Concentric Design

BACKGROUND

Please describe your company and position.

 I am the Development Manager of a non-profit company 

Describe what your company does in a single sentence.

We're a non-profit organization that equips parents, teachers and school leaders to create exemplary early learning environments so that all young children have the foundation to learn, grow and lead.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What specific goals or objectives did you hire Concentric Design to accomplish?

• Design our annual Impact Report
• Design our rebrand
• Design the brand and collateral for our annual fundraisers

SOLUTION

How did you find Concentric Design?

• Online Search
• Referral

Why did you select Concentric Design over others?

• Pricing fit our budget
• Great culture fit
• Good value for cost
• Referred to me

How many teammates from Concentric Design were assigned to this project?

2-5 Employees

Describe the scope of work in detail. Please include a summary of key deliverables.

Concentric supports our organization with all of our branding a graphic design needs. We initially hired them to design our webbased annual impact report in 2022 and have been faithful clients ever since. In addition to designing our annual report, they lead our team through an organization-wide brand refresh (including our logo and colors) and provided new;y branded presentation decks and marketing materials for our team to use.

Concentric also leads the branding and design of all assets related to our annual fundraising event, providing everything from overall logo and design, webpage design, sponsorship packets, e-vite design, and presentation deck templates. We continue to trust in their expertise for all graphic design projects as they come up, valuing their support with fliers, web design, social media assets, and promotional product designs.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

What were the measurable outcomes from the project that demonstrate progress or success?

Concentric has done a phenomenal job of not only providing innovative, clean designs for our impact reports, event brands, and overall organization brand-refresh...They have also helped set a strong foundation for all subsequent projects (often which reoccur annually), streamlining our continued collaboration so it's exciting, effective, and never hinders our team's capacity.

For example, they knocked our initial website based impact report out of the park -- making it sleek, accessible, and engaging -- and since then we've continued to publish a web-based annual report because of all the benefits Concentric helped us identify. 

Describe their project management. Did they deliver items on time? How did they respond to your needs?

The Concentric team is always accessible, professional, and very organized. They're transparent on the different phases of the process, when deliverables should be expected, and by when they'll require feedback from our team to keep the project on schedule.

They're also flexible, ready to pivot as needed; however, in doing so, they're very clear as to their capacity and what adjustments will work to maintain quality and keep us to our timeline. We love working with them as an initial sounding board too, since they're very intuitive to our goals and organizational values...They consistently make strong suggestions to strengthen our overall vision, even before digging into the actual design and deliverables of the project.

What was your primary form of communication with Concentric Design?

• Virtual Meeting
• Email or Messaging App

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

We value how people-focused Concentric is. They collaborate seamlessly with our team, adding capacity in a way that still aligns with our workflow and overall team values. They're transparent, goal-oriented, excellent at communicating, and extremely talented when it comes to design and vision. Concentric are the folks you want to work with if you're looking for strong collaborators who can add their capacity and talent as a seamless extension of your own team and vision. 

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

Concentric Design has never missed the mark. We love everything about our collaboration with them, and we know they would be open and receptive if we ever did have suggestions for improvement in the future. 

BACKGROUND

Please describe your company and your position there.

My name is Alisha D. Overton. I am a business operations consultant.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

For what projects/services did your company hire Concentric Design?

I hired Concentric Design for graphic design services to create my monthly planner, The AO Planner, for market launch.

SOLUTION

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

After researching a number of companies, I selected Concentric Design because they were local to Chicago and their website spoke to the aesthetic that I was looking for.

Describe the project in detail and walk through the stages of the project.

We had an intro meeting to discuss my project and proposal sent for acceptance. We had a kick off meeting to discuss the process and timeline for deliverables. 

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

I worked with two people. Blair is the Managing Partner and Jeff is the Creative Director.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

They were very open and responsive to my ideas on the look and feel of my planner. As well, I appreciated how they gently steered me in new design directions that challenged my original thoughts. It was a collaborative process I enjoyed.

How effective was the workflow between your team and theirs?

Blair and Jeff have a system that is streamlined and efficient. Their communications were pointed and quick. Blair kept us on schedule with our timeline. Jeff was great with turnaround time on the design and changes that came up.

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

They were personable and easy to work with, and they would keep you on task.

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

None.

BACKGROUND

Please describe your company and your position there.

