Constructive

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m a professor of medicine at the University of Washington.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with Constructive?

We wanted someone to help us think of the structure of an online toolkit that would enable users to create a good public message about serious illness care.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

Constructive helped us construct an information architecture in the form of a website with a navigation, and marketing collateral.

We initially provided them with a first draft of the toolkit, which they used as a reference to build a new one from scratch. The website basically summarizes our research in a user-friendly way. It teaches five basic principles we derive from the research, and provides visitors with a library of messaging and instructions on improving their own messaging.

The team mainly used WordPress and InDesign to create the collateral for the illustration and animation.

What is the team composition?

We mainly communicated with a lead designer, lead story writer, UX specialist, and project manager.

How did you come to work with Constructive?

They were referred to us by a colleague.

How much have you invested with them?

We invested about $80,000.

What is the status of this engagement?

We worked together from January 2022–January 2023.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

Since launching the website, we’ve received outstanding feedback from our partners, citing the website as a useful and valuable asset they’re excited to promote and work with.

How did Constructive perform from a project management standpoint?

They were highly responsive and delivered everything on time. We mainly communicated with them through Teamwork.

What did you find most impressive about them?

We liked how they combined the background and social change nonprofit messaging into the final design.

Are there any areas they could improve?

They did a terrific job, so I don’t have any constructive feedback.

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

To get the most out of your engagement, I would advise you to be clear about your goals.

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m the senior media manager at FrameWorks Institute, a nonprofit communications research think tank. We’re approached by other nonprofit advocacy firms in the social justice space, and they provide us with grants so that we can do research to figure out where the public exists on certain issues. We then try to map the difference between the normal cultural understanding and the expert understanding to create a language that bridges the gap.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with Constructive?

We were working with a different creative firm, but we were having issues with their turnaround times to create certain deliverables. This firm was also located in a different time zone than ours, making it difficult to work with them. Thus, we started looking for a creative partner that made more sense for our project.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

Constructive provides us with design services. In 2020, we created our brand, but it was a little underwhelming. Thus, they’ve helped us tweak some of the colors and assets to make our branding more refined.

They will also be working on a website redevelopment project we will launch next year. For this project, we’re hoping they can bring us up to an HTML publishing style so that our content can live on our site as HTML code instead of a collection of PDFs.

We’re still in the discovery phase of the website redevelopment project. Recently, Constructive helped us do a workshop to get feedback from our staff and give us recommendations for how they want to approach the project. Part of those recommendations has been moving our hosting service from HostGator to Pantheon.

In the meantime, Constructive provides us with website maintenance. For example, they ensure that WordPress updates are installed properly and fix issues when the content isn’t appearing correctly on the frontend. Recently, we also had them create a template page, which was a simple process because it was a copy of another page template with one feature changed to host a new project we just launched.

In addition to their creative services, Constructive also acts as a thought partner for us. We were already working with them before we started building a communications team for our company. During this process, they helped us define our needs to fill the communications strategist and communications director positions within our company.

They’ve also guided our thinking on positioning ourselves the way we want to. They frequently meet with us to ensure we’re on the right track, and they help us manage various projects, overseeing the budget allocation to fit our budget constraints.

What is the team composition?

I mainly work with two project managers and a designer from Constructive on a daily basis. A senior designer occasionally steps in, and I’ve also talked to a developer about the website development project. Additionally, I’ve worked with Paul (Director of Strategy & UX) and a few other people from their team.

How did you come to work with Constructive?

When we first started looking for a creative firm to join our company, we interviewed Constructive and the other firm we used to work with. This other firm gave us a better price, so we went with them. However, we weren’t satisfied with their services. When we decided to change providers, I remembered Constructive from those first interviews as a company that stood out, and I brought them into the vetting process again. In this second process, we interviewed several firms, and Constructive was the best fit.

How much have you invested with them?

First, we paid $30,000 for a three-month services period, which helped Constructive evaluate the amount of work needed. Since then, we signed a partner services agreement that costs $110,000 per year, which includes the retainer for all of our design needs. So far, we’ve spent around $200,000.

What is the status of this engagement?

