Artkai

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m the CEO of Bottlebits, a web platform for luxury spirits and wine that enhances the ownership of the products through Web3.

What challenge were you trying to address with Artkai?

Three trends are affecting the luxury industry, particularly for spirits and wine. The first trend is shifting from a product-centric to an experience-centric approach. Then, marketing is moving from advertising to community building. Finally, the growth drivers for the industry are Millennials and Gen Z, but they have different habits and interests.

What was the scope of their involvement?

We work with Artkai to build our platform. We’re focusing on the experience side and the ability to configure ownership through NFTs. Most of our work has been on UX/UI design. We’ve tested some designs, created prototypes, and participated in potential leads.

We’re creating an enticing native app that helps users connect their wallets to know which bottles they own. The app also gives access to an e-bottle and e-bar where they can have an interactive and dynamic bottle so brands and restaurants can provide experiences to the users. The overall product also includes the ability to create NFTs that have legal ownership of physical bottles. The ownership is flexible, meaning that a user can have one NFT or a group of NFTs can own a bottle; this allows brands to create communities around special releases. For example, instead of auctioning a 50-year-old bottle of whiskey with an amazing story to one person, they can build a community around it. 

What is the team composition?

We’ve mainly worked with a project manager, a customer relationship manager, a UX/UI expert, a blockchain expert, and a business analyst. Also, we’ve involved some people for video and creativity.

How did you come to work with Artkai?

We were looking for companies that had experience developing Web2 products. After researching, I found four companies that some LinkedIn connections recommended. One of my advisors highly recommended Artkai. We did a contest with all of them, and Artkai was the best prepared for the job. Also, they were engaged throughout the decision process — they showed that they cared about the project.

How much have you invested with them?

We’ve spent around $100,000.

What is the status of this engagement?

We started working with them in December 2021, and our relationship is ongoing.

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

Some of our metrics are the time to deliver and budget. We’ve established some deadlines, and they’ve complied with all of them. Also, they’ve kept us well informed of any changes to the budget, so we can decide whether or not we want to do something before spending it.

How did Artkai perform from a project management standpoint?

We have a control document where we put everything that needs to be delivered. They’re responsible for the team’s delivery, so they always push them to get things done. We capture the changes on the Excel document, and everything is professionally managed.

They’ve opened a Slack channel for us, and we mainly communicate through Slack. Every now and then, we use Google Meet. They’ve been available every time we’ve requested a meeting.

What did you find most impressive about them?

First, the quality of their work is outstanding. They have exceptional talent. Also, they treat us as partners more than customers. They build the product with us, not for us. Artkai understands what we’re going through and the challenges of getting products to the market and helps us with that.

Are there any areas they could improve?

I can’t think of anything. Nobody’s perfect, but nothing comes to mind.

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

Be as open as possible. If you open yourself as a potential partner, they’ll treat you like one. They won't respond the same way if you don’t give all the information.

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m the founder of a finance protocol. We’re a crypto project, and we have a platform where people can stake money and earn a yield on int in a gamified way.

What challenge were you trying to address with Artkai?

We had an idea and very rough sketches that we had made internally, but we didn’t have a formal interface to start development. We hired Artkai to design our product’s UI and for development.

What was the scope of their involvement?

Artkai designed the UI/UX of our website, working with Figma and Miro boards. Although we had initially agreed to a three-month minimum commitment, we’ve now been working together for six months. After that initial phase, we decided to pull in some of their development resources to help us with the frontend development. They’ve been using React and a WordPress CMS. 

Within our site, users come from a landing page and see different investment opportunities. From there, the user journey leads them to choose an option. The onboarding process walks users through connecting their wallets, checking their balance, and performing necessary KYC and AML verifications. They can also see the results and risks associated with each staking pool and get a ticket to verify that they’ve successfully invested. 

Currently, we’re in the final stages of development and looking to deploy in the next week or so. I expect we’ll engage Artkai for maintenance functions moving forward. 

What is the team composition?

We’ve been working with eight people from the Artkai team. This group includes a client success relationship manager, a project manager, a software architect, a head of product design, a junior product designer, and the rest are frontend developers specializing in React. 

How did you come to work with Artkai?

They were referred to us by a mutual friend who had worked with Artkai. We had an initial conversation with their business development team. Although we liked that conversation, we evaluated a couple of vendors and had 3–4 more meetings with Artkai before ultimately deciding to sign them. 

How much have you invested with them?

We’ve spent between $90,000–$95,000.

What is the status of this engagement?

We started working together around October 2021, and our engagement is ongoing.

