Chromatic

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m the senior associate brand manager of OLFA. We make cutting tools for both professional trades and crafts.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with Chromatic?

We brought them on to create our new website, handling everything from design to implementation.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

They built our website from scratch on Shopify. The first criteria was that it needed to be launched within 3–4 weeks. It also needed to be one website with three different business segments comprising pro, craft, and safety segments. The site needed to be built on a platform that a non-technical person from our company could maintain.

What is the team composition?

I worked with Katie (Director of Client Services) and Matthew (Senior Developer).

How did you come to work with Chromatic?

I knew one of the owners of Chromatic. We had them bid on the project, along with 4–5 other companies. The biggest selling feature was that Chromatic was willing to map our previous site to ensure we didn’t lose any information. None of the other companies brought that up. It was clear Chromatic had more insights than other companies about preserving our data.

How much have you invested with them?

We invested around $50,000.

What is the status of this engagement?

The project was from November 2020–February 2021.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

Our website met all of the criteria we had given to Chromatic. The site’s easy to use on the front- and backend. We were able to incorporate the different pieces of software that we needed, including a social media tool and reviews. Additionally, the website’s functionality is easy and user-friendly. A non-technical person can update the product pages quite easily. The Chromatic team was great about leaving us an instruction manual on the basic things that may need to be updated on the site.

How did Chromatic perform from a project management standpoint?

Everything was tracked through Basecamp. Their team came up with a good way of tracking how far we were on each component of the website build. We all communicated easily and were aware of the progress of the project. I was also able to see what I needed to do on the project to keep it moving forward.

Are there any areas they could improve?

No, it was a great experience from start to finish.

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

Communicate with Chromatic and be upfront with what your needs are.

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

We're an online magazine. We review boats, and we connect builders with potential buyers. I'm a programmer, and I handle all our web needs.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with Chromatic?

Our codebase was very outdated. We needed updated standards and a new design. We also wanted to implement new features faster.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

We first had them do an audit of the existing site to see if it would be more cost-effective to upgrade or completely rebuild it. They provided a lot of documentation, and we decided to build a site in Drupal. They built the site feature by feature.

What is the team composition?

We've dealt with at least ten members of their team.

How did you come to work with Chromatic?

I searched online for agencies. We had trouble with another firm in the past, so we wanted a higher-end team. We contacted several companies, but we ultimately chose Chromatic because they wanted to deliver the best product they could for the most realistic price.

How much have you invested with them?

We've spent close to $200,000.

What is the status of this engagement?

We started working together at the beginning of January 2019. We launched in October 2019, and we still work with them on a monthly retainer for bug fixes and to add new features.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

Everyone is impressed by the new look, feel, and usability. Chromatic provided clean code and documentation, so future development will be much easier.

How did Chromatic perform from a project management standpoint?

Their project management was out of this world, and there was very little scope creep, thanks to their intervention. We can be a difficult client, but they get everything done. We usually communicated through a weekly call, and we also used Slack on a daily basis.

What did you find most impressive about them?

They really care, and they deliver a great product.

Are there any areas they could improve?

I don't have anything they should improve. They're great at what they do, and I'd encourage them to stay as they are.

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

Contact them and talk about your project. They won't outsource your work, and they have a great passion and knowledge of their work.

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I am the president and CEO of a mobile development company that works with Fortune 500 companies. We teach their employees how to use new content and products, interface with end customers, and execute on processes.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with Chromatic?

We needed to enable our team to meet very aggressive deadlines. Chromatic augments our existing resources with additional staff members. Secondly, they provide technical expertise for the specific areas of Drupal 8 and UX/UI design. We rely on both their experience and knowledge. 

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

For most of our projects, Chromatic starts early on to guide our development teams based on their experience. They inform us about what we can achieve for our clients using Drupal 8. 

The team also serves as direct backend resources. They’ve helped our developers understand the platform's key components. For smaller leadership tasks like code reviews, they ensure we apportion our work effectively to leverage our employees' skill sets. 

One teammate from Chromatic is currently leading our frontend UX/UI development efforts. Drawing from substantial experience, they expertly led us through the end-to-end build of an entire pattern library for design. We've already started utilizing this resource to make the necessary modifications to our frontend site.

We had some existing design materials like wireframes to prepare to transition from Drupal 7 to Drupal 8. During the migration, we took advantage of the opportunity to redo our client’s entire custom website using the latest UX/UI design thinking.  

