4CDesignWorks

BACKGROUND

Please describe your company and position.

I am the Motivational Speaker of Every Breath A Gift, LLC

Describe what your company does in a single sentence.

Inspiring seminars that harness our intrinsic ability to impact the world around us. 

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What specific goals or objectives did you hire 4CDesignWorks to accomplish?

• Build a brand
• Grow the brand
• Maintain the brand

SOLUTION

How did you find 4CDesignWorks?

CEO Relationship

Why did you select 4CDesignWorks over others?

• Close to my geographic location
• Referred to me
• Company values aligned

How many teammates from 4CDesignWorks were assigned to this project?

2-5 Employees

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

4CTechnologies recognized an opportunity to support a charitable endeavour, as well as merge my new brand, with a new venture of theirs. Over time, they developed specific branding which has not only won awards in their industry, but has survived the test of time since 2010. 

They supported the needs of a growing speaker, and provided the necessary technology to be competitive in an aggressive space. Their knowledge of the ever-changing IT industry is vital to those like me who are not savvy in that workspace. I am very grateful for John, Josh, Kathy and the entire team at 4CTechnologies. 

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

14-years later, we are still in business and always going through a lot of changes. Those changes require knowledge to grow, adapt and to perform. Over time, I have been able to create a brand that has been viewed across the world - both physically, and virtually though social media. 

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

My main point of contact, Josh, has been my go-to since day one. That shows so much about a company, that they maintain their employee base for so many years. Josh has always been a knowledgeable, responsive and consistent partner to handle any of my issues when they arise. 

What was your primary form of communication with 4CDesignWorks?

In-Person Meeting

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

The ability to maintain their employee base in a world where we see constant turnover. In my opinion, that says so much about 4CTechnologies. 

Are there any areas for improvement or something 4CDesignWorks could have done differently?

N/A

BACKGROUND

Please describe your company and position.

I am the Communications Manager of Allegheny Regional Asset District (RAD)

Describe what your company does in a single sentence.

The Allegheny Regional Asset District – RAD – invests in Allegheny County's quality of life through financial support of libraries, parks and trails, arts and cultural organizations, regional attractions, sports and civic facilities, and public transit.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What specific goals or objectives did you hire 4CDesignWorks to accomplish?

Create a logo set for a new RAD Summer Staycation Initiative

SOLUTION

How did you find 4CDesignWorks?

Online Search

Why did you select 4CDesignWorks over others?

• High ratings
• Close to my geographic location
• Strong portfolio

How many teammates from 4CDesignWorks were assigned to this project?

2-5 Employees

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

• Meeting with the client to collect final input and ideas, understanding your marketing positioning, your target market and any overall concerns. 
• We will develop a variety of initial raw sketches. 
• Collaborating with you, we will together select 3-4 sketch directions to refine and share.
• With direction from you, either a final or semifinal selection (2 options maximum) will be further refined, taking into consideration your input. These ideas will carry some visual continuity and color to give you more structure.
• These (maximum of 2) semifinal logo designs will be demonstrated applications – such as shown on a web page, a poster, a social post, etc. 
• The finalized and approved design will be packaged and saved as different file types for print and web reproduction. 
• This includes EPS, PNG, and JPG in CMYK and/or RGB formats

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

The logo has yet to be launched, but everyone on the RAD team is excited about what 4C has created.

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

Project management was excellent. Responses were timely and the project was delivered ahead of schedule with great results.

What was your primary form of communication with 4CDesignWorks?

• Virtual Meeting
• Email or Messaging App

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

They provided world-class work with a local touch.  They were able to fit a small project into their busy schedule with seemingly no trouble, much appreciated!

Are there any areas for improvement or something 4CDesignWorks could have done differently?

None come to mind.

BACKGROUND

Please describe your company and position.

I am the Executive Director of Johnstown Symphony Orchestra

Describe what your company does in a single sentence.

We are the Johnstown Symphony Orchestra, bringing high quality orchestral music to the Laurel Highlands Region.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What specific goals or objectives did you hire 4CDesignWorks to accomplish?

• Rebranding of our Logo
• Branding guide for marketing collateral
• Branding for next year's performance schedule

SOLUTION

How did you find 4CDesignWorks?

