Creative Navy

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m the CEO of a software company. We’re a reasonably small software provider of financial services systems We provide a SaaS platform for banks and finances across the world.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with Creative Navy?

We’re growing and looking into new marketplaces, and one of those led us to Creative Navy. They’re working with us to build a new product for the consumer space in cloud accounting products. They’re also helping us expand our current product sets.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

They put together the whole wireframe and style guide, informing and consulting for us in the creation of our new product. Deliverables included UX design principles and UI components that we developed.

Initially, we had several weeks of workshops where we outlined what our product needed to do and what we liked from other systems we’d interacted with. Then, we gave them a broad brief and left them to it to come back with principles for us to consider. Then, they walked us high-fidelity wireframes, describing the internal conversations they had that led to these decisions. It was very informative for us.  

Afterward, we went through a weekly call process. We’d provide feedback on screens they would share with us. Then, they’d refine the screens and create new ones. We went through this 3–4 months of nipping and tucking all the aspects of the system until we had a final result in Zeppelin. Once we confirmed everything, they put together the style guide and we started putting everything together into a complete frontend interface.

What is the team composition?

I think there were 3-4 people. I’m not entirely sure who was working behind the scenes, though. From a client-facing perspective, Dennis (Managing Partner, Creative Navy) was our main contact for talking through wireframes. Another resource joined him on calls and was well informed. They were probably the project lead under Dennis. We also had regular contact with an account manager.

How did you come to work with Creative Navy?

I’d brought on a new frontend developer in-house, and this project was his first task. He did some market research and found Creative Navy, along with a few other candidates. We put them through an interview process, and it was clear from the get-go that

We went through an interview process, clear from the get-go that there was synergy in how they approached design. They have a heavy psychological research background and brought that to computer interface designing. I also have a psychology background, so I was very interested.

How much have you invested with them?

We spent between £50,000–£70,000 ($64,300–$90,100 USD) with them.

What is the status of this engagement?

We worked together from October 2018 until February 2019.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

We’re in the launching phases, so, at this point, no, we don’t have any results. Regarding aesthetics though, the design is really clean—not noisy or busy at all. From a user perspective, you can see where you need to go and how to navigate the site. There’s not a lot of explanatory wording.

People aren’t going to jump out of their chair at amazing colors, but it’s not designed for that. It’s a processing system, and it looks good for what it is. It’s definitely a step up from our existing products in terms of fidelity and cleanliness.

How did Creative Navy perform from a project management standpoint?

They set up a Slack channel, and we spoke almost daily for a while. We also had weekly roundup meetings that eventually turned into biweekly meetings.

It was evident at some points that our timescales were not aligned, which led to some delays. A few resulted from them pushing forward faster than we wanted to, as well as vice versa. Generally, everything was fine, though. Nothing was missed. They finished what we asked them to.

What did you find most impressive about them?

Their grasping of concepts was amazing. They quickly understood our market and needs, and Dennis in particular had a strong hold of our problems, quickly coming up with solutions. I didn’t have to spoon-feed them anything. It took some people in our organization years to work some things out, but Dennis got it done quickly.

Are there any areas they could improve?

I would appreciate more visibility about what they’re doing behind the scenes so I could know what they’re up to a bit more. When you’re outsourcing things, you can’t say simply asks what’s going on. We’d go through periods of where a lot would happen, and then we wouldn’t know what was going on for a little bit, but then a lot would happen again. So, overall, visibility on what’s happening internally would be nice.

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

Be really clear about what you want upfront, which is just a classic project issue. Have a lot of documentation about what you want. Additionally, make decisions and be decisive about what you want to do. Finally, if you’re going to pay for something, make use of it and give it the time it needs. Don’t get distracted.

BACKGROUND

Please describe your company and your position there.

I am a product director at a company that offers a project management and presentation tool for complex projects. Our tool enables stakeholders to see aggregated data on the project progress, across all issues that are being tracked.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

For what projects/services did your company hire Creative Navy?

We have developed a beta and signed up more than 100 customers. The UX we have designed for the beta was a good starting point but it proved to be too complex for most users. They all loved the features, but scaling with the UX would have been impossible. We hired Creative Navy to propose a set of user experience design concepts that would help us solve the most important usability concerns.

What were your goals for this project?