We started working together in March 2021, and our engagement is ongoing. As a matter of fact, in July 2022, we signed our partner service agreement renewal.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

We’ve been extremely pleased with Constructive; changing vendors was very positive for us. Their quality of work is way better, and they work very quickly. They’re also a very responsive thought partner for us, so we’re very happy with them.

Constructive has been able to work with our existing templates, using and elevating our brand style. We’re very satisfied with how our branding assets look; we have a much more refined style. Additionally, we now know what to expect from the website redevelopment project, and with their help, we’re heading in the right direction. Overall, they’re very good partners.

How did Constructive perform from a project management standpoint?

Constructive’s project management has been great. Occasionally, we need to meet very tight deadlines, and Constructive is very responsive in moving things around on their end to ensure meeting those deadlines. They’re very willing and available to bend to meet our needs.

We use Teamwork to manage our collaboration, where I can submit projects, write messages, and file assets. Additionally, we use Google Meet for our check-ins.

What did you find most impressive about them?

Constructive is very willing to meet our budget and provide us with the services we want. The thing that has stood out about them the most is the promise of an HTML-first publishing approach, which we’re very excited about. It will help our content and positioning a lot.

As far as the work they’ve done so far, we’re really impressed with how a good partner Constructive is. They always help us think of new strategies to roll out new assets and prioritize certain projects, and their team is very responsive and helpful.

Are there any areas they could improve?

Not really. It would be great if they didn’t charge as much as they do, but we get what we pay for; they’re great.

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

Focus your collaboration on making Constructive a thought partner for your company. They’ll work with you and ensure to meet your needs in your best interest. They’re great at strategic thinking, which makes the collaboration very efficient.

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m the director of the public history research laboratory at the American Association for State and Local History (AASLH). AASLH is the national professional association for history museums, historical societies, and other related organizations, along with the professionals and volunteers that work with them. In other words, we’re a membership association providing professional development and research advocacy for the public history field. 

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with Constructive?

Over the last couple of years, we’d worked on a project called Reframing History, a research project aiming to create more effective communications about public history and why it should matter to society. 

Constructive helped us design the report and toolkits that we published online as PDFs. Apart from that, we needed them to create social media graphics and collateral that could help us promote and support the project. 

We did this project in partnership with the Frameworks Insitute as our research partner, along with two other organizations, namely the National Council on Public History and the Organization of American Historians. 

Since this was a partnership between three organizations and a research partner, we also wanted to create a mini-brand around the project so that it wasn’t tied to any one of our organizations. Simply put, our group needed the project to have its own exclusive visual identity.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

During the project, Constructive worked regularly with Frameworks Institute. The team designed all of the institute’s reports and toolkits. They followed baseline requirements and ideas on how these reports get designed.

Given that, we added some additional pieces of input to integrate with the institute’s workflow with Constructive. We had calls with the team and the research partner to tell them the things we were hoping to achieve in terms of the project’s aesthetic and design.

From there, Constructive gave us prototype options within a few days. We went back and forth to figure out the direction we wanted to take. The team took our feedback and put it into the final form that all stakeholders were comfortable with — this process lasted for around eight weeks.

Moreover, Constructive helped us with social media promotion and email marketing. To be clear, they didn’t manage the actual marketing component of the project. Rather, they created graphics that were sized appropriately for our LinkedIn, Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, and email channels. Beyond that, their resources gave us templates that we could use with external designers when we need to create materials such as quotes and event graphics. 

What is the team composition?

We worked with at least two designers and one project manager. They were the main people that collaborated with us throughout the engagement. Some other people worked behind the scenes. 

What is the status of this engagement?

Our engagement lasted from January–February 2022. 

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

The social media engagement we acquired from this project was greater than anything we’d ever posted on social media. In other words, we created a big splash when the project came out, which was exactly what we wanted to achieve. 

Constructive created an independent identity for this project, which helped us expand our impact — we were able to share it with three organizations in a way that the project wouldn’t be tied to one of us. The reports they created gave the project a high degree of authority and provided reliability to the information being presented. If it looked different, people might not have seen it as authoritative.  

Overall, Constructive came up with a design that reflected the amount of work that went into the research and writing of the report, which was important for us. 

How did Constructive perform from a project management standpoint?

