Cieden

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m the CIO of Immobel, a real estate technology provider. We have a few SaaS and custom-built products for a real estate tech platform.

What challenge were you trying to address with Cieden?

We hired Cieden to help with a new build we were working on.

What was the scope of their involvement?

They supported UI/UX development and helped us think through user flows. Our system is multilevel, so they have to think through how we would breakdown the project. They helped us kick off the new build by creating clear documentation and wireframes. They used ClickUp, Notion, Figma.

What is the team composition?

Our main contact was Anastasiya (Associate Product Director), but we occasionally interacted with some of the other designers.

How did you come to work with Cieden?

We’ve worked with a few different outsourcing companies, but we liked Cieden because they were both focused on the project. They brought a new perspective but they worked really well with our internal team as well.

How much have you invested with them?

We spent about $62,000.

What is the status of this engagement?

The project lasted from June­–December 2020.

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

The project was very successful. We now plan to work with them again on another project.

How did Cieden perform from a project management standpoint?

Communication was great. We had weekly calls, but we also used Slack and Miro.

Our business analysts and design team really loved working with them. They took a lot of work off our plate but kept us informed throughout the project.

What did you find most impressive about them?

They thought through our business needs. They asked very specific questions that helped us identify what features we needed to accommodate all of our users. If we hadn’t thought that through, we would have had a difficult time mapping user flows.

Are there any areas they could improve?

There wasn’t really anything they needed to improve.

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

Communicate with all of the members of the business team to align on what you need.

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m the owner and general manager of an IT company, which has a number of e-commerce apps.  

What challenge were you trying to address with Cieden?

We needed a partner to help redesign an existing app.

What was the scope of their involvement?

Cieden completely redesigned an existing e-commerce app for Android and iOS. Their team didn’t work on any technical specifications regarding functionalities. Rather, that was provided to them based on the existing application. They focused on redesigning the platform and working with our team to launch new features. Cieden gave us feedback on how it should look and how the customers might react to it.

What is the team composition?

We worked with a designer and a project manager.

How did you come to work with Cieden?

After finding them on Upwork, we reviewed their portfolios on Clutch and other websites. That’s how we made our decision.

How much have you invested with them?

We invested $3,500 in this project.

What is the status of this engagement?

We worked on this project between April–August 2020. However, we plan to work with them again on other projects.

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

Unlike many other design and development companies, Cieden was strict about timelines and deliveries. We were happy with the outcome and the amount of time it took to be delivered.

We’re implementing the design, which has gone smoothly. We haven’t faced any issues with the design.

How did Cieden perform from a project management standpoint?

They showed us deliverables on Zeplin and always came prepared for our meetings. Their team was always on time too. Cieden gave us ownership of the project and went above and beyond.

What did you find most impressive about them?

Cieden was punctual. Their organization and timeliness provided us with a satisfying working experience.

Are there any areas they could improve?

No, they went above and beyond.

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

I recommend working with Cieden. There are only a few companies that come close to them.

Please describe your company and your position there.

We are a SaaS based data management solution for a specialized function within HR. I'm the CEO and Co-Founder.

For what projects/services did your company hire Cieden?

We needed to make our initial design clean and powerful while also making it "pop" for end-users. We had a rough design that I had put together, but it wasn't very intuitive or clean.

What were your goals for this project?

Fully build out a design prototype for our SaaS app. We then re-engaged later on for more work around design of our more advanced functionality as well as our consumer facing website. All of the work was really well done.

How did you select Cieden?

Through an Upwork job posting

Describe the project in detail.

We are a SaaS app that helps customers manage and manipulate large data sets. Users need to interact with lists of hundreds of items, and map them to multiple data sources. They also need to do this in multiple currencies with various data elements included for decision support.

What was the team composition?

We had a lead (Halyna) and a designer (Val). On our end it was myself and another Co-Founder.

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

The initial design was meant to be just our MVP, but the overall navigation framework for our app was needed. Cieden worked with us to come up with a really nice interface, not just for normal navigation but for a table with a lot of complex functionality.

The design really pops, everyone finds it visually appealing and very clean. The feedback has been universal and we really love the way the final design came out.

How effective was the workflow between your team and theirs?

It was good. We'd do a design sync once a week where they would show us what they've been working on and we'd give comments. We also would sometimes explore the design between meetings and provide comments. Even with 8 hours of time difference between us between eastern Europe and US west coast.

