Craftars

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I'm the founder of an interactive design agency that primarily works with advertising agencies, mostly on digital campaigns.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with Craftars?

We got an augmented reality (AR) project, but we needed external help to complete the work.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

We had to build an AR app for Chinese New Year that basically would display an AR dancing lion that people could take pictures with. Craftars worked directly with our client on the creative aspect, and then we consulted with them to determine how the creative would work on the mobile screen. Craftars provided sketches of the product, for example photo references for the virtual lion, and they worked with our team to sculpt the lion in 3D and integrate it into the app.

One of the main challenges was getting the lion to constantly face the screen, no matter where the phone moved. In typical AR, you can move around the AR object to see it from all angles, but our client wanted the lion to always be front-facing, so we had to get a custom-made software development kit (SDK) from our other provider. Craftars worked with us during the entire process to eventually deliver an iOS and Android version of the product to our client.

What is the team composition?

I had one main point of contact, but there was a whole team working on our project.

How did you come to work with Craftars?

We posted a job on Freelancer.com many years ago, and they were the most qualified respondent.

How much have you invested with them?

For this project, we spent around $20,000.

What is the status of this engagement?

They started the project in December 2016, and it launched in February 2017.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

Our client didn’t share exact results with us, but we followed the app’s hashtag on social media, and it showed that it got quite popular.

How did Craftars perform from a project management standpoint?

I never had issues. They’re structured and manage their time well. We mainly communicated via email and Skype calls.

What did you find most impressive about them?

They never gave up. We had several issues because of the SDK, but Craftars spent a lot of time making sure the problem wasn’t on their end. Finally, when we were able to show our SDK provider that the issue was with their product, they gave us a custom build.

They understood the specific project requirements and found unique solutions to help execute our plan.  

Are there any areas they could improve?

Sometimes, our main point of contact had a hard time delegating work because he wanted it to be done as well as he would. However, this is pretty common with developers in leadership positions, and it comes down to managing expectations.

Do you have any advice for future clients of theirs?

Be clear with the deliverables, timeline, and payment scheme.