Day Shift Digital

BACKGROUND

Please describe your company and position.

I am a Director at Pollution Probe

Describe what your company does in a single sentence.

Pollution Probe pursues environmental gains by working productively with governments, industry and the public, with a steadfast commitment to Clean Air, Clean Water, and a Healthy Planet.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What specific goals or objectives did you hire Day Shift Digital to accomplish?

• To develop a user friendly website that will act as an information and communications hub related to nutrient recovery and reuse.

SOLUTION

How did you find Day Shift Digital?

Online Search

Why did you select Day Shift Digital over others?

Their approach and examples of previous work

How many teammates from Day Shift Digital were assigned to this project?

2-5 Employees

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

1. Project kick-off 
2. Development of site map 
3. Wireframe designs 
4. High fidelity designs 
5. Web development 
6. Testing and revision 
7. Training 
8. Developing a brand for the national platform and accompanying website

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

Milestones met in accordance with initial project plan and timeline

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

Day Shift Digital were quick to respond to any questions and anticipated what we may need to meet our tight timelines. Their communication and project management were excellent.

What was your primary form of communication with Day Shift Digital?

• Virtual Meeting
• Email or Messaging App

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

Their interpersonal skills and flexibility. We had tight timelines and needs that were a bit out of order in terms of how a project would typically proceed. They worked within these constraints to develop something that truly aligned with our needs and which is above and beyond what we had hoped for.

Are there any areas for improvement or something Day Shift Digital could have done differently?

Not that I can think of.

BACKGROUND

Please describe your company and position.

I am the Head of Employer Brand and Recruitment Marketing - North America of Thoughtworks

Describe what your company does in a single sentence.

We're a leading global technology consultancy that integrates strategy, design and software engineering to enable enterprises and technology disruptors across the globe to thrive as modern digital businesses.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What specific goals or objectives did you hire Day Shift Digital to accomplish?

• Website rebrand

SOLUTION

How did you find Day Shift Digital?

Referral

Why did you select Day Shift Digital over others?

• High ratings
• Pricing fit our budget
• Referred to me

How many teammates from Day Shift Digital were assigned to this project?

2-5 Employees

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

Rebranding of one website to match the new brand guidelines associated with its new parent company Day Shift Digital team reconfigured the current custom WordPress theme to match the requested styling and layout configuration.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

Conversion of old webpages/branding to new webpages and branding.

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

This was one of those projects from the very start that just ran smooth. In large part because of Day Shift Digitals project management skills. They provided ways that they felt based on the project that we can communicate most effectively on open and closed items, overall project updates and tracking towards deliverables. The entire project was delivered on time and on budget.

What was your primary form of communication with Day Shift Digital?

• Virtual Meeting
• Email or Messaging App

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

What I found most impressive and unique about Day Shift Digital was their ability to integrate into our team.They really were like an extension of our marketing and brand team which was so appreciated given we all had so much to do for the rebrand.

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

Nothing. They really were on top of everything from the start of the project right through the end.

BACKGROUND

Please describe your company and your position there.

I am the executive assistant at Log Books Unlimited based in Toronto. We work with customers in a variety of industries to and produce record-keeping tools that comply with by-laws, codes and standards.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

For what projects/services did your company hire Day Shift Digital?

Our websites were created a long time ago and had become outdated and not very functional. We hired Day Shift Digital to completely redo our websites. We want to make it easy for customers to view our log books and checkout. By updating the design we are hoping to increase traffic and appeal to more users.

SOLUTION

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

We looked for web designers in our area using Google and LinkedIN. After reviewing a few proposals, we chose Day Shift Digital because they were responsive, affordable and were willing to give us to tools to make changes on our own.

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

After the initial meeting to discuss our goals, we agreed upon redoing our Canadian & American Shopify websites. Day Shift Digital gave us initial mood boards, timelines and an edit platform to use. Once we chose a moodboard and decided on the website map, they began the design process and allowed us to give feedback all the way through. They created new pages for us as well as updated old pages. The launch of the websites were seamless and they have provided us with training videos as well as after launch help.

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

We had one main point of Contact but had meetings with a few designers.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

Once we announced our launches, both websites had a lot more site traffic. We are already hearing from our customers about how the new websites are much more appealing and easy to navigate.

How effective was the workflow between your team and theirs?

Day Shift Digital was very easy to communicate with and provided us with updates as well as answered all of our emails and questions promptly. We had video calls but many of the changes/ feedback was through SmartSheets. Everything was delivered on time or ahead of schedule.

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

Day Shift Digital has a very streamline process. We were NEVER confused about the next steps. None of our team had any knowledge about Shopify websites but Day Shift Digital made it very simple for us to follow along. The training videos they have provided are invaluable to us. We have nothing but positive things to say about Day Shift Digital.

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

There is nothing we feel that could have gone better. The experience was seamless and very positive!

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m the CEO of a sales and marketing organization that supports Canadian publishers. We sell and market their digital content, including e-books, audiobooks, and more. We take the files that make up their physical products and use them to create the digital versions, which we then sell through various platforms.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with Day Shift Digital?

