Cozy Design, Inc.

Introduce your business and what you do there.

We are a construction software company and we build products for the commercial subcontractor industry. I’m the VP of product and I run the product management team.

What challenge were you trying to address with Cozy Design, Inc.?

We needed to rebuild our outdated product platform from the ground up. We turned to Cozy Design to help us with the design, layout, and workflows.

What was the scope of their involvement?

We provided Cozy Design with video diagrams that covered the depth and breadth of the product itself. They were also given some demos of our existing product platform along with other supporting documentation. They then went into creating basic screen layouts with new fonts and color schemes. Their team also did some baseline user testing on the early design via wireframes.

What is the team composition?

We worked with Lee (Founder, CEO & Creative Director), who as one of our main contacts. Abigal (Producer) coordinated our efforts and Leanna (Design Director) helped with the design.

How did you come to work with Cozy Design, Inc.?

I searched on the web for local design firms and interviewed about five different companies. Most of the people I talked to really pushed for their development arm, but we were just looking for somebody who could help with the UI/UX design. We decided to go with Cozy Design because they specialized in that area.

How much have you invested with them?

We invested about $75,000.

What is the status of this engagement?

We started talking in January 2021, and the project formally lasted from March–August 2021.

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

Cozy Design was good at spending more time where needed but also putting in additional effort to help us stay on track with our timelines. We had a client advisory group that participated in the process and provided feedback along the way, and they found that the general quality of the team’s work was there. 

How did Cozy Design, Inc. perform from a project management standpoint?

They performed very well on this front. Abigail was great at keeping us on track and keeping us informed. We had multiple recurring meetings with them every week to review the design and provide feedback. It was all very organized. 

What did you find most impressive about them?

What stood out about Cozy Design was their ability to think outside the box. We went into the project with a very narrow view of how we could redo the designs, but they helped us step outside of our comfort zone and think of the bigger picture. Working with the team really opened our minds to different possibilities. 

Are there any areas they could improve?

Some of the tools they used, such as the ones for video conferencing and design sharing, were not very user-friendly or accessible through iOS or Android. We had to work around that a little bit, but I wouldn’t say that it was a shortcoming on Cozy Design’s part. 

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

Keep in close contact with Cozy Design. Establish a good working relationship with them because they really will become part of your team even though they’re just a consulting group or outsourced designers. If you can do this, you’ll have a greater opportunity for success.

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m a senior strategist at Beech Street Digital, a digital marketing agency. We work on acquisition campaigns to help our clients produce leads, boost awareness, and increase their revenue.

What challenge were you trying to address with Cozy Design, Inc.?

We didn’t have an in-house design team, so we needed someone to create assets to help our clients generate leads.

What was the scope of their involvement?

Cozy Design, Inc. designed several image ad templates for us. They came in standard display ad sizes. We didn’t give them any brand guidelines, but we gave the instructions our clients gave us. We primarily relied on their creative knowledge to help us come up with designs.

Overall, the Cozy Design, Inc. team delivered 8–10 unique ad concepts, which we then used to create different pieces.

What is the team composition?

We worked with Lee (Founder, CEO & Creative Director), a designer, and a project manager.

How did you come to work with Cozy Design, Inc.?

A few of my colleagues referred Cozy Design, Inc. to me.

How much have you invested with them?

We spent between $5,000–$10,000. 

What is the status of this engagement?

The project lasted from September–October 2021.

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

Cozy Design, Inc.’s designs were visually appealing and optimized to increase conversion. After we used their concepts, we saw a boost in click-through rates. This resulted in an increase in lead conversion rates for our clients, who were very happy with their work.

How did Cozy Design, Inc. perform from a project management standpoint?

Their project management was excellent. We primarily communicated through email and Slack. They were flexible and open to using various communication channels and project management tools.

Furthermore, the design team was responsive to our ideas. Cozy Design, Inc. handled the creative aspect of the project while we supplied the marketing strategies.

What did you find most impressive about them?

Although we gave them minimal direction, the Cozy Design, Inc. team produced high-quality designs. They provided us with a range of options that fulfilled our needs and brought our vision to life.

They were able to supply us with the creative element we needed for our clients’ ad efforts. Not only were their designs fantastic, but their customer service was top-notch. Cozy Design, Inc. was attentive and professional.

Are there any areas they could improve?

I can’t think of anything they could’ve done better.

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

I highly recommend Cozy Design, Inc. — they’re a well-established creative agency that you can depend on.

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m the marketing director for a product design agency, and we provide UI/UX design services to startups.

What challenge were you trying to address with Cozy Design, Inc.?