I am the VP of Revenue at Revelation Machinery. We buy and sell used manufacturing equipment.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

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

We had never done any branding in the past and our messaging was often inconsistent. We have grown from less than ten employees 3 years ago, to 50 today so getting this right was very important. We wanted to give a consistent look and feel as well as one that differentiated us.

SOLUTION

How did you select this vendor?

We reached out to a handful of different companies for this project that we found online. After speaking with a number of people from our team, we went with Concentric because we felt most comfortable with their abilities.

Describe the scope of their work in detail, including any steps and the final deliverables.

They started with a review of our company based on their online research. Then we went through interviews and activities with a few key members of our team to decide what makes us different. Finally they shared the updated messaging and designs and we provided feedback. They shared a complete brand guideline at the end.

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

We worked with 3 members of their team.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

Because of the detailed brand guideline, we were able to use this to launch a new website with clear direction. Additionally able to use the messaging internally for training for our new hires to ensure we are on the same page.

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

We regularly communicated over email and they would present updates in person or over video. They regularly kept us up to date and would let us know any changes in schedule.

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

I think their ability to be flexible and really learn about our company stood out. Being in a pretty unique industry, there are often many things people in our industry do that don't always make sense for most other companies/industries. Rather than telling us it was wrong, they would understand our reasoning and be able to come up with a solution.

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

None that I can think of.

BACKGROUND

Please describe your company and your position there.

Co-owner & operations manager at Gadget Salvation, an online electronics buyback service.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

For what projects/services did your company hire Concentric Design?

Having been in business for close to 10 years, we found ourselves lacking a defined company image that would set us apart from the competition. Last year, we made a decision to bring someone on board to help us with our challenges, and after an extensive search, we are now happy to be working with the brilliant Concentric Design team.

What were your goals for this project?

Though we are an established site with a solid amount of traffic nationwide, we wanted to create a compelling and fun identity that would better communicate what we are about, appeal to younger audiences and stand out from mostly generic competitors.

SOLUTION

How did you select Concentric Design?

After a number of interviews, both with local firms and overseas, we chose to work with Concentric because of their straightforward and direct approach, paired with the beautiful clean website & compelling portfolio.

They understood the specifics and challenges of our industry, had a lot of ideas and suggestions from the get go. They are small, but have the resources of a large agency, and like us, they are located in Chicago. This was a no-brainer decision for us.

Describe the scope of their work in detail.

The work began with market research. The guys analyzed our competition & value proposition, identified our target audience and built a data-driven strategy before diving into identity development and design portion of the project.

They built a strong visual identity portfolio for us (including color palette, typefaces, brand graphics), designed a new logo, social media treatments, developed a clear brand voice, as well as tailored other deliverables of the project based on the digitized nature of our industry.

What was the team composition?

We work directly with both managing members Blair Hannah and Jeff Meador. They are also great and very helpful with bringing expertise on board through the duration of our engagement.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

Concentric Design completely revamped our whole look, while enhancing the brand name, values and existing achievements. Not even a year ago, we came to Blair and Jeff with this very vague idea about how we wanted our business to look like, and they were able to articulate and visualize it for us better than we ever could.

How effective was the workflow between your team and theirs?

Their communication is top-notch. Because we are local, we were able hold regular in-person meetings at the earlier stages of our project, but now that we are in the midst of the pandemic, the workflow is completely unaffected, as we continue to work via calls and emails, they address any questions we might have in a speedy manner and follow up with us regularly.

What did you find most impressive about this company?

Their artistic vision and ability to incorporate feedback into a beautiful end product blew us away. Concentric brings in comprehensive expertise that extends far beyond branding in design, in one package. And above all, they are just great people to work with.

Are there any areas for improvement?

Honestly cannot think of anything.

BACKGROUND

Please describe your company and your position there.

I'm the Director of Marketing & Communications at Teach For America Chicago-Northwest Indiana. Teach For America is a national nonprofit, and Chicago-Northwest Indiana is one of its largest regions. I oversee all site content, social media, email communications, and media relations for our region.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

For what projects/services did your company hire Concentric Design?

Our 20th anniversary was approaching, and we wanted both a distinctive, branded campaign to celebrate this milestone, and a regional slogan and visual identity that would live beyond the anniversary.

What were your goals for this project?