While our internal designers are talented and provided upfront guidance about our desired concept, Chromatic had the insight about how design elements would translate into actual development on Drupal. They helped us determine how best to achieve our goals. 

What is the team composition? 

Three Chromatic teammates work for us in a variety of roles including frontend UX/UI design, and code review.

How did you come to work with Chromatic?

We've worked together on different projects in the past. When the teammates we knew moved to a new location to start their own business in Chicago, we were their first client. 

How much have you invested with them?

We've spent between $1,000,000 – $5,000,000. The cost has varied between months from $10,000 up to $100,000. On an annual basis, we spend about $150,000. 

What is the status of this engagement?

Since May 2013, we’ve been using Chromatic on and off for about six years now. Our partnership is currently ongoing. 

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

We chart productivity for each person who works on our projects, and Chromatic performs at the highest level. Based on our estimates, we compare the burn rate with what we earn.

The data we aggregate shows us both what Chromatic accomplishes and how they enhance our in-house development team's performance when they're leading our eight developers onsite. 

Their deliverables have proven very valuable. Having set patterns and prepared assets in a complete pattern library will be useful for both our current and future projects.

How did Chromatic perform from a project management standpoint?

Chromatic accurately estimates and tracks the work we need to accomplish against our expectations. Rather than just promising to continue working on a task, they give us quantitative figures about what that will require from both our teams. 

What did you find most impressive about them?

Chromatic is very experienced. They have strong expertise in the technical areas we need. They've helped develop three of our employees into experts and raise them to a higher level of proficiency based on our evaluations before and after their training. 

Are there any areas they could improve?

I think that given enough time and money, everything can be improved. If possible, they could turn some of their knowledge into processes that are appropriate for a client to continue doing independently. While I don't think they keep that knowledge to themselves, I would appreciate a formalized process for sharing that insight. 

 Drupal is open source and community driven, and I know that contributions are valuable for everyone who uses it. It's a powerful tool that's accessible and easy to understand for developers. Breaking down the rules about how to use it could make it even easier for us to implement, especially for the new object-oriented version.

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m the director of product management for platform at Meredith Corporation. We’re a magazine publishing company that specializes in print magazines like Better Homes and Gardens, as well as digital platforms like AllRecipes.com.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with Chromatic?

We're moving our digital properties onto Drupal and wanted a developer to help with both the migration and rebuilding of those sites. We also wanted to establish a better platform to do this work.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

Chromatic plays a senior architecture role, consulting on the best ways to move our properties from a proprietary content management system to Drupal. They execute these migrations with their own staff and then add custom features.

We wanted a complete redesign for these properties. From a UX perspective, Chromatic modernizes these sites while providing more flexibility and control for the editors. They also provide SEO work to improve exposure.

How did you come to work with Chromatic?

They were referred to us by Lullabot, which is a premier Drupal service provider that’s worked with Chromatic on a number of projects. One of our partners also had an existing relationship with Chromatic, so it was a good fit.

How much have you invested with them?

Between $500,000–$1,000,000.

What is the status of this engagement?

We've been working with them for four years.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

We've seen speed improvements with faster page loads. One of our properties saw a 50% increase in organic traffic from Google and other search engines after being moved to the new platform.

How did Chromatic perform from a project management standpoint?

They're one of the vendors we enjoy working with most. Their developers are flexible and deeply integrated into our processes, but also offer suggestions based on their experiences.

They're involved in our Slack channels, attend all of our stand-ups, and hop on architecture meetings. They serve in an augmentation capacity, so we essentially view them as team members. They've always been very responsive and embody what a partner is meant to be.

What did you find most impressive about them?

They're great at adapting as the industry changes. With our most recent project, for example, we wanted to implement a headless Node.js frontend, and they were able to provide a developer who specialized in that process to work alongside our long-time backend Drupal specialist.

Are there any areas they could improve?

They had a few staffing misfires when they were trying to scale up early on. However, they've changed their hiring process and now employ really solid workers. So currently, I have no complaints.

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

Applied Motion Products is an industrial component supplier to primarily factory automation. The components we provide are motors and drives, motion controlled components for use in factory automation, which includes machines in the packaging industry, semiconductor industry, medical devices, lab automation, material handling, automated assembly, and all these different automated factory environments where machinery is doing most of the production and assembly. I did application engineering for a long time so my background is technical. For the last couple of years, I’ve been the marketing director.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with Chromatic?