We hired Cozy Design to help us with some Adobe Photoshop work for a set of graphics that we were open sourcing in a Figma plugin.

What was the scope of their involvement?

Cozy Design did two streams of work around the same body of assets. The team helped us superimpose graphics into photographs, and they made templates in Adobe Photoshop and Figma. The work they did for us was a combination of graphic design, photography, and production — then all of their work could be seen on what our internal team had built. In total, they completed around 30 images for us. Since this was an open-source project, the images they produced became free assets for the design community.

What is the team composition?

We worked with two people, including Lee (Founder & CEO) and their designer.

How did you come to work with Cozy Design, Inc.?

Their team had a good reputation here in San Diego, and they were active in the design community. I became aware of them through events, and I saw that their skills and cost matched what we were looking for. Overall, they just made it easy for me that I didn't talk to anybody else.

How much have you invested with them?

We spent $5,000.

What is the status of this engagement?

We worked together from December 2020–January 2021.

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

We looked at the image downloads of Cozy Design’s work to see their impact on our engagement. Overall, we were very pleased that the design community told us that our content was valuable and that our templates were very helpful. On top of that, their work was shared 40,500 times.

How did Cozy Design, Inc. perform from a project management standpoint?

Their project management process was incredibly exceptional, and their contract process was easy. When we called them, we’d often walk them through our files and set a schedule for their outputs. One time, there was a holiday in the middle of our schedule milestones and they were able to accommodate that. As a result, everything was delivered on time.

What did you find most impressive about them?

The most special thing about working with them was their name because we really felt like we were working with a friend. We had a very respectful partnership, and they made it easy for us to talk to them. More importantly, they looked out for us and made helpful suggestions — they didn't just simply take orders from us.

Are there any areas they could improve?

I guess it would be a cheap shot to say that they should’ve done things right the first time since we had a set of changes that we had planned for. On top of that, those changes we implemented made our project really great. Overall, there was nothing that they could improve.

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

For any project outsourcing, make sure that you’ll hire a company with the technical skills and creative competence that are required to do the job you want them to do. On top of that, look at their portfolio. If you’re considering hiring Cozy Design, be clear about what you’re asking for and ask to see some examples of their work.

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m a residential real estate agent for my own company.

What challenge were you trying to address with Cozy Design, Inc.?

I hired Cozy Design to help me with marketing design. Specifically, I needed them to design a new sale sign and branding. 

What was the scope of their involvement?

Cozy Design created new signages for me, including “for sale” and “open house” signs. On top of that, they also designed my mails and postcards so that I showed a consistent image and branding across multiple platforms.

I didn’t know which direction to take; I didn’t know what end product I wanted. Given that, the Cozy Design team guided me and came up with a solution that worked for me. They then searched for designs that were unique, sleek, and a good fit for my brand. Around 90% of the creative aspects were their work.

What is the team composition?

I mainly worked with one person from their team, which was Lee (Founder, CEO & Creative Director). I also exchanged emails with the team for feedback on the designs, but Lee was my main contact person for the most part. 

How did you come to work with Cozy Design, Inc.?

I found Cozy Design through a local business networking group. Specifically, I met Lee at a meeting, and I simply liked his style. He was friendly, welcoming, and educational; he wasn’t too salesy. Overall, he was a good fit for the type of people I like working with, so I hired them. 

How much have you invested with them?

We invested around $1,000. 

What is the status of this engagement?

The project lasted from June–July 2018. 

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

I had plenty of compliments at open houses and received a ton of great verbal feedback. Other agents also liked the designs, which were unique. 

How did Cozy Design, Inc. perform from a project management standpoint?

They were incredibly easy to work with and had great communication and listening skills. The team was concerned about my input and feedback, making sure that I liked everything they created. Overall, working with them was truly comfortable — I was pleased with our engagement. To communicate, we used emails. They’d send me designs that I’d review and sign with edits or comments. 

What did you find most impressive about them?

Cozy Design’s creativity is the most impressive thing about them. I only gave them a vague idea of what I wanted because I didn’t have a clear end goal, but they took my idea and created something that truly met my requirements. 

Are there any areas they could improve?

No, there weren’t any. I was truly happy with them. 

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

I highly recommend Cozy Design to you if you’re looking for a new brand and look. If you don’t know what you want, you can work with the team, and they’ll walk you through the process and come up with a final product. 

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m the director of operations and resourcing of an advertising agency. Part of my work is to find freelance vendors and companies to work with when we don’t have the internal resources to cover our workload.

What challenge were you trying to address with Cozy Design, Inc.?

