Standard Beagle Studio

BACKGROUND

Please describe your company and position.

I am the Vice President of Marketing of Kalamazoo Symphony Orchestra

Describe what your company does in a single sentence.

The Kalamazoo Symphony Orchestra is a performing arts organization that brings transformative live symphonic experiences to Southwest Michigan.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

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

• Build a new site to better tell the Symphony's story and meet revenue objectives.

SOLUTION

How did you find Standard Beagle Studio?

Referral

Why did you select Standard Beagle Studio over others?

• High ratings
• Pricing fit our budget
• Great culture fit

How many teammates from Standard Beagle Studio were assigned to this project?

2-5 Employees

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

• Improve information architecture and navigation
• Increase accessibility
• Integrate site with CRM system
• Create visual aesthetic that aligns with company identity
• Ease of content creation
• Deliverables 
  • Wireframes
  • Mock-Ups
  • Final Prototype
  • Quality Assurance and Testing
  • Launch of Live Site
  • Training as Necessary

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

Standard Beagle delivered on the full scope of the project and all requested deliverables. 

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

The Standard Beagle team was incredibly responsive to all project needs. They were proactive with their communication about project updates and kept me informed throughout the project.

What was your primary form of communication with Standard Beagle Studio?

• Virtual Meeting
• Email or Messaging App

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

The Standard Beagle team was truly a pleasure to work with. They met our unique, complex needs and created a beautiful site for us.

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

Throughout the project, both the Standard Beagle and Symphony teams adjusted project management strategies to keep things on track. Both teams discovered better ways to create efficiencies in our processes. 

BACKGROUND

Please describe your company and position.

I am the Special Projects Managing Attorney of Texas Legal Services Center

Describe what your company does in a single sentence.

Founded in 1981, Texas Legal Services Center is a nonprofit organization that provides legal advice, advocacy, representation, and education to underserved people across the state. With more than a dozen practice areas, our work touches almost every aspect of civil law that impacts low-income Texans.​

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

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

• Usability Testing
• Usability Design Recommendations
• Design Implementation

SOLUTION

How did you find Standard Beagle Studio?

Referral

Why did you select Standard Beagle Studio over others?

• High ratings
• Pricing fit our budget
• Good value for cost
• Company values aligned

How many teammates from Standard Beagle Studio were assigned to this project?

2-5 Employees

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

 
Standard Beagle collaborated with us to conduct two in-depth rounds of usability testing on our deployed kiosks in both urban and rural settings. Their goal was to ensure that users could effectively navigate the hardware and user interface to address their legal needs.

At the conclusion of each testing phase, they provided comprehensive reports detailing key findings and insights. In addition, they offered UX/UI design recommendations to enhance the user experience and successfully implemented improvements to the kiosk interface.

Their team demonstrated exceptional professionalism, delivering a high-quality product on time and within budget, while working closely with us to resolve various challenges along the way.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

 
The interface has undergone significant improvements, resulting in a much more intuitive and user-friendly experience. The second round of usability testing yielded notably better results compared to the first, demonstrating the effectiveness of the enhancements. Additionally, stakeholders expressed a high level of satisfaction with the final state of the interface, recognizing its improved accessibility and functionality.

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

 
The items were delivered on time, and the team demonstrated responsiveness and adaptability, addressing needs promptly. They remained flexible and solution-oriented, effectively resolving the inevitable challenges that arise in any project.

What was your primary form of communication with Standard Beagle Studio?

Virtual Meeting

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

 
What impressed me most was their meticulous attention to detail, ensuring that each user interview produced valuable, actionable insights. Their approach was highly efficient and purposeful, with no effort wasted.

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

 
I am not aware of any.

BACKGROUND

Please describe your company and position.

I am the Chair of the Consumer and Commercial Law Section of Texas Consumer and Commercial Law

Describe what your company does in a single sentence.

I am the Outgoing Chair of the Consumer and Commercial Law Section for the State Bar of Texas

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

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

• Make website appealing. Give it curb appeal
• Easy Navigation
• Keep website up to date

SOLUTION

How did you find Standard Beagle Studio?

• Referral
• Did initial design

Why did you select Standard Beagle Studio over others?

