Angle2

Please describe your company and your position there.

I am the head of product innovation for the software company. I was responsible for determining the requirements and managing the budget for the product redesign project

For what projects/services did your company hire Angle2, and what were your goals?

We were challenged with the need to find an affordable external partner which could provide us with a modern and intuitive user experience and interface for our web application. We needed to implement this redesign in a way that would allow us to update it as needed on our own implementing new features in a fully integrated and elegant way.

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

We selected Angle2 after seeing their portfolio of work. We had a limited budget and an already feature rich application. Some of their previous work appeared to be very good at making dramatic and intuitive improvements to large web applications. This fit our existing software design well and was within our budget.

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

Our key deliverables were delivered on a weekly basis and in a strategically prioritized manner beginning with the most critical elements of the web application first and the less complicated elements came afterwards. Angle2 were extremely proficient in using Figma for the web components and were able to integrate feedback in real-time updating the individual elements in our meetings and provided great insights into how we might improve the user experience while still including our feedback.

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

We worked with six team members, those members were the owner, two project managers, two user experience experts and two user interface experts.

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

The deliverables were created in a very easy to use and easy to maintain design system format on Figma and they integrated extremely well with our React based development environment. The development process was very detailed and also very rapid. Each week we had new elements which our developers could beginning planning to integrate into our web application. Each week we could see how our redesigned product would improve some new function or task for our users.

We were able to begin implementing the improvements even before the project was completed because it was so well integrated with our existing workflows. We were able to reduce the number of steps necessary to complete the tasks our users perform most while also increasing the visibility of those tasks in such a way that errors and missteps were reduced.

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

Angle2 were very good at delivering on time and at explaining next steps in advance. We were able to understand the reasoning behind design decisions and could visually interact with the design decisions in real time to see how they added value to our customer's experience. The management team showed their experience and professionalism in every interaction and we had an exceptionally positive team spirit during the entire project.

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

This company has very good transparency in their pricing and project management. We never needed to wonder how much something might cost or which the pricing might vary in terms of billing from one week to the next. We felt we got more than we paid for throughout the duration of the project.

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

Angle2 is a mature company with well established practices and professional team members. None of the improvements I can think of would significantly alter my overall positive assessment of the team. The key improvements which might increase their success are expanded languages that they are able to collaborate in. However they are already competent in English and German as well as their native Ukrainian and Russian. Perhaps they could expand their team in order to be able to work on even larger projects but that is about it.

Please describe your company and your position there.

I'm a Director of an innovation funding consultancy. We are a start up that has been going for over 2 years now.

For what projects/services did your company hire Angle2, and what were your goals?

We had issues with attaining documentation from clients, and also giving them visibility of our process. We approached Angle2 in order to develop some software that would allow the client to upload documentation, make edits to the information in our reports, and also schedule calls with consultants if they have a question. This software would give us an edge above the rest of the competition in our market.

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

We found Angle2 through a website called themanifest.com. However we spoke to a whole series of different UX & UI development teams from around the world before deciding to use Angle2. We were looking for developers who were personable and would assess the entire scope of the project before giving us a quote. We needed these qualities as we were not sure about the entire scope of the project, so needed a team who were flexible, personable, and reactive. Angle2 gave us all of these qualities.

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

First of all Angle2 scoped out what we required the portal to do by creating a storyboard with us. We then moved onto the UX phase of the project where we could work out the framework of our vision. We spent the most time on this as it was the most important stage. Once we had decided on our framework we moved onto the UI stage, and then development.

Due to the fact our scope kept expanding and we had a rebrand during development, we went through a few iterations of both development and UI design, however Angle2 were highly reactive to our needs and quickly made the changes we required to a high standard.

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

There were about 5 people on the team. We had Victor and Yuriy who helped us manage the overall project throughout the process. We also had Jane on UX/UI and Igor and Kristina on backend development. Overall the team seemed to work well together throughout the whole process.

