between $10,000–$20,000.

What is the status of this engagement?

We worked together on this project from June 2015 until 2016.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

Even though we’re a pet food brand, we’ve had strong interest in our brand identity even in markets where we don’t yet sell our pet meals and treats. We ended up investing in a full-range line of apparel with our branding on it – we can’t keep it in stock either. We’ve have requests from around the world for our trucker hats, t-shirts and dog bandanas. People clearly like what we’re doing, including retail analysts Euromonitor who recently ranked Tom&Sawyer among the most innovative retail concepts globally. Our brand identity, developed by Parachute, achieved the differentiation we initially sought.

How did Parachute Design Group perform from a project management standpoint?

Most of our work was actually done by phone, but we did meet in-person a few times. A lot of it was just sending proofs and PDFs back and forth, going through the markup process. We were very impressed by how incredibly organized they were with their time. They met all of the project deadlines that we had established, and frankly, if there were ever any delays, it was always because of us. We had a very good working relationship with them. They're very responsive in terms of communication. Whenever we reach out to them they get back to us very quickly.

What do you find most impressive about them?

All agencies are supposed to be creative, but there was a different level of creativity and innovation in their designs. They weren't just coming up with cute designs. Instead, they were thinking many steps down the road about customer engagement and how this would roll out when we scaled the business. They tried to incorporate a lot of sales-oriented ideas into our initial brand discussion, which I really liked.

I'd also say that their work was quite inexpensive for what we got out of them. We thought we got very good value for the investment we made. I think another one of their greatest strengths was that we never felt like we were being sold to.

Are there any areas they could improve?

If there's anything – I wouldn't necessarily expect this of them – it was when we were making the decision to use our own developer to do a lot of the implementation work. They could have sold us a little bit more on their own capabilities, as I have seen great results in other projects they have implemented online. I’m kind of speaking out of both sides of my mouth in that I liked not feeling like they were selling me on the design work, but I could have been sold-to a bit more on the technology implementation work.

Any advice for potential customers?

If I was to do it over again, I would have incorporated Parachute into the implementation of our website. The way that they managed to always hit deadlines so effectively, and were really effective at managing timelines, that is tremendous value to customers.

I would say to treat Jay and the team as not just a creative partner but as more of a sales-enablement partner. Give them respect by opening up about your expectations from a customer experience and scaling the business perspective. They have really good insight in that area and would incorporate a lot of that perspective into their designs.

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I'm the marketing and communications manager at Wysdom AI, a platform that offers AI-based virtual assistants to help enterprises with troubleshooting and transactions within their user bases.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with Parachute Design Group?

Our company was previously under a different name, so we were going through a rebranding stage and needed help refreshing our website.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

Parachute Design Group met with us to discuss our vision and they came back to us with a couple different design options to move forward on. They utilized InVision to storyboard the visual elements of the site and then built it on WordPress. They incorporated some account-based marketing software systems for our forms, using platforms like HubSpot, and ensured the site was mobile-friendly.

What is the team composition?

We work with Jay (Founder and Creative Director, Parachute Design Group), as well as a few others.

How did you come to work with Parachute Design Group?

I'd previously worked with Parachute Design Group at a different company and recommended them to my team. After initial conversations with Jay, we all agreed that they would be a good fit for the project.

How much have you invested with them?

We've probably invested around $30,000 thus far.

What is the status of this engagement?

We started working with them in the summer of 2017 and the site was live by September. They continue to work with us on a retainer, and we plan to do another refresh of the site with them in the near future.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

Parachute Design Group improved the overall functionality of our website, making it much easier to publish content and make changes from our end. In addition to improved workflow standards, their efforts have also increased satisfaction of all of our stakeholders.

How did Parachute Design Group perform from a project management standpoint?

They're great communicators. Jay is both accessible and responsive anytime we reach out. By utilizing InVision and mapping out the website before going into development, he ensured no time was wasted during the later stages of the project. We mostly communicate through email, but also have occasional calls and message each other via Slack.

What did you find most impressive about them?

Jay is good at communicating and managing both expectations and timelines. If something's not working, he'll explain the situation to us without sugarcoating it—he's very transparent.

Are there any areas they could improve?

Just as with most vendors, there's always room for improving communication between the design and development teams.

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

Go into the relationship with a clear vision of what you want and with as much information as possible to make the most of your time.

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m the co-founder and president of a food processing company.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with Parachute Design Group Inc.?

We needed a branding partner to help with our graphics and package and web design.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

Parachute Design Group Inc. started by asking us questions about our vision for the company, what we thought of our products, who our target audience was, etc. They used those answers to get a feel for our company values and create our logo. They then built off the logo to design our WordPress website, e-commerce store, and packaging.