• Pricing fit our budget
• Great culture fit
• Good value for cost
• Referred to me

How many teammates from Standard Beagle Studio were assigned to this project?

2-5 Employees

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

I thought our website got stale and was not being kept up to date. I asked Standard Beagle to come up with ideas for a complete overhaul of the website along with ideas for best practices going forward in order to keep the website current and timely for our membership

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

The project turned out fantastic. The website looks great and Emily has put time on our calendars for a monthly meeting to help us keep current. After the initial design, we went back to Emily with some tweaks, changes, etc. and she had some great ideas that we implemented. Throughout the entire process, Standard Beagle asked the right questions and anticipated our needs.

 I was able to toss them some concepts of a layperson so I had trouble articulating what we were looking for but Emily was able to listen and then used her creativity to turn the ideas to reality.

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

The project was delivered on time and on budget. They always responded to emails and requests for meetings. The experience was great.

What was your primary form of communication with Standard Beagle Studio?

• Virtual Meeting
• Email or Messaging App

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

The friendliness and the ability to design something we envisioned even though we had trouble articulating what we wanted. They were great listeners, which I think helped us get to an excellent final product.

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

I cannot think of anything. They should keep dong what they are doing by listening, quoting a reasonable price for their services and then delivering excellent results

BACKGROUND

Please describe your company and your position there.

I'm Sr. Director of Marketing, President Torchy's Family Foundation. Torchy’s Tacos has over 100 locations across Texas, Oklahoma, Colorado, Arkansas, Louisiana, Missouri, Kansas, Indiana, North Carolina, Tennessee and Virginia that are committed to serving only the highest quality ingredients.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

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

After the formation of our Torchy's Family Foundation, an internal non-profit that serves two missions, we needed a website to help support the cause, communicate our mission, share inspiring stories, and collect applications for assistance.

SOLUTION

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

Cindy and her team at Standard Beagle were great to work with from the start, always engaged, exceeding expectations, knowledgeable, organized, and their approach to the project made the launch of our new Foundation website a breeze.

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

Standard Beagle created our new website from the ground up including all creative and design elements, site structure and navigation, content approach, programmed a complex application for assistance form, and donation functionality.

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

Cindy served as our day to day POC, supported by 2-3 other team members on the project including designers and programmers.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

Our new Foundation website was exceeded our expectations from the beginning and now serves as our main communication tool with our 5000+ team members across the country. The site allows us to share the mission of the foundation, collect contributions and donations critical to the success of the fund, and allows team members to easily request assistance. It's a one-stop-shop for everything our people want to know and available resources.

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

The Standard Beagle team was extremely efficient, on time, and always holding themselves accountable for deadlines and key project deliverables. They were able to build and launch a new site in a matter of weeks to meet our planned launch timelines.

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

They were easy to work with, creative, and talented. Organized, highly accountable, and engaged throughout the entire project.

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

Nothing at all. We would love to partner with Cindy and her team on future projects and look forward to working with them again! It was truly a pleasure!

BACKGROUND

Please describe your company and your position there.

I am VP of Business Development. Our company provides advanced electrification technologies to convert existing vehicles (new or used) from ICE to BEV using innovative kit technologies at a lower cost and faster implementation that any other competitor. We provide these conversions to the commercial fleet industry.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

For what projects/services did your company hire Standard Beagle Studio?

We needed a high level of UI/UX design for our fleet management dashboard that allows users to track vehicles, see driver and vehicle data, and run reports on overall fleet performance. Standard Beagle was hired to take our concept to a full UI/UX design.

SOLUTION

How did you select this vendor?

Recommendation from head of UI/UX at a major telecommunications company.

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

From initial concept designs and drawing we shared ideas and looked at other options in the industry. Then thru a series of design meetings and back and forth modifications we reached a perfect design point and we were delivered functional models and flow of the page designs.

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

They engaged from the president to the designers and were super supportive.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

We are super pleased with the design and our dev team grabbed these design concepts and we are coded and up and running with ease.

How effective was the workflow between your team and theirs?

They were a fantastic team to work with!

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

Their UI/UX skills and ability to interpret our needs was amazing.

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

None! Super happy!

BACKGROUND

Please describe your company and your position there.