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

Overall the project has been a success so far, and we have managed to continually add to the original design with ease.

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

They have a great approach to their projects, and they all work together to solve any issues quickly and efficiently. They also take a very personal approach with their clients. This allows them to solve issues and make changes rapidly, even with English being a second language for most of the team, we found that if we had not described something correctly, Angle2 were very quick to solve the issue and make the changes required.

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

We've had direct access to the whole team, making it easy to communicate our ideas. Things can be lost in translation if you only talk to a project manager.

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

The only areas of improvement I would suggest for Angle2 is that they needed a slightly more experienced UI designer who is as reactive and efficient as the rest of the team. The person we originally had was a little young and therefore did not understand our needs as quickly as the rest of the team, as due to age he did not take the same personable approach.

Please describe your company and your position there.

I'm the CEO. The company develops smart IoT products to solve everyday problems.

For what projects/services did your company hire Angle2?

We needed UX and UI for our new app, which makes Fridge Management and controls the Fridge Eye, our smart refrigerator camera.

What were your goals for this project?

To create a UI, which corresponds with the product design and consider all current and some future use cases.

How did you select this vendor?

I found their profile on a freelancer platform, checked the portfolio, mad an interview and gave some test tasks.

Describe the project in detail.

We had a series of meeting and the vendor delivered incremental results considering our feedback.

What was the team composition?

UX specialists, UI designers, and QA

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

We released apps for iOS and Android both based on the design provided by the vendor.

How effective was the workflow between your team and theirs?

The workflow was very effective. Our feedback was considered and very good ideas were provided.

What did you find most impressive about this company?

They maintained a professional approach and delivered very good results.

Are there any areas for improvement?

No

Please describe your company and your position there.

I am Founder of Web Development company based in Ukraine. We take care of web development and help products to succeed and grow. We have 2 offices in major Ukrainian cities and total of 17 employees.

For what projects/services did your company hire Angle2?

Our company website was created by ourselves in times when we were bootstaping and believed that tech company with main focus on backend can do something good enough to represent themselves online. In 2019 the level of company maturity became completely irrelevant to the website we previously had. Impressed by work done by Angle2 we started discussing a brand new look and feel of GetCode website

What were your goals for this project?

We wanted the new website to follow the principles of our work - KISS (Keep is Simple) and DRY (do not repeat yourself). Another priority was having catchy animations to make difference from most of competitor websites built with Wordpress themes

How did you select this vendor?

We initiated the discussion of the project with Angle2 and immediately felt that just the redesigns can turn into creating a completely new brand. After few initial sessions of discovery phase with Angle2 it became a no-brainer that after building new website the GetCode will finally own their own brand which didn't happen before.

Describe the project in detail.

Usually helping with complex functionality with data processing we were unsure how much will we like the designs and concerned about revisions. However frequent communication and moving from mockups to the complete designs was a smooth process. After discovery phase we started our work on understanding who we are as the company and how can we implement our philosophy in website designs. We were deeply involved into every UI/UX decision made, got a feedback about our own ideas and together we were able to create something that inspires the whole team.

What was the team composition?

We contacted with Yurii and Sergiy who both participated in discussions about brand identity and UI/UX decisions. After designs were done and work was completed, we received documentation, support and guidance on implementing the designs into HTML/CSS

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

Both GetCode team and client are positive about new website designs. Potential employees are able to quickly find everything relevant to the job opportunities. The case studies section which is usually the initial contact point for prospective clients instantly creates great impression about GetCode brand

How effective was the workflow between your team and theirs?

We had weekly meetings with updates from Angle2. We really liked to be involved into the process, contributing our ideas, getting tasks and homework to prepare information for the website. The delivery was in time, we never had any discussions on delays. We used Skype for communication and Redpen for the feedback on UI/UX solutions

What did you find most impressive about this company?

As businesses GetCode and Angle2 share the same vision of customer satisfaction, importance of communication and feedback that made our collaboration smooth and transparent.

Are there any areas for improvement?

