Polyform Studio

BACKGROUND

Please describe your company and position.

I am the Co-Founder and Co-CEO of Beatbox

Describe what your company does in a single sentence.

Beatbox is a the first digitally fueled, modernized music experience bringing people together one song at a time. 

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What specific goals or objectives did you hire Polyform Studio to accomplish?

• Act as a thought partner in the initial conception of the Beatbox game (ie. what was possible)
• Design and develop the UI/UX for the Beatbox game from scratch
• Help us source the engineering firm to develop the Beatbox game

SOLUTION

How did you find Polyform Studio?

Referral

Why did you select Polyform Studio over others?

• Great culture fit
• Referred to me
• Company values aligned

How many teammates from Polyform Studio were assigned to this project?

2-5 Employees

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

Polyform helped us develop the overall UI/UX for a gamified karaoke experience. They also helped us design and develop our website. Key deliverables included an entire gaming workflow in Figma with an adaptalbe design system, some really cool 3D graphics as part of the game, and our website built out in webflow. 

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

Polyform delivered us a full UI system and gaming workflow. They worked with us and the engineering team to kick off development and get us to a first working prototype! They also designed and developed the entire framework for our website on Webflow which we can push live as soon as we are ready to launch.

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

The Polyform team did a great job managing timelines and deliverables for this proejct, as well as being flexible based on our needs. They provided us with super helpful, actionable project updates each week and we had an ongoing meeting cadence that allowed us to review new work and give feedback. As a new concept, there were lots of areas where we realized what we needed only as we started working and Polyform was flexible and super responsive to us as we uncovered more specificity around our needs. 

What was your primary form of communication with Polyform Studio?

• Virtual Meeting
• Email or Messaging App

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

We found the Polyform Team's commitment and ability to be a thoughtful partner with us super impressive and valuable.

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

Nope, it was great!

BACKGROUND

Please describe your company and your position there.

I am the VP of Product & Research at a software development firm that works with some of the largest companies in the world to help them adopt emerging tech such as blockchain, AI/ML, IoT, and others.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

For what projects/services did your company hire Polyform Design Studio?

We needed help doing ideation and creative design for digital assets that would be sold on behalf of a global brand. We internally have design expertise but not as much experience as Polyform with doing 3d modeling and web3 specific asset design.

SOLUTION

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

Polyform had an impressive track record of working on large brand related projects. They also had deep experience and passion for web3 which we also valued from a partner of the project.

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

We worked through a number of design thinking exercises and workshops with the client. Then took those ideas and feedback to synthesize the concepts back into a formal presentation to the client on-site.

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

2 people in total comprising of a design lead and management lead.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

Polyform went above and beyond to work with a huge brand to help tell a story that resonated and did their brand justice. They went through more ideation revisions that expected to ensure that the outcomes of the project were of high quality.

How effective was the workflow between your team and theirs?

Very effective workflow between our teams. I'll be honest, there a ton of question for this review so my answers are getting shorter.

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

They were very hands on, attentive, and passionate about the project and tech. We did several on-site together, and collaborating with them was a great experience.

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

nope

BACKGROUND

Please describe your company and your position there.

I was working as the Interim Head of Design for Interactio which provides the remote interpreter video conferencing platform for the EU, EC, UN, Fifa, Nato, etc. (RSI Platform). The company is headquartered in Vilnius, Lithuania.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

For what projects/services did your company hire Polyform Studio?

Polyform was selected to help Interactio stand up a full design system for its product suite.

SOLUTION

How did you select this vendor?

Polyform was selected from a field of around 15 vendors from around the world through an RFP process.

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

Polyform helped Interactio build out their design system, starting from in-depth research with users & team members, rethinking the core UX from the ground up throughout the entire suite, then finally the UI foundation and breakout into the UI Kit in Figma.

The depth of exploration at the UX level was mind-blowingly fast... I've frankly never seen such high-quality output at such volume and speed. Very thoughtful work that challenged conventions and orthodoxies within the team to wrap around the needs of the users.

The sheer complexity of the product suite cannot be understated, and Polyform methodically chewed through all of it with an unflagging focus from day 1 to the end.

