Visual71

BACKGROUND

Please describe your company and your position there.

I'm the CEO of a technology company specializing in business intelligence systems for logistics.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

For what projects/services did your company hire Visual71?

We hired Visual71 for an overall branding project and a complete website overhaul.

What were your goals for this project?

Our goal was to establish a digital culture through branding and an overall message using images.

SOLUTION

How did you select this vendor?

We were looking for a vendor that had expertise in dealing with tech companies, and Visual71 had an excellent portfolio.

Describe the scope of their work in detail.

They created a new company logo and built a new website.

What was the team composition?

Our three main principals coordinated with one contact person from Visual71.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

Our website is complete. Also, we now have a strong brand representation and unified message.

How effective was the workflow between your team and theirs?

It was good. Although we're in the US and they're in Poland, the different time zones and language were never an issue.

What did you find most impressive about this company?

They took the time to understand what we do. The only way they could have been truly successful was to learn about us, our competition, and our customers.

Are there any areas for improvement?

They probably need to open a US office.

BACKGROUND

Please describe your company and your position there.

I'm the marketing manager for a company that offers workplace consulting and interior design for corporate clients in central Europe. 

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

For what projects/services did your company hire Visual71?

We asked Visual71 to create new branding for us. We’d changed our company profile and didn't identify with the existing branding anymore.

What were your goals for this project?

We needed branding that reflected our company, wasn’t too serious, and helped us stand out from our industry competition.

SOLUTION

How did you select this vendor?

Our CEO met Visual71’s co-founder at a venue, and then they started conducting initial interviews. They were the only company that communicated with us like an old friend; they weren't vain or too careful.

Describe the scope of their work in detail.

We started with developing the new logo. Then, we worked on our primary website as well as a second website with a different persona. Visual71 visited our office a couple of times to get to know us better, as we hadn’t provided an in-depth brief. In the end, we had a new logo, tagline, brand colors, custom pattern, logo book, business cards, PPT presentations, and two websites.

What was the team composition?

I worked directly with Visual71’s two co-founders.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

Our new branding is cohesive, which was the most important part for us. Our clients always compliment us on our new look. Everything always looks custom-made for each meeting. Clients often ask our sales department where we got such attractive business cards.

How effective was the workflow between your team and theirs?

We met according to the schedule in our contract.

What did you find most impressive about this company?

We’re a busy team, but Visual71 never reproached us for delayed communication. Sometimes, we took a long time to give them an answer because we had to prioritize our clients. They were always friendly and understanding, even when we made the project frustrating for them.

I also value their creativity. We wanted something completely different from everything else on the market, and they did exactly what we asked.

Are there any areas for improvement?

I think we have more to address than they do. 

BACKGROUND

Please describe your company and your position there.

We are a trading company that operates in various retail areas, including furniture and interior design.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

For what projects/services did your company hire Visual71?

The company operates mainly in B2B markets, which define our main mission, vision, and visual identification system. Our challenge was to adapt this branding for our commercial network, which has different business objectives than our B2B area.

What were your goals for this project?

We also had to maintain a connection to the company’s general branding and key visuals. That is why we were looking for a partner who would understand our needs on the one hand and who would accept constructive criticism and objective evaluation on the other.

SOLUTION

How did you select this vendor?

My team searched and directly interviewed potential agencies that provide professional branding services. We considered price conditions, time of completion, creativity, uniqueness of approach, and ideas and experience in the implementation of similar projects. Visual 71 convinced us with a professional approach that was tailored to our needs and our concept of the trade network brand.

Describe the scope of their work in detail.

The process began with workshops carried out at the level of staff, management, and the president of the board. During these workshops, the agency presented two different development concepts.

After choosing the right path, Visual71 implemented a key visual design for the trade network. They gave us clear, simple guidelines for developing a consistent brand and marketing environment.

What was the team composition?

We worked directly with Przemyslaw Pawlak, who offered effective communication, understanding, and cooperation.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

After the implementation of key visuals, we have found it easy to create new advertisements and image projects. Our graphic designers use the new concept and adopted principles to create a coherent visual identity system.

How effective was the workflow between your team and theirs?

Cooperation and communication were facilitated through direct contact with Mr. Pawlak. He approached everything with a professional, objective approach to achieving our goals.

What did you find most impressive about this company?

Visual71 is a small design office that fully commits to the implementation of client-focused projects. I wish everyone had such a partner to work with.

Are there any areas for improvement?

There is always room for improvement. I hope that they continue to offer excellent development while maintaining their unique client approach.

BACKGROUND

Please describe your company and what is your position there?