We had a tight turnaround time for this project, and Constructive did a great job of delivering our needs quickly. On top of that, they responded quickly to feedback. We used Teamwork and Google Meet to communicate and manage the project. 

What did you find most impressive about them?

Constructive had a truly fast turnaround time, and they were accommodating in terms of the parameters we set when it came to design possibilities and timelines. Their project manager and designers had a high degree of professionalism. Our team felt that we could speak with them in our language, and they’d transform it into a design that reflected what we were thinking. 

In short, their ability to turn our ideas into something visual was truly impressive, especially considering the timeline we gave them. 

Are there any areas they could improve?

There were some small copy-editing tasks during the design process that they should have taken care of on their own without our prodding. 

To be fair, Constructive did an immense amount of work in just six weeks, so we may be asking a lot if we wanted them to catch all errors. As a result, I didn’t have any major overarching criticism that would make me want to change anything in our engagement.

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

Go for it. We truly appreciate Constructive’s work, and we’re ready to work with them again on a similar project if we can.

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m an executive at a health services organization.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with Constructive?

We wanted to update our website and develop a new logo.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

Constructive took over our previous site and redeveloped it with new wireframes, pages, configurations, and pathways using technologies like Envision. In addition to that, they designed our logo based on the requirements we gave them at prior meetings, including color palettes and design concepts.

What is the team composition?

We worked with 5–6 members of their team, including account managers, web designers, and Matt (CEO).

How did you come to work with Constructive?

They were referred to us by someone who knew about their work.

How much have you invested in them?

We spent $40,000–$50,000 with them.

What is the status of this engagement?

We worked together from October 2021–May 2022.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

From my experience, I can say that they were responsive and delivered high-level results. Also, people liked the website features and responded well to it.

How did Constructive perform from a project management standpoint?

Project management was great; they met deadlines and stayed within budgets. Regarding tools, we used Google Docs and emails.

What did you find most impressive about them?

Their website design abilities were outstanding.

Are there any areas they could improve?

I don’t think there’s anything they can improve on — I had a great working experience because they were professional throughout the process.

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

Take your time to go through the research and discovery processes in the project’s early stages.

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I'm the former project leader at a nonprofit when I worked with Constructive.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with Constructive?

We didn’t have any kind of visual identity or website that really aligned with our organization's new direction.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

Constructive conducted a discovery phase and intensive research to learn more about our organization and some of our competitors. They did that in order to develop our visual identity. As a result of their efforts, they created our logo, fonts, and color palette. In addition, they created a guide on how we should build our graphics as well as the style of photos we should use. Overall, they helped us establish a design guide that we could use for the organization moving forward.

After that, they used their visual identity work as the basis in creating our new website. They built everything from scratch, and we provided them with the background information such as strategy documents. The website featured who we were as an organization and how our users could help us in reaching our goals.

What is the team composition?

We worked with at least 10 people, including Matthew (Founder & Director). We also collaborated with their project manager, designer, content strategist, digital marketing expert, and a few website developers.

How did you come to work with Constructive?

We sent out an RFP, and Constructive was one of the companies that responded to us. We chose Constructive because they had a tremendous amount of experience in developing websites and creating visual identities. We also liked the approach that they proposed. On top of that, the price they offered was reasonable.

How much have you invested with them?

We spent around $200,000.

What is the status of this engagement?

We worked together from January–November 2021.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

The Constructive team finished our project on time and within budget. More importantly, the website was well-received by our board of directors, staff, and key funders. In terms of other metrics, it would be hard to say anything because the website was only launched two weeks ago.

How did Constructive perform from a project management standpoint?

They had an excellent project management process; Constructive kept everything moving on time, and they were very open about discussing additional budgets if needed. They were also able to explain their process very well, and they were friendly and responsive. We communicated through Zoom or Google Meet.

What did you find most impressive about them?

We were impressed by their creativity and their helpful insights into various problems that came up along the way.

Are there any areas they could improve?

No, they didn’t have any areas to improve. Our project went great, and I really loved working with them.

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

Be upfront about your expectations for the project.

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m the editorial director of Child Mind Institute. We’re a nonprofit organization that provides information on children’s mental health, in addition to providing clinical services and research.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with Constructive?

