Blackfish & Co.

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m the head of marketing for a crystal components producer.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with Blackfish & Co.?

We needed a company that could provide graphic design support.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

We hired Blackfish & Co. to handle the graphic design work for our website. They work in Figma, where we also review all of their work. It’s quite a complex task because our website is connected to our SAP and includes information about our products. Aside from that, Blackfish & Co. is tasked with doing some design work for our new B2B e-shop.

What is the team composition?

We’ve worked with a project manager and a graphic designer from Blackfish & Co..

How did you come to work with Blackfish & Co.?

Blackfish & Co. did graphic design work for one of our other companies. The results were good, so we decided to use them again for this project.

How much have you invested with them?

We’ve spent around €16,000 (approximately $17,200 USD).

What is the status of this engagement?

We started working together in January 2021, and the engagement is ongoing.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

Blackfish & Co. has delivered designs that meet all of our needs. The designs are also easy to code and implement into the website.

How did Blackfish & Co. perform from a project management standpoint?

Blackfish & Co. has performed well in terms of project management. They’re incredibly responsive. We typically communicate via email and phone calls. We also have regular Microsoft Teams meetings involving the company coding the website. These meetings have been really helpful in ensuring transparency and consistency in our work.

What did you find most impressive about them?

We’re impressed with Blackfish & Co.’s efficiency and ability to quickly make changes to accommodate our needs and requests.

Are there any areas they could improve?

We had a different project manager at the beginning of the project, so some activities got a bit disorganized when we got a new project manager.

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

Make sure to communicate your expectations at the beginning of the project. It’s also important to clearly explain what you need from them.

BACKGROUND

Please describe your company and your position there.

Divadlo Bez zábradlí is one of the oldest privately owned theatre companies in the Czech Republic. It focuses on modern as well as classical drama and musicals. It is located in the center of Prague and hosts up to 300 guests.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

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

The brand and web design were in a desperate need of a substantial update. The graphic design of our web page was indeed outdated. That is why we searched for a studio that was capable of not only designing the new brand design, but also the web page – taking care of both the web design and the graphic.

SOLUTION

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

After contacting a number of studios, we decided to collaborate with Blackfish because of their enthusiasm, great reference and ability to argue for the best result.

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

In the beginning of our collaboration, the Blackfish staff visited our theatre in order to understand its spirit and the design of the place. After that, we received three proposals of a new logo and overall basic design. We picked one and continued to develop it in a friendly and professional dialogue.

We appreciate feedbacks and suggestions that adjusted our ideas from a design and graphic point of view. In the meantime we described our vision of the new web page. It was always a pleasant experience to behold how these abstract visions and ideas got on a form and how, in each step, our new brand and web page came into being.

After finishing the basic structure of the web page we began to test it. After going online, Blackfish was able to react fast at unexpected bugs and needed adjustments.

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

Our communication with the Blackfish CEO was on a weekly basis. He was able to address issues that came unexpectedly fast and responsibly.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

The work of Blackfish is clearly distributed and well coordinated. The overall vision and business affairs were mainly discussed with the CEO. We knew who to contact regarding the graphic and design aspects of the development. We had regular meetings with the whole staff when achieving the most important milestones of the project.

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

Due to the pandemic, the most of the communication was done online. We used a number of easy to use web platforms such as google docs and especially Figma.

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

The whole process was very pleasant! We were always so happy to watch the process and enjoyed each update with joy. Blackfish was very friendly and fun to collaborate with.

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

We expected that the job to be finished a bit sooner – the reasons for a delay are understandable though.

BACKGROUND

Please describe your company and your position there.

I'm Head of UX in an online SaaS accounting sofware company called Billy.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

For what projects/services did your company hire Blackfish?

Our website design needed a fresh up. We did the update of our style guide our selves and Blackfish redesigned all our website components.

What were your goals for this project?

To update our website to a 2020 look.

SOLUTION

How did you select this vendor?

Our sister companies (Ageras and Meneto) have used Blackfish for redesigned their websites.

Describe the project in detail.

Blackfish came up with various suggestions for new designs to the website before I got involved in this project. We aligned on how far we wanted to go and decided that we didn't want a new identity but just a retouch.