There is always a room for getting better but for us the final result and customer satisfaction exceeds expectations

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m the owner of a web design agency for direct to consumer brands. We essentially design, build, and manage online stores.

What challenge were you trying to address with Angle 2?

We started working with Angle 2 when we started our company as a more general marketing company than we are now. We struggled a lot to work on our own portfolio, so I thought it would be good to bring in an outside perspective that could help us execute a cool, unique website for our own marketing purposes.

What was the scope of their involvement?

Their team designed and built our website from scratch. I explained my vision to them, and they came back with a couple of different concepts that they pitched. Once we approved one, they built that out and made it into a more robust mockup before fully developing the site.

We did an initial version of the site and done made a few changes and offshoot projects over the year or so since then, including building a blog on a separate domain that integrated well with the existing aesthetic of what we had built.

What is the team composition?

We worked with 3–4 members of their team on the project.

How did you come to work with Angle 2?

I found them on Upwork originally. We had very specific criteria for the style of the site because we wanted it to be eligible for a particular web design award, but we didn’t have any folks who could execute that.

I posted on the site, and it was pretty clear as soon as Angle 2 responded that they understood what I was looking for and were able to provide the quality of work required.

How much have you invested with them?

In total, we spent around $12,000 on the work.

What is the status of this engagement?

The initial project ran from August–November 2018.

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

We don’t have any particular metrics because we didn’t really go into the project with any specific KPIs in mind. One thing I can say is that it accomplishes our main goal completely, which was to create a very memorable experience for our users that looked different from all of the competitors in our space.

Nearly 80% of new users that we interact with comment on the quality of the website, which is really unusual, and we are really pleased about it.

How did Angle 2 perform from a project management standpoint?

They were great across the board. Their communication and ability to meet deadlines were something I was a little concerned about because of a few previous experiences I have had with outsourcing companies, but Angle 2 blew all of my previous experiences out of the water. We had no issues whatsoever conveying our vision and getting on the same page with their team.

What did you find most impressive about them?

Their communication skills go a long way, but what really sets them apart is their ability to understand and interpret an idea and then grow it into something better than you could have ever come up with.

Are there any areas they could improve?

I honestly couldn’t put my finger on anything that I would like them to improve, as evidenced by the fact that I’ve gone back and hired them again multiple times since.

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

I would have no hesitation in referring them to other folks. As long as you recognize that they are a design agency and have a clear plan of attack for how to set up the technical architecture for SEO or other marketing goals on your side, I don’t think there’s anything in particular that you need to do to be successful with them.

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m the medical software director at Taktik / iCure Cloud. We develop software for several verticals.

What challenge were you trying to address with Angle2?

We were looking for a partner to fill internal gaps. We had several projects that required UX and UI expertise, which we didn’t have sufficient talent in-house. All of our developers who normally worked internally were also already working on existing projects. We needed to look outside to get the expertise we needed.

What was the scope of their involvement?

We hired Angle2 for design services for the UX/UI and frontend. We had to develop a user interface for a medical software web application. We wanted to have a dashboard where people can interact between themselves and use the dashboard for managing team tasks. The platform exists only as a backend. Given the existing functionality, we had to develop the user experience and graphical realization from the user experience.

We had other developers working from our side, and I was managing them myself. The requirements were quite straightforward. On the frontend, we used React.

What is the team composition?

Five people were working on the project.

How did you come to work with Angle2?

I looked for the specific skillset we were requiring and for some feedback. We needed a company that had some expertise working with medical software and with an understanding of healthcare professionals as users.

I selected Angle2 because they had the necessary skills. In addition, I noticed that they had a very high-quality customer service. They reacted quite well and proactively reached out, which we found to be helpful.

What is the status of this engagement?

We started our engagement in April 2019.

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

Angle2 has a talented design team. They’re flexible and adaptive.

How did Angle2 perform from a project management standpoint?

I’m happy with their customer service and the way the project manager is taking care of the project.