We were looking at a variety of solutions to suit our primary audience of engineers. At the time, our site was pure HTML with no database on the backend. Everything was done manually. We wanted a database with product information that we could use to build a catalog and then add some user interface tools like filtering and comparing products, detailed specifications, downloads, etc., for all the different products.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

Chromatic was responsible for building a new site from scratch including all the design and UI elements and the wireframing. I was the subject matter expert and did the data entry. Once the database was built and it was time to enter data, another person and I hunkered down for two weeks and entered a bunch of data. We have about 1,000 Stock Keeping Units or part numbers in the database today. It’s not a massive site, but there are a lot of details.

The user needs to base their selection on specific parameters, and they want to come to our site and search for specific power supply voltage or particular features, then select them through filters, and see the products that meet those criteria. We also wanted to be able to compare products side by side. A lot of our products fit together to make a system.

Previously, you had to pour through PDF documents to find what products were related to other ones. On our new site, you select product A and you want to see all the types of product B that will fit, so we built a robust tagging system where we can tag all the products that go from product group B and all the ones that fit with product group A. We started this project in 2010 and we’ve added many tags and related many products together. The website was built on Drupal. Right now we’re doing a bigger project to redo the pricing on the site.

What is the team dynamic?

In 2010, I started working with Chris [Partner & Creative Director, Chromatic] who was the site builder and their other founder who did a lot of the design work. I was the project manager on our end. The three of us did all of the decision-making and QA. When we first hired Chromatic, it was just those two guys; today their team is much bigger. We have our go-to developer, Mart, [Developer at Chromatic], who spends a considerable chunk of time on our site maintaining and making changes and updates to the site. We create and edit all content, but they do all the maintenance and the Drupal side. Depending on what additional things need to be done, they’ll bring in a designer like Alfonso [Frontend Designer & Developer, Chromatic] or they’ll bring in their network guy. We also have our main programmer. Chris jumps in if there are questions requiring heavier lifting.

How did you come to work with Chromatic?

We talked to various consultants. Some were doing open source work like Chromatic does, while some had proprietary solutions based primarily in .NET. It came down to two companies with Chromatic on the Drupal side and another company on the .NET side. What ultimately swayed us towards Chromatic was that Chris not only understood what we were trying to do but had a lot of great ideas on how to do it. There were no objections and they were very positive about it. The .NET guys weren’t as confident that they could figure it out.

How much have you invested with them?

We have invested $500,000.

What is the status of this engagement?

We started working together in 2010 and the work is ongoing.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

We generate approximately $1 million in sales through our website annually, representing about 10 percent of our total revenue. We didn’t have that revenue before working with them.

How did Chromatic perform from a project management standpoint?

They are excellent. Formerly, we used Basecamp, but they switched to GitHub a few years ago. They use GitHub to manage the code base, tasks, and projects. Slack is where we communicate on a regular basis. They’re extremely organized. We work together on everything. Regular maintenance work is going on all the time, and I feed them outpost issues to GitHub and then prioritize issues that are up there. They’ll knock them down quickly as the month progresses. When bigger projects come up, we do weekly calls.

They’ve also been helpful with working on a fixed marketing budget. I have to be very cognizant of hours because there is more that we want to do on the website than I have budget for but they’ve been very accommodating. When they invoice us, they list very specific item numbers in GitHub. They are very detailed so that I can explain to my superiors and I have good accounting of what projects their hours went into on a monthly basis. They’re also very good about notifying me when we’re hitting the limit and prioritizing tasks accordingly. They’re well organized, accommodating, and easy to work with and make it so that I can do my job better.

What did you find most impressive about them?

They have made an impressive work environment. They’re purely a remote team and I’ve been impressed with the way that they are able to make that work. I get good vibes from everybody that I deal with there. I get the feeling that everybody that works there really likes it. They seem very passionate about what they’re doing. I’m really impressed that they were able to go from a two-man team to where they are today. You can tell that they really enjoy what they do and they’re very good at it.

Are there any areas they could improve?