Homebook.pl is a modern online platform that brings together interior design professionals and enthusiasts and helps decorate dream homes. It's a place to find thousands of products, inspirational photos, and trends. I am a Brand Marketing Team Leader.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

For what projects/services did your company hire Visual71?

We needed help with our general branding and corporate messaging, so I began looking for an external provider who could help us to define our brand.

What were your goals for this project?

We wanted to create a fresh, modern, and consistent identity for the company.

SOLUTION

How did you select this vendor?

Our team looked at three different branding agencies in Poland. We chose Visual71 because we had amicable conversations with them and liked their portfolio the most.

Describe the scope of their work in detail.

The process began with a discovery session, during which they got to know our problems and business goals. They spent a lot of time learning about our company and understanding our vision for the brand. After those meetings, they created an entire brand package, including a new logo and messaging materials.

What was the team composition?

I worked directly with the agency's president, who was very capable and professional. 

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

We have received a lot of positive remarks on our new logo and brand image. Our marketing materials are professional and consistent with the brand. We have a lot of projects lined up for the brand, such as a new website, and we will definitely use them in the future.

How effective was the workflow between your team and theirs?

We met in person a few times at the beginning of the project, and later we usually communicated by email. Whenever we had a question or concern, they would get back to us with an email or phone call within one day.

What did you find most impressive about this company?

I was most impressed by their friendly approach and past experience working with businesses. I felt that they cared about our brand.

Are there any areas for improvement?

No. 

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I am the marketing manager of Tascent, which is a biometrics and identity innovation company based in Silicon Valley. We develop biometric identity products and solutions for a wide range of applications in consumer travel and border management, access control, financial services, and identity programs.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with Visual71?

We were looking for a design studio to partner with long-term, one that could deliver high fidelity work for a variety of branding needs, while staying true to the brand identity that we had already established.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

We’ve been working with Visual71 for about 1 ½ years now. They’ve helped us with designing and developing a wide range of branding projects including but not limited to: product photography, product animations, packaging, renders, digital ads, email and collateral templates, web development, and app user interface design.

How did you come to work with Visual71?

We found Visual71 through a direct referral. We continue to work with Visual71 because they always go above and beyond in delivering thoughtful work, regardless of the size and scope of the project. They ask the right questions to fully understand our needs and always provide valuable input.

How much have you invested with Visual71?

We’ve spent over $75,000 with them. In general, their services are very cost-effective, especially for startups with a lean budget. The quality of work is equal to what’s available in the San Francisco Bay Area for half the cost.

What is the status of this engagement?

We started working with Visual71 in October 2015 and we have an ongoing partnership.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

Could you share any evidence that would demonstrate the productivity, quality of work, or the impact of the engagement?

Visual71 helped us create a beautiful, simple, and intuitive support site which has allowed us to provide better, faster customer service. Customers have a means to access a knowledge base for immediate support or create tickets for direct assistance. Since we’ve launched the support site, our response time to customers has improved by 65% as compared to using regular email. We also experienced an increase in booth traffic at events driven by interest in the product animation videos.

What did you find most impressive about Visual71?

What sets them apart is their diverse set of skills from brand identity to user interface/user experience knowledge. Beyond that, they truly have their clients’ best interest in mind and always want to make sure we are happy with the result.

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

Vitrius is a cloud-based investor relations platform used by venture capital and private equity firms. Our app allows companies to share reporting and payments with investors. Vitrius was founded two years ago and covers a big chunk of the Western European market.

I am the co-founder and chief executive officer of the company.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with Visual71?

We needed a complete redesign of our platform. If we were to make the information on our app attractive and intuitive, we needed a beautiful design.  

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

Vitrius offers an investment fund service which requires a lot of email and Dropbox-based communication for each investment in terms of total worth, how the money should be invested, and so on. Design became more and more important for us because we wanted to offer a visually-rich experience through our app. Visual71 redesigned the front-end of our web-based application from scratch.

How did you come to work with Visual71?

We are based in Amsterdam, while a significant part of our development team is in Wrocław, Poland. We needed a local designer and contacted around five agencies. Although Visual71 was the smallest out of all the candidates, they had the best pitch by far. Other agencies simply talked about their work, showing us irrelevant examples. Visual71 had a more tennis-match approach as they engaged with us and asked many questions. Only after an hour did they start showing us some of their work, after fully understanding our business need. From Visual71's approach and pitch, we could see that they were professionals.

How much have you invested with Visual71?

The total cost of Visual71's services has been between $10,000 and $50,000. It may seem low, but it's standard pricing for Poland. The quality of work is comparable to what we could get in Amsterdam, where we could easily multiply the cost by four or five times.

What is the status of this engagement?