Though Teach For America is a well-known national brand, the Chicago-Northwest Indiana region did not have a clear identity unto itself. We wanted to clearly communicate who we were as a regional community through a compelling slogan and visual identity, and to have various pieces of branded collateral that could be used for the events and communications we'd be hosting/sharing to celebrate our 20th anniversary.

SOLUTION

How did you select this vendor?

I interviewed several different Chicago-based design firms. We chose Concentric because of their incredible, polished portfolio. In discussing our project, they were professional and really accommodating of all our different needs, and were very reasonably priced. They also had previous clients that felt relevant to our project, so we felt confident they'd do a great job.

Describe the scope of their work in detail.

After spending a lot of time reviewing our site and various internal comms docs, Concentric hosted a workshop with a group of staff members to help develop our brand architecture.

They helped us describe and define who we are and what makes our community unique, and what we really wanted to communicate to various stakeholders. This led to the development of our key messages, slogan, and value proposition, and the visual identities that would accompany both our 20th campaign and our ongoing regional communications.

As part of this work, they created the slogan treatment, social media materials, email templates, letterhead, t-shirt and sticker designs, PowerPoint templates, signage - you name it, they designed it.

What was the team composition?

I worked with both team members, Blair and Jeff.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

Concentric completely overhauled our regional brand in a way that felt very true to our existing identity and spirit, allowing us to communicate that clearly in all emails, social posts, site copy, and events.

Their development of our regional slogan has given us a real rallying cry for all stakeholders, and all of the different collateral that's accompanied it has allowed us to present a much more polished, cohesive face to the world.

It's been particularly exciting to see how much staff have embraced the new slogan and visual identity - it's obvious this is something they were really hungry for, and we couldn't have done work like this on our own.

How effective was the workflow between your team and theirs?

Depending on where we were in the project, we'd have weekly or bi-weekly calls with Concentric. They shared a very clear project timeline that we could revisit if we were ever wondering about what was due when, and always got back to us within a day if we had any questions.

What did you find most impressive about this company?

I was impressed by the amount of time they spent really getting to deeply understand our story and our stakeholders. It was obvious they had a real investment in our work.

As a result, I was also impressed by how true to our mission and spirit the design work felt, and the quality of the several options they presented us with. And finally - they project management. I was always very clearly on where we were in the process, what they needed from me, etc.

Are there any areas for improvement?

Honestly, none come to mind. I highly recommend.

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m the co-founder of a wellness brand that sells CBD-infused products.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with Concentric Design?

We needed to bring our idea to life through design. That included our labels, web design, and our products.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

We started with ideas for what our brand should look like. From there, they helped us with everything from our logo to website design. We started out with an introductory call to discuss our brand and what it represented. Then, they used an app to help us select words that accurately described our intended look and feel. 

They also did discovery on color Pantone. After that, they presented us with multiple design options to help us determine exactly what we were looking for, meeting the overall scope of the project. We’ll likely continue to work with them on different project rollouts in the future.

What is the team composition?

I interface directly with three people on their team, but they likely have a bigger group working on our account behind the scenes. Their founders are very engaged in working with us. 

How did you come to work with Concentric Design?

My brother, who’s another founder of this business, first heard about them while doing online research. We’re based on New York, and they’re in Chicago. Despite not being local, they seemed like they’d be the best for the job. 

How much have you invested with them?

We’ve spent between $10,000–$15,000.

What is the status of this engagement?

We started working with them in June 2019, and the engagement is ongoing.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

There are tons of steps required to launch a successful, and a pivotal aspect of that is the design. Everyone here has been very happy with their ideas and deliverables. They were able to help us see the potential for our brand in a new way. The team has been helpful since day one, so I was excited about leaving a review for them. 

How did Concentric Design perform from a project management standpoint?

We communicated over email and phone. Their communication skills were of high quality, giving us the comfort we needed to move forward. 

What did you find most impressive about them?

We’ve worked with multiple companies, and they’re the easiest and smoothest option. They were great about hearing us out and bringing our vision to life. Their team truly listens to us, using the information to execute effectively. 

Are there any areas they could improve?

They’re great. I don’t have anything for them to improve upon.

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

Take an introductory call with them and hear them out. The best way to establish a relationship is to start communicating with them.