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

Artkai has really helped us get from an idea to a tangible product. Initially, we signed off on a core scope for the design with a roadmap attached, and the team deviated less than 20%, which is fantastic and far better than what we’ve had with previous vendors. They’ve been very good at forecasting timelines and sticking to them within a reasonable range. 

We’re very impressed with them. Even though the Russian Invasion of Ukraine started halfway through the process and a lot of their team has been affected, they’ve kept working and delivering on time. Despite an incredibly stressful situation, they’ve been very responsive and proficient in their communication with us. Overall, we really like working with them.

How did Artkai perform from a project management standpoint?

They’ve taken over the project management using Jira and Confluence. We also use Zoom and Slack for communication. The team has met their deadlines to a reasonable extent considering this is a technology project, and uncertainty is expected. 

What did you find most impressive about them?

We really appreciate Artkai’s straightforward and focused communication approach. I haven’t had this level of communication in projects with previous vendors, so this is something that differentiates Artkai. 

Additionally, the team is incredibly self-sufficient. With relatively small guidance, they’re self-starters and come to the table with ideas rather than only relying on our input; we welcome this proactive approach. They’re also price-competitive for the work they provide. The rates they’ve given us are slightly below market, and the quality of work is fantastic.

Are there any areas they could improve?

I don’t have anything concrete that I would have them improve. Although we’ve had 1–2 weeks with uncertainties due to the Russian Invasion, that’s a unique situation, and they’ve handled it well in the grand scheme of things.

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m the founder and chief product officer of Opus Immersive, Inc., an emotional wellness technology platform. 

What challenge were you trying to address with Artkai?

We were in the stages of being a lean startup with a lot of changing priorities and sudden urgent projects across a variety of disciplines. We needed a partner that could support us in various graphic, web, and UI/UX design tasks. 

What was the scope of their involvement?

Artkai is our design partner. They design architectural-grade renderings, looping GIFs, and 3D animations that we use on our WordPress website and product videos. They also create Figma wireframes for our apps as well as tutorials and how-to animations. 

In addition, Artkai rebranded our company. They also created a social media campaign following our style guide.

What is the team composition?

I work with Karina (Chief Digital Officer), Ivan (Business Analyst), Aleksandr (UI/UX Team Lead), and a creative director. 

How did you come to work with Artkai?

My co-founder had worked with them in the past. We chose to work with them because they had cross-functional services. Additionally, for the quality of their work, their pricing was very affordable. 

How much have you invested with them?

We’ve spent around $100,000.

What is the status of this engagement?

We started working together in February 2020, and it’s ongoing.

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

Thanks to Artkai, we’ve exceeded our preorder targets by almost three times. Their work allows us to have successful campaigns and a well-converting website. In addition, the speed and quality of their execution have helped us build a successful brand and business.

How did Artkai perform from a project management standpoint?

Artkai’s project management has been perfect, and it’s a pleasure working with them. The process has been iterative, fluid, and straightforward. We use Miro, Zoom, and Slack to collaborate. 

Even though we are in different time zones, Artkai is incredibly responsive and has a fast turnaround time — they always deliver on time.

What did you find most impressive about them?

Artkai’s designers and creatives are sophisticated and high-quality, but at the same time, they are flexible, nimble, and offer a complete package. You don’t usually get that combination from agencies. They are adaptive and responsive, and they can quickly shift gears. 

Are there any areas they could improve?

I encourage them to put their foot down and express strong opinions more often. 

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

Artkai’s creative team is integrated. The more work you give them, the more you’ll get out of each individual. Whenever we approach various different things all at once, everybody ends up happier.

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m the managing director of a digital product agency in Switzerland; we have three locations here. I founded the agency roughly 5–6 years ago to help start-ups create digital products. We also help larger organizations innovate their current digital products and services. In general, our core services are digital strategy, UI/UX design, and development.

What challenge were you trying to address with Artkai?

We were looking for a partner to help us with the services we offer.

What was the scope of their involvement?

We’ve partnered with Artkai for the past three years, and they help us provide great resources, especially with UX/UI design and front- and backend development for digital products.

First, we generate leads and clients in Switzerland and do the strategy with them. Artkai’s team creates the digital product from the design and development side. We fly them into Switzerland to meet the client, and then they internally develop the products.

They were just here for a client workshop about two weeks ago, and we’re looking to collaborate even further on a strategic level, such as lead generation. Going forward into next year, we’ll combine forces there.

What is the team composition?

We’ve probably worked with around 20–30 people in different roles. I mainly interact with the project manager and the CEO, but I’ve also worked with the CTO. We have a UX designer and lead UI designers who are always allocated to the project. For each project, there are usually 3–4 developers and 2–3 other designers. Additionally, there are 1–2 QA developers and a business analyst.