Our production team is large, but since we don’t have that many clients who come to us for web needs, we needed to partner with a freelancer or organization to outsource work.

What was the scope of their involvement?

We partnered with Cozy Design, Inc. on the web design needs for one of our clients. This particular team needed a microsite’s design on Figma. None of our internal art directors or designers were familiar with it, so I required Cozy Design’s team to assist us in wireframing and other web design tasks. They scoped out the project with our creative director, and they did the overall interactive design for mobile and desktop of a campaign page.

What is the team composition?

We worked with four members of their team, including two project managers, a design director, and a creative.

How did you come to work with Cozy Design, Inc.?

They were referred to us by someone from our team who had worked with them in the past. We had other designers among our options but chose Cozy Design because they had a good reputation and our co-worker had a good experience with them before. 

How much have you invested with them?

We spent around $14,000 with them.

What is the status of this engagement?

We worked together from September–October 2021.

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

They delivered what we needed, so we were able to check off that box of the scope that we have with our client — they achieved the project’s goals.

How did Cozy Design, Inc. perform from a project management standpoint?

We used email and Zoom for communication because that’s what our team preferred, but they were open to other methods — they adapted very quickly to our requirements.

What did you find most impressive about them?

They were a thorough and responsive team throughout the engagement.

Are there any areas they could improve?

I don’t think there’s anything they can improve on.

Any advice for potential customers?

Ensure that you’re providing as much information as possible; they ask many good questions to offer great ideas and other things that can contribute to the project.

Introduce your business and what you do there.
I’m the digital marketing manager of an e-learning leadership company.

What challenge were you trying to address with Cozy Design, Inc.?
We were launching a new product and needed a new homepage redesign. Our team also needed additional services for additional website services, which included messaging, design, and architecture.
 

What was the scope of their involvement?
The project was broken down into four parts. There was a large discovery portion in the beginning. Cozy Design, Inc. took the time to get acquainted as well as understand where our company was going and what was changing with the launch of the new product. We provided documents that they had requested and we had on hand. Additionally, they came armed with some competitor research and thought leadership.

The secondary stage was to tease out those core messaging priorities. We figured out what we were trying to convince our audience to purchase and why they’d want to purchase our product. The third part of the project was distilling all of the notes we had from the discovery phase and the core messaging document. We put everything into action through a wireframe of the new homepage, looking at how it’d change the overall layout and architecture of the site. The last phase was the design portion. During this stage, Cozy Design, Inc. delivered wireframes and an updated brand guideline that covered our new look and feel. 

What is the team composition?
We worked with a lead designer, secondary designer, project manager, and writer.

How did you come to work with Cozy Design, Inc.?
We chose them because we thought they were professional, friendly, and methodical. 

How much have you invested with them?
We invested $42,000.

What is the status of this engagement?
Our engagement was from January–May 2021.
 

What evidence can you share that demonstrates the impact of the engagement? 
We haven’t pushed the project live due to the product having issues; it’s not ready to go yet. Cozy Design, Inc. left us with all the materials needed to push everything live once it’s ready or once we’re close to getting ready. In addition to having great thought leadership in what’s appropriate and modern in a website design look and feel, their team took our verbose guidelines and distilled it down to something actionable. They’re on the top of their game when it comes to web design and CRO.

We appreciated that Cozy Design, Inc. didn’t drastically change our branding. They updated and modernized it, leaving the guidelines intact. Their team took our original branding, which is bold and dark, and made it more modern, lighter, friendlier, and easier to read. Cozy Design, Inc. made our website more actionable. Users should have the ability to know exactly what they’re getting and what they want to sign up for within the first 30 seconds of landing on our website. All in all, we were super happy with what they provided. 

How did Cozy Design, Inc. perform from a project management standpoint?
Everything was on time, and Cozy Design, Inc. kept us on track of what deliverables were needed from us. They were never behind in their deliverables to us. Their team took copious notes and recorded everything. It allowed us to refer back to certain items if we had a change of thought along the way. The Cozy Design, Inc. team kept us focused on meeting our deadlines. They were super responsive and kept us on track. Their team did a good job of reminding us if we were falling behind our own deadlines. We typically communicated through Slack, email, and texting.

What did you find most impressive about them?
From a design perspective, they came up with a design that allowed our brand to evolve in a way that didn’t detract from its original look and feel. They provided us with a 2.0 grown-up brand. We’re a startup so it’s nice to see an evolution of how our original brand can continue to evolve. Additionally, their ability to lean into the audience that we were targeting was impressive. They could pull out the messages that’d resonate with them to make our website and copy compelling so users would hopefully sign up.

