VerdanaBold

BACKGROUND

Please describe your company and your position there.

We are a digital strategy and user experience consulting team with more than 20 years of experience understanding people so that we can best design websites, mobile applications, and in-store experiences for them. I'm a senior researcher, digital strategist, and user experience specialist with deep experience helping Fortune 500 and more companies best digitally serve their customers, clients, and employees.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

For what projects/services did your company hire VerdanaBold?

My partner and I were tasked with researching, analyzing, and presenting a comprehensive digital strategy and user research findings presentation to our healthcare company client for how they should best redesign their mobile application to meet healthcare workers' needs on the job in the US, Canada, and UK. We hired VerdanaBold to help us with our storytelling and visual presentation design to engage and persuade our client's global cross-functional team to follow our recommendations.

What were your goals for this project?

To provide our clients with an insightful and actionable plan for redesigning its healthcare mobile app to better meet the needs of users (healthcare workers) and better position them against competitor apps. This was the first step of a multi-step UX mobile app redesign project.

SOLUTION

How did you select this vendor?

Years ago, my partner and I worked with both Danielle and Matt at Designkitchen and saw many times how well they can take quickly our text-based insights and ideas and transform them into visual, simple stories that successfully sell our recommendations to our clients. We knew we had a lot of information to communicate to various organizational levels -- from our client's most senior leadership team to its day-to-day mobile app business analysts and developers.

Describe the scope of their work in detail.

The scope of work was to help us design our presentation to ensure that it is easy to follow, engaging, and persuasive. This was a challenging presentation to do because it was trying to be two things at once:

1. a research findings presentation that outlined what we learned from conducting in-person research with end users (mobile healthcare workers in the US and Canada), and
2. a strategic presentation that recommended how our client should shift gears and redesign its mobile app to better meet end user needs. Additionally, it needed to be both a presentation as well as a document that "lived on" after the presentation was over (in other words, employees needed to be able to read the presentation later and understand it without us being there to explain it).

What was the team composition?

We worked closely with Danielle, the president, and she worked with her team behind the scenes to meet our needs.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

Our clients were very pleased with our strategy and want to engage us for a follow-on project. Danielle had suggested that we split the presentation into a pre-read deck and a presentation deck for our 2-hour in-person meeting, and that suggestion was super helpful in helping us successfully provide a whole lot of information to our clients without overwhelming them.

How effective was the workflow between your team and theirs?

Working with VerdanaBold went very smoothly. When we first hired them, Danielle laid out a recommended timing schedule for us based on our client presentation date, and she handled all the communication and feedback for revisions to her designers. She provided us a PPT template to start working from that contained our client's branding colors and logo. We provided comments in the deck notes area to streamline version control. Looking back, workflow went so smoothly because we met with early-on to walk through our super rough draft deck. It had many holes and blank sections, but she could start thinking and brainstorming about our project. And so then a week later when we sent her our "real first draft" deck, she already knew what we were trying to achieve and her team was able to very quickly turn it around for us.

What did you find most impressive about this company?

I'm super impressed by how they can quickly simplify text-heavy decks by introducing visuals, infographics, and pacing slides. They help make strategic findings and recommendations not only digestible for my clients to understand and follow but also engaging and inspiring for them to want to make some changes and implement our recommendations. It would take me so much more time an stress to try to design the deck myself, and honestly, I wouldn't be nearly as successful.

Are there any areas for improvement?

VerdanaBold created an initial PPT template with our client's branding from which to start our deck. That was nice, and it would have be helpful for them to also provide some quick training or quick-start guide PDF on how to use the template because until later I didn't realize that I wasn't using all of the template's capabilities that would have actually really helped me out when drafting our deck.

BACKGROUND

Please describe your company and your position there.

I work in business development in the Chicago arm of our company.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

For what projects/services did your company hire VerdanaBold?

They helped us with a large strategic pitch for a global company that required roughly six different presentations and collateral for the meetings.

What were your goals for this project?

To win the large pitch for our agency in an area that required the creation of new storylines, assets, and pitch content.

SOLUTION

How did you select this vendor?

I worked with their owner years ago at a small boutique agency and stayed in touch with them. Danielle (President, VerdanaBold) has always been my go-to when my internal resources weren't available or didn't have the expertise her team did.

Describe the scope of their work in detail.

They worked on six different presentation decks and developed collateral to support our pitch meetings.

What was the team composition?

Their team of two worked closely with our 20+ person team. They spanned every discipline of our agency, also partnering with two sibling agencies in our network.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

We pitched back and forth over six months and ultimately won the pitch. We beat the incumbents and other holding companies, and the account continues to grow.

How effective was the workflow between your team and theirs?

It was seamless. The team knew when to offer up valuable critiques or alternative points of view. Just as important, they also knew when to stand back and let us figure out our approach. It was a perfect balance, and one you don't get from design-only agencies that haven't been in the business for a long time.

What did you find most impressive about this company?

Their quality designs and their ability to translate our vision into clear slideware and narratives. That’s what’s required with pitching new business and they were completely invested, even when the project required longer nights towards the end.

Are there any areas for improvement?

None.

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there. 

I'm the senior marketing specialist for an ingredient company in the food industry.  

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with VerdanaBold? 

I work with them on a regular basis on all of our external presentations and other documents.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

VerdanaBold formats and designs our presentations and makes sure that everything is on brand. I build our messaging both for customers and for our sales team to take out the field and to meetings. I include a lot of market research and data in my presentations. They turn that information into infographics. They also pull photos as needed.

