Black Antelope

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

Originally, our goals were based on user feedback and a user needs assessment. We got really feedback from users who saw their concerns and needs being addressed through the launch of the redesigned site. 

Their work has allowed the network to continue to grow its activities to train climate communicators across the country. Over the years and with Black Antelope’s support, we’ve been able to train hundreds of climate communicators who communicate with millions of people as a result. Their team’s support in making sure our site could operate and meet those needs was an integral part of the project. 

How did Black Antelope perform from a project management standpoint?

It was really easy to manage the process virtually with them because they had a lot of great systems in place. We used Basecamp to manage the workflow and InVision to share, comment, and approve design concepts. We also did web conferences for longer discussions and they were available by phone or email if something more timely came up. 

What did you find most impressive about them?

Their level of investment in our goals made them unique. They went the extra mile to understand our goals as an organization and thought of the website in terms of how it served those goals. That was very impressive and not necessarily something I’d expect from any web design studio. 

Are there any areas they could improve?

There’s nothing that really comes to mind. We were really satisfied with their work. 

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

They are people who you can just consider partners on your projects. 

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

A lot of the developers I’ve worked with in the past haven’t put in a lot of effort for SEO, but Black Antelope really built that into the site. Within a few weeks, we were on Google for the search terms that we were looking for. It was much faster than I anticipated.

I couldn’t be happier with the site. We haven’t had any bugs and it’s been clean since the launch.

How did Black Antelope perform from a project management standpoint?

We used Trello as our management system. They methodically went through things as we put them up. We communicated efficiently and things were done really easily.

They were available, so I could call them whenever I needed them. When things weren’t clear, I was able to get ahold of them. And they were very patient with me, even when they were super busy.

What did you find most impressive about them?

The database is amazing. And really the whole thing. I love the look of the site and the ability to go into the database and come up with editorial ideas for both my own business, and also for media aggregates. Now I have visual and editorial content ready to share whenever I need it. Now we can create content very easily and keep things running.

Are there any areas they could improve?

No, I can’t think of anything. We had zero problems.

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

Get your three-year business plan together, understand what you want to do after you launch, what your next markers are. For example, we’re going to be launching other sites with them as well, and that was all built into our site, so it could easily be duplicated for other purposes.  It’s all standard business advice—think big.

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

Our startup could not launch without the completion of this project as our business is dependent upon the function of this platform. We are now fully operation and are no longer pre-revenue in just a short period thanks to the successful completion of the project.

How was project management arranged and how effective was it?

Through coordinating with their lead developer and designer, we set several deadlines depending on which items had upcoming completion requirements. More often than not, Black Antelope completed asked assignments before agreed upon times.

What did you find most impressive about this company?

They have an incredibly high level of communication and take a personalized approach with your project. The platform they built for us exceeded my expectations.

Are there any areas for improvement?

There is very little in which i would recommend improvement at this point in time. Perhaps in the future simply to increase team size should they wish to grow their client base and provide their great services to more businesses.

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

We look better to the world. People contact us with questions based on a visit to the site. Also, we now know what our site visitor stats are.

How was project management arranged and how effective was it?

It was somewhat effective, although it could get messy at times. We used Basecamp.

What did you find most impressive about this company?

They were accessible, decent to work with, and responsive.

Are there any areas for improvement?

I wish we would have collected more input on what was needed going into the project. We could have done more on our end. I also would have liked not to use a template based on another site, as we ended up with a lot of extra legacy stuff that just confuses things. It’s best to start clean.

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

We've gotten very good feedback from our partners. We set up analytics for the new site they just finished after we announced it, and we've been getting quite a few hits. Everyone who has reviewed their work has been really impressed. They should be very proud.

Black Antelope did a phenomenal job of developing our website, including the CMS and design. They were able to work with anything we threw at them, and the finished product came out perfectly. 

How did Black Antelope perform from a project management standpoint?

Project management has been great. I appreciate how Black Antelope communicates. We used to send them tasks by email, but they transitioned to Basecamp. As an online tool, it helps facilitate interactions between the client and the vendor. 