The objective was to create a library of design patterns and a design logic that we can roll out gradually.

SOLUTION

How did you select this vendor?

We chose them based on conversations with multiple other agencies and we really liked their flexible approach.

Describe the project in detail.

Creative Navy proposed potential design solutions for all the interactions we had listed. They created designs to show what the new interface could look like if we were to choose one solution or the other. We gave them input and asked questions, upon which they adapted the design to fit our needs.

What was the team composition?

We worked with two designers from their side and had a steering committee on our end, made of myself, the CTO and two developers.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

We were able to implement several of their design solutions in the months after the project. We received good feedback from the customers, the usability issues were at least mitigated if not solved. The library of ideas they supplied us with are still useful to us and we will keep them for the future when we will be able to make more changes to the platform.

How effective was the workflow between your team and theirs?

Creative Navy were very quick to catch on. They did their own introduction to our software by setting up test projects. We then had a briefing session where they asked questions and we explained the intent behind certain features. Most of the work they did after that was independent, we just provided occasional input.

What did you find most impressive about this company?

Our tool is very complex and unusual - you have to use it for a while to understand how it can add value. They were able to understand a complex tool in a short time, and then think creatively about it.

Are there any areas for improvement?

It was a good project, it was a shame we were not able to bring them on for longer.

BACKGROUND

Please describe your company and your position there.

I work at Mazda Motors Europe and I am a project manager. Obviously we are in the automotive industry and I deal with the intersection between our IT and Marketing.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

For what projects/services did your company hire Creative Navy?

We had them work on a mobile application to be used for our marketing, to present our offers and latest car concepts in an engaging way.

What were your goals for this project?

The point of the project was to create some design ideas that would enable us to validate an approach and create specifications for the development aspect of the project.

SOLUTION

How did you select this vendor?

We reached out to agencies in Europe with a proven track record in automotive and then they submitted respones to the RFP. The selection was made by a committee of 3, representing marketing, IT and acquisitions.

Describe the project in detail.

Creative Navy did 3 sprints for us, each with a separate design concept. The project was intense, because we had to participate almost daily in sessions with them, but the goal was to get everything done in 3 weeks. They provided the structure for the sessions and involved us in workshops to provide input and feedback.

What was the team composition?

Two of us participated in their sessions and at the end of the week we had more stakeholders review the outcome of each week. From their side, they had a team of 4, with a PM and 3 design specialists.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

One of the 3 concepts was a weird experiment at best, but the other two were very relevant and we're using both to figure out what we can build with a reasonable budget. We were pleased that we had two good concepts, when we started we were hoping to get one and were fearful that none would be ok.

How effective was the workflow between your team and theirs?

I liked that they used all sorts of tools, but ultimately adapted to our needs and didn't force us to use the tools. This was important because the duration was short and we were very busy so we would not have time to study a new tool.

What did you find most impressive about this company?

It was great to work with people who have a lot of experience and I really felt that this made a difference. It was both the little things, like being always prepared and more profound things like understanding the market and nuances or our capabilities. It felt like we've been working with them for a long time.

Are there any areas for improvement?

It was good given the short duration of the project, I can't wish for more.

BACKGROUND

Please describe your company and your position there.

We manufacture passenger information systems for public transports. Our customers are in Europe, Asia and the United States. We have been in existence for 30 years.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

For what projects/services did your company hire Creative Navy?

We hired Creative Navy to design a new user experience for our display controller which is used by bus drivers to configure the displays and for the performance of maintenance. We changed to a new display type for the controller so we needed a comprehensive user experience including the graphics.

What were your goals for this project?

We wanted a user interface that is easy to use by anyone, regardless of location, familiarity with IT or language.

SOLUTION

How did you select this vendor?

We reviewed 5 companies and selected them based on the proposals they submitted.

Describe the project in detail.

Creative Navy have performed research and collected the requirements for the interface. They have used the previous software versions and input from our team to document all the details and then they created a UX wireframe prototype in a few weeks. Ultimately they used this prototype to get feedback from users and to improve it until the delivery of the graphics.

What was the team composition?

We spoke to the project manager only, but the team was made up of multiple designers.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

We received very good feedback from our customers, they were impressed with the contemporary design and the ease of use.