How did you come to work with Artkai?

In general, we’re always looking for partners that can develop products. Since we’re local with the client, we specialize in client management. We were actively looking for people, and I found them on Behance. I saw their portfolio, which was pretty recognized there. Their work was great, and we also saw their positive Clutch reviews.

We reached out to them and started with smaller jobs. Then, they became our go-to partner for most of our projects.

How much have you invested in them?

In total, we’ve spent around $200,000.

What is the status of this engagement?

We began our relationship around January 2019, and it’s ongoing. Moreover, we’ll be increasing our engagement because they have great talent.

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

For a startup, a significant metric is seeing if they actually receive funding. We create an MVP for our clients and help them with their digital product strategy, and the feedback we’ve received has been very promising. They always comment that the MVP is really well designed and structured.

We worked with Artkai on a project for a larger company; we redesigned one of their platforms because their engagement rates were really low. It was an online community platform for health professions, and after the revamp, the signup rate from healthcare professionals increased rapidly. I think they had about 50 monthly users on the previous site. Within a month, it went up to 200 users, and it has been increasing ever since.

How did Artkai perform from a project management standpoint?

They’re a strategic partner. Artkai has dedicated project managers who change for each project. Also, there’s an account manager who is always involved with us. We receive a timesheet every sprint, which we share with our clients.

We have a Telegram chat for functionality and messaging. We use email to communicate, and I have access to their Jira, Figma, and the rest of their tools.

What did you find most impressive about them?

They have good talent and are really down-to-earth. I’d say it’s their interpersonal way and the cultural understanding within their organization.

Since they’re from Ukraine, they have a different culture and mentality than Switzerland or Germany. However, Artkai has an excellent sense of our culture, and they know how to deliver things appropriately. Switzerland is very detail orientated, and it seems like they could be located here from how they communicate.

Are there any areas they could improve?

At this point, they’re doing a great job and growing well. They should just keep doing what they’re doing and stay true to themselves. We’ve never had any bad experiences with them. No project has been too slow or over budget; everything has been great so far.

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

Meet the lead people on the project — that’s what we always do when our clients work with Artkai. We always initiate a two-day workshop so they can meet each other and know who they’re working with.

Since a project can last 6–8 months, having that two-day workshop at the start can bring added value throughout the whole engagement. Also, meeting face to face and getting everyone up on the same page is very beneficial for all the people involved.

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m the VP of product development for EverCommerce, a software solutions company that serves a number of verticals in healthcare and home services.

What challenge were you trying to address with Artkai?

We wanted to develop a mobile app, but we were struggling to put together a modern design that we thought our customers would expect. We didn’t really have any design expertise so we reached out to Artkai to see if they could help us out.

What was the scope of their involvement?

We’re in the process of developing a cross-platform iOS app that would support our multiple brands. When we began the testing phase, we realized that what we were doing was a bit too complex, so we brought in Artkai in the design phase to participate in the initial discovery session.

They provided us with a competitive analysis, customer journeys, and workflows before going into the designing and concept phase where they built the components and the UI. 

What is the team composition?

We mainly work with a lead designer, business analyst, and project manager.

How did you come to work with Artkai?

They were a referral from our corporate CTO, who worked with them in the past. We decided they were the best fit after seeing their portfolio and cost-effective solutions.

How much have you invested with them?

We’ve spent somewhere between $40,000–$50,000 USD.

What is the status of this engagement?

The ongoing partnership started in January 2021.

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

There are definitely positive outcomes from the engagement. One example is we leveraged some of their design concepts into the ongoing development of the product. They accept feedback throughout the entire process and are engaged with us on a day-to-day basis — whenever something wouldn’t fit in the framework, Artkai is always happy to accommodate the changes we want to make.

How did Artkai perform from a project management standpoint?

We have a very lightweight project management framework, so Artkai fits perfectly with our model — I really like their flexibility and transparency, because I’m not always aware of the progress of the project. Their communication is also good as there aren’t any barriers or cultural divides we have to work through.

They use Sigma as their main project management tool and PowerPoint to update and present their work. Additionally, we have bi-weekly reviews with the team members.

What did you find most impressive about them?

We like that they have a variety of design offerings and the fact that they can provide us with professional-level design work is a significant differentiating factor.

Are there any areas they could improve?

We struggled to leverage some of the assets they developed, but I think that has more to do with how we set up the engagement — it has nothing to do with their talents and capabilities. They came in not knowing about our business, so they had to learn the entire market and workflow that had already been created.