Now, we use it to put in all our requests, and they always get back to us quickly. We have running threads within the forum that include comments, posts, and images. This tool has streamlined our process and been very successful.

What did you find most impressive about them?

I'm most impressed by the level of one-on-one personalization they offer. They have excellent design judgment and provide better alternatives to our suggestions for placement and functionality. 

Black Antelope is such a small team that they feel more like a family-owned business than a bureaucratic corporation. We never get automated ticket responses to the task requests we send. 

Since the developers run the project themselves, there are never layers of divisions to communicate through. They respond very quickly, even though I work unusual hours including after 10:00 PM. Even at night, they usually get back to me right away. They’re willing to support us beyond the standard workday whenever the need arises. 

Are there any areas they could improve?

I really have nothing to complain about. Black Antelope has been doing a phenomenal job. 

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

We always let them know our priorities and which less important items can wait. Since we know we're not their only client, we respect their time. Make sure you’re addressing what's most important. Delineate urgent matters like deadlines and be clear about what you need the most, so they don't get bogged down. 

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

Scott designed a beautiful site. I feel confident sharing it with existing students and thru social media marketing campaigns.

How effective was the workflow between your team and theirs?

I’m extremely satisfied with the level of communication and enjoyed collaborating with Scott on this project. He checked in with me frequently, fine-tuned the content based on my preferences, and made useful editing suggestions along the way.

What did you find most impressive about this company?

I’m impressed with all of the work thus far, especially the ease with which Scott has translated my requests, concerns, and vision into an attractive and easy-to-navigate site.

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

We leverage the email templates they built for us on a daily basis. We can easily access things and make changes on the backend of our website and email marketing platform. With their help, we reach hundreds of thousands of supporters each month.

How did Black Antelope perform from a project management standpoint?

They know their stuff. We work with them through Basecamp, which is their preferred platform. They do a good job.

What did you find most impressive about them?

They’re responsive to our needs and requests and are so knowledgeable. They’re really easy to work with, creative, technically savvy, and willing to fill gaps in our staffing. All of that is really helpful and we don’t know what we would do without them.

Are there any areas they could improve?

Nothing comes to mind.

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

I doubled my clients after the new site was launched. This was in large part due to the convincing professional look of the new site. I made many changes in that period, including getting a new office location, so it's a bit hard to state what the most significant impact was. However, when I talked to people about the site, they said it was exactly what a page of its kind should look like.

One of the things I was sensitive to was its friendly look, which would convey the same message about ourselves. It's easy to make a bad website, and it's difficult to make a simple one. In particular, the imagery with the logo was expertly chosen, and the color themes have helped us relate the feelings and message that we want to get across. Furthermore, the page layout has done a good job in accomplishing the goals that we set out for each page. My site is easy to use, functional, and beautiful.

How did Black Antelope perform from a project management standpoint?

We weren't pressed for time, so I had multiple discussions with Black Antelope around the design, and also consulted with my brother and people in my co-working space. Because of this triangular relationship, things progressed more slowly, but the collaboration was overall good.

Because the project took place three years ago, it's a bit hard to say exactly how we worked together, but I remember that I communicated with Black Antelope almost exclusively through email and Skype. I was sent long emails containing ideas and sent back my own response to Black Antelope.

What did you find most impressive about Black Antelope?

I haven't worked with many other graphic designers. There are many options available on the market; the ones I've used in Paris are much cheaper, but they are good. The difference between great and excellent isn't significant, but at the same time, it's a lot. Using the right shade of a specific color is an art and it's a craft that they've mastered. I've used designers who made acceptable choices which we ended up using, but being a notch above everyone else is what Black Antelope was able to give us.

Are there any areas Black Antelope could improve?

During one particular Skype call, Black Antelope's principal looked like he had just woken up. This may not look professional, but he's an artistic person, so that may simply be his way of being. We had a more casual relationship, and had he been working with a bigger client, he may not have done that. This really isn’t worth mentioning but I can’t think of anything else that’s negative related to Black Antelope’s work.