How effective was the workflow between your team and theirs?

it was easy for us to work with them, we had only one point of contact and they were very independent. We provided input every now and then and towards the end of the assignment they organised 2-3 sessions with our developers to fine tune the delivery for development using Crank.

What did you find most impressive about this company?

We were impressed with how quickly they were able to understand the complexity of our product. they were able to organise it into a more straight forward system.

Are there any areas for improvement?

It was a good experience

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m the SVP of operations for Bofin, a technology platform that connects financial institutions and service providers with end users for financial products. We offer bank accounts in the UK to non-residents.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with Creative Navy?

We were facing challenges with the UI/UX design of the platform, so we were looking to make things simpler. We needed to onboard users and give them easy access to its functionalities so that they would keep coming back.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

They created some UI designs for us, after being given a brief to help with the existing beta. The focus was on improving the existing experience and functionalities, adding new screens to replace ones that were quite rigid and uneasy on the eye. Their new designs reflected new functionalities that we were introducing at the time. They’re still the design arm of our organization.

What is the team composition?

I was in touch with Dennis (CEO, Creative Navy), who assigned a dedicated designer, a project manager, and an account manager. I dealt with the account manager from a commercial perspective on a day-to-day basis.

How did you come to work with Creative Navy?

We were looking for an expert to come in and improve our existing app. We came across three vendors through internet searches, one of which was Creative Navy. We liked how they thought about the problem and what they proposed for that proof of concept.

What is the status of this engagement?

We started working with Creative Navy in September 2018, and the collaboration is ongoing.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

We’re quite impressed with their work, as they’re committed to understanding what we were trying to solve. They have a good design understanding of the platform now and have expertise in different environments, including iOS and Android.

They’ve also been instrumental in suggesting process improvements, on at least two occasions. I really appreciate that proactive approach, and I feel it’s helped them gain our trust. We need subject-matter expertise from a design perspective, but we also need a trustworthy partner that wants to improve the product.

We had a different design methodology, and we work in an agile environment, with an offshore development team and product director. Creative Navy has really understood how to make the best of it, coordinating the times and meetings with regularity. As the project progressed, things have improved and become less scattered; introducing processes for addressing any prior concerns.

How did Creative Navy perform from a project management standpoint?

We were in communication with different team members almost every day, depending on the need. They’ve been quite adaptable in their ways of working and have made themselves available for meetings at different times. That’s really important for project delivery, and it demonstrates to me that they’re focused on the end goal of producing good designs.

I also appreciate that they treat it as an iterative process, continually improving, making suggestions, visiting our offices, and taking time talk to me generally. We have to make releases at certain times and get certain functionalities in place, so they’ve had to be adaptable.

What did you find most impressive about them?

Their understanding of the platform, which is quite complex, is excellent. Their ability as designers to bring the concept to life has been impressive. They accelerated their learning, bringing the gained logic into the designs. It’s not just about colors and fonts, but about functionalities and what we’re trying to achieve.

Are there any areas they could improve?

More time and creative freedom on their side would help them make more design improvements. Although it’s impressive that they’ve understood our platform, it’s also a tricky one. A breadth of similar platform analysis could help in the future.

Do you have any advice for future clients of theirs?

Ensure they are given the big picture from the word go, and the chemistry between both parties will flourish a lot quicker. There needs to be a bigger-picture understanding. I would recommend that anyone starting a project with them invest time in that and give them access to everything.

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m the CEO of Mezzoport, a platform that helps with event organization.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with Creative Navy?

We had a quite comprehensive backend built without a lot of features, and we didn’t have any UX/UI. We needed someone to create the UX/UI for the MVP.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

First, we briefed them, and they came back with a few designs. We gave our feedback and then it was all implementation. The whole process took about four weeks: One week for the initial exploration, two weeks for the UI; then they delivered the style guide in the last week.

What is the team composition?

Our main point of contact was the project manager, and he led the team.

How did you come to work with Creative Navy?

They were recommended to us.

How much have you invested with them?

We spent £25,000 (approximately $33,000 USD).

What is the status of this engagement?

We worked together September–October 2018.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

They do really good quality work. It was a very high-quality design for both the UI and UX. Choosing a high-rated agency such as them helped us a lot—it’s not easy for on startup budget, but it was worth it during the fundraising process. We got investments because of that good UX.