After a few feedback sessions we decided on a direction. I did an overall plan for the pages we wanted a complete redesign of. Blackfish came to our office for one week and worked on the designs for the first round of implementation. We are almost done with the first round of the biggest pages. Next up is another batch of important pages that needs a redo.

What was the team composition?

I briefed the designers from Blackfish on the direction we wanted and gave feedback on the specific designs. I'm responsible for briefing our own website developer on implementing Blackfish' designs.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

Since the designs are not implemented yet, it's difficult to measure their work in numbers. But we have ended up with a modern new look for all our main pages on the website and extra components for general landingpages.

How effective was the workflow between your team and theirs?

Blackfish is very easy to communicate with, so working remotely with these guys is not a problem at all. That itself is very efficient. And when the guys came and worked at the office it was even more efficient. We managed to finish up all the bigger pages in only 5 days.

What did you find most impressive about this company?

The guys are very creative thinkers when it comes to redoing "borring" and simple components to cool and vivid designs. And they are very efficient!

Are there any areas for improvement?

Yes, but that's on us. In the first round Blackfish delivered various designs in another identity and expression than what and who Billy is. There was nothing wrong with the designs - they were just not Billy. We weren't clear enough in the beginning about that we didn't want a new identity but a 2020 touch up.

That could have saved the time the guys spend on the first round of design suggestions. The reason why we don't want a new identity is that our customers should still be able to recognize us. We have spend a lot of money on our brand and we still want to be us - not someone else. But the brand really needed an update in colors, fonts and strokes - Blackfish helped us with that.

BACKGROUND

Please describe your company and your position there.

F3 is a brand new casino game which will be live streamed for real-time gamblers to play on their devices. I’m a senior management executive for this company

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

For what projects/services did your company hire Blackfish?

UI/UX Design for F3

What were your goals for this project?

To get the right look and feel for a seamless user experience!

SOLUTION

How did you select this vendor?

I was referred by a friend who was impressed with Blackfish work

Describe the project in detail.

Building a virtual casino platform which can host various casino based games in real-time!

What was the team composition?

UI/UX Designer

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

We are yet to launch the product but after the overhaul of design from Blackfish we are more excited to launch the product!

How effective was the workflow between your team and theirs?

It was very easy and seamless to communicate and get the desired results and experience

What did you find most impressive about this company?

Their ability to understand the problem statement and find solution in a very short time frame with attention to detail!

Are there any areas for improvement?

Certainly! The payment method was a bit complicated due to international regulatory issues.

BACKGROUND

Please describe your company and your position there.

I'm the Head of Marketing at Meneto, a digital accounting firm based in Copenhagen, Denmark. We are like Netflix for accounting - we take care of all your bookkeeping, VAT and taxes at a fixed monthly price. You never have to stay up late to do your bookkeeping. Simply forward your invoices and take a picture of your receipts through our app. We take care of the rest - from A to Z.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

For what projects/services did your company hire Blackfish?

We needed a complete redesign of your website to reflect our unique selling point and to make it look fresh, trustworthy and modern.

What were your goals for this project?

Better look and feel, and increased conversion rate from visitor to free trial.

SOLUTION

How did you select this vendor?

Our CTO had previously worked with Blackfish in a different company. He recommended them.

Describe the project in detail.

We had some online meetings at first. Then we created a slack channel to communicate day-to-day feedback and tasks. They also took time out to fly in and visit our office in Copenhagen, so we could meet personally and discuss the small details. We collaborated in Figma to make different mockups and iterations - and after a few weeks they were ready with a final design. They also made everything ready to hand it over to our frontend dev.

What was the team composition?

We had a project manager that stayed on the project from start to finish. Sometimes we talked with a designer about some details.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

Our CEO and employees was proud of our new website. But it was not easy to measure any uplift in conversion rate because we launched the website days before the COVID-19 lockdown.

How effective was the workflow between your team and theirs?

The project manager was very quick to reply to our messages, and he was very pleasant to talk with them. He was quite smart - he would quickly understand our needs and ideas, even during times with great pressure. The handover to the frontend dev could have been more effective. Slack is maybe not the best communication tool for a handover.

What did you find most impressive about this company?