Online Search

Why did you select 4CDesignWorks over others?

Great culture fit, Company values aligned

What was the size of 4CDesignWorks’s team?

2-5 Employees

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

The project focused on three areas of need. The first need was a redesign of our logo to represent our organization's mission, breaking down the constructs that were associated with our previous logo and brand. The second was a branding guide to assist with creating marketing collateral that is consistent and contemporary. The third focus was designing our marketing materials and brand for our upcoming season of orchestral music.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

• Updated files of our Logo
• Detailed branding guide

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

Kathy and Josh were incredibly responsive to outreach through phone or email. They delivered the items within our timeline and understood the needs of the organization's timeline.

What was your primary form of communication with 4CDesignWorks?

In-Person Meeting, Virtual Meeting, Email or Messaging App

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

I was most impressed two processes. The first was our initial meeting to discuss the marketing needs of the organization. Kathy and Josh came to our office and spent three hours looking at our current marketing materials, asking about our organization and making recommendations. I truly felt they were invested in us as an organization. The second was the research they presented regarding marketing trends specific to our industry. We spent much time reviewing various brand and trends in marketing and how we could begin to implement modernization to meet current standards in the industry.

Are there any areas for improvement or something 4CDesignWorks could have done differently?

No, I was very pleased with the result of our goals!

BACKGROUND

Please describe your company and your position there.

My company, Piece of Mind, is a small marketing agency. On this project I was working with my client, NGE to complete their website redesign with 4C.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

For what projects/services did your company hire 4CDesignWorks, and what were your goals?

We wanted to revamp our website since we had to make significant updates, we thought it would be the perfect time to reformat.

SOLUTION

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

We have worked with 4C in the past; they build our first website.

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

While this was a large project, much of the content on our website was reused. 4C was tasked with developing new design and graphic treatments to help give our website a more modern look. They were helpful, timely, and patient throughout the process, waiting for us to get approval internally.

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

A project manager, Kathy, and a designer, Josh.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

Launching our website was the outcome of this project; there were many metrics associated with completing this project.

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

Everyone was easy to communicate with and helpful throughout the process.

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

I was pleased with their willingness to work on our timeframe; the nature of our business left us waiting for approval from our project managers, who are the subject matter experts on our content.

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

While I am familiar with web design basics, there were points when things were a bit over my head, and explanations caused more confusion. I know it is tough in this field but reducing jargon and ensuring clarity would be helpful at points to reduce frustration.

BACKGROUND

Please describe your company and your position there.

I am the HR/Office Manager of NGE. NGE is an environmental and geotechnical engineering firm with office in Pittsburgh, PA and St. Albans, WV.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

For what projects/services did your company hire 4CDesignWorks?

Our website needed a refresh.

SOLUTION

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

4CDesignWorks developed our first website and we enjoyed working with their team and felt confident they would do wonderful work for us in refreshing our website.

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

We had several conference calls in the beginning to discuss our ideas on how to refresh the website without starting from scratch and using much of the existing content. We also hired a social media consultant to assist with the analytics and design of the new website. The consultant was provided training from 4C's to assist with the content development.

There were many rounds of design review until we were satisfied with the outcome. Even though we had many content development delays, 4C's was very gracious in waiting for the content and encouraging us in different ways to provide the needed content. The final review went smoothly and website was launched within a week of that review.

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

We worked directly with one designer and one project manager.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

The overall look of the website has been refreshed and includes new pictures, design elements, and metrics built in.

How effective was the workflow between your team and theirs?

The graphic designer was great to work with and provided detailed explanations of design elements and instructions to fix items on our own. Any items we needed were provided in a timely manner.

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

4C's team members really became part of the NGE team and made the process a little less painful and lead us through all of the stages from creation to completion in a cooperative spirit!

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

No

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

We’re a water delivery business that provides containers of water in many sizes. I’m a customer care manager that makes sure that our customers’ orders are delivered to them correctly, meaning I work with our website, computer system, accounts payable, and a number of other systems and departments.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with 4CDesignWorks?

We had a very antiquated web design that we didn’t like, so we brought in Design Work to update the site.

We lease our programs from our website provider, and that led us to have a very generic design. We’re welcome to change it, but we didn’t know how, so we brought in Design Work.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

They focused on making the design user-friendly, allowing our customers to more easily place orders, skip an order charge, and pay their bills. Initially, the website was much harder to navigate.