Austin Opera is the major opera-producing company in Austin, Texas. I am the Director of Digital & Audience Experiences, in charge of managing the website and online content.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

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

Our website was outdated and the navigation wasn't intuitive. We sought an updated design that reflected the company's future and the growing community we serve.

SOLUTION

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

We interviewed and accepted proposals from three companies and Standard Beagle was the most comprehensive at the best price point. Standard Beagle came highly recommended by others in the industry and had applicable experience with integrating our CRM. We also felt we were being heard and our needs understood.

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

WordPress site, Tessitura integration (ticketing, event and calendar features), template designs, graphic design.

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

The owner and, I believe, two developers.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

When surveyed, our customers/audiences report the new site reflects our image and is much more easily navigated.

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

Bi-monthly video calls to check in, regular emails, quick response.

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

They've translated our needs into functional attributes and design elements and were keen on making sure we were both satisfied and kept up-to-date. The process was comfortable and easy. It felt like they were on our team!

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

None.

BACKGROUND

Please describe your company and your position there.

I am the Software Engineering Manager of a SaaS company headquartered in Minnesota.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

For what projects/services did your company hire Standard Beagle Studio?

We needed to upgrade our UI which was using very old technology and wanted to move more towards REACT. While upgrading we decided to make our site more user friendly and easier to navigate. We hired standard beagle to focus on UI/UX for the platform in order to come up with a modern, clean, easy to use design.

SOLUTION

How did you select this vendor?

We searched online for UX designers in our bugdet. We met with a few and in the end we chose to go with Standard Beagle based on their past projects, interview presentation, design skills and cost estimate.

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

Their team conducted interviews with all stakeholders to find out the pain points of our current UI. They were given access to a sandbox which they utilized to learn our product and ask questions for clarification. Once the interviews and product learning was done they started on the design phase. They scheduled meetings and we would review their original design ideas, give them feedback and they would update their design as went along until we reached the final design.

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

My team worked directly with two UX/UI designers and a project manager.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

We are very pleased with the work that Standard Beagle has delivered. Their UX/UI design is very clean and modern. Before bringing them in we were not sure what direction to go with and now we have a clear path forward that our developers will be working on to complete. Every stakeholder we have shared the mockups with have given positive feedback.

How effective was the workflow between your team and theirs?

It was easy to communicate with their team via emails and in zoom meetings. Everything got done in a timely manner and all deadlines were met.

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

They were able to get ramped up on our product fairly quickly. Usually it takes our users a long time to get the flow of things but they understood all the painpoints and came up with the perfect design for us and even came up with features we did not know we needed. Once we saw the design we absolutely loved all of their ideas.

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

Nothing that I can think of. They were easy to work with and very diligent at achieiving what we asked them to do.

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m the co-founder of Quality Driven Software, a SaaS company that measures customer satisfaction and employee performance.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with Standard Beagle Studio?

I needed a developer for our software, which was constantly evolving as we added new features. 

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

Standard Beagle builds some of the features we need for our software and helps us maintain the product. The coding languages they use include PHP and Laravel framework in the backend. On the frontend, they primarily use Ember. 

In terms of functionality, Standard Beagle has integrated a third-party SMS platform into the software; we’re switching over to Twilio so that we can send surveys via text messages. Moreover, the team has been integrated with our other third-party service partners through open API and Zapier. 

So far, Standard Beagle has added several new features for the product. When they code a new feature, the feature goes from a development server to a test server. From there, it goes to the beta server before it comes out to real-life customers. If we have security issues, they also handle that on top of coding new features and fixing bugs. They also occasionally work on my website. We have a conference every year, and the team has built pages for such an event. Moreover, if the website goes down, we call them to fix it right away. 

What is the team composition?

We’ve worked with a project manager, a lead developer, and 1–2 junior developers. A UI/UX designer also works on our software. Cindy (CEO, Creative Director & Design Sprint Facilitator) is our main point of contact, and we have weekly meetings with her to review everything we’re working on — she oversees everything. 

How did you come to work with Standard Beagle Studio?

My partner found Standard Beagle. We also interviewed several other candidates, but we were truly attracted to their team. Our previous developer had terrible communication; by contrast, we could tell right away that Standard Beagle had great communication. That was why we hired them. 

How much have you invested with them?

We’ve invested a little over $100,000. 

What is the status of this engagement?