Are there any areas they could improve?
From a client communication standpoint, they used very modern tools. They moved away from Zoom to Vox. Vox has great features but it’s such a new product that it missed a lot of features of being able to call into the meeting. We had to be at a physical computer which didn't provide the flexibility that was sometimes needed. In order for Cozy Design, Inc. to use those technologies with their clients, they have to make sure that it fits with their client’s ability to use them.

Do you have any advice for potential customers?
I recommend doing the discovery session. We got a lot out of it. Cozy Design, Inc. asks the right questions. The session isn’t a waste of time. Unloading all of our thoughts allowed us to take a 360 view of where we were going. Don’t discount adding that discovery session into your contract. Additionally, be open-minded about where you want to go from a design perspective by giving them clear guidelines.
 

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m the executive director of a healthcare company. We’re a medical group, and I run the healthcare management component of the organization. We provide administrative services, marketing support, credentialing, and things of that nature.

What challenge were you trying to address with Cozy Design, Inc.?

We brought them on for website and UX design as well as logo design and branding.

What was the scope of their involvement?

Cozy Design, Inc. delivered design files for our programmer to develop on our miscellaneous websites. We’ve had multiple initiatives and projects over the course of the engagement. Typically, we provide the goal of the project and content to supplement the goal. They come back with design files. Then, we usually do a couple of rounds of revisions before they give us the final files.

What is the team composition?

We work with Lee (Founder & Creative Director) and Leanna (Design Director), but there are others involved.

How did you come to work with Cozy Design, Inc.?

I was scanning for companies that worked in the space and then I met Lee. At that time, Lee was his own studio and then he expanded his company.

What is the status of this engagement?

Our ongoing engagement started around February 2017.

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

We were looking to make our website more user-friendly, and Cozy Design, Inc. helped us accomplish that. Their team is responsive and detail-oriented. We’ve exclusively worked with them for our design needs for our website and brochures because we’re very satisfied.

How did Cozy Design, Inc. perform from a project management standpoint?

They utilize Asana for project management. We’re very happy with it.

What did you find most impressive about them?

They provide quality work at a fair market price. Cozy Design, Inc. always delivers work in a timely manner.

Are there any areas they could improve?

No, they’ve always been responsive to our requests as a customer.

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

Make sure you understand who your customer is and that your content is developed. Having a separate marketing team that can implement what Cozy Design, Inc. delivers to you is also beneficial.

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m a co-founder of a marketing and advertising company.  We’re brand strategists and we offer brand positioning efforts to our clients.

What challenge were you trying to address with Cozy Design, Inc.?

We were looking for a company that has experience in UI/UX design.

What was the scope of their involvement?

We had a client who needed a brand logo and color palette to be developed so Cozy Design, Inc. helped figure out what their needs were. They helped us come up with something that aligned with our third-party client's budget and tight turnaround.

During the process, they showed a couple of options and we selected from those before presenting them to our third-party customer. 

What is the team composition?

We worked with three people, namely Lee (Founder & Creative Director), Leanna (Design Director), and Abigail (Project Manager).

How did you come to work with Cozy Design, Inc.?

We saw the quality of the deliverables they provided to other clients. In the end, we decided to collaborate with Cozy Design, Inc.

How much have you invested with them?

We spent $4,000.

What is the status of this engagement?

The engagement lasted from August–September 2020. 

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

Our third-party client was very satisfied with their outputs. We didn’t need to revise a lot of their work. 

How did Cozy Design, Inc. perform from a project management standpoint?

Cozy Design, Inc. had a great project management process. We mainly communicated via Slack and Zoom. 

What did you find most impressive about them?

We appreciated that they always wanted to get their work right. We were impressed with the level of detail they provided and their thoughtful design process.

Are there any areas they could improve?

I don't think they have any areas they could improve on.

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

Be clear on what you want them to do. As long as you’re clear, Cozy Design, Inc. will be happy to meet the mark.

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I worked with a small business loans company. We provided capital to small businesses that needed cash. I was the director of digital marketing.

What challenge were you trying to address with Cozy Design, Inc.?

We just finished a redesign and rebranding with a different agency. We had style guides and other documents, but that project only took us so far. We needed a team to do additional design work for us.

What was the scope of their involvement?

They were our creative resource for ad graphics, website enhancements, and other design needs. A lot of the pre-planning was two-fold. We used data and insights to drive decisions, so we presented Cozy Design, Inc. with use cases for ads. We gave them the specs, and they produced images that adhered to our branding guidelines and that would help drive traffic.