I’m not sure as to the technologies they used, but they worked within our program provider: Advantage Outsystems. We have our own homepage that we built ourselves, but once users log in, they’re taken to that third-party system.

What is the team composition?

I only work with Josh (Senior Graphic Designer), but there’s another background person who tracks our work via email. Josh is the only one we interact with.

How did you come to work with 4CDesignWorks?

Our program provider recommended them to us.

How much have you invested with them?

The total cost has been around $2,500.

What is the status of this engagement?

We’ve been working together since May 2022. The work has mostly wrapped up, aside from a few tweaks we recently thought of.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

4CDesignWorks has made our site easier to read and implemented all my suggestions. I used to get daily complaints from my customers about how much they disliked our website, but since the new one launched about three weeks ago, we haven’t received one call like that. I expected this to be a whole lot harder, but they nailed it.

How did 4CDesignWorks perform from a project management standpoint?

We collaborate through Microsoft Teams, emails, and phone calls. 4CDesignWorks is always on the ball; they respond to my questions whenever I need something.

What did you find most impressive about them?

I was highly impressed with the scope of work that they laid out, and the fact that they accomplished what was asked of them under budget and ahead of time. Josh has been friendly throughout as well, rolling through changes we request.

Are there any areas they could improve?

This was the smoothest web update I’ve ever done, and I’ve been through a couple of them. Our previous update with another vendor was fairly hectic, as there were many moving parts, but Josh nailed this one quickly.

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m an executive at a full-service law firm.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with 4CDesignWorks?

We needed help to revamp our company’s website and branding.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

4CDesignWorks has helped us redesign our website in WordPress; they made the design work, the technical side efforts, and continue to support it. In terms of the rebranding, they redid our logo and all the collateral material that came with it to implement the image throughout our business.

What is the team composition?

We typically work with Kathryn (Director of Marketing) and Josh (Graphic Designer).

How did you come to work with 4CDesignWorks?

We sent out a proposal to redo our website and branding, and 4CDesignWork reached out to us.

How much have you invested with them?

We’ve spent $10,000–$50,000 with them so far.

What is the status of this engagement?

We started working together in October 2015, and the engagement is ongoing.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

They always manage my requirements and provide good ideas to help us give our website a better use, like backlinking our social media to our site. Overall, our platform is working well, and they’ve helped me understand Google Analytics for it.

How did 4CDesignWorks perform from a project management standpoint?

They’re extremely good at project management. In terms of communication, we use phone calls, emails, and video conferences. 

What did you find most impressive about them? 

Their team is always responsive and easygoing.

Are there any areas they could improve?

I don’t think there’s anything they can improve on — they’ve always helped answer our questions and explain everything very well.

Any advice for potential customers?

Consider reaching out to them; they’re easygoing, responsive, and have an easy-to-work-with team that provides good ideas.

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m the director of business services for Telephonix, Inc., and we’re a life safety and system integrations company.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with 4CDesignWorks?

We needed someone to provide us with a brand refresh and web design.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

We brought 4CDesignWorks to do a complete rebrand. This includes coming up with unique logos and color schemes to change our image. The largest task we worked on is creating a new website with fresher content that was more aligned to our new corporate identity.

furthermore, we used WordPress as our main development platform and they delivered mock-ups of the designs through PDFs.

What is the team composition?

We work with Joshua (Senior Graphic Designer) and Kathryn (Director of Planning & Strategic Marketing).

How did you come to work with 4CDesignWorks?

We hired 4CDesignWorks for a previous web development project eight years ago, so we already had an established relationship with their team.

How much have you invested with them?

We’ve spent somewhere around $17,000.

What is the status of this engagement?

This project started in March 2020 and they’re still providing us with ongoing maintenance and sponsorship ad support.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

The rebrand was generally well-received by our internal team, citing our unique look and corporate identity. Our brand recognition among our competitors has significantly improved, and it has helped us become more visible to prospective clients.

How did 4CDesignWorks perform from a project management standpoint?

Their project management is good because we always know where we stand in the project’s timeline and progress. The team is very easy to work with and the process is well-organized.