We had a website for the organization that has existed for 10 years and after receiving a grant from the Morgan Stanley Foundation, we wanted to make our resources more accessible to underserved and rural communities.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

We have a huge library of articles, guides, Q&A, and other kinds of information, so we hired Constructive to organize our resources and figure out ways to make it more accessible to everyone. The process started with discovery, in which they helped us explore how to reach the communities we wanted to target. As development continued, they presented us with great ideas and there was a lot of back-and-forth.

During the process, our communications director decided that the project should be enlarged — so we weren’t only going to be relaunching our resources, but the whole website as well. This meant reskinning the homepage, clinical landing pages, and research landing pages.

What is the team composition?

We’ve worked with about 10 people from Constructive, which includes content auditors, designers, and developers.

How did you come to work with Constructive?

We engaged with Constructive after interviewing five different firms, and we chose them because they showed the best understanding of what our organization does and needs to do. They previously submitted a proposal for an earlier rebuild of our website, but we had gone with someone else at the time.  

Another reason why we chose them is because of their substantial experience with websites and organizations that have an abundance of resources.

How much have you invested with them?

We’ve invested around $450,000.

What is the status of this engagement?

The partnership started in May 2020. We relaunched the site in early September, but we still have ongoing work to clean up a few details.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

While it’s too soon to have any measurable data about the success of the site, the feedback has been good and the site does what we wanted it to do very effectively.

Constructive was able to implement structured topic pages so users can easily find the information they need for different types of mental health challenges, and different stages from diagnosis to treatment. And articles have been given accessible features without sacrificing depth.

How did Constructive perform from a project management standpoint?

I’ve never worked with a firm that’s communicated effectively as Constructive does. They responded to questions in a timely way, they provided solutions to many challenges, they were receptive to our ideas, and they were very flexible.

When we expanded the project, they rose to the occasion, adhering as closely as possible to the original timetable. We had to postpone the launch for several months, but they worked very hard to bring it in on time, and they didn't compromise quality or functionality.

What did you find most impressive about them?

I was impressed with how they worked really hard in understanding our organization and our audience. Finding information about mental health is not the same as shopping for shoes — it’s very personal and it should be taken seriously. The collaboration resulted in acquiring the best solutions to different problems.

Are there any areas they could improve?

No, I don’t have any suggestions for them. Their discovery process was discrete and we got to the most important part of the project quickly.

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

I would say take advantage of their flexibility and willingness to have an ongoing dialog. If you have any ideas, don’t hesitate to bring them up, because they’re going to keep coming up with better ideas and build upon yours. 

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

At the time of this project, I was the marketing and communications manager at a community foundation.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with Constructive?

It had been at least five years since we updated our website, and in that time, our community — its views, thinking, and way of serving people — had already shifted. We want our website to reflect these changes, become more useful to our constituents, and ultimately show who we were and how people could get in engage with us. That is why we hired Constructive.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

Constructive redesigned our website. We worked together to find a new way of organizing the website and its contents. Their team also helped us come up with a newer way to visually communicate who we were to our audience. 

During the initial stages, they presented us with a proposal for how to arrange photos on the site, what color palettes to use, and how else we could improve the user experience.  

What is the team composition?

We mainly dealt with the project manager, who acted as a liaison between our team and Constructive. He was also in charge of arranging meetings and making sure that everything was running smoothly. 

Beyond him, there were around 1–3 people working with us at any given time. There was a different set of members who helped us through the initial phases, followed by a couple of web designers and a programmer. 

How did you come to work with Constructive?

I was interested in looking beyond the local agencies, not out of dissatisfaction but because I just wanted to get a different perspective. A googled for design firms who did nonprofit work and Constructive came up in the results. 

When we interviewed them, the head of the firm was speaking in a language that I felt really resonated with the leadership of our organization. They understood how we thought about our particular audience and mission. We were impressed by their preparedness and sophisticated way of thinking, so we decided to hire them. 

How much have you invested with them?

We spent around $55,000.

What is the status of this engagement?