They are sometimes too accommodating with us. Through the years, we’ve jerked them around. We haven’t always paid on time and we haven’t always given them credit where credit is due. We’re a corporation, so I’m not the only decision maker. We can be a pain from time to time and they could have whipped us into shape had they been a little bit harder-lined. That’s a double-edged sword. The fact that they’ve been so accommodating for so long has really helped me. They’re really on the ball.

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m the director of creative technology and innovation at a boutique marketing and communications agency. About two-thirds of us are based in San Francisco, and a third of us are remote across the country. We’ve been in business for 10 years. We consult with clients to develop strategies and communication services for them, including focus groups, print campaigns, in-person meetings, webinars, websites, emails, and so forth.

Part of my role is to advise and consult with our clients on their digital strategy, and how they can leverage the appropriate channels to achieve results. I work with them to define their goals and objectives and to develop strategies. Ultimately, I oversee tactics that are aimed to carry out the strategies.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with Chromatic?

In my experience, a strategy that worked well was to find trusted partners that we could leverage as an extension of our team, who brought core expertise around specific technologies. I have experience doing both onshore and offshore outsourcing for technical expertise. That’s a great model for us, as our work tends to be cyclical, with peaks and valleys. We get really busy around annual enrollment time for benefits, and then there’s a lull. We engage with Chromatic on a project-by project-basis. This works great for us, rather than hiring an in-house developer.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

We build non-personalized benefits websites for our clients. We have approximately 15-18 active clients for whom we are the strategic communicator, and we do big engagements for them. Not all of them have website components, but many of them do. We use Chromatic to support those benefits websites. They’re non-personalized, public websites, and they’re largely marketing sites. Clients hire us to help communicate to their employees, spouses, and family members about their benefits.

We develop interactive websites, and we direct people to those sites as the front door. They’re positioned as a benefits hub, and then they link out to various providers and administrators for things they need to do. For example, if an employer wants to promote their 401k plan, we’ll develop marketing messages and have those on our site. When the employee needs to take action, we provide a link to the site for them to log in and make a transaction.

Chromatic is very involved in the process. Our company has in-house graphic designers, so we develop the design concepts. We run them by Chromatic and ask for their feedback, and we make adjustments and refinements from there. They do all the development work. We have someone on our staff who does the content management piece, and she’s well-versed in Drupal. Once Chromatic finishes the development, she takes over the content management from an ongoing standpoint. Chromatic continues to be engaged as we pitch enhancements, new features, or site redesigns.

A couple years ago, we engaged with Chromatic to build a common framework that we can then pitch to our clients at a lower price point. This allows them to be more efficient for each subsequent client implementation, and that’s worked out very well.

How did you come to work with Chromatic?

When I joined the company, we were using an agency with limited resources, which I saw as a huge risk. I did some investigation into different Drupal companies, and we initially engaged with another firm for two projects. It was a complete disaster, as they were difficult to work with and very unprofessional. I did some additional research and got a referral to Chromatic from another agency. We started the engagement with Chromatic by having them maintain the two sites built by the other company. We liked the service we were getting, so we gave them the next project that came along, and it evolved from there. Over time, they’ve become a trusted partner.

How much have you invested with Chromatic?

We’ve invested $315,000 to date.

What is the status of this engagement?

We’ve been working with Chromatic since December of 2013, and the work is ongoing.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

One of the biggest results for us is that, of all the projects Chromatic has touched, we haven’t lost any clients. Our clients love the sites developed by Chromatic, which is great. When I go to meetings with prospective clients, a large part of my presentation is showing off our work. Our prospects really get excited about the work they see, which leads to new sales for us.

We’ve gotten positive feedback from employees who actually use the site. We get write-in comments, and some of our sites have page ratings. For the most part, that feedback is positive as well.

I think they are proactive and dedicated. We can rely on them. When we give our clients a date for project completion, we must stick to that. Knowing that Chromatic will deliver on time is important to keeping our clients happy.

We respect each other. They understand that they are going to need to bend over backward at times, but that should be the exception and not the rule.

How did Chromatic perform from a project management standpoint?

Chromatic has never missed a deadline for us. They’re always on time. They’re always clear when things are going out of scope, and they offer suggestions for mitigating that, which is appreciated.

What did you find most impressive about Chromatic?

They work very well virtually. Our team is spread out, and a lot of our work is remote, so I appreciate that Chromatic can work that way as well. It’s refreshing to use an agency that has representatives in a U.S. time zone and that are good communicators. At the end of the day, they’re good guys. They’re ethical, and that matters. We like dealing with people who are going to treat us right.