Our initial project had a two-month duration, and it only involved a landing page redesign. We were very happy with it, so we've continued to work with Visual71 every month. We have a long-term collaboration with Visual71 because they deliver every time.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

Could you share any evidence that would demonstrate the productivity, quality of work, or the impact of the engagement?

We gave Visual71 carte blanche for their work and the fact that a designer can completely surprise us is a good thing. For the second design of our landing page, Visual71 came up with something completely unexpected, unlike what a company like ours would use. The design is a differentiating factor for our company.

What did you find most impressive about Visual71?

We are working with our own UX [user experience] designer, who is in charge of mock-ups. Visual71 has not only created beautiful designs based on those mock-ups but has also provided improvements in terms of functionality. Visual71 can confidently create designs that go the extra mile.

Are there any areas Visual71 could improve?

Visual71 doesn't have a lot of experience with international companies. They're not entirely confident about working with some clients and they opt to stay on the safe side. If they overcome this hesitancy, Visual71 will be able to grow.

BACKGROUND

Please describe your organization.

BioDuro is a hybrid contract research, development, and manufacturing organization serving the pharmaceutical industry. We're based in San Diego and have offices in Beijing and Shanghai. The company has been around for 10 years and has 600 employees

What is your role at the company?

I am the systems manager and head of marketing.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What business challenge were you trying to address with Visual71?

We needed to develop a new identity and website.                                       

SOLUTION

Please describe the scope of their involvement in detail.

We developed a website through WordPress and are still in the process of developing a new brand identity.

How did you come to work with Visual71?

I emailed a ton of these branding firms. I realized that any American firm that would offer the same quality as Visual71 would be totally out of my budget because American design firms take $10,000 and just give you a stock theme from WordPress.

Could you provide a sense of the size of this initiative in financial terms?

It was around $10,000 for the design and development of our website.

What is the status of this engagement?

The website took around two months.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

Could you share any statistics or metrics from this engagement?

The website results have been great. Our web traffic has improved dramatically and our sales leads are up 25 percent since Visual71's redesign.

What distinguishes Visual71 from other providers?

Przemek [Pawlak, CEO and cofounder at Visual71] is super responsive and is willing to go above and beyond to make sure that we are totally satisfied. When things aren't going well, and we need another draft, Przemek never mentions a change of scope or anything like that. He cares about the quality he provides.

In hindsight, are there areas in which they could improve or things you might do differently?

No. Nothing comes to mind.

BACKGROUND

Please provide us with a brief description of your company.

I work for Rubin Food Group, a family business started in 1990. We are involved in the production of beef. We currently have two production plants in Poland, and our products reach customers in Europe, Africa, and Asia. 

What is your role at the company?

I'm the director of marketing, responsible for all promotional and advertising activities.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What was the business challenge that you were trying to address when you approached Visual71?

We wanted to change the image, and the perception of the Rubin brand. The old logo associated us only with beef, and we had to change it because with have more to offer than that. The new logo and brand diversification needed to be transparent and understandable for everyone.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of the project, and can you describe the specific services they provided?

Visual71 was involved in developing our brand strategy and brand identity. Their work included logo creation, business cards, envelopes, email footers, products folders, leaflets, brand books, a website, car and trailers stickers, flags, and the packaging design of Rubin Beef. They also assisted with trademarking the brand. 

What was your process for selecting Visual71?

They had a great value to price ratio compared to the other companies we looked at. We could buy cheaper branding services, but we wouldn't get as much expertise or that level of design as we did going with Visual71.

Could you provide a sense of the size of this initiative in financial terms?

I can't get to specific but, in total, we spent between $10,000 and $50,000.

What was the timeline of the project?

We started in February and ended in May [2015].

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

What were the results of the project, and are there any metrics you can share?

Our customers, vendors, and employees now understand our group's identity and services better. Visual71 created a coherent visual identity, and accelerated the development of our individual brands. Rubin Beef is gaining more and more notoriety in Europe. Customers in France recently ranked Rubin Beef second in an agricultural survey of trusted European brands. 

What distinguishes Visual71 from other providers?

Their projects are 100 percent accurate and of great quality. In my opinion, the most important aspects in cooperation with anyone is understanding each other. There is nothing worse than misguided projects. Visual 71 gives a guarantee that the projects coming out of their hands will be exactly what you want. They possess an amazing understanding of our needs as if they were reading our thoughts. It was the easiest communication I've had in any project – ever.

In hindsight, are there areas in which they could improve, or things you might do differently?

There were no problems except for the project going a little past the deadline, but that was OK because the project was very complex. The original deadline we set together was a little optimistic. 

BACKGROUND

Please describe your organization.

I run my own company that specializes in augmented reality and digital marketing. We've been around for about 10 years now, working with companies like Daimler-Chrysler, Nestlé, Nivea, and some Asian car manufacturers with German subsidiaries like Hyundai or Toyota.