On the website, we were hypothesis-driven, and we focused on a CRO project. We reimagined our forms and decided on creative ways to speed up and improve conversion rates. Through visual exploration, we examined several options. We got creative feedback from our teams, then we collaborated with Cozy Design, Inc. to make the deliverables we needed.

What is the team composition?

We worked with a graphic designer and a creative director. They were both very responsive.

How did you come to work with Cozy Design, Inc.?

I already had experience from a previous agency. We had a network of partners there, and Cozy Design, Inc. was one of them. When I started as the director of digital marketing, I activated that existing collaboration.

How much have you invested with them?

We spent within a $50,000-$100,000 range.

What is the status of this engagement?

I worked in this position between May 2016-December 2017. The website launched in January 2017, and we worked together for the rest of that year.

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

The forms project was successful, and our results were definitely positive. Elements of that project are still live today, and several of their designs were clear winners.

How did Cozy Design, Inc. perform from a project management standpoint?

We communicated through Slack, which was a very efficient way to give feedback and get work done quickly. They adopted Teamwork, which is the platform I normally use. They used the tools that I was comfortable with, and they did some double posting on Asana. They managed both systems, and they were always efficient and responsive.

What did you find most impressive about them?

They strive to come up with good design, and they focus on all the right things. The quality of their work is high, and all the deliverables are very well-organized and professional.

Are there any areas they could improve?

They're very academic, and they occasionally overshare the information that supports their point of view. That is helpful, but they could edit a little more.

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

Think about your desired outcomes. They're very goal-oriented, and it helps to have specific end results in mind.

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m the general manager of iQuoteXpress, and we are a B2B software company that specializes in proposal management software. We are a fairly small player in a very crowded space, so we really try to be smart with our money in order to compete at a much higher level.

What challenge were you trying to address with Cozy Design, Inc.?

We had an internal marketing team at the time, but we felt that the level of expertise that we were getting from our internal team was not sufficient, so we decided to outsource those needs.

What was the scope of their involvement?

We use Cozy Design, Inc. as an outsourced digital marketing team. They handle everything from our branding to our look and feel, to our PPC advertising, and everything else that a marketing team would do inside their own company. We had a pretty antiquated look and corporate branding, so they started refreshing our look and feel, as well as the UI on the actual application that we run and our marketing efforts.

The primary goal of their efforts is to help us acquire leads, so what they do now is write a lot of content on our behalf. They handle blog content that goes up on our site as well as B2B marketing sites as well as our trade show booth and brochure design. The work they do helps us frame the conversation on why a CPQ sales automation software like ours would be beneficial for the small and medium-sized businesses that we focus on.

What is the team composition?

We have a dedicated account manager who works in conjunction with some other members of their team. The owner is involved with a lot of our activities as well, so we feel like we’re in pretty good hands.

How did you come to work with Cozy Design, Inc.?

We’re located in Southern California, and they’re based here as well, so we encountered each other in the software space and realized that we could benefit from a partnership with them.

How much have you invested with them?

We probably spend about $6,000 a month with them at this point, which is between $300,000–$400,000 in total.

What is the status of this engagement?

We started working together in 2013 and are continuing to do so.

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

We do a lot of tracking as far as cost per lead acquisition, and cost per conversion and all of those metrics have dropped significantly since we started working with Cozy Design, Inc. In the case of lead acquisition, we used to pay an average of $100 per lead that converts into a webinar demo, and now we have that number down to about $20 or so.

The sessions and contacts that we get on our website have also gone up astronomically. It’s increased at least threefold since we started using them. Organic search and social media referrals have all continued to skyrocket. We’re really pleased with the sheer amount of content that they produce for us.

How did Cozy Design, Inc. perform from a project management standpoint?

They’ve been excellent when it comes to project management. They have dedicated managers for our processes, and we have weekly meetings to keep track of our progress. We also call to keep track of how things are going, so we have a lot of collaboration throughout the course of the week as well. The communication tends to occur primarily over texts, emails, and phone calls, so we’re able to use whatever is most convenient at the time, which we appreciate.

What did you find most impressive about them?

They’re a very well-rounded organization and have people with different backgrounds and levels of experience. They were able to provide help with everything from digital to print advertising, to all of the specific activities that we target for particularly niche markets, which was incredibly valuable.

Are there any areas they could improve?

I limit their ability to do certain things in terms of spend because we have a limited budget, but I never worry that they won’t be able to accomplish anything that we provide them the resources to do. They satisfy all of our requests, so I don’t have any complaints.

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

I would make sure that it’s a good cultural fit. These people are young, smart, and energetic, and they really have a finger on the pulse of my industry, but it would be smart to make sure they have a good handle on the industry of other clients who wanted to work with them as well.