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

Three people were core to the work: account lead/PM/design lead, UX designer, UI designer

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

The heavy lifting that occurred through this project set the foundation for the company to evolve from a reactive, ad-hoc model to a solid product workflow and culture that works from the needs of the user.

This cultural transformation was absolutely essential for Interactio to reach maturity as a company as it moves to the optimization and refinement phase of its scale-up journey. The way of working, the UI Kit, and the pivot to the culture are all considerable outcomes and of enormous value to Interactio.

How effective was the workflow between your team and theirs?

The workflow was transparent, empathetic, inclusive, and relentless. The biggest learning throughout was for our team to learn what a design system actually means for the business, and how to approach the work with the user in mind. Smooth and collegial throughout.

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

Polyform was a fantastic choice on many fronts: speed, efficiency, UX chops, and experience. The experience of creating the work with them was outstanding. They were calm, focused, professional, and positive. The complexity of this product cannot be understated, and the depth of rethinking and quality lift needed was no small task.

There is also a considerable task of helping the company come to terms with what a design system is, what it takes to realize it, and how the way of working is altered, which Polyform managed and guided with grace and empathy.

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

The only complaint was found deep in the details of the UI work, but given the timeline and depth of scope, those issues wouldn't have surfaced without the context of applying it to specific aspects of the product suite in real-time. This caused some friction only because of the personalities in Interactio's design team who may not have understood entirely that the project wasn't going to design the whole product suite, but rather provide the foundation for their work to build the whole product suite with the UI Kit as a starting point.

This was a result of misunderstood expectations on the Interactio side, and Polyform was graceful and responsive throughout to manage and mitigate as needed. There is a learning there that reinforcing expectations and reality on the ground can not be repeated often enough to get everyone on the same page... but to do that would have felt defensive and perhaps hectoring by Polyform.

In the end, it was a personality-management issue on the Interactio side, and not really a true failing by Polyform. Polyform was calm and measured throughout, and an amazing parter for a difficult journey,

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m the founder and CEO of Boost, a technology startup. We provide a financial application for young creative freelancers to help them manage their finances. This tool works as an accounting software but is focused on young creators.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with Polyform Studio?

We needed help a UX/UI for our app. We wanted a more polished and better functioning product. We also wanted to refresh our brand so it would resonate more with our target customers.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

Polyform worked with us to redesign the UI/UX of our product using Figma. The project included user and market research, UX testing, and product design. They’ve also helped us refresh our branding, refining our logo and changing our brand's color palette and visual aesthetic.

What is the team composition?

Polyform’s team changes depending on our needs. Adam (Co-Founder & CEO) has been our main point of contact, but we’ve also worked closely with a project manager, a graphic designer, and a UI/UX designer.

How did you come to work with Polyform Studio?

I was introduced to Polyform by another founder, a friend of mine, who had a great experience working with them. Her company’s app has been featured in the App Store, and the company has gone on to do well in fundraising. We started talking to them, and they really understood what we were trying to do, so we started our collaboration.

How much have you invested with them?

We’ve spent between $75,000–$100,000.

What is the status of this engagement?

We started working together around October 2021, and our engagement is ongoing.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

Polyform has helped us be more thoughtful about our branding, creating something that resonates better with our audience. Even though we haven’t launched our app’s redesign, we’ve seen an improvement in its navigation and functionality.

Thanks to these results, we’ve received very positive feedback from testers and users. We've heard that the branding resonates with them more, and the UX is more intuitive and even fun. I can see our product being positioned as the leader in its space just because of its great UX.

How did Polyform Studio perform from a project management standpoint?

Polyform offers very strong project management, and they stay on budget. We use Asana, and Polyform always makes sure that we upload all files there. From the beginning, they’ve been flexible, adapting to the set of tools that we already use. I really appreciate their approach because I’ve worked with other vendors, and adapting to their systems wasn’t streamlined.

Regarding communication, Polyform is extremely responsive. We mostly communicate through a shared Slack channel. We also have weekly check-ins where they use a deck to show the progress of their work.

What did you find most impressive about them?