If I could go back, we would’ve spent more time crafting the engagement to make sure we were on the same page with the outcomes that we needed.

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

I would say to make sure that the expectations of the engagement are clear as you kick off the partnership.

Please describe your company and your position there.

I am a cofounder of the fintech company simplifying international finances for small and medium sized businesses.

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

We hired Artkai for our initial website design and development to support our own IT team. The project scope was to deliver designs for the initial launch and eventually included using Artkai team for the development work too.

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

We have researched and interviewed 5 companies, short-listing two, with deciding factors being the quality of engagement, experience in the industry sector and price.

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

Given quite specific financial topic and innovative solutions we had a regular collaboration throughout the project with Artkai team. From kickoff project to weekly (and sometimes more frequent) sessions we ideated and iterated through the UI/UX designs (collaborating in Figma) and later used them for the development by Artkai team.

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

Designs: A project manager, 2 designers, with inputs from a lead designer.
Dev: 2-3 front-end / full stack developers.

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

Our website and SaaS platform went live on time with positive comments from customers and other stakeholders.

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

Artkai team is in general open and flexible to communicate with and was able to accommodate our own way of managing the project. At times we had to clarify our needs/instructions to them but this was most likely a byproduct of us insisting on otherwise very flexible/agile way of managing our project.

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

They are a very transparent and humble team that's easy to work with.

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

Don't hesitate to be more proactive with questions

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m a project manager for a marketing and communication channels company.

What challenge were you trying to address with Artkai?

We wanted to have a library of resources created for us to draw from rather than continue to create from scratch for every project. We work with a group of banks, and there are several stages of development and design, which we wanted to make more uniform across all platforms.

What was the scope of their involvement?

We discussed the necessary elements, pointing out what was urgent and what could wait. They created the library using React. The library is straightforward, providing instructions and recommendations for coders. It also gives variations of specific elements, as well as when to use or not use them.

There are code snippets to choose from when we’re developing a web page or app. The coders can copy the code from the library and input it for the project to create a more cohesive look throughout all of our platforms. It’s a complete style guide that can be shared with other companies who may also do development for banks.

What is the team composition?

We worked with a project manager, who was the main point of contact for us, one lead designer, technical designers, two developers, and one QA person.

How did you come to work with Artkai?

We had worked with them on previous projects over the last few years. We like that they already know us, understand our needs, and provide input based on their experience.

What is the status of this engagement?

We worked together on the design system project from May–December 2020.

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

It’s a live platform being used by our technical teams as well as the banks. Developers give feedback and report their level of satisfaction with the system. We have had no complaints from them. We’re more efficient in providing applications for our clients now, and the look and feel across the board are more cohesive.

We tested as we developed and have been able to provide feedback regarding methodology and results, creating a smooth engagement to provide deliverables and implement them into productions. Artkai definitely met our expectations; they’ve been excellent partners.

How did Artkai perform from a project management standpoint?

They did great. We had biweekly meetings to review new designs and previous development. Everyone involved in the project took part in the calls in order to give input and feedback. I also communicated directly with the project manager during meetings. Everything was done on time.

What did you find most impressive about them?

The quality of the deliverables met our expectations. The collaboration was perfect — a clear, straightforward project.

Are there any areas they could improve?

No, I don’t have any suggestions.

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

It’s important to take time to get to know each other as well as explain your business, needs, and expectations. That allows results to come more easily with a high level of satisfaction.

Please describe your company and your position there.

Qvans is specialized is selling and altering vans to fit the needs or our clients. I support Qvans with their marketing and overall comunication.

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

We asked Artkai to develop a website that was functional, had a nice layout and also helps people converse. The build and designed our website and designed our branding and logo.

How did you select Artkai and what were the deciding factors?

A colleague knew Artkai from a previous project and was really excited to work with them again. We chose Artkai because they offered multiple services.

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

The website was build in Wordpress. We had several meetings were we discussed our preferences and our deadlines.

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

We worked with Igor and his team in the past and now we're working with Pavel.

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

We're happy with the website, everything functions as it should. They are still altering the site with the feedback we gave them.

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

The project managers communicated clearly and often via mail, slack and google meet.

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

They keep working until everything works like it should and until every little detail is correct.

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

They communicate very often and sometimes have a hard time seeing priorities, but this also had to do with the size of the project and the fact that we switched directions a few times.

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m the founder and CEO of HawkinIO. Our company does consulting and full stack software development.

What challenge were you trying to address with Artkai?

We had a couple of different projects in mind when we contracted Artkai. The main project involved designing our website and creating a new brand identity. The second was for a product design.

What was the scope of their involvement? 