What did you find most impressive about this company?

They took an incredible complex (and abstract) process and truly understood it. This allowed the team to actually think like a user and understand their objectives. It was almost like they became mini-experts on the job function of users, which really allowed them to design some interactions for, again, a VERY complicated subject.

Are there any areas for improvement?

The user testing sessions were a little awkward. It was painful to listen to recordings of a user trying to do a function with no guidance...i.e. can they figure it out on their own. Partly, that's just how user testing goes, but it felt like it could have been done a little less coldly.

Please describe your company and your position there.

Verve Commerce is an agency focused on web applications and ecommerce websites.

For what projects/services did your company hire Cieden?

Cieden helped us especially with phone app improvements for an exercise and food tracking application.

What were your goals for this project?

We were redesigning aspects of the app which had grown beyond its initial design and UX limitations. Before we did that, we had to bring the design project into one set of softwares, since it was scattered across several design platforms.

Assets were not being kept in the right formats making it very difficult to share the project in a meaningful way.

How did you select Cieden?

We selected Cieden after several conversations with them. They were knowledgeable, curious, capable, willing to think constructively about our needs and flexible enough to work within our constraints.

Describe the project in detail.

After the initial project kicked off and was successfully completed, we continued to use Cieden with additional updates to the design.

What was the team composition?

We had a very knowledgeable and communicative design lead who was our main point of contact throughout the project. She assigned the project within the team as she saw fit, but was the spokesperson for her team.

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

Application has more than quadrupled its audience since we started working with Cieden and when from an unprofitable venture to a profitable venture. The app has continued to grow on the valuable UX / design foundation that Cieden helped create.

How effective was the workflow between your team and theirs?

Workflow was very effective as Cieden was using tools that helped communicate what they were thinking and proposing.

What did you find most impressive about this company?

Clear, effective communication. Ability to quickly provide value. Nice to work with.

Are there any areas for improvement?

We were very satisfied with their work.

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m the founder of and software developer at a startup in the education industry.

What challenge were you trying to address with Cieden?

My biggest challenge was that I needed some UX/UI support for our app.

What was the scope of their involvement?

For the first phase, business analysis, Cieden did market research. They compiled information about competitors.

For the second phase, they did user research, including a survey. Lastly, for the final phase, they did the UX/UI design for the app.

What is the team composition?

Iryna (Co-Founder/Lead UX/UI Designer) was my main point of contact, and she served as the project manager. There was also a business analyst and another UX/UI designer working on the project. 

How did you come to work with Cieden?

After searching Google to find design companies, I chose Cieden because their portfolio really caught my attention. The team was transparent, describing their steps and timeline on different projects they had done. They responded quickly and had affordable pricing.

How much have you invested with them?

We invested $12,000.

What is the status of this engagement?

We worked together from December 2019–March 2020. 

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

The product isn’t live yet. While I wish a few things were different, the end product is very close to what I had envisioned. The way they made the design was easy for me to implement as a software developer. In addition to consulting me about everything the designers came up with, they were open to feedback.

How did Cieden perform from a project management standpoint?

The team did very well. The project manager was incredibly responsive to my emails and kept me updated on the progress. They shared a tool that allowed me to see everything they were working on, as well.

What did you find most impressive about them?

They were enthusiastic about the product and excited to give suggestions regarding features and subtleties of the app that I hadn’t considered. 

Are there any areas they could improve?

There were a few times when they didn’t understand my requests. Perhaps I could’ve been clearer in my explanations.

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

I don’t think this is confined to just Cieden, but be prepared for the cost to exceed the initial estimate. This is to be expected when changes are made, or additional elements are asked for, especially when the rate is hourly.

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m the founder and CEO of  a startup that helps candidates find jobs and create profiles with references and verification. On the other hand, the recruiters can find qualified and verified candidates.

What challenge were you trying to address with Cieden?

They helped us design the application.

What was the scope of their involvement?

Primarily, their services were around UX and visual design. In addition to designing the platform, they helped with marketing. They did some market testing once we had an MVP.

What is the team composition?

I was meeting with one person at a time.

How did you come to work with Cieden?

I found them through word of mouth. The person who was initially involved with the project recommended them.

How much have you invested with them?

I spent about $50,000.  

What is the status of this engagement?

We started working together in 2018 and it’s an ongoing relationship.