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

Burwood Group is an IT consulting and integration firm. We do technology consulting and operations work, specifically in the areas of communication and collaboration, cloud and automation, and security. I’m the director of marketing communications.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with Concentric Design?

Initially, I needed some relatively minor graphic design assistance because we don’t have an in-house graphic designer. We later needed help with rebranding and new website design.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

First, they did some graphic design using Adobe Suite. It had been about five years since we’d done any color or graphic updates. We were looking for a modern twist on our brand colors and identity. It was a large project involving a brand refresh and uplift. They put together a new brand guide and a short style guide with a total uplift of our brand’s fonts, design features, and colors.

More recently, they designed a completely new website for us in the Squarespace platform. The website is promotional and content-focused. It was a great, inexpensive option for us. They added a layer of customization to a Squarespace site that I wasn’t capable of. They guaranteed it’d look as customized, if not better, than the site we had at the time. We still have an open block of hours, so they help us with little jobs regularly.

What is the team composition?

The two designers and managing partners, Blair (Founder/Managing Partner, Concentric Design) and Jeff (Founder/Creative Director, Concentric Design), were my primary contacts.

How did you come to work with Concentric Design?

Blair used to work at our company. I was very familiar with him as a graphic designer. We had a legacy relationship with another design firm who was more focused on web design, but it wasn’t working out. They weren’t very responsive or proactive. I knew Blair had recently started his own firm and that I liked his work, so I reached out to him.

For the web, we found out a year into working on the new site that the developer we had engaged didn’t do a great job. There was a lot on the backend that we uncovered several months into working in the new site. It was coded wrong and didn’t meet best practice or standards. By this time, I was engaged with Blair on other projects. He suggested using Squarespace because it was an easy platform for non-designers to use.

How much have you invested with them?

$25,000.

What is the status of this engagement?

We started working together in March 2017 and the work is ongoing.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

The rebrand has been very positive. A number of employees have remarked on how nice and fresh it looks. They really like the new graphic elements they introduced into our style, our collateral, and content. It not only involves new design elements, but it gave us a whole new standard set of templates. It’s now a lot easier for us to do design things internally.

We’re very happy with the website. The main change has been backend management of the website. It’s easy for us to manage the site internally. With the old one, we had to engage a developer we had on retainer even for small changes. Now that we’ve moved over to the Squarespace platform, we can do many changes ourselves. We still engage Concentric when there’s a bigger question, but the improvement is so significant compared to the last site. We’re very happy.

How did Concentric Design perform from a project management standpoint?

They’ve been fantastic. They’re very responsive with problem resolution or issues. We’ve never had any issues getting hold of them in an emergency situation. With the website project, we had a little miscalculation around the scope and its duration which resulted in it being a bit more expensive than we anticipated. It’s nothing that I was upset about, but they didn’t estimate how long the project would take accurately.

What did you find most impressive about them?

They’re really good at providing different design options at the start of any project. No matter what it is, they get back to me with three or four different takes on the design. They’re very receptive to feedback—there have been times when I’ve told them I didn’t like anything. If I give them constructive direction, they’re very accommodating to that.

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

Don’t be afraid to voice your opinions on the work that they’re producing. They’re really open minded. Their goal is for you to be happy. Be honest with them to contribute to an honest working relationship.

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I'm the marketing and communications manager for a synthetic rubber component manufacturer, Q Holding Company. We make components for automotive, industrial, and medical devices.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with Concentric Design?

We didn’t have an up-to-date website and wanted to totally revamp our existing websites. The challenge was not only to create something new, but that would also reflect on the leadership position of the company.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

They revamped our two existing websites and added two new websites; the first was an Umbrella site for the company and the other for another division of ours. It was essential the websites feature a responsive design, which was something they did very well.

The main audience is composed of engineers and we wanted the structure, navigation, and information we’re providing to be of use to them. Concentric Design learned about both our company and our audience and then translated that into a dynamic website which helped us reach those objectives.

We used the website design as the foundation for building other marketing collateral. They helped us design trade show displays that complement the website and continue to build our brand in the marketplace.

 What is the team composition?

I generally work with Blair Hannah [Founder & Managing Partner, Concentric Design].

How did you come to work with Concentric Design?

We had already been working with them when I joined the company in November 2015. It was my decision; however, if they would be the right partner to revamp our websites. I met with Blair and had the opportunity to learn more about their capabilities and what their approach would be. Afterwards, I felt comfortable hiring them for the project.