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

When we started working with Black Antelope, our company only had about 150 members. I had no team of my own and was working exclusively with vendors. I had to rely on Black Antelope as my technical advisors as well, in terms of site hosting. I was also able to reach out to Black Antelope later on for consultation, which is something that I greatly appreciated. Black Antelope knew our site and needs, so they provided valuable technical advice for free.

Our company has close to 500 employees at this time. Our website traffic increased tremendously. Even though not all of this is attributable to Black Antelope, having a much more robust website contributed tremendously to our success. We had significant peaks of traffic at times, but the site never went down.

Black Antelope helped us with initial SEO implementations, giving us core advice for this area. We definitely saw an uptick for Google search results.

Six months after we stopped our engagement with Black Antelope, we hired our own SEO person. Until then, Black Antelope acted as our advisor. Because the site was faster and more professional, our rankings went up, which was great.

How did Black Antelope perform from a project management standpoint?

The only negative feedback I have in this sense is that I was sometimes nervous about Black Antelope's ability to deliver something on time. I didn't see many of the intermediate steps at certain points, even though the work still got done in time. I know now that Black Antelope is a competent company, but since I wasn't familiar with them in the beginning, I had some doubts.

Many project vendors suggested using project management tools, but I'm usually resistant to this. I always preferred having calls and using email for our collaboration with Black Antelope.

What did you find most impressive about Black Antelope?

Black Antelope has good technical abilities and I always felt that I could trust them and ask their advice on hosting packages, what types of resources we should hire, and so on. Black Antelope didn't have a get-in-and-get-out approach. At one point, I wanted to use Black Antelope for maintenance. They were upfront about the fact that they don't prefer working on retainers as a business model. Black Antelope could have taken my money and strung me along for a while, but they didn't. Black Antelope did offer assistance for any urgent issues, even though their suggestion was for me to hire someone in-house. I appreciated this level of honesty and professionalism.

Are there any areas Black Antelope could improve?

I would appreciate more visibility into milestones. If Black Antelope is working remotely, the client needs to have a level of comfort.

Could you share any statistics or metrics from this engagement?

In terms of site design and aesthetics, everyone's been very pleased with it. It works well for our needs. It has content and event streams, as well as a large gallery of photos, which we were able to publish. Much of the color and photo management is done in-house, but the design done by Black Antelope is great. Overall feedback has been nothing but positive. Our technical contact from Black Antelope is very accessible and competent.

How did Black Antelope perform from a project management standpoint?

We were hoping to roll out the site in November 2015, but we finished it in the first week of January. There were some add-ons included later into the project, so the delay was expected. Black Antelope has been very good at working with project management tools, keeping us posted throughout the process and making everything clear. The work was essentially done on time.

Black Antelope used a web-driven project management tool through which I could log in and look at mockups and the project timeline. It was a fairly sophisticated tool with which we shared document and were kept updated.

What distinguishes Black Antelope from other providers?

I found our contact's accessibility to be very good. In my experience with tech consultants, they will drift at times. Black Antelope always responded to us within 12 to 24 hours to any email communication. I was also impressed with their technical skills. In my experience, there is a lot of pushback from developers when asking for anything that doesn't fit a particular theme. Black Antelope was able to produce anything we asked for, which was impressive. They did much of custom work, without being boxed into a particular theme. With Drupal in particular, working with themes requires knowledge for customization. Black Antelope's accessibility, ability to get work done on time and their high-level technical skills set them apart.

Is there anything Black Antelope could have improved or done differently?

The only challenge was working with Black Antelope remotely. I never actually met the team, but I was fine with that. I believe that Black Antelope was working nights, and their principal [Scott Hildebrand] is in Hong Kong, so it was sometimes tough to have a conversation on certain issues and to clarify Black Antelope through email. I don't think that there's something that can be done about this. It's simply the nature of the business. Black Antelope's skills, responsiveness and ability to get the work done on budget more than made up for this shortcoming. They could try to connect more to clients during business hours.