Are there any areas Chromatic could improve?

I’m struggling to come up with something significant. They’ve been very willing and able to do what we’ve asked. For example, a couple years ago we asked if we could get better real-time visibility into how we’re tracking hours and burn-down rates. They set up a system where we can tap in and query how we’re trending on the budget day-to-day. They’ve been very receptive to things like that. Another nice thing they’ve done is to provide a dedicated resource to be our primary contact, and that’s worked well for us. They’ve been evolving and improving as we go along.

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I'm the Vice President for an eyewear company based in the United States, with worldwide coverage. We're a global player in the sunglasses industry. I’m responsible for our B2B, our B2C, our mobility, document asset management, digital key accounts, and digital core accounts. Anything that’s e-commerce-related rolls up through my office.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with Chromatic?

We were working on a frontend refactor of our B2B and B2C properties.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

Chromatic worked on the CSS and HTML frontend implementation, based on designs that had been completed by another agency. They helped to scope the build and worked on the library of code they were going to utilize. They wrote all the CSS and HTML, created the repository and the continuous integration process which managed that as well. They were integrating with a leading eCommerce platform. We examined a couple different frameworks, but we decided not to utilize one: everything is custom right now. This is the frontend of a global e-commerce website that will be deployed in 2017.

How did you come to work with Chromatic?

I was familiar with the work they did for another e-commerce company. I also knew one of the principals with Chromatic. We spoke for a while about this opportunity, then decided to work with them.

How much have you invested with Chromatic?

We invested more than $100,000 in this effort.

What is the status of this engagement?

The project started in January of this year, and the work is ongoing. We expect it to wrap up in April.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

Looking at the optimization of the code and how fast it renders, we’ve seen a pretty dramatic improvement. Because it’s not been deployed yet, I don’t have any numbers related to the commercial impact. They have done some other refactoring work for us before, and we saw decreases of 25% for page load times. I won’t have hard metrics on the overall ROI until later this year.

How did Chromatic perform from a project management standpoint?

They’re great. They're detailed. They document their code, take an Agile approach, and utilize all the best practices and technologies for developing and deployment. The communication style is very good. Their commercial aspects of the arrangements are clear and easily defined. They’re a good company to work with.

What did you find most impressive about Chromatic?

They are very interested results without sacrificing attention to the details along the way. I really appreciate their professionalism. I appreciate their skill level in frontend development. They have a very high competency level in Drupal. That’s not something we’re leveraging right now, but it’s something they’ve distinguished themselves around. Overall, it’s the quality and consistency of the deliverables.

Are there any areas Chromatic could improve?

We’re not completed yet, but for right now, it seems like we’re on the mark.

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

Our company provides ticketing and information for live cultural events. We run two websites, theatermania.com in the US and whatsonstage.com in the UK, and a software-as-a-service platform called OvationTix. We provide editorial content and connect users with the best prices and discounts for theater events around the country. I am the CTO.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with Chromatic?

The original goal was for them to rebuild a platform we had that was on an old software and hardware framework. We call it the Gold Club. It's a members-only theater club, allowing members to get access to certain hard-to-get tickets.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

We rebuilt that entire system using Drupal as the foundation. Chromatic was involved with us from the start of that project through launch and a little bit thereafter. They first started helping us with the strategic planning, technical architecture, and general design of the system. Then they helped us with developing the software through coding and the actual build.

The platform is a system whereby members join and are charged either an annual or a monthly membership fee. For that fee, they gain access to the platform and buy theater tickets at very discounted rates. The system manages the shows and events associated with those shows.

Let's say there's a show that has six performances a week. The system will manage each of those events and enable users who have a membership in good standing to reserve tickets. It will also charge their credit card in real time for the event and email a confirmation to them. It integrates with a backend service called Recurly, a payment processor for recurring types of setups like recurring memberships or recurring subscriptions.

Chromatic set up the system that uses the Drupal storage mechanisms to keep track of the various theaters and performances, our members and their subscription statuses, as well as the reservations made, while communicating with Recurly over a REST API to make charges and query on the status of members to see whether their membership is still valid before accepting their reservations.

How did you come to work with Chromatic?