Sometimes we wanted to change some key design element in the middle of the process - and the Blackfish team was understanding, agile, and provided feedback along with honest, constructive criticism as if they were part of our company. They are very passionate about their work and relationship with the client.

Are there any areas for improvement?

Online meeting goes a long way, but it never replaces some old school drawing on a whiteboard to brainstorm ideas. It would have been better if Blackfish had an office in Copenhagen with project managers.

BACKGROUND

Please describe your company and your position there.

I’m the co-founder of Travelight, which is outdoor store that focuses on ultralight outdoor equipment in Czech Republic.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

For what projects/services did your company hire Blackfish?

We hired Blackfish for branding and designing some of the core website pages (homepage, product page, etc.).

What were your goals for this project?

The main goal of our cooperation was to create a brand identity that will distinct from others in this segment, will be easy to remember and will help us push ourselves into the ultra-light equipment community.

SOLUTION

How did you select this vendor?

We asked for price offer of several graphic designers. Blackfish won the ''tender'' because of the professional communication and best ration price/expected quality of the result. My Travelight companion David Hotar had already a good experience with them from past collaborations on other projects, this helped to make a final decision.

Describe the scope of their work in detail.

At the beginning of the cooperation, we wrote for them a detailed document containing all the key information about the brand - who we are, our philosophy, vision, identity ideas, etc. This was followed by the first alternatives of the logo. Once we had chosen the direction we decided to take, they started to work on the selected one and the brand manual. This was followed by the designing of the website and regular commenting sessions and adjustments.

What was the team composition?

I worked with project manager and designer.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

We are currently preparing the site and the release of the identity is still ahead, so we can't really tell how this change will affect our sales. However, all our team members are very satisfied with the identity itself, which is one of the most important things. I believe our customers will easily accept our new identity.

How effective was the workflow between your team and theirs?

For quick communication/questions, we used Slack. They were able to respond usually in a few hours. For more detailed feedback on the delivery of works, we used Google Hangouts. Communication with them was comfortable and effective.

What did you find most impressive about this company?

I appreciate that they did great research on our segment (Ultralight Outdoor Equipment) and really tried to deeply understand our brand. During choosing the final logo, we were quite uncertain and doing several spontaneous decisions. They were able to make quick adjustments and incorporate our feedback.

Are there any areas for improvement?

We were a few days delayed of the planned schedule, which was still ok for us, next time we would probably appreciate more information on when and what we can expect to be delivered. Overall, we are really pleased with the final results of our cooperation.

BACKGROUND

Please describe your company and your position there.

I am the CEO and co-founder at Rufruf.cz, a Czech company for cold-pressed dog food.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

For what projects/services did your company hire Blackfish?

We needed someone to redesign our website, refresh our brand and make the packaging design for our new products.

What were your goals for this project?

The first goal of this project was to refresh our brand so that it would more closely match our vision of creating fresh and natural dog food. The second goal was to redesign our web to make a simple, clear and user-friendly online store. The last goal was to have a packaging design for our dog food that customers will love.

SOLUTION

How did you select this vendor?

Based on previous experiences with Blackfish. Other founders of Rufruf.cz have also worked with the Blackfish on several projects and I got a very good recommendation for them.

Describe the project in detail.

The project was composed of three parts:

• Refreshing our brand
• Redesigning our website and designing a new online store
• Creating our packaging design

What was the team composition?

We communicated mostly with the design director and the founder of Blackfish. However, two more designers worked on the project as well.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

We got amazing feedback from our customers and business partners since we have rebranded and redesigned our web.

How effective was the workflow between your team and theirs?

Excellent, we communicated mainly through email and phone calls, which was ok. People from Blackfish were always available, met all our deadlines and their response time was less than a day. Also, we were able to follow and comment on all the unfinished work directly in Figma.

What did you find most impressive about this company?

I was impressed by their ability to pull a concept out of our thoughts and put it into reality. Mainly in the packaging design, they did an amazing job.

Are there any areas for improvement?

No, there’s nothing.

BACKGROUND

Please describe your company and your position there.

I am CEO of a Czech based tech company that supplies fintech solutions to Czech banks and insurance companies.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

For what projects/services did your company hire Blackfish?