How did Creative Navy perform from a project management standpoint?

Project management was flawless. They were really professional and had great design skills. It was smooth sailing and no drama. I felt safe with them. We were in contact twice a week.

What did you find most impressive about them?

They delivered as promised. They got started really quickly, and we couldn’t be happier with the timing.

Are there any areas they could improve?

No, it was perfect.

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

Have confidence in them and let them do their job. It helps to know what you want, but they can help you draft and refine when you aren’t sure.

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there. 

I’m the project manager at ENGIE, one of the largest energy companies in Europe.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with Creative Navy? 

We wanted to update our customer portal’s UX to allow users to operate certain functions on their own. By adding accessible self-service features, we hoped to reduce the time our help desk spent giving technical support.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement? 

We engaged Creative Navy to develop a UX design for our customer portal. They initially established the concept and design, working closely with several internal departments to gather all feature changes and customer journey cases. Since there were so many teams involved, they had to collaborate with multiple stakeholders across our IT, marketing, and strategy departments.

Once they came up with the concept, Creative Navy built upon our portal’s general architecture to prepare for implementation. They created the individual user flows, which we validated with each team, and then implemented their UX designs. Finally, they worked with our IT department to integrate all of our systems into the portal. 

What is the team composition?  

I mostly kept in touch with the project manager, but they also had a research team, strategy team, UX team, developers, and more.

How did you come to work with Creative Navy?

They responded to our pitch.

What is the status of this engagement? 

We worked together from December 2017–March 2018.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

We were very satisfied working with Creative Navy. They had great customer service, and the team remained flexible as we faced challenges throughout the process. Although we had a strict schedule, they were able to implement numerous requirements while meeting our deadlines. 

How did Creative Navy perform from a project management standpoint? 

They managed the project well. We stayed in contact often via phone and Skype, but there were times when we didn’t communicate much because we were waiting for our internal departments to validate their work. In those cases, Creative Navy pushed us to get the necessary information and kept us on track. 

What did you find most impressive about them?

Besides their flexibility, I was impressed with how reliable they were. The team delivered the project quickly, kept to the budget, and responded eagerly to our requests. I appreciated that they pushed us for feedback and answers, which prevented us from having any delays. 

Are there any areas they could improve? 

No, not that I can recall. They were a good partner, and we hope to use them again in future projects. 

Do you have any advice for potential customers? 

Contact them because they are very good.

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m the product manager of an IoT startup. We manufacture drones for high-demand applications, specifically for unfriendly weather conditions or turbulence.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with Creative Navy?

We’re experienced in both hardware and software development, so we build a touch-activated custom controller for our drones. We needed an outside vendor to put together the tool’s UI design.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

We shared a collection of models with Creative Navy, and they put together several options for the UI’s architecture. They assembled layouts for the tool’s settings and more general controls. Using those concepts, Creative Navy created a few prototypes. Our internal team tested the different variations; then we conducted external trials. We chose a winning prototype, and the Creative Navy team built out the design. Then, our development team integrated it into our codebase.

What is the team composition?

We worked with a project manager and a UX designer. There was a visual designer at some point, but we only communicated directly with our two core teammates.

How did you come to work with Creative Navy?

Our investor had previously worked with them and referred us based on that positive experience. We considered a few other vendors but ultimately chose Creative Navy because I trusted my colleague.

How much have you invested with them?

We spent a total of about €37,000 ($42,432 USD).

What is the status of this engagement?

We worked on this project from September–December 2017.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

We’ve tested the interface with multiple users, and we’ve received unanimously positive feedback. Thanks to Creative Navy’s intuitive design, we don’t have to train customers to use the controller.

How did Creative Navy perform from a project management standpoint?

It didn’t feel like a formal engagement at all. We organized the relationship in a way that made them feel like a part of our internal team. It was a close, transparent partnership.

What did you find most impressive about them?

They offer a well-rounded set of services. Throughout the engagement, they were highly professional and made sure the workflow ran smoothly. There were minimal delays—even when we were exploring new concepts of different approaches. Everything they did had a purpose.

Are there any areas they could improve?

No, I can’t name anything specific. They weren’t that familiar with drone technology at the beginning of the partnership, but they made a noticeable effort to learn as the worked.

Any advice for potential customers?