How much have you invested with them?

We have invested between $75,000–$80,000 in total.

What is the status of this engagement?

We started working together in the middle of 2014, and engagement is ongoing.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

We’re very happy with the quality of their work. The members of our sales team think it’s awesome that we have a website that really tells the story about our company, the products we manufacture, and how we make them. It walks the engineers on the user-side through all of our capabilities and has helped tremendously in sales.

How did Concentric Design perform from a project management standpoint?

They’re excellent. We were communicating on a near-daily basis during the web design process when there was excess to review. We used several different tools including Asana. They also developed a Gantt chart to track our progress.

What did you find most impressive about them?

Whenever we have a conversation, they always increase the value of the discussion. They don’t return to their office and regurgitate what we spoke about but instead give it a lot of thought. They come up with their best suggestion and offer advice, even if it’s contradictory to something that I might believe we need to do or the way we need to do something. Their consulting has helped tremendously and sets them apart from a lot of other companies who just do exactly what you tell them.

Are there any areas they could improve?

No, I can’t think of anything, to be honest.

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

Trust them to be honest and be open to listening to their recommendations because most of the time it's really valuable. Take full advantage of their consulting capabilities.

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I was previously the marketing director of Netrix, as well as a partner in the organization, but I currently work in end-user adoption. Netrix is an IT consulting organization that covers many different practices across business technology, ranging from network infrastructure to collaboration conference room design, and everything in between.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with Concentric Design?

We needed some outside assistance as it pertained to high-level design. We had people internally who could manage, edit, and come up with really clean and simple designs and have engaged Concentric on a few projects. 

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

One project we worked together on was an international organizational wide kick-off in Chicago, which we do yearly. We invite all of our national employees, as well as our international employees. We had Concentric build out the brand and persona of that event. They designed all of the brand assets that we need from a signage perspective, as well as the logo identification process.

Another project we have kept them on retainer for is assisting with additional sub-brand identification. Netrix has a few different sub-brands that are part of the organization but might have their own sales group, identity, and book of business so-to-speak. They deviate slightly from the Netrix corporate brand, and we have had Concentric on hand to help come up with a brand identification for those groups.

For both projects, we did a block hour agreement based on what we thought would be an estimated amount of time to complete. For the open-ended project, it is a standard yearly block hour, but for our yearly kickoff, building design concepts from the ground up and working with the Netrix team to finalize those what was really in the scope. They build out what the mood boards and brand logo should look like for the event and create the components associated with that. This included the final decal design, the pop-up signage design, and PowerPoint.

For the rest of the projects, there wasn’t a formalized scope as it was a block hour retainer fee. Typically, if we know we have a new project coming up, we would engage the team, set expectations, and goals, and then they would come back with timelines, mood boards, and recommendations for completion to final design.

In terms of the logo designs and brand identity, we always have a good idea of the direction we want to move forward with but are open to their expertise, and their help to bring it to life. Given our posture, in knowing Concentric as well as our team, it was probably a 50/50 working agreement.

How did you come to work with Concentric Design?

I had worked with Blair [Founder and Managing Partner] previously.

How much have you invested in them?

We have spent around $60,000.

What is the status of this engagement?

We started working with Concentric in May 2016, and the work is ongoing.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

Our executive management team, our marketing team, and all of our leadership are really pleased with the work. From that perspective, that is a gold seal of approval in my opinion. The feedback we got on the new logo was great. When we do surveys from our big kick-off event, people feel like it is an impressive event and a big part of it is the branding and having that large-scale presence, which would have been difficult to achieve without Concentric’s help.

How did Concentric Design perform from a project management standpoint?

We receive reports on time usage, and I have never had any questions regarding how hours are being spent. I feel like there is a lot of trust and understanding in what they are working on, and is matching the hours that they are reporting to. From a project management perspective, I don’t have anything negative or neutral to say. We have always had a good working relationship.

What did you find most impressive about them?

What makes them really stand out is their expertise that their team brings, as well as the backgrounds they have. They have interesting corporate backgrounds, but because they are a smaller shop, I think they take a lot more time to manage and understand the client versus being one of many, and just a number, as part of an agency.

Are there any areas they could improve?

No, we always keep them on a retainer. They do great work, and that is a big value-add to our organizational functions and needs.