We started working with Standard Beagle in October 2018, and the engagement is ongoing. 

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

In terms of success metrics, we prioritize security. Overall, they follow a highly methodical process where they work in protected environments, preventing any threat to the integrity of our software. 

In fact, we’ve run into some problems integrating with a large CRM company because we have much tighter security than them. That company is around 20 times larger than us, but they have much lower security levels. Meanwhile, our senior developer isn’t willing to lower our security to integrate with the CRM platform. As a result, Standard Beagle has created a new server solely for the CRM integration. This way, only a certain population of people have exposure to the CRM. Overall, this shows Standard Beagle truly cares about the integrity of our software and its security level. The team truly protects us. 

How did Standard Beagle Studio perform from a project management standpoint?

Their project management is great. We meet every week, and they’re always prepared. Cindy and other developers are there, and they give us updates about what has happened since the previous week’s meeting. Even though our meetings are weekly and a bit informal, they’re always efficient — they always prepare properly. 

Moreover, other developers like to work independently to the point that they won’t communicate with us or provide any updates on the project. When they come back, they deliver a product that isn't what we want. With Standard Beagle, however, our communication has been so frequent, and we don’t waste money holding on to a feature that we don’t even want in the first place. 

To communicate, we use Freshdesk for support tickets. They also use Jira behind the scenes to track all the things they’re working on; we have access to their Jira board, but we don’t communicate through there. Instead, our day-to-day communications are done through Slack. 

What did you find most impressive about them?

Standard Beagle has great communication skills and extremely competent developers. 

Are there any areas they could improve?

Sometimes, the team is spread a little thin. When they have multiple projects with deadlines, they always handle our urgent requests, but they don’t always accomplish our other development needs. 

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

Schedule weekly meetings with Standard Beagle for updates. On top of that, both you and their team need to have a good tracking system to monitor their work. In our case, Cindy keeps track of their action items, and our team keeps track of them as well. However, one of us occasionally misses something that the other doesn’t.

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I was a senior analyst at a venture consulting firm when I worked with Standard Beagle Studio.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with Standard Beagle Studio?

We needed their UI/UX design expertise to complete a discovery platform intended for our government stakeholders.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

Standard Beagle Studio initially conducted market research to identify our user personas. They then built tailored design solutions based on their findings and devised high-fidelity prototypes to help us visualize the final product.

Upon securing our approval for its design, they collated and integrated our knowledge and user base into the platform, relying on Figma as they implemented the necessary UI/UX solutions.

What is the team composition?

We mainly worked with Cindy (CEO & Creative Director) and collaborated with two other designers from Standard Beagle Studio.

How did you come to work with Standard Beagle Studio?

I found them through Clutch’s Lead Matching Program.

How much have you invested with them?

We spent $30,000.

What is the status of this engagement?

The design project ran from August–October 2021.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

I can’t share any quantitative data at this point as we haven’t launched Standard Beagle Studio’s design deliverables yet. From our perspective, their team implemented innovative design solutions that we couldn’t have done on our own, and they adapted well to our processes and demands to generate clear-cut deliverables that met our needs. Overall, our entire team and the early spectators who saw Standard Beagle Studio’s work were highly impressed.

How did Standard Beagle Studio perform from a project management standpoint?

We communicated via email and weekly meetings. Standard Beagle Studio had reliable project management skills that kept our workflow seamless and manageable.

What did you find most impressive about them?

Standard Beagle Studio had a personable and feedback-oriented approach that made each phase easier for us — they always responded well to our needs even during the most inconvenient times.

Are there any areas they could improve?

No, I can't think of anything they could improve on.

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

Be open in communicating the challenges you’re facing, so they can generate tailored solutions to help you address those.

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

At the National Kidney Foundation of Michigan, our mission is to help individuals with chronic kidney disease by supporting and helping in the prevention of the disease. We have programs that include audience members with diabetes and hypertension, as those are two of the risk factors for chronic kidney disease. We also have patient services for individuals with chronic kidney disease like enhanced fitness classes. Finally, my team is also responsible for helping with our development group and running some of the donation applications that we use. 

The prevention end is where I’m focused. As a senior program manager, I lead our analytics and logistics team. We support all our organization's evidence-based programs, including the diabetes prevention program, which is one of the programs that Standard Beagle has helped us with. 