We officially hired them in March 2020 and the project ended in January 2021.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

I left soon after the redesign was completed, so I can’t speak of the impact. I was, however, very happy with the quality of the product. Constructive put a lot of care into creating visuals that reflected our organization.

How did Constructive perform from a project management standpoint?

I can't overstate how friendly and professional they were. The team was very organized and time-conscious. I also appreciate their flexibility when it came to organizing meetings; it's not easy to bring lots of different people and points of view together but they were able to figure it out.

What did you find most impressive about them?

Constructive brought a level of sophistication to the project in terms of the design. They were able to unify a diverse community and collection of stories and embody that through our website. We like that we didn't have to teach them how to approach this project;  they were already experienced and able to think in the way we wanted them to. 

Are there any areas they could improve?

No, I wouldn't change anything about the way they approached the project. 

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

Go into the project as prepared as you possibly can be. Make sure that everyone on your end is signed off in terms of your goals, timelines, and the like. Constructive is very good at managing the project in creating deadlines, so be ready and open to what they propose.

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m the director of a healthcare think tank.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with Constructive?

My group does a vast array of research and analysis, for public policies related to the financial payment and pricing of pharmaceuticals in the US. Basically, our work is complex and rarely amenable to simplified presentation, so we engaged with Constructive to help us build a website. This website would help us translate our fairly nuanced and layered analysis into something that can be easily understood.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

They initially spent an enormous amount of time with us to understand what we do, analyze the work we had done, and work with us as they iterate different presentation formats. They frame every iconography whether it hits the right message, content, and tone as communicators.

What is the team composition?

I work with around six people from their team, and they’re mostly made up of technocrats, logistical coordinators, project coordinators, and some are on the creative design side.

How did you come to work with Constructive?

I have a team that vetted half a dozen vendors, who looked at their work, product, timing, and pricing — the vetting process only got to me when they presented Constructive.

How much have you invested with them?

We’ve probably spent more than $100,000 USD.

What is the status of this engagement?

The conversation started in October 2019, and our partnership is still ongoing.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

The feedback has been extremely positive. I got a number of inquiries from colleagues who work at other think tanks, policy shops, and academia, asking who our vendor was.

How did Constructive perform from a project management standpoint?

They’re definitely using a project management software to track the progress of the work, but because of the pandemic, we have our regular meetings through Zoom. 

What did you find most impressive about them?

We’re impressed by how they’re getting to know us in terms of how we view ourselves, and how effective our messaging should be delivered. The project is an interactive process, in a way that they have to find a way to understand us.

I found Constructive to be very patient, methodical, and open to ideas — they don’t push us to lock down ideas, or format any design decisions before we’re ready.

Are there any areas they could improve?

No, because I’m extremely satisfied.

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

I believe the better you understand what your needs are, the more useful Constructive can be. There’s no limit to their abilities, except our ability to figure out what we want to ask for.

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m the director of a nonprofit education technology consultancy. We have projects in New York City, Louisiana, and Colorado.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with Constructive?

We had an outdated website that needed to be updated. The idea was to ensure that our three campaigns were reflected on our website. We also wanted to give our organization a fresh look and a new logo, and Constructive worked with us on both of these projects. 

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

Constructive created a brand new WordPress website and logo for us. For the logo, they did five iterations. They chose the final design based on the feedback we were giving them from the beginning. We also gave them suggestions for the design, such as its color scheme. 

For the website, we wanted site pages that reflected our organization’s mission and metrics. It should also contain our projects and show that while they were unique, they were also connected to our organization. Specifically, we wanted to tell a narrative about the impact of our projects across our target geographic areas. As such, the projects should be on separate pages, and they should each be explained in detail. 

On top of that, we wanted to give our audience a sense of who we were, so our history, team, and contact information should also be on the website. Constructive also developed a resources page where educators that we serviced could log in to access our resources.  

What is the team composition?

We worked with four people from their team. One of them was our main point of contact, and the rest were developers. 

How did you come to work with Constructive?

I researched online and read reviews for various agencies. We then spoke to Constructive and developed a relationship with their executive director. From there, we moved forward with the project. 

How much have you invested with them?

We spent around $70,000.

What is the status of this engagement?

Our website development project lasted from January–May 2020. 