For the website and brand refresh, our goal was to develop a digital presence that captured the full scope of our team’s capabilities while tailoring that message to our target audience. We gave them a brief on our company’s vision along with some design examples that I liked. They ran with that, did some market research, and came back with feedback on our designs. Besides the website, they provided strategic help on our messaging, phrasing, and a new logo. 

The team continues to work with us on a second project, which involves designing a new SaaS product that will monitor the air quality in large buildings.

What is the team composition? 

It’s around 4–5 people between the project lead, account manager, and 1–2 designers.

How did you come to work with Artkai?

I did a lot of research online for a full-service design house and found Artkai on Dribbble. Their portfolio looked really strong, and I liked how they approached design with a high sense of quality. The team and company history were appealing, too. After I reached out to describe the nature of our projects, they followed up with an engagement letter and proposal.

How much have you invested with them?

In total, we’ve spent about $10,000–$20,000. 

What is the status of this engagement?

It began around October 2019, and we’re still working with them.

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

We’ve earned excellent feedback from our customers for both the branding work and the design for air quality monitoring. In particular, the comments for the latter have been almost universally positive.

How did Artkai perform from a project management standpoint?

For the website development, we had an account manager who worked to understand our initial needs. The project manager then took over and to get more in-depth. They managed the design resources for us and funneled our feedback down to the team. We communicated primarily through Slack.

What did you find most impressive about them?

The quality of their designs is quite high, especially for an off-shore organization. They do a really good job of thoroughly understanding our needs — the team can run with our general goals without us having to go into all of the details. The ideas that they come up with complement our objectives well, too.

Are there any areas they could improve?

It can be hard to book them when you need to because they’re very busy. There have been plenty of times when I’ve tried to reach out only to see that they’ve already been booked. However, I’d rather have that problem and still get high-quality work than the other way around.

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

Take some time to think about what your high-level goals are so that you can go into the relationship with clear objectives in mind. If you define your objectives clearly, then they’ll do a great job of delivering on those. Just give them the creativity and freedom to come up with novel solutions.

Please describe your company and your position there.

ProCredit Bank is a development-oriented commercial bank, which has been operating on Georgian market since 1999. ProCredit Bank Georgia is part of the international ProCredit group of banks, which operates mainly in Eastern and South-eastern Europe in countries with transition economies as well as in Germany. ProCredit Holding is the group’s parent company. One of our main priorities has always been providing a high level of client service for our customers. We are oriented on small and medium enterprises and to private individuals who have the capacity to save and who prefer to do their banking through electronic channels. We focus to introduce innovative and digital services on Georgian market. To meet the requirement of our customers it is important to develop a new and sophisticate e-banking platform with decent UX/UI.

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

The goal was to gather requirements from all bank stakeholders and clients to develop a new solution for our e-banking system. The Internet Banking had to be attractive, simple, modern and meet the highest quality standards in terms of technical implementation.

How did you select Artkai and what were the deciding factors?

Artkai is known as a reliable ProCredit partner for more than 4 years. Based on the research, they provided a strategy full of insights. Besides, the design concept that they provided was the best among those that we have seen.

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

The scope consists of several phases (in chronological order): Discovery. To find out main problems and goals Concept. To provide high-level vision of the solution to make sure everybody are on the same page UX/UI. To cover all new requirements based on discovery insights Front-end. To build a cross-browser front-end for the designed product, sending/receiving requests to/from the Back-end to ensure the functionality of the system. QA: to conduct testing of the developed product.

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

We worked with the Head of Design, Project Manager, Designers, Front-end developers and QA-engineers. The main point of contact always was Project Manager, however sometimes for solving tasks we communicated with other team members directly and enjoyed our communication very much :)

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

Internal procedures do not allow us to disclose any numbers, but in our opinion at the end of the day Artkai built the product that met our expectations in terms of quality of code and usability of interface. Design is simple and intuitively understandable. Our technical advisers were impressed by the quality of code that Artkai provided. The product was developed using best practices that will ensure easy support by internal resources. On the top of it, we are sure that their solution will stay relevant for a long time for our target customers.

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

We were impressed by the level of client service that Artkai provides. We met all deadlines and it got all the requirements and updates in a clear way. All conditions and deliverables that were agreed initially were completed as agreed. We used e-mail and Skype for everyday communication and jira for task management

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

I liked the way they gathered all requirements. It was very pleasant to see how they work with stakeholders and clients to understand their needs. The best thing was when those requirements were presented to us and we saw not only the list of problems, but the actual suggestions on how to solve them. They are definitely not just pixel pushers. They build meaningful products.

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

The pricing sometimes can bite :) But in general they were ready to adapt to any request we had.