I always have an overview of what’s been done and what’s expected to be done. Their project manager’s response time usually is less than two hours, which is also helpful to get a quick update on any questions we have if something is urgent. We’ve included them in our Jira project management system, and we’ve used some other communication tools.

What did you find most impressive about them?

Being a UX/UI agency, they managed to stay true to the core. They actually suggested the design based on the user experience without any unnecessary features. I was afraid that I would receive extra decorations, but they showed me a working dashboard. They explained the reason behind each design element. With us not having any experience before with the specific use cases, it helped a lot. I appreciated their pragmatic approach.

Are there any areas they could improve?

I was happy with what they offer. Their UX/UI team is full of professionals. I’ve asked them if they would provide more development services in the future, but they explained that they pride themselves on UX/UI. I wouldn’t say they have to change that because I do appreciate that they focus on what they do.

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

Give them access to users and give them the freedom to come up with the solution for the user experience and interface. Listen to their explanations. For us, it’s proven that their recommendations have worked.

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m the CTO of NeoDeck Holdings. We’re a healthcare IT company.

What challenge were you trying to address with Angle2?

We were trying to build a new patient health records system. It’ll be used by doctors in clinics when seeing patients.

What was the scope of their involvement?

We gave Angle2 a set of requirements, including screens and functionalities, for what we needed. They reviewed the specifications and created a long-term plan with multiple steps. The plan was based on UX-industry standards centralized in what designs to use and how those designs would impact the product.

We work in cycles. After we provide requirements, Angle2 analyzes them and comes up with a quote. Once we approve the quote, they start the UX design. The UX work is followed by UI design, which is focused more on how the product looks. In comparison, the UX is more about how the product behaves and how functionalities should work across the entire solution.

After sending us the UI design in InVision, Angle2 puts everything in Zeplin. Then, the developers implement everything into the product, and we begin the cycle again. Their team also takes care of any fixes and changes we request.

What is the team composition?

We’re in contact with a lot of people. There are two UX designers, a lot of UI designers, a project manager, and so on.

How did you come to work with Angle2?

We were looking for design companies and found them on Upwork.

How much have you invested with them?

We’ve spent around $155,000 so far.

What is the status of this engagement?

We started working with Angle2 in February 2019, and the work is ongoing.

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

Angle2 has worked very hard and fast to meet all the requirements we’ve given them. It’s been a really good process. The product looks great, and the cycle method we’ve implemented is swift and efficient. In terms of quantitative feedback, we’re spending less time developing screens and modules because we have a specific design that we can now follow.

The product is going to go to market in a couple of months, and we’ll see how users react to it then. Overall, it’s been a good engagement.

What did you find most impressive about them?

Angle2 is a great team. They’re very aware of what they’re doing and how they’re doing it. What’s more, they give us insights and build the solution in a way that satisfies the UX for the users. They know what they’re doing.

Please describe your company and your position there.

Resero Network Ltd., founded in 2008, currently owns and operates a variety of video game-orientated websites. I am the Managing Director of said company.

For what projects/services did your company hire Angle2?

We hired Angle2 to redevelop the front-end of our two websites: Xboxachievements.com and PlayStationTrophies.org.

What were your goals for this project?

Our goals for this project were multi-faceted: 1. To bring the current website up to more modern standards; 2. To improve usability and functionality across the board; and 3. To add a ton more feature sets for our users to make use of.

How did you select this vendor?

Angle2 were recommended to us by another development company, who specialise in back-end development, who we were working with on another project at the time. After checking out their previous work, we got in touch and the rest, as they say, is history.

Describe the project and the services they provided in detail.

The project basically involved redoing the entire front-end of our two massive console websites - massive not just in terms of traffic, but also the amount of new pages and specific pages that needed designing. Angle2 worked with us through all aspects of the process, from understanding our audience, their behaviours, to creating the actual pages, improving functionality and usability across the board. If we had edits, they made them. If we had bugs, they fixed them. In a timely fashion as well.