I had worked with Chromatic when I was VP of internet technology at Martha Stewart Living. One of the partners in Chromatic was on my staff at Martha Stewart, went on his own for a bit, and then joined forces with Chromatic. I know them very well. We used them for projects at Martha Stewart. When I came here to TheaterMania and we had this project come up, they were one of the first that I contacted and got a competitive quote from, and decided to continue utilizing them.

How much have you invested with Chromatic?

It’s been between $400,000-$500,000.

What is the status of this engagement?

It started in April of 2014, and we launched in November of that same year.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

From a business perspective, this was a platform already in existence for years—it was around for 11 years prior. The rebuilt platform provided us with a definite set of more robust features, which enabled us to increase our membership. There was at least a 10% uptick in memberships, definite revenue growth, and a much more modern, user-friendly interface. It had positive revenue and branding implications as well.

How did Chromatic perform from a project management standpoint?

They didn't provide us with project management services. Their developers integrated with our internal team. They took part in our Agile project management processes, but they weren't managing them. However, they were excellent in being responsive, keeping with deadlines, and communicating how the project was moving along. Nothing but great scores there.

What did you find most impressive about Chromatic?

In my experience with Chromatic, not only on this project but multiple projects, they bring a strategic mindset to everything they do. It's not like they take a spec and execute on it: they want to understand the business, the implications of changes that would be put into place and where the most important revenue streams are. They focus on creating a plan that's going to make sense for the business.

Before Martha Stewart, I was at Time Inc. for 10 years, so I've been doing this for quite a while. A lot of the dev shops that I've dealt with over the years, they're solely interested in getting the spec and implementing on the spec, whereas Chromatic has opinions without necessarily forcing them on you. They worked very well with our CEO and sales team and other parts of the business to make sure they were delivering something that would have the added strategic business value to it rather than looking at it as a technical project. That's why I really like the: they're smart, honest, and have great communication.

Are there any areas Chromatic could improve?

This is like when you get a review and your boss has to think of something to get you to improve on! Their frontend development skills are a little less robust than their backend development skills. Although there are no complaints from me, one of the areas I know they're looking to expand their business in is more frontend-oriented development work. If they have that in their arsenal, it would definitely increase their value as a company. They have it to a certain extent, but they're certainly not a frontend agency. They are more focused on the backend.

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

Outside Magazine is a consumer lifestyle magazine. We’ve been in publication for 40 years. I head up the product end of the website, OutsideOnline.com. I’m in charge of managing development, design, product development, and everything to do with the production of our website. 

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with Chromatic?

We had changed platforms from a proprietary CMS that was Java-based to a Drupal platform. After we migrated, we needed additional Drupal help, which is what we brought Chromatic in to do. 

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

We started with ad hoc help from them. The first project they did was launching a new gear channel page. They created a new template on our website called the channel alpha template. The page included automated modules and manual manuals. There were multiple types of content that it had to pull into each module. Eventually, we rolled out that same template to the other verticals on our website, including travel, fitness, and adventure.

As our website was growing, I needed more and more help. We used one of their developers named Mark for 80 hours a month for several months. Most recently, we’ve taken on a full-time developer, Clare, from Chromatic, who typically works 40 hours a week. They’re doing mostly backend work for us, but they do everything—bug fixes, security updates, new templates, Facebook instant articles, etc. We’ve worked with 5 resources from their team.

How did you come to work with Chromatic?

I had worked with Chromatic when I was at Martha Stewart.com and knew they excelled in Drupal.

How much have you invested with Chromatic?

The alpha channel cost between $25,000 and $30,000. All of their work together would be between $50,000 and $200,000.

What is the status of this engagement?

We started working with them in April 2015, and the work is ongoing. 

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

Our traffic and revenue have continuously gone up. Their work has alleviated a lot of time for me. They’re a quality team. Mark is great at using the correct process to handle things.

How did Chromatic perform from a project management standpoint?

They’re the best I’ve ever worked with in terms of project management. We use Zenboard, which allows you to arrange tickets in swim lanes.

What did you find most impressive about Chromatic?

I believe that if something’s worth doing, it’s worth doing well. Chromatic isn’t the cheapest Drupal developer and maybe not even the fastest, but what they do is very thorough. The quality of their work sets them apart. Other developers I’ve worked with get something out quickly, but then it’s constantly needing work.

Are there any areas Chromatic could improve?

Nothing comes to mind.