Polyform’s willingness to work as part of our team is impressive. Adam is incredibly experienced; his agency has launched over 100 consumer apps and worked with major global brands. Still, they’re willing to work with startups they believe in, offering a low-cost service, so we got the opportunity to work with an expert team that we normally wouldn’t have access to.

The fact that we have the opportunity to work directly with Adam is proof of how much they invest in projects. Overall, their team is very genuine and positive, and they what us to succeed.

Are there any areas they could improve?

No. They’ve been a great partner, which is why we keep working with them.

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

Be very organized, open about your needs and challenges, and willing to provide them with the information they need. Think ahead about the relationship you what with them and prepare for it.

BACKGROUND

Please describe your company and your position there.

I am the CEO of an immersive technology firm. Polyform is an integral partner to our team and lead mobile and web product design and strategy.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

For what projects/services did your company hire Polyform Studio, and what were your goals?

We asked Polyform to support us on a design with two outputs:

1. a white-lable product that can be repurposed and expanded on over time
2. an immediate mobile product launch for the US and Asia using both english and chinese.

SOLUTION

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

Polyform's design team created a beautiful mobile interface and user experience for purchasing collectable hologram NFTs.

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

Polyform took our client, AR team and mobile app dev team through a standard design workshop and design program that made it easy to develop and get to market quickly.

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

4 including a Head of Design, a Creative Director, a senior UX Ui Designer and an AR designer.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

We got to market in multiple languages on schedule which seemed impossible when we began.

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

Polyform has a very mature and well structured design program that allows the creative staff and collaboration opportunities to shine on top of a system that gets the work done every time.

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

They have seen it all and make the right decisions the first time.

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

They are the best at what they do, and their maturity is evident from their experience.

BACKGROUND

Please describe your company and your position there.

I am the CTO of Virtual Visions, a company that develops a variety of interactive kiosks for reputable retail stores.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

For what projects/services did your company hire Polyform Studio?

Polyform Studio was on a retainer to develop a series of endless aisle products for our retail clients in clothing, jewelry and pharmacy sectors. Each audience was unique, so were the products and solution experiences.

SOLUTION

How did you select this vendor?

We had previously worked with the principals at Polyform but needed confidence that they understand how to design UX for large format screens in busy public spaces.

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

The team conducted extensive persona research as a part of a product design and discovery process. The end customer experience was important, since this is not your typical web or mobile app, each kiosk experience is on a screen spanning 3 to 7 feet diagonal, almost human scale.

Importantly the kiosks facilitate retail store associates and we needed them to be utility to the store staff as well. Polyform delivered UI and UX designs matching their meticulous research, which was then sent to the software team to develop.

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

Two persons, both co-founders of Polyform. They had a larger team helping out but that was abstracted from us.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

Three projects went on to be installed in over 500 stores nationwide in a span of ~2 years.

How effective was the workflow between your team and theirs?

We worked with them 4-6 weeks at a time over 2 years. In that time they had successfully embedded themselves with our product, engineering and customer success teams. Polyform was available whenever we needed them.

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

Polyform principals expertly codify the design discovery process. They empathized with the end users but also keenly understood the constraints of the technology platforms we use. Finally I say their multi disciplinary abilities, willingness to take on new projects and support the end to end product cycle makes them a good partner.

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

I will be nitpicking if I do so but not every project was a roaring success. When the end customer adoption was lower than expected, we jointly learned and found a way to improve the UI for the next software releases.

BACKGROUND

Please describe your company and your position there.

I'm the co-founder of a digital agency that operates in the IT field (UX/UI design and development).

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

For what projects/services did your company hire Polyform Studio?

We have collaborated with Polyform Studio on a number of projects in various niches both in design and development - mostly social and fintech spheres. This cooperation was at a high level of communication, as well as management and task planning. Positive feedback was received from all team members involved in the process - developers, designers, and PMs.

SOLUTION

How did you select this vendor?

We met one of the co-founders of the company through LinkedIn and tried to start our collaboration with the first test project, after which we realized that we have a lot of perspectives together, as the cooperation was on the highest level.

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

Our first project together was in the social niche. We started our collaboration by synchronizing our work processes because both sides had already developed a certain approach to work. And then we successfully went through a detailed phase of research, workshops, wireframing, and visual design.