To modernize our UI/UX & Design Systems of various fintech projects and to provide consultation on the implementation.

What were your goals for this project?

The goals were to modernize older projects within two companies sharing the same visual language and flip it into a modern look with a scalable design system.

SOLUTION

How did you select this vendor?

We’ve been introduced to Blackfish by one of the designers in our network when seeking a company that already had the experience with more significant projects and systems and the one which could be able to communicate the design part thoroughly on their own.

Describe the project in detail.

I can’t share in detail what the projects were due to sign NDAs, but the overall brief was for three separate web apps sharing the same visual language, which got to be modernized by Blackfish, so they fit the current standard. They were responsible for the whole UX and UI part, including facilitation workshops with the broader team and conducting user testing and interview directly at clients’ branches.

What was the team composition?

There were three people at Blackfish actively working on it. I appreciate Vit’s communication skills, which made my job a lot whole easier as he and his team were completely independent

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

I heard nothing but positive things from the client on delivered work, communication, and overall approach to the tasks. They were super happy with the speed of achieved outcomes as well as with the new ideas and strategies towards the brief.

How effective was the workflow between your team and theirs?

The workflow was fantastic. We were providing development, and all the assets were delivered to us on time and with decent quality. The only thing we could do better was email communication, but that was set at the beginning by the client – bank and insurance company.

What did you find most impressive about this company?

Their ability to communicate what’s going on, what’s the current status and accuracy of their predictions on how much time it will take to do something. I’ve never had a feeling like I wouldn’t know what’s going on. I got also surprised by how capable they were when leading the workshops and presenting their ideas and solutions to upper management. Last but not least, the kickoff of the first look was done in less than two days. Brilliant!

Are there any areas for improvement?

They switched the tools along the way (from Sketch to Figma), which caused a little bit of surprise, but it all ended up working well for all of us.

BACKGROUND

Please describe your company and your position there.

I work as a business development director of one of the largest hospital bed manufactures globally.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

For what projects/services did your company hire Blackfish?

We have a large portfolio of products and many stakeholders involved in the decision making. As such it is not easy to educate especially new sales resp and ensure consistency in product presentation.

What were your goals for this project?

Speed up new sales rep onboarding, increase existing sales rep efficiency and ensure consistent messaging.

SOLUTION

How did you select this vendor?

We got a recommendation from past clients.

Describe the project in detail.

Project involved designing and developing an intuitive and user friendly app to be rolled out globally in 10+ languages to help sales reps navigate the product portfolio and use well tailored arguments based on the situation and their audience.

What was the team composition?

Business Analyst - Developer - Graphics designer

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

App was developed in time, in budget and well received by the sales reps throughout the world.

How effective was the workflow between your team and theirs?

The Blackfish team was extremely responsive and adaptive to our needs and demonstrating great professionalism throughout the project.

What did you find most impressive about this company?

Speed and adaptability.

Are there any areas for improvement?

NA

BACKGROUND

Please describe your company and your position there.

Platon is a platform where customers can buy useful minimalist products and simulaniously contribute to a charitable cause. At the moment we are making leather goods but we are planning to expand to other areas also. I am the founder.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

For what projects/services did your company hire Blackfish?

Brand identity, web design

What were your goals for this project?

To build a brand identity from scratch and design a simple but effective online store.

SOLUTION

How did you select this vendor?

I know the founder of Blackfish and I trust his sense of beauty. I believe he’s able to see what customer needs and leads his team towards the vision.

Describe the project in detail.

Blackfish team prepared a few solid logo designs and when we selected the best one they perfected it and build a whole brand identity around it. Now we are working on an online store.

What was the team composition?

I communicated mainly with the founder but I know there were more people working on the logo designs. Now in the second part I’m in contact with a lead web designer and often review the progress with Blackfish founder.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

The progress is satisfying. From a very simplistic web idea we felt the need to push it a bit further to fully explain the brand.

How effective was the workflow between your team and theirs?

Without any problem. I appreciate their insight and sometimes even professional guidance.

What did you find most impressive about this company?

Designers were able to deliver urgent stuff even in the late evening.

Are there any areas for improvement?

The company is quite young but they are on a good path.