Andrew Ou Studios

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m the manager of regulatory reporting for the Hongkong and Shanghai Banking Corporation (HSBC) Canada.

What challenge were you trying to address with Andrew Ou Studios?

We were looking to build an app that was basically a tool to capture information for reporting purposes.

What was the scope of their involvement?

Andrew (Founder) helped us create the UI/UX of the application. We were looking for an intuitive UX that led the users through the process for us to get accurate and complete information.

What is the team composition?

I worked directly with Andrew.

How did you come to work with Andrew Ou Studios?

He was assigned to me by upper management.

How much have you invested with them?

I don’t know the exact numbers, but it was somewhere around the $10,000–$50,000 range.

What is the status of this engagement?

We started working together from May–July 2020.

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

We don’t have any statistics to show, but I can say that the app was very intuitive. It was one of the best UIs I've seen in a long while. Andrew had some wonderful ideas, and we incorporated them in the app. I’m really happy with the outcome.

How did Andrew Ou Studios perform from a project management standpoint?

He got down the requirements and managed the scope of the work really well. He worked almost like he was a business analyst trying to come up with the best solution to meet the need that the client had.

What did you find most impressive about them?

I’m really impressed with his ability to understand the requirements and the scope of the project. Andrew managed those expectations and came up with practical solutions that met the requirements — he not only just met the requirements but exceeded the expectations.

Are there any areas they could improve?

There is none that I can think of; I was really happy with his work.

Any advice for potential customers?

To get the most out of the engagement, you should take the time and talk through each requirement. Be prepared for change — we had certain expectations about what we wanted the application to look like, but, by talking through with Andrew, he pushed us to be open. We ended with a different product but with much better quality — be open to meeting him halfway for the solution.

Please describe your company and your position there.

I run a design agency called Studio Moku. I am the founder of this agency. We create apps and websites for tech start ups and help them raise capital.

For what projects/services did your company hire Andrew Ou Studios?

We hired Andrew to help us with a client E-commerce project. We were having trouble finding a senior design who could lead the entire design process as well as manage designers. The company needed someone to not only improve the design but also to improve overall conversions.

What were your goals for this project?

We wanted to improve conversions as well as the UX of the overall website.

How did you select Andrew Ou Studios?

We were referred to Andrew from people in our network. His experience with FinTech and E-commerce was a perfect mix for this project.

Describe the project in detail.

Once we met Andrew he started interviewing core stakeholders immediately. He was actually able to direct the design process. Although we have our internal processes he advised us on some key things we should be looking at. After the interviews and reworking the overall plan together we received early concepts within a couple weeks. From there he was able to direct our team on how to bring those ideas to visual design.

What was the team composition?

Andrew was the main point of contact and served as the project manager and lead designer.

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

We were able to deliver the entire application within a couple months.

How effective was the workflow between your team and theirs?

The workflow was great - Andrew integrated into the team very well. There were no speed bumps.

What did you find most impressive about this company?

Their one-person team's ability to lead was impressive.

Are there any areas for improvement?

Not really - he did amazing!

Please describe your company and your position there.

I am the CEO of a e-commerce marketing company which provides tools for third party sellers to increase their sales.

For what projects/services did your company hire Andrew Ou Studios?

We were looking for an expert UX consultant and decided to hire Andrew for his design services.

How did you select this vendor?

We met Andrew through one of his talks about how to 5x our product. After engaging with him in a free strategy session, we decided that he was good fit due to the nature of questions he asked which were really insightful.

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

In detail, we can't because we are still working on a few things before launch, however during our beta phase, we had to constantly support users because they didn't find our product easy to use. Our product also didn't communicate the way it should.

Being in a start-up phase, we also needed someone to establish a good process, so we wanted someone to come in, take the lead, and direct us in the product experience and make it as beautifully functional as possible to reduce the support and make it a fantastic product.

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

We primarily worked with Andrew

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

It was above and beyond delivery. To my knowledge, UX/UI had been about making the interface look good and work well, however I was blown away by how Andrew took his design practice to the next level. Through the way he asks questions and thinks about the constant possibilities, it had given us a far better product experience than we could have ever imagined.

It even echoed through to our users when they tried the new design and said it was much much easier to understand and use. Through one of the testing sessions, we were able to see how much easier a user could understand our product compared to our current stage where they would get stuck and ask us for help.

How effective was the workflow between your team and theirs?

One of the things we liked about Andrew was his ability to take lead as an expert advisor and lead the change. He taught us how to work with designers in a much better fashion which really improved our product development process as well. Though we were in slightly different time zones, the communication was not an issue.

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

Andrew had an entrepreneurial attitude that allowed him to take things far and beyond the other agencies we've worked with. Our past experience with agencies was that we would sort of have to guide them and communication would take time.

Andrew was efficient with a small team and literally injected himself in our project, gave us the direction in UX design which was beautifully stitched together to our exact product and business needs. They led the initiative and knew exactly what to do without us having to explain or give much direction. 

The most valuable parts were how he can be autonomous, lead our product vision, and really give us far beyond what we have imagined.

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

I don't see anything that him and his team could improve on.