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

On the Polyform side, we worked closely, as we still do today, with the co-founders of the company and the project manager of the specific project. Also, one of the integral parts is communication with their development team, if it is on the Polyform side.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

Our first and all subsequent joint projects were successfully launched and converts to this day. From all projects, analytics are collected that show evidence of the initially correct approach at the start of the project.

How effective was the workflow between your team and theirs?

Combining the approaches and efforts of our teams pleasantly surprised all of us and helped us successfully launch great cases.

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

The main thing that attracted us to the Polyform, besides a well-thought-out approach to work and a level of interesting projects with corresponding challenges for the team, was the approach to communication both within the team and with partners. This was not a formal type of cooperation, but a friendly partnership, where everyone understands what a significant contribution he makes to a specific project and to the development of each of the studios.

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

The only thing I would like to improve is to make our offline meetings frequent:)

BACKGROUND

Please describe your company and your position there.

I am a Senior Program Manager at SecondMuse, a social impact consulting firm. I run and manage one of their projects focused on implementing digital wellness principles into the startup world and big tech at large, called Headsgtream. We conduct research projects and have an accelerator program to support entrepreneurs. Polyform has served as an advisor to the entrepreneurs in our accelerator program.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

For what projects/services did your company hire Polyform Studio?

Adam at Polyform is truly a jack-of-all-trades. He is an incredibly thoughtful, heart-centered entrepreneur and founder, who wants to help others. He is extremely knowledgeable about design, marketing, and branding for founders of all stages. Adam is also an expert in explaining emerging tech trends to people like myself who are trying to understand this fast-paced and always evolving ecosystem.

He not only served as an incredible professional advisor to a few entrepreneurs in our accelerator program, PolyForm also worked with these entrepreneurs after the program to build their brand and make them market-ready. I cannot wait to work with PolyForm again, not only are they incredible people, the work they do is stellar.

SOLUTION

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

PolyForm stood out from the beginning. I love their approach and style, it was an easy choice to work with Adam at PolyForm (he was the real reason I wanted to work with them).

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

A bit of background about the Advisory Board and how we worked with Adam: As a professional advisor, you will join the Headstream Advisory Board for one of the ten innovators in our Accelerator. Each innovator's Advisory Board consists of two professional advisors (one being you) and two youth advisors. You will serve as an Advisor from the beginning of February until the conclusion of the Headstream Accelerator at the end of April. In total, you will have 3 advisory board calls.

Each month, the innovator you work with will ask for about two hours of your time - structured around a monthly board meeting and 1:1 support. Additionally, you'll have the opportunity to join optional monthly community events with the other professional advisors and get first access to new Headstream initiatives like our Kickoff Lab.

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

Adam was the lead professional advisor for two entrepreneurs in our accelerator programs. He worked with us twice and with two different cohorts. He also provided ad-hoc advisory work for me to better understand the emerging tech space.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

New work contracts with at least 2 entrepreneurs in the Headstream Accelerator program.

How effective was the workflow between your team and theirs?

Seamlessly. Very clear communication and expectations from the beginning. Adam and his team go above and beyond to help their clients and it shows.

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

How much they care about the people they work with. They gave honest and good feedback and didn't waste people's time just to inflate someone's ego. They tell you what you need to hear and do it in a really respectful way.

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

No, and I don't mean that lightly. Adam and PolyForm set a gold standard in our accelerator program.

BACKGROUND

Please describe your company and your position there.

Heartbeat is a marketplace that connects brands with content creators on Instagram & TikTok.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

For what projects/services did your company hire Polyform Studio?

We hired Polyform to help us transform our business into an ecosystem. We had an idea of what we wanted to do, but not a form factor for how it could be done. Polyform was brought in to connect all the dots in a product that accomplished pairing creators seamlessly with brands and leveraging the existing product knowledge we had built up over the first 2 years of our company.

SOLUTION

How did you select this vendor?

We interview 10 different product solutions and found Polyform to be the best fit both in attitude, price range, dedication to creating a win, and in overall talent.