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

The quality of work is definitely good. We don’t have very many problems. There were a few times when we thought they could have done a better job, especially when we get feedback from users. It’s definitely solid work, but there’s room for improvement. Some of our users have shown us other applications that are easier to use, and we realized we could have done things a little differently. So I went back to them to tell them what we wanted. They could have done a little more research before providing the design.

How did Cieden perform from a project management standpoint?

They’re pretty good on the project management side. They met timelines and are pretty informed. I was satisfied on that part. Their availability is good, and they were always accommodating when we needed them.

What did you find most impressive about them?

I liked how detail-oriented they were and that they took the time to understand what we were looking for. They tried to provide solutions for or specific needs. They also don’t mind taking feedback and making changes when needed. I like that they’re patient, take their time, and the quality of work is very good.

Are there any areas they could improve?

One comment I have is on their language. They misspelled some things, so if they improved that, they would improve the quality a lot. They could also be a little more creative as well. They could be open to more unique solutions.

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

Give them some constructive feedback. You also have to be clear about what your expectations are.

Please describe your company and your position there.

We are a financial services company, which provides next-gen banking services to retail and institutional clients. I work as a Product Manager there.

For what projects/services did your company hire Cieden?

We wanted to do an in-depth research of some of our competitors. 

What were your goals for this project?

Get UX flows of the different competitive products.

How did you select this vendor?

We found them on Upwork, asked them a few pre-qualifying questions and then we did an over the phone interview in order to see whether their process matched what we looked for.

Describe the project in detail.

We wanted to do an in-depth research of some of our competitors. This included mapping their UX flows, as well as video recordings of the products' behaviors.

What was the team composition?

A project manager who kicked started the process and two people who worked on the UX reasearch and business research.

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

They successfully mapped close to 10 UX flows of competitors, this allows us to use them as a reference when we think of new services. 2 new projects have already benefited from this intelligence.

How effective was the workflow between your team and theirs?

It was very easy to kick-start the process. The people from cieden were quite flexible in terms of the way we can structure out communication. I really enjoyed working with them. They delivered a high quality work at a great speed.

What did you find most impressive about this company?

I really liked the professionalism and speed that they showed.

Are there any areas for improvement?

Nothing I can think of right now.

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m starting a wellness business that’s focused on the app store. I’m trying to provide an alternative for people seeking wellness outside of meditation. 

What challenge were you trying to address with Cieden?

I want to build a wellness app, and Cieden focuses on the UX/UI components of it. Initially, the scope was to provide an MVP. I wanted to translate my idea into high-fidelity mockups to show people.

What was the scope of their involvement?

I work with Iryna (Co-Founder, Cieden) daily, and she works with her team to solve the various problems I have. In the beginning, I didn’t have a real clear conception of what I was building, and they’ve been instrumental is wrestling with different ideas. 

It’s an iterative, back-and-forth process. I’ll bring an idea for an aspect of the app (maybe I’ll provide PowerPoint slides). Then, I’ll talk to users and come back with a different version. 

Now, they’re putting the finishing touches on the app. Then, we’re going to send it over to my engineers to start building it. Then, I’ll bring the MVP to the market, put it into people’s hands, and learn what people think of it. We’ll do another round of updates after that. 

In subsequent months, I’m expecting Cieden to help me understand the initial data that comes back from users and iterate based on that.

What is the team composition?

One hundred percent of the communication goes through Iryna. Daria (UX/UI Designer, Cieden) is the principal designer. 

How did you come to work with Cieden?

I got lucky. My business partner, who has an even longer-term relationship with Iryna, recommended Cieden. I started with her three years ago. 

Through various projects, I’ve only principally used her for ideation and initial work toward an MVP. 

How much have you invested with them?

I’ve invested about $28,500 so far.

What is the status of this engagement?

She’s been working on the project with me for about seven months. We started working on it in April of 2018, and the work is ongoing.

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

In two months, I’ll have an app on the app store. Iryna has been very good at the entire product process, and I’ve been very happy. This is the first time over the last three years where we’re going to push past an MVP.

Iryna has a team of designers that can translate my thoughts, dreams, and aspirations into Photoshop files that my engineers can use. People have complimented their designs based on their aesthetic appeal and how easy they are to understand.

Also, they provide great value for what they charge. She is capable of producing a “San Francisco” quality of work at about 20% of the rate. 

How did Cieden perform from a project management standpoint?