What was the team composition?

We worked with various different people across various different stages, from analysis people to coders to front-end designers. Thankfully we had an account manager, Kristina, who has been a delight and incredibly helpful from start to finish.

Can you share any information that demonstrates the impact that this project has had on your business?

Our new sites have not launched yet, due to other work we're having done to the back-end (not related to Angle2), but we imagine that the work done by Angle2 and co. will be hugely successful.

How was project management arranged and how effective was it?

Very effective. Like I said, we had our Account Manager who arranged everything, from meetings (usually over Google Hangouts), edits and queries (conversations had over Slack), presenting new designs (using InVision) and the handing over of code (via Bitbucket). No issues at all here, they were responsive and helpful at all times throughout the process.

What did you find most impressive about this company?

Probably the ease and collaborative aspect of it all. Their design work was great, obviously, that speaks for itself, but if we had stuff we wanted changing/moving/etc. based on our experience of knowing our audience, they listened and adapted, as opposed to pushing back. They would explain their reasons behind all their design choices, but at the end of the day they understood that we, as customers, ultimately had to be happy with what we were creating. It was such an easy project, one that spanned months as well, which often isn't the case with such a large and complicated project.

Are there any areas for improvement?

Honestly, no. We are incredibly happy with the work Angle2 have produced and the aftercare that they offered us to make sure we were happy with the final product. I was that happy with them that we've just hired them to redesign another one of our websites!

Please describe your company and your position there.

I’m the co-founder and CEO of a startup in the health insurance space. We’re building a digital health insurance platform for consumers in the Middle East to make researching, purchasing and managing their health insurance policies convenient and transparent.

For what projects/services did your company hire Angle2?

We’d designed and built a prototype/MVP of our platform ourselves to test out all the functionality etc. However, as a small team without any real design expertise in-house we decided to engage Angle2 to audit, polish up and redesign our user flows and interfaces where necessary.

How did you select this vendor?

We shortlisted and evaluated 5 or 6 different vendors for this project, and we had multiple meetings with each. We ended up selecting Angle2 for a number of reasons. First of all they were extremely responsive to our initial enquiry. Meetings were set up quickly and we had a well thought out proposal in a few days.

Second of all they looped in a senior UX researcher/designer from the first call, and her questions, insight and feedback impressed us from the get go. Finally, they have some previous experience with similar platforms in other geographical markets so they were able to hit the ground running so to speak.

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

Although we’d already developed a prototype the team elected to take a clean late approach so as not to anchor themselves on the work we’d already done. We started off by agreeing on and setting up our project systems and workflows... a Slack channel for communication, Zoom for video calls and Calendly for scheduling. We then set up projects in Asana, Whimsical and Figma for project/task management and design collaboration. The team started by developing the project’s information architecture and doing an in-depth analysis of our competitive landscape.

They then studied how platforms in other, unrelated industries use UX/UI to solve some of the challenges we’re facing. The results of these analyses were fed into the creation of high-level UX flows and wireframes. These were then refined over multiple workshops/iterations and when we were happy with them the project moved onto the UI stage where their UI designer put together hi-fi layouts, designs and illustrations.

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

The team consisted of a UX researcher, a UI designer and a project manager to coordinate everything. The company owner also sat in on some of the meetings to oversee how things were going.

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

We’re happy with all the work that has been delivered. We’ve taken a conscious decision not to launch with a product that is too lean or rough around the edges. Even though we’ll have limited functionality at the start, it will at least be well designed and thought out and we’re very excited and optimistic about our upcoming launch.

How effective was the workflow between your team and theirs?

We put a lot of effort into establishing workflows up front so this project has been run really efficiently. They have a good command of English so language hasn’t really been a barrier.

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

I’ve been impressed with a number of things. First of all they’re quick... they’re super responsive to Slack messages, they action feedback very quickly, and the pace at which work has been completed has generally been very high. Second of all I’m impressed with their UX/UI design skills. It didn’t take long for them to understand our product, and the UX/UI recommendations they make are all solid. It was not simply a case of us telling them what to design and them then going away and doing the work.