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

Everyone loved the website, and they were happy about it. There were some hiccups, but Constructive was quick to address them. 

On the flip side, the website hasn’t been visited by a lot of users. As a result, we plan to consult their team about SEO to optimize. We also want to update the website with actual photos and footage from the schools that we work with, though the stock photos they’ve crafted fit it nicely.

How did Constructive perform from a project management standpoint?

Constructive’s project management was excellent. They were attentive and responsive to our concerns. They also had great guiding questions around the materials we should use for content and the assessment of our goals for the website.

For communication, we did Zoom meetings with the project manager frequently and with the designer and backend developer at times. I also worked with them in person a number of times in their office. 

What did you find most impressive about them?

Their focus on nonprofit organizations distinguished them from the competition. They worked with service-oriented nonprofits, so their ability to articulate what those organizations did in a visual format was fabulous. The fact that they had a specialty for the nonprofit segment was admirable. 

Are there any areas they could improve?

They could have provided us with more guidance around website optimization and backend usage of WordPress. 

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

Have a clearly outlined and articulated vision of the project’s end goal and the organization’s needs. You should also outline the needs of your staff who’ll maintain your website. 

BACKGROUND

Please describe your company and your position there.

Founded in 1973 by Nobel Peace Prize winner Bernard Lown, MD, developer of the defibrillator and cardioverter, the Lown Institute advances civic leadership, accountability, and value in health care. I serve as the vice president of communications.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

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

Our project was to build the first hospital ranking focusing on civic leadership and including measures never used before like inclusivity by race, avoidance of overuse, and pay equity.

Our ranking would show how nearly 3,300 U.S. hospitals compare on 42 performance indicators. Constructive helped us build the website for this ranking and provided brand guidance including naming, logo, and visual identity.

SOLUTION

How did you select Constructive and what were the deciding factors?

I researched a number of firms and ended up soliciting proposals from three. I prioritized groups that had demonstrated experience working with data presentation, a commitment to working in the nonprofit sector, and the skills to apply a strong brand strategy to the project.

Finding a partner that understood the aspirational message we were trying to deliver and could ensure that message did not get lost amidst the technical and data-heavy aspects of the work was crucial. By the end of the process, Constructive was the clear choice.

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

TECHNICAL - The heart of the project was construction of a database to hold the extensive amount of information we had collected for over 3,000 hospitals. There are lots of ways to mess this part up by being sloppy, with repercussions carrying throughout the chain of work.

Fortunately, technical staff at Constructive patiently worked with us to gain a deep understanding of our requirements and were rigorous about setting up a quality data framework.

DESIGN - Our site aspired to serve a broad range of users including average citizens, policy wonks, and academic researchers.

That meant it needed to be very accessible for the casual user, while also providing tools for those with more advanced tasks in mind. Constructive worked closely with us to step through a series of wireframes and then full designs. We were very happy with the process and with the final design.

BRAND - We were fortunate to have Matt work directly with us to develop a name for the project and make other decisions about key labels and site content. It was essential for us to enter the hospital ranking space with the right identity in place.

Having Matt as executive director of the firm spend so much time with us and become truly invested in our goals contributed greatly to the success we've experienced.

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

There were four key staff from Constructive that we worked with throughout the full project: a project manager, a designer, a technology director, and Matt.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

In the first six months following launch, we earned coverage from hundreds of national, regional, trade and other media outlets--including big names like USA Today, Bloomberg, and the Washington Post.

All types of people use our rankings platform and comments about how great the website is come in with regularity. Having such an impressive website has helped get our work taken seriously and led to a number of other opportunities to connect with other organizations that have become interested in our work.

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

Constructive was a good match for our culture. They are a smart and talented group that is very personable and accessible. At the same time, they know do a great job at having a clear process, keeping things moving, and pushing back in the right ways when necessary.

We met regularly over Zoom, used Teamwork as a project management platform, and InVision for design collaboration.

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

Constructive staff really became invested in our project. It was obvious they cared not just about doing a good job designing our platform, but about what our organization aimed to achieve in terms of advancing system change, civic leadership, and health equity.

Lots of folks talk about being partners, Constructive fulfilled that role in a very real way.

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

I don't have anything to note here.