I’ll send a message to Danielle (President, VerdanaBold) to let her know I have a project coming. She will call me and we'll have a discussion about the project and when I need it done. That way, when I'm ready to send her the information she already has it on her schedule. I'll send her the content, and then she and her team work on the look and feel of the presentation. I'll give her notes and send it back. Then she works with her team to implement the changes. 

What is the team composition?

I only work with Danielle.

How did you come to work with VerdanaBold?

The company was already working with them when I came on board. A colleague in Chicago first started working with them to redesign our brand. They helped us create a new brand identity, and then we continued working with them on external content. 

How much have you invested with them?

They’re on a retainer, but I'm not the only person that is drawing from that pot. I believe we’ve spent between $25,000–$50,000. 

What is the status of this engagement?

Work started in November 2016, and the engagement is ongoing.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

Our presentations are now more impactful. The overall look and feel are much better than what we were doing before. It's hard to say if there's a direct ROI, but having VerdanaBold as a resource to polish each presentation definitely makes us more efficient. I do a lot of presentations and it saves me a lot of time by having them available to create that polished final product. They do an amazing job to make the graphics legible and fit in with the brand identity. 

How did VerdanaBold perform from a project management standpoint? 

Danielle is great, and their process works well for me. Getting our projects on the calendar allows VerdanaBold to get the work done on time even when we have tight deadlines. We communicate frequently. She's always available and quick to return phone calls and emails. I really appreciate that I'm never left waiting to hear back from her or for the final presentation. They generally do a great job on the first draft. I might have a few notes but not a lot of substantial changes.

What did you find most impressive about them? 

It's a pleasure to work with Danielle and VerdanaBold. She's on top of everything, which is really great. She's very pleasant to work with and always more than willing to help us. I will continue to work with them because they’re so efficient. They know our company and our projects. They know how we like our presentations to look and what kind of graphics will fit. 

Are there any areas they could improve? 

No, nothing stands out. They’re super responsive, which is so important. Danielle is good about letting me know if there is an issue but it’s quite rare. I’m happy with their work.

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

We are a global association for information security and cybersecurity business technologists. We provide education, training and professional development for a large global audience.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with VerdanaBold?

I hired them to help build slides for our presentations.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

I write presentations and then hand the content off to them. I know what my presentation has to be about and how long it needs to be. We discuss the concepts and the intended audience over email and phone. I provide a general outline of how many slides and some images that may be helpful. They take my speaking points and find nuances to visualize for the audience.

Their work looks almost cinematic and includes beautiful moving imagery. They introduced evocative visuals that elevated the origin story of our company, which was founded in 1969. For that particular project, they tied our story into the first man on the moon, and the impact went well beyond anything we expected.

Other teams at my company use Verdana Bold for creating branding for new initiatives, reimagining our core visual library, and creating icons, art, templates and logos for products, services and our organization. They are the go-to for our visual storytelling. 

What is the team composition?

I communicate with one point of contact, who manages everything behind the scenes. She's very receptive and responsive, even when I write to her at odd hours. She gives clear timelines and sets expectations upfront whenever we start a project with them.

How did you come to work with VerdanaBold?

When I started about a year and a half ago, our COO recommended them. He was with a telecommunications company previously, and he really relied on their expertise.

How much have you invested with them?

The presentations I have worked on with Verdana Bold have cost between $700-$3,000. Larger branding projects have cost up to $20,000. Our total expenditure is somewhere between $100,000-$125,000.

What is the status of this engagement?

I started at the company in September 2017, and there was already a relationship with other staff and Verdana Bold. It became immediately obvious that they were the best go-to team for our needs, and the relationship is ongoing.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

When we started, our presentations were done in-house and were fairly weak. They reimagined what they should look like, and the one we just did for our most recent conference was a great conversation starter. They used beautiful art, and they made a fairly straightforward topic wonderfully interesting and clever. They think out every detail, and everyone who saw the presentation loved it and wanted copies of it. Their work really defines the importance of our message and is very memorable.

How did VerdanaBold perform from a project management standpoint?

Their project management is strong, and they hit all their deadlines. We don't use any special tools, but they are very easy to reach via email.

What did you find most impressive about them?

They have a great newsletter that shows some of their beautiful work and comes with helpful tips on creating our own presentations. It's a useful tool, and I appreciate that touchpoint.

Are there any areas they could improve?

No, I don't have any recommendations for them.

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

They're very open to ideas, and they're very quick to change and adapt to suit our needs. It's important to convey the nature of your audience, but trust that they'll have interesting ideas for art and ways to show information.

BACKGROUND

Please describe your company and your position there.

I'm the CEO of Kong Capital, a Private Equity firm focusing on Real Estate

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

For what projects/services did your company hire VerdanaBold?

Our offering memorandum

What were your goals for this project?

This is our most important marketing tool and it communicates a first impression to potential investors.

SOLUTION

How did you select this vendor?

I reviewed a few other companies but they had the best track record and understood our objectives more clearly.

Describe the scope of their work in detail.

They took our back-of-the-envelope junk and turned it into a professional and totally crisp presentation. They were able to take our verbal description of a concept we wanted to communicate and turn it into a slide that did a better job than our description.

What was the team composition?

Unknown. I spoke to Danielle only.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

Turn around time was very quick. Aesthetically clear and very contemporary.

How effective was the workflow between your team and theirs?

Best in class. I have experienced their equal but not their better. So quick on turn around and always with a positive attitude.

What did you find most impressive about this company?

Again the ability to take a concept we had trouble even describing and turn it into a graphic and text that convey complicated topics clearly.

Are there any areas for improvement?

None