They were able to think and challenge as product owners... this is very important to us. They’re also just a pleasant bunch of people to work with, which is equally important I think!

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

Not really, nothing comes to mind at the moment.

Please describe your company and your position there.

I am the founder of an online writing game and community. We motivate people from around the world to write more words and to keep a daily writing habit through the use of game mechanics on our online platform.

Writers can write their words using our editor, organize their words into files and projects, play a game with those words, customize their characters, build homes, and connect with other writers in our forum. 

For what projects/services did your company hire Angle2?

We needed a partner who would first understand our product and community (thousands of writers who use the site everyday to write) and then would help us redesign the entire platform so that it would be consistent, engaging and easier to use. We hired Angle2 because of their experience in both UX and UI and in this project we covered both.

An additional challenge ontop of redesignign our platform was the need to make sure that our game art was still heavily prevalent and just as engaging for our community. We pride ourselves on our art and the game world we created, so we needed a partner that would not only be able to do the basics of designing a nice Dashboard, but also take on the challenge of redesigning the game. Angle2 was able to take on this challenge en performed really well. 

How did you select this vendor?

We selected Angle2 after an exhaustive research phase where we went through about 100 different vendor profiles on Clutch and similiar sites. After narrowing the list down to 10 we conducted video interviews with each one and in the end it was A2's focus on UX and their excitement to tackle the challenge of redesigning the game that made us choose them.

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

The project was divided in two main phases. In the initial UX phase they first researched our industry and competitors, then investigated our product and community to better understand them (surveys, video interviews) and then when we felt they understood our product we moved into Information Architecture and User Flows.

After this indepth process we created wireframes for each page before finally moving to the UI phase.

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

From Angle2 we were able to work directly with one of the founders as well as UX and UI leads. Additionaly we were able to work with junior UX and UI designers who worked under the supervisision of the more senior members.

At all stages it felt like there was good communication on their side internally and we never had to repeat ourselves or explain something to a new team member joining the project. 

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

The results so far have been fantastic! We shared a preview of our work with our community and even drastic changes got ratings of 9/10 and higher. Because the redesign hasn't been launched yet we don't have more concrete results, but one of our major goals of the redesign was to have a complete design system we could keep at the end of our work together. Angle2's team are extremely organized and the system they are creating will benefit us internally greatly.

We're really excited to launch this update!

How effective was the workflow between your team and theirs?

Working with Angle2 was easy and we were in constant communication both through Slack and weekly progress update calls with their team. They never took more than 24 hours to respond to a question and one thing that stood out about working with them is how clear they are with their hours worked.

Every two weeks (or one week when we asked) we got a complete breakdown, by the hour, of what each of their team members worked on and we had the opportunity to discuss it with them before any charges or invoices were sent. Everything felt very transparent, I could trust them, and it led to a great relationship where we both able to focus on our work so we could deliver the best results. All of our team members were included in conversations by Angle2 and their voices were heard throughout the process, it felt like a true partnership.

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

How easy and straight forward everything was. I've worked with other design providers in the past and it has been a mix of missed deadlines, over inflated budgets and half done projects. Everything with Angle2 was as we could have hoped.

The did what the said they were going to do, for the cost they said they would do it, in the time they said they would have it done. We didn't have to pressure or chase after them and they delivered at the, or in some stages above, the quality we would have hoped. 

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

One small area for improvement could be the cost estimation of the project - although this isn't something I would fault them for because of how big our redesign was (well over 100 screens on desktop + the same on mobile).

This is something I discussed with the team already and when we did realize we were a bit over budget they jumped into action and came up with a strategy where we could still finish what we wanted at a fair price. When something was well above what they estimated it would be, they were kind and fair enough to bring that cost down and absorb it on their end, so the budget wouldn't rise anymore.