What is the team composition?

We worked with one person.

How did you come to work with Parachute Design Group Inc.?

One of their clients recommended them. We met and thought they’d be great, so we hired them.

How much have you invested with them?

We’ve spent between $10,000–$50,000.

What is the status of this engagement?

We partnered in August 2015, and the work is ongoing. We’ve launched our site but haven’t begun advertising yet. We’re still developing the operations and production side of our product.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

We’ve gotten great feedback from everyone who’s seen our branding, packaging, and website. We haven’t used the site much, but it doesn’t have any bugs, and all the tests have gone ever well. If we come across any issues, Parachute Design Group Inc. fixes them quickly.

How did Parachute Design Group Inc. perform from a project management standpoint?

They’ve been fast and responsive—we’re the ones who delay things. They created a project timeline we were happy with and keep us moving forward. We communicate via phone and email.

What did you find most impressive about them?

They listen to us and try to find a customized solution. When we interviewed other companies, some just came with a pre-packaged idea and didn’t take time to figure out what we needed. Parachute Design Group Inc., on the other hand, came as a blank slate and cared about our needs. They give honest feedback and aren’t afraid to disagree if it means making a better product in the end. We’ve had a great experience with them.

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I'm the Marketing Director at Stern Cohen LLP. We’re a midsize full-service accounting firm in Toronto, Canada.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with Parachute Design Group Inc.?

Our website was outdated and we wanted to do a rebranding as well, including the creation of a new logo. We wanted an SEO optimized website that would help drive inquiries to the firm.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

They created a fully customized WordPress website, which I'm able to edit. I worked with Parachute Design Group to ensure that the design would meet the needs of our audience. They created our new logo, with new corporate colours. The first website they did for us was about 4 years ago, so we’ve since had them do a website refresh. Primarily the site is informational. It lets our audience know about our services and team members, as well as providing resources that clients and prospects might find useful.

What is the team composition?

I've worked mainly with Jay (founder and creative director, Parachute Design Group Inc.) and a developer.

How did you come to work with Parachute Design Group Inc.?

I was doing a Google search and Parachute Design Group kept coming up number one. I realized they must be doing something right.

How much have you invested with them?

We’ve spent between $10,000–$50,000.

What is the status of this engagement?

We started working together in October 2014 and the original site launched in February 2015. They completed the refresh in May 2018.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

The website is the number one source of new business for our firm. We’ve also gotten great user feedback. I submitted the website in a contest with the Association of Accounting Marketing and it won an award, so they really did create an award-winning website for us.

How did Parachute Design Group Inc. perform from a project management standpoint?

If we ever have any questions or need anything, they respond immediately. They're extremely efficient and responsive. I can't say enough about them.

What did you find most impressive about them?

I really appreciate that Jay is a registered graphic designer. He has awesome design sense, and he knows how to build a website that's SEO-optimized. They also have great attention to detail.

Any advice for potential customers?

It's really important that you communicate as a specialist for your industry. Make sure that you share that guidance with the designer as part of the process.

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I work in communications for an Ontario-based provincial government agency. I handle all of the digital aspects of our business, like our forward facing website, internal communications and design work for presentations and applicable projects.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with Parachute Design Group Inc.?

Our previous website was not user friendly and pretty bland. Our challenge was to improve accessibility, under AOPA guidelines, while creating a modern and fresh look that would improve user experience.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

They used Wordpress to redesign our website almost completely from scratch. They put together a performance report, onboarded google analytics, provided the web hosting, established our overall theme and even helped us find pictures for the site.

What is the team composition?

I worked mostly with Jay (Founder and Creative Director, Parachute Design Group). On occasion, I also worked with some of his team.

How did you come to work with Parachute Design Group Inc.?

In the government of Ontario, we are required to interview candidates and Parachute was one of our best candidates. They offered a great package and were very professional.

How much have you invested with them?

We have invested around $30,000.

What is the status of this engagement?

We began working in January of 2016 and launched on July 7th of that year, although we could have launched sooner if not for necessary regulations. We have an extended contract warranty where they have been doing maintenance, core updates and plugins. If any glitches or issues arise, I can throw together patch notes for Jay and send it off and he’ll take care of it within 1 to 2 business days.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

Our old website was horrible and confusing and constantly received complaints. Now, we often receive positive remarks about the site and even have people come in to meet us just to discuss our site. Although other circumstances have also had an effect, our web traffic has doubled since January of 2018.

How did Parachute Design Group Inc. perform from a project management standpoint?