We typically communicate through email and phone, but we also had a couple of Zoom calls for live training.

What did you find most impressive about them?

We like how we don’t ever feel forced into making any changes. 4CDesignWorks guides us through the process but they never decide for us.

Are there any areas they could improve?

I think they’re doing an exemplary job so I can’t think of anything they need to improve on.

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

My advice is to be prepared to involve yourself in the work to ensure that the development process maintains its efficiency.

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m the VP of Rockerz, Inc. We’re a national retail concrete and flooring company. Our headquarters are in Warrendale, Pennsylvania.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with 4CDesignWorks?

We’re trying to organize our SEO and get our imagery right to ensure we’re pertinent in all of our other locations. We need to keep all of our basic SEO working well within the text, descriptions, and bios on our website and then pick up those regionalities for our offices in Florida, Texas, Arizona, and Oregon.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

We initially reached out to 4CDesignWorks and started working back and forth. We’ve gone from a broad scope to a more detailed one as we’ve evolved our relationship. They’ve worked on different graphic design and marketing services. Now, marketing is all-encompassing — everything ties back into the website, including development, the proper wording, content, imagery, and so on.

We had duplicitous logos, and they’ve brought it all together in the marketing area. Also, they provide web maintenance and development.

What is the team composition?

We have an account manager and someone on graphic design. We’ve met 2–3 other people, but I don’t remember their titles.

How did you come to work with 4CDesignWorks?

It was a referral.

How much have you invested with them?

It’s not a flat rate; it depends on what we ask. In total, we’ve spent about $50,000. Initially, it was a bit heavy upfront, but now it’s just a maintenance fee.

What is the status of this engagement?

We began working together in January 2015, and our relationship is ongoing.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

Brand awareness has improved, for sure. It’s hard to pinpoint precisely what’s driven from the webpage because the marketing isn’t only digital, and we also do a lot of referral work. However, since our company is B2B, our customers are usually national retailers. When they go into our website, they have to be enticed — it has to showcase our quality, culture, and service, and it does it quite well.

As far as Google Analytics is concerned, it has gotten better as time goes on. We do our analytics, and 4CDesignWorks compares them to other businesses, borrowing from their successes. Overall, our business has increased a ton because we’re constantly changing our strategy.

How did 4CDesignWorks perform from a project management standpoint?

It’s excellent. They bring stuff to the table, give us comparatives with other businesses, and are very forthright. They typically use Google Analytics and a management tool, and we use texts, emails, phone calls, and Zoom meetings to communicate.

What did you find most impressive about them?

They’re very responsive, thorough, and service-oriented. They get back to us and want to make sure that our best interests are served, even when we don’t know what they are. Moreover, they explain to us why something might be a good idea or not and its ramifications. Our account manager is great at communicating and showing us graphics and how the process works. In summary, they just do great work.

Are there any areas they could improve?

I don’t have anything at the top of my head; we’re satisfied with 4CDesignWorks.

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

Bring everything to the table and listen to their responses. Also, there aren’t wrong questions.

BACKGROUND

Please describe your company and your position there.

VP of Marketing - Sales, Marketing, Advertising, Web Site Manager

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

For what projects/services did your company hire 4CDesignWorks?

Our website was becoming out-dated so we had it re-designed. The first version was in 2015, which was a HTML site. The second (WordPress) version was initiated in June 2019 and finished Feb 2020. (I had the dates wrong on the form)

SOLUTION

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

I had met a salesman from 4CTechnologies and we had a great rapport - there was no high pressure, which I had from a different local company.

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

The creative designer met with us to discuss our capabilities and what we were looking for - which was a blend of technical showcase with an artistic flair. We met with Josh several times to hammer out a few details. Josh designed a site which we were very impressed.

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

We worked extensively with Josh Schmitt - their Graphic & Creative Designer.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

We were quite pleased with the website design and subsequent support.

How effective was the workflow between your team and theirs?

I was the primary contact with Josh - and quite pleased with the workflow. My background was with HTML, and Josh was quite patient in supporting me with the WP software.

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

I have seen their prior work. They were able to handle the complexities of designing for manufacturing and other technical service companies.

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

Can't think of any. There were a couple of support issues when they were in transition from moving office space, but that was to be expected.