What is your position?

I am the owner of the company.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What business challenge were you trying to address with Visual71?

I had an issue with my development capacities. I've known Przemek [Pawlak, CEO at Visual71] for quite some now, and he offered to help me create an augmented reality program for Hyundai that would be used at a major German auto show. I was under huge pressure regarding timing because the trade show was only weeks after the start of the engagement.

SOLUTION

Please describe the scope of their involvement in detail.

Visual71 was responsible for the full design and development of the software that supported the program.

How did you come to work with Visual71?

I looked at five different companies during that time. In the end, it came to Visual71 because they could help me with the whole process, and were very amenable to my timeline.

Could you provide a sense of the size of this initiative in financial terms?

The Hyundai project cost about $50,000.

What is the status of this engagement?

The project only lasted four weeks.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

Could you share any statistics or metrics from this engagement?

The project ran during the trade show for two weeks. It was a live experience at what was essentially a kiosk. People came in front of the kiosk, were showed a piece of paper, and on the paper there was a steering wheel, and just using this piece of paper, they could control a race car through an augmented reality system. This was used during the whole trade show. They had about 50 to 60 people a day using the experience. There were always huge lines out in front of the kiosk, so the customer, myself, and Hyundai were all very happy with the experience.

How did Visual71 perform from a project management standpoint?

Some of the team members from Visual71 only speak Polish. In the pre-production phase, I had some issues with the Polish language. At the trade show, the experience was translated into German and English, but because of the short time frame, at first, there was only a Polish user interface but, in the end, everything was perfect. That's the only negative thing I could mention, but nothing is perfect. In general, all the graphics looked great. I had customers from Hyundai asking if it was actually a real PS3 [PlayStation 3] game.

What distinguishes Visual71 from other providers?

I was really happy that I could reach out to Przemek day and night. I called him on a Saturday afternoon at five o'clock, and he came to Frankfurt Sunday morning at 10 a.m. He was 100 percent committed to the project and always available. I've never seen this before.

In hindsight, are there areas in which they could improve, or things you might do differently?

It was only the language issue. I wanted to give my system to another customer, but because of the Polish that it was developed in and the fact that some menus are also in Polish meant that I couldn't use it with anyone else. If I were to do this again, I would write in the contract that all development work and all code must be done in English or maybe German, not Polish.

BACKGROUND

Please describe your organization.

I work for the Polish division of a European car manufacturer.

What is your position?

I'm the head of digital and social media.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What business challenge were you trying to address with Visual71?

We needed to build a website that acted as a pressroom for all 26 Polish dealers, who report to us. All the dealers must adhere to the brand guidelines that are sent to us from our headquarters in Sweden. This website was to be a place to communicate that material to them.

SOLUTION

Please describe the scope of their involvement in detail.

Full-scale Web design as well as some branding and graphic design.

How did you come to work with Visual71?

I've known Przemek [Pawlak, chief executive officer at Visual71] for the last three years because I worked with him at a previous company, and I thought job might be good fit for him because he excels in digital and branding work.

Could you provide a sense of the size of this initiative in financial terms?

It wasn't that expensive. I think we paid around $8,000 for this. We compared this with local agencies, and they were three or four times more expensive. Visual71 is a small shop, so I think their cost is minimal, which was important to me.

What was the timeline of the project?

The work lasted around two months; however, any delays were on our end, not theirs.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

Could you share any statistics or metrics from this engagement?

Not that I can share at this time. We are, however, very happy with the results. The website is in keeping with our guidelines, and the service is cleaner and faster. All the materials for the June marketing materials release were available without any issues, and we received very positive feedback from our dealers.

How did Visual71 perform from a project management standpoint?

Here in Poland, we don't have a lot of resources. From my perspective, I really like to work with people that I don't need to explain every detail too. I just said, "Listen, this is what we need to do, this is the time when you have to deliver, this is all the content you have, so please make sure you're going to do it." We never had to worry about Visual71. It was the most comfortable project that I ever had. I am completely satisfied.

What distinguishes Visual71 from other providers?

I would say that the price matters, but sometimes if you only look at the price, there's no quality. Visual71 is not the cheapest agency, but they provide you with the best value for your money.

In hindsight, are there areas in which they could improve, or things you might do differently?

There was one issue where something was missed in the project. Essentially Przemek, and his team built one aspect of the website the way he thought was best. However, our PR manager thought a different way but, what I liked about the way Visual71 handled things was, they didn't push it to the end. They said, "OK, it's your call, we'll make it your way." They really wanted us to be satisfied. So, there was one glitch, but from the customer service perspective, they handled it really well, and I appreciated that they were looking for ways to better the product.