We use Skype most of the time, and we also use InVision (it allows us to click through app screens using a phone). We also use Miro board, which is effectively a big board of post-it notes that holds all of our documents. 

Iryna is incredibly responsive and hardworking. There are times when I’ve been talking to her, an hour passes, and it’s around 8 p.m. or 9 p.m. her time. 

What did you find most impressive about them?

Since I chose the team based on a recommendation from my business partner, I can’t tell you how they stack up to other people. 

From what I’ve seen, they are extremely hardworking, and they’re good at changing things around. They’ve never gotten upset when I’ve changed the requirements of their work. They are very easy to work with. Also, Iryna speaks English extremely well, and that removes a lot of overhead.

Are there any areas they could improve?

They’ve been pretty perfect for what I need. The only thing is, they’re always trying to cross-sell their services. So, I’ve had to push that back a few times and say, “I’m just interested in this.” They offer quite a bit of services, so they’ve tried to position a few different things to sell.

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

Potential customers should work with Iryna. She’s the founder of the firm, and they have a good amount of people working there, but I’ve never been pushed to a junior employee. 

Please describe your company and your position there.

I am a product manager for a non-profit company based in US. I

For what projects/services did your company hire Cieden?

We hired Cieden to review the UI for our tele-health app, recommend changes and redesign the application interface as applicable

What were your goals for this project?

The goals of the project was to improve the user experience for our end users and make the application more user friendly.

How did you select this vendor?

Vendor responded to our project posting on Upwork. They were selected after interview.

Describe the project in detail.

We gave the vendor a demo to our application and provided them access to the app. The vendor reviewed the app and initially provided ideas for improvement in a textual list. These were discussed over video call and we agreed with the ideas that made sense.

These ideas were turned in to wireframes and multiple options were presented by vendor as application. The agreed upon wireframes were then turned in to high fidelity mockups.The mockups contained both desktop and mobile variants.

What was the team composition?

From our end, it was mainly me leading the project and interacting with vendor. I gathered feedback on designs from internal team members and passed them on to the vendor. From the vendor side, it Iryna - their CEO leading the project. She attended all the meetings and passed us UI designs.

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

We were satisfied with the overall pace of work as well as the quality. Vendor finished the project in around 2 months, communicated new ideas well and patiently incorporated changes during multiple iteration rounds.

How effective was the workflow between your team and theirs?

Everything worked pretty well.

What did you find most impressive about this company?

Vendor's CEO personally led the project and I felt we were given full attention during the project.

Are there any areas for improvement?

I am satisfied with the work.

Please describe your company and your position there.

Fiksuruoka.fi is a Finnish e-commerce company selling surplus patches of food online. Our goal is to reduce the amount of food waste in the world by selling cheap food online.

As the CMO of Fiksuruoka, my responsibilities include everything marketing related. My team is also responsible for our website development projects and service design.

For what projects/services did your company hire Cieden?

We hired Cieden to help with our website facelift project. Cieden's responsibility was to design a new UI for our webstore and improve the visual look and feel of the website. We also wanted help to improve the UX of the website.

In the end Cieden ended up doing a lot more than we expected and the website designs had a huge impact on the overall brand and visual style of Fiksuruoka.

What were your goals for this project?

Improve the visual look of the website and the usability.

How did you select this vendor?

We selected Cieden as they stood out from many other companies that we also interviewed. Cieden understood our needs very well and their communication was excellent. They also had relevant references that we liked.

Describe the project in detail.

We started with few pages to find the overall style for the design. We liked the style Cieden suggested and after we began to build all the pages with mobile-first design.

At first we figured we need to explain what we need with wireframes, but after couple pages we noticed that Cieden can understand our needs very well and there was no need for wireframing.

The whole website was redesigned with +30 different pages in desktop and mobile sizes. The quality of the designs was really good and Cieden was always very open to any changes if there was need for it because of user feedback or some other reason.

What was the team composition?

Cieden had Katya and Nazar in the team + a illustrator helping with some small illustrations. We had 3-4 persons from marketing and development teams in contact with Cieden giving feedback on the designs and technical feasibility.

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

The designs have got very good feedback from customers and our team is really happy with the results.

How effective was the workflow between your team and theirs?

Very good communication through Slack and weekly calls. We told Cieden what kind of designs we need and they came up with the designs.

What did you find most impressive about this company?

The quality of the designs and very good communication stood out.

Are there any areas for improvement?

I can't think of any.