Every project is different, so I don’t have any specific tips for future clients. With that said, our experience was well worth our money.

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m a senior researcher at the Royal College of Surgeons in Ireland, a private medical school. 

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with Creative Navy?

The way we present ourselves online has to be state of the art because we engage with such a large audience, bringing in students from around the world. Students found our website boring and dull, so we needed to redesign it. The site also serves as an interface for our staff, and that section needed to be refurbished as well.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

After we agreed on the project, we handed our focus group research over to them. They took a few weeks to think about everything and divide the project into packages and chapters. After creating prototypes for each of these packages, they presented their designs in weekly meetings, which gave us a couple of days to discuss what we liked and what we wanted to change.

What is the team composition?

We worked directly with an assigned project manager.

How did you come to work with Creative Navy?

We did a focus group and analysis from our side and sent a few RFPs to potential providers. We received quotes from multiple companies and decided to go with Creative Navy.

How much have you invested with them?

We spent £65,000 ($84,300 USD).

What is the status of this engagement?

We worked together from March until August 2018.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

The process went well, and our team was happy with the designs. From what I’ve heard, the new generation of students is quite happy to see what we provide them. Students who used the old website find this one to be much more user-friendly. They like the fonts and the colors and think the site's much more pleasant and easy to navigate.

How did Creative Navy perform from a project management standpoint?

We had weekly meetings in the beginning, which moved to every two weeks after we agreed on the main design. They were responsive via email between those meetings.

We enjoyed always talking to the same person (the project manager) and only having one person send us materials. It made the whole process run well. We had about a week to sign off on every part of the project, so we felt like our feedback was being taken into account.

What did you find most impressive about them?

They’re patient and able to work with people from academia who are stubborn and conservative. We didn’t express what we wanted too clearly, but they figured it out and translated the requests of a slow-moving institution into something progressive and user-friendly.

They designed our site with the colors, fonts, and layouts we wanted. We particularly enjoy the color red and wanted to incorporate it across all the different packages. They found this somewhat difficult, but we were quite inflexible about it. They took on all our feedback and used their knowledge and experience to build a cohesive interface.

Are there any areas they could improve?

We were tied to our budget limit, but it would’ve been nice to choose between multiple versions of the same layout. In the end, we managed to work with what they gave us.

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

Just work with them. They’re capable of integrating the feedback you give them, and they have an innovative way of designing user-friendly layouts that are accessible to a wide range of clients and visitors.

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m a software development manager at DCS PLUS. We create technological solutions for the travel industry.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with Creative Navy?

One of our most popular products—TINA, a web-based ERP platform—has evolved over the past few years. However, its design still needed an update. We hired Creative Navy to refresh TINA’s UI/UX.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

We first agreed with Creative Navy that they should deliver the design in modules. They completed each section via weekly sprints. First, we defined a module’s objectives and requirements. On Wednesdays, the team sent preliminary designs for us to review and give feedback. At the week’s end, they delivered the finalized product.

What is the team composition?

We worked primarily with a project manager and a chief designer who led a team in the background.

How did you come to work with Creative Navy?

We issued a request for proposals and multiple companies responded. Creative Navy earned the best score overall in our selection process, so we chose them to complete this project.

How much have you invested with them?

We spent about $77,000.

What is the status of this engagement?

We worked with them from July–September 2018.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

We had concerns initially about implementing such a big change. However, we’ve received overwhelming praise from our customers. We’ve had such a positive experience working with Creative Navy that we’ve contracted them for a second project.

How did Creative Navy perform from a project management standpoint?

Their in-depth knowledge and professionalism made us feel like we were in good hands from start to finish. They took the time to understand our technology, brands, development process, and requirements for each stage of the work. We spoke every Wednesday, and I rarely felt the need for follow-up discussions.

What did you find most impressive about them?

Creative Navy brought their senior leadership in to advise on the project. The team also produced meticulous and well-reasoned designs. Whenever we had questions, they could explain the thinking behind their approaches and how it would benefit us. Their systematic approach made the project run smoothly from beginning to end.

Are there any areas they could improve?

No, we’re highly pleased with their results and look forward to working with them for an additional project.

Any advice for potential customers?

Provide them with as much useful information as you can; Creative Navy can pick out exactly what is most important to complete your project.