While they were developing on Wordpress, we were able to see the wireframes and the work, in progress, almost every week. It was not only nice to see their work while they were working on it; we also were able to obtain really good progress reports that we could then show to our managers. We shared biweekly meetings and, despite a rushed timeline, never worried about getting the product late as Jay was always on top of deadlines. Whenever there has been a problem, I simply send them an email and receive an invoice (if necessary) right away and the deliverables within just a day or two.

What did you find most impressive about them?

I am definitely the most impressed with my correspondence with Jay. He not only has responded almost immediately; I have been confident that as soon as I have sent an email, Jay will have quickly gotten started on getting things going within his team to have started making the necessary changes.

Are there any areas they could improve?

We haven’t had any problems. At the start of this whole process, however, it would have been great to have received a tutorial of sorts about how they set things up on the backend. Often, at the beginning of working together, I found myself searching for things located on the backend. It would have been nice if, right from the start, they had gone over where to find certain elements of the site or given more of an overview.

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

Definitely meet with them in person; it’s difficult to get stuff expressed over the phone or through email. Jay’s really skilled at brand research; he did a lot of research into our branding before he even began on our design, and I would say that an initial conversation would make it easier for Jay to conduct that kind of research.

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m the CEO of a personal nutrition company. It’s a completely digital and remote company with 100 employees. We provide nutrition and lifestyle coaching, certified health and wellness professionals, and nutritional software/curriculums.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with Parachute Design Group Inc.?

We needed a full-service design team.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

They work on certain design components for our digital products. They design the landing pages, product pages, and interactive pages. Their team also designs the graphics for our advertising on multiple different platforms including LinkedIn, Google  AdWords, and Facebook.

We work together to build digital funnels. They provide the additional ad designs, landing page designs, digital course templates, and e-book designs for these funnels. Their team also designs our thank-you pages and PDFs.

What is the team composition?

Our main point of contact was the founder and creative director of Parachute Design.

How did you come to work with Parachute Design Group Inc.?

I’ve been working with them for 13 years through every company I've worked at. I originally found them through a referral.

How much have you invested with them?

We've invested in the six figure range so far.

What is the status of this engagement?

We started working together in January 2015 and the work is ongoing.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

Due to our new courses and funnels, our traffic is increasing. Our landing pages convert significantly above industry standard numbers of customers, and site traffic is up over 100%. Sales are up year over year and our click-through rates are significantly above industry standards.

How did Parachute Design Group Inc. perform from a project management standpoint?

We’re a completely remote company and communicate digitally through Zoom or Slack. They had no problem integrating into our Slack channels.

We conduct a regularly updates with their project manager, and they make it seamless. They are the most responsive, accountable, and productive vendor I've worked with thus far.

What did you find most impressive about them?

They’re responsible, reliable, and deliver quality work.

Are there any areas they could improve?

They could add capacity so we could do more projects with them.

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

State your project scope and project requirements upfront and clearly. Sit down with their team to make sure your expectations are clear. Take this process seriously.

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

As a partner in a mid-sized accounting firm, I manage the IT department.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with Parachute Design Group?

We needed to replace our outdated website and help implement an online payment system on the platform.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

Parachute Design Group developed a standard, mobile-friendly website enhanced for user engagement. They also refined site scripts to ensure that search results were generating accurate information. We perform updates as needed. More recently, they helped set up our online payment portal.

What is the team composition?

Their creative director is our main point of contact.

How did you come to work with Parachute Design Group?

They were an established web service provider before I came onboard.  

How much have you invested with them?

I wasn’t involved in the initial website renovation, but I know that we spent less than $5,000 to set up the payment portal.

What is the status of this engagement?

We’ve been working with Parachute Design Group since August 2015.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

We don’t obsess over metrics, but we know that they did an excellent job because we’re no longer receiving daily complaints about our website. The new site has even generated a few small clients. While our larger clients typically find us through their network, they always admit to the professionally-designed website being a factor in their decision to use our services. Existing customers are also using the site as an educational resource, as we provide tax updates on our blog.

How did Parachute Design Group perform from a project management standpoint?

I’m so accustomed to micromanaging our IT department, so it was nice to have Parachute Design Group take care of everything. They always deliver work within a reasonable time frame; the few delays that have occurred were at the fault of other vendors being uncooperative. Whenever I have questions or concerns, they promptly respond with a solution.

What did you find most impressive about them?

Parachute responds to our emails immediately, which is a stark contrast to other companies we've used. They also have strong budgetary abilities; the cost of their services is always in line with the quoted price. When we were developing the online payment feature, they had to jump in and correct mistakes the other company was making. Despite performing work outside of the scope, they only charged us for the amount they originally proposed.

Are there any areas they could improve?

The logo looked distorted on our website, but they were able to resolve the issue quickly. Besides that minor problem, they built the site according to our preferences.

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

Give them a call, and they’ll build a website customized to fit all of your business needs.