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with Standard Beagle Studio? 

We were looking to improve our diabetes prevention program work. Prior to the pandemic, we offered 60 workshops a year within various communities in Michigan. One of the key processes of the workshops is collecting data from the coaches that lead the workshops about their experience with the participants. These programs run every week for one year, and for the first six months, we need to collect the data every week according to accepted standards. 

Prior to engaging with Standard Beagle, we would print out Excel logs for many of our coaches so that they could handwrite the key information we required about healthy lifestyle behavior changes that participants in the program made. We realized that the volume was getting huge and that errors were going to happen, whether on the coaches’ end or with the data entry on our end, so we wanted to automate our work. 

We sent out an RFP, and Standard Beagle offered to create an online portal where coaches could fill out the key information and submit it to my team, after which we could download it and import it into Microsoft Access. 

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

The deliverable for the project was a user-friendly portal that coaches, regardless of their familiarity with technology or healthcare, could use. It was a web-based portal accessible via the internet on desktop or mobile. 

We received user feedback from a number of testing rounds. These involved just my team at first, and then more internal staff members. Finally, we reached out to coaches for them to trial the application. We’re now developing the second full version; Standard Beagle is set to deliver tomorrow. 

What is the team composition?

Four people worked on the project before the pandemic: Cindy (CEO), Andy (CTO), and two other resources. Cindy handled the UX, Andy did some detailed background, there was an account manager, and then another programmer that helped Andy. Standard Beagle had to readjust during the pandemic and is now expanding again. 

How did you come to work with Standard Beagle Studio? 

We sent out an RFP based on a grant from an angel investor for a local area initiative. Standard Beagle responded, and though we hadn’t heard of them, we were intrigued by their experience working with nonprofits. Their work demonstrated user-friendly interfaces as well. 

After interviewing them, their willingness to listen to our needs stood out compared to that of the other options. Standard Beagle was truly interested in helping us achieve what we needed, as well as straightforward in their responses. I also appreciated their honesty and flexibility. 

How much have you invested with them?

The initial cost for the portal was over $10,000–$15,000. The total to date is over $20,000, but the final cost, when the website is finished will probably be triple that number. 

What is the status of this engagement?

We’ve been working together since January 2019. We continued working with them on some updates after the initial launch, and now they’re finalizing the second version of the portal. This new version has expanded functionality. Moving forward, they’re also going to recreate our entire organizational website. They just were awarded that bid over at least two other organizations.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

Even coaches with the lowest level of technological familiarity say that our application is the most user-friendly solution they’ve ever used. We were fighting an uphill battle because we’d used the handwritten logs since at least 2014. It’s hard to change that much history, but our coaches want us to continue expanding the capabilities of the portal. 

As a program team, we believe in the application so much that we’re making it a standard part of our program delivery and writing it into the job descriptions of our coaches to be comfortable with the portal. It has quality and sustainability. 

How did Standard Beagle Studio perform from a project management standpoint?

They use a few key tools, but we don’t use those same tools internally and they’ve been flexible in coordinating weekly status meetings through Zoom and sending emails. They continue to use their project management tool internally, but we aren’t capable of integrating it into our network’s IT structure. Standard Beagle has been very adaptable to what we need. They’ve done a nice job. 

What did you find most impressive about them?

I was on a team of six people for the new website project, and in the interviews we did with potential vendors, Standard Beagle stood out because of their solid technical skills and the amount of homework they’d done on us. They’ve interviewed our stakeholders, investigated our website, worked with other nonprofits, and, most importantly, asked us questions and listened to our answers. The other potential vendors spoke mostly of themselves, what tools they use, and their own characteristics, rather than listening to us and asking questions. Our CEO agreed that Standard Beagle was the best option. 

Are there any areas they could improve?

When we first started with Standard Beagle, there was some trouble finding the correct cadence for check-ins, but they’re doing well with that now. We’ve discovered how to work best together and to speak each other’s language more and more when it comes to technology and what it can and can’t do. They’re doing better at understanding what we’re asking and translating it from practical applications to technical speak and back again. 

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

I would definitely reach out to them. Even though they’re a smaller group, I would give them an opportunity to understand who they are as an organization. Ask them what they think they can do for you.