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

The project was converting our email and basic dashboard solutions into an integrated marketplace concept. The project phases were: 1. Interviewing and Research where Polyform came to LA and interviewed us, our clients, and our users. 2. Wireframing and feedback - from here Polyform went through an iterative process between us our clients and our influencer users to accomplish our goals and maximize product market fit before writing any code. 3. Full design and feedback - this was moving to full color designs 4. Overview on build - Polyform monitored our buildout, monitored stats and did consistent user interviewing to make sure we nailed the buildout as they had envisioned. We had really strong product market fit right out the gate.

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

We worked with multiple designers as well as Adam Wilson who led our project.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

We established product market fit for our influencers early, and it massively increased the number of participants on our app once we rolled out the new designs.

How effective was the workflow between your team and theirs?

Extremely effective, having a standing meeting 2x a week made all the difference.

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

I liked their willingness to go deep and understand our customers instead of just delivering pretty designs.

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

No

BACKGROUND

Please describe your company and your position there.

At the time of this project I was the Cofounder/CEO and Head of Product at Blue Fever.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

For what projects/services did your company hire Polyform Studio, and what were your goals?

We had hundreds of thousands of Gen Z users on our product that helped teens express themselves emotionally to a friendly bot over text message and feel validated when the bot responded and sent emotionally relevant content back. But we had scalability and growth issues. So we needed to pivot to a mobile app where users could make their own emotionally expressive content and share it with each other anonymously (making it more scalable and adding a content network effect).

SOLUTION

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

We were unsure if we should hire an in house designer or work with an outsourced group. A founder/CEO friend who worked with Polyform previously recommended them and after meeting Adam at Polyform we saw how "startup-minded" he was for being someone who had worked on so many big projects and companies. Their experience was unheard of in the mobile app world and his pricing for startups was very fair. I think we got more bang for our buck than they charged us.

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

The task was to work with me and my team to translate the vision of a "modern diary" reinvented for Gen Z and make it a simple, easy to use app. There was user generated content creation involved - which is a tough thing to get right because we had visuals, text, stickers, gifs, and more. It was, in it's own way, competing with the quality of content creation Gen Z knows well on other social media platforms so the build quality had to be excellent.

Luckily, Polyform has worked multiple times with a dev shop that ended up working with our VP of Tech to get the job done. Polyform flew to our office and worked with our team for a three day intensive design workshop to make sure we were all on the same page. Then they delivered a mockup of the wireframes of the app, making sure to let us know why they chose to design the user flow certain ways and always setting expectations for what the MVP should be and how they would help us evolve it over time.

Then they delivered a few versions of the clickable design so our team and our users could test it robustly and give feedback before building it. After that Polyform, myself, our VP of Tech worked together to break out the project into manageable deliverables for the dev shop's engineers (who were becoming like part of the internal team at this point). Polyform guided the app build and it launched in about 4-5 months, then they stayed on to iterate it with us after for a few more months. Then, as planned, they helped us hire an internal product manager to run the product and improve it and an internal product designer. They still work at Blue Fever today. In addition, Polyform tackled the design of our new website to coincide with the launch of our app.

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

We worked directly with two founders and lead designers at Polyform. We also benefitted from other designers who helped out on Polyform's side here and there (though we didn't need to have interaction with them).

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

Within 3 months of the app launching, we were seeing clear signals in the analytics (with regards to retention and usage time) that indicated we were onto something: Users we liking the app and each time we made an improvement, they used it more. The app has a 4.5 star rating (out of 5) from users on the iOS app store. Overall the quality of the design work was a huge step up for us as a startup from where we were before.

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

They integrated with our communication tools and were generous with their time, despite also being on other projects or needing to deal with different time zones. They were always on time and prepared for meetings. If we need a design tweak or a brainstorm session they were down.

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

The combination of experience, skills, attitude and fun. Honestly, Polyform Studio can see the big picture, get excited about it, and then finesse it down to the pixel level. True dream to reality magic.

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

Every once in a while our communication channels at Blue Fever, especially after going remote during the pandemic, would get very full with messages. Sometimes, Polyform missed messages here and there. But once they were resurfaced, they would tackle the need.