We wanted to build a website that focused on content to support publishers and was accessible to the disabled community. The product was an educational platform that contained searchable content to help someone in a book production role get the information they need to make their work accessible too. The second requirement was that the site be a place for our community to come together and have discussions.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

They built the site from scratch, working with a project manager from our side. The site is built on WordPress. They also provide ongoing SEO in the form of implementing our original keyword research in the various articles and digital assets on our website.

What is the team composition?

We’ve worked with a number of people, including Paula (Web Developer), Tom (Owner), a project lead, and some graphic design resources. I didn’t manage the project directly, however, so I’m not certain of the specifics. I do know that they had people with deep knowledge of various arenas, though, pulling them in when needed.

How did you come to work with Day Shift Digital?

Our project manager tapped into their network and spoke to a bunch of people. We ended up reaching out to 5–6 organizations. We liked Day Shift because they listened to us and seemed highly flexible. Their curiosity also stood out to us in this time.

How much have you invested with them?

The total cost is around $80,000–$100,000 CAD (approximately $61,000–$77,000 USD) so far.

What is the status of this engagement?

We’ve been working together since May 2021.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

We’re delighted and excited with the platform. The site is going through beta testing with a small group of publishers, and we’ve only had to make small tweaks. The quality of the work is very high.

How did Day Shift Digital perform from a project management standpoint?

They’ve never been late and always deliver on time and budget. We use Zoom and email to communicate, and Day Shift’s team has a project tracking system that they use.

What did you find most impressive about them?

Their ability to learn on the fly really stands out.

Are there any areas they could improve?

No, not that I’ve seen.

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

Definitely partner with them if you can. Working with them is like working with someone already on your team in terms of their responsiveness and flexibility. They worked through a true learning period around accessibility alongside us so we could really help our audience.

BACKGROUND

Please describe your company and your position there.

Kivuto works with schools, vendors, and publishers to transform how digital resources are managed and delivered in education.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

For what projects/services did your company hire Day Shift Digital, and what were your goals?

We transitioned our ecommerce site from our technology with a Wordpress front end to a single page application. This meant we needed to restructure our github pages into something that could be parsed through the API and SPA. The idea was to use java and gulp to restructure the github data, but we had no internal resources to do the work under a tight timeframe.

SOLUTION

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

Dayshift and I previously worked together on two website redesign projects, so I came to them with my dilemma to see if they could assist. Tom and Anthony worked with us to make sure they understood the requirements.

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

We did discovery, outlined the work, they drafted a proposal, I accepted and gave them access to our github.

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

Tom is the co-founder and main face at Dayshift and we had worked on various projects before. Tom managed the project. Anthony was Dayshift's front end dev who did the day-to-day coding but also provided updates, training when required and answered questions.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

It got done! The job was dirty on our end - not ideal to use a SPA on an e-commerce site - but Anthony and Tom took care of us and were transparent.

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

Typically we just email each other - that's all I required.

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

When I trust a vendor and they provide solid and quality work on time and at a reasonable price, I always go back and refer business. Dayshift fits that criteria perfectly.

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

Nothing I can think of!

BACKGROUND

Please describe your company and your position there.

I'm running for City Council in Toronto, Ontario.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

For what projects/services did your company hire Day Shift Digital?

I hired Day Shift Digital to help design and launch a website for my City Council campaign. I wanted something bold and compelling, which allowed visitors to share specific issues through social media and other platforms, share their ideas, volunteer to help and register for events. I wanted all the information from visitors to flow into one backend database, and I wanted the look and feel to differentiate me from other people running for public office.

SOLUTION

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

Day Shift digital came highly recommended from my network and I was immediately impressed by their approach, team, professionalism and problem solving. They were excited to work on the project, knew how to figure out the challenges I presented them and were a pleasure to work with.

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

We did an initial discovery call where I took them through what I was trying to achieve, the look and feel I wanted and colours I liked (as well as colours that were problematic because they are perceived as being political party specific) and the constraints of time and budget that I faced. They created a landing page that launched on the day that I announced my candidacy, and then introduced a donation page three days later and the full site a week later. The site had multiple pages, forms, scheduling platforms, shareable elements and design elements that were complicated but delivered seamlessly.

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

I worked with four people, including the two founders, the designer and the developer.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

The site has received rave reviews from visitors, media and political types. More than a few people sent the fire emoji. We fundraised a significant amount of money in the first two weeks and all of the forms and sign up options have worked perfectly. The site is easy to navigate, the team provided great training in person and in video so that we could update and adapt content ourselves.

How effective was the workflow between your team and theirs?

The Day Shift digital team was extremely good at managing the work flow. They kept a Smart sheet where I could document my edits and requests and worked through it quickly and clearly. They hit all their deadlines and problem solved efficiently.

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

Their approach and professionalism was top rate. They were kind, funny, energetic, organized and detail oriented. They created a beautiful site in record time and delivered on every request I had.

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

We could have figured out a way to test the donation function without them going all the way through it because I kept thinking they were actually donating me money!

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m the corporate partnerships officer of the University of Toronto’s VP international office.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with Day Shift Digital?

We were looking to create a web portal that would work as an entry point for other organizations to collaborate with our university.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

Day Shift Digital built and developed our website through WordPress. After talking about our goals and requirements in the discovery phase, they gave us the timelines and the initial project scope.

Some of the features they implemented are case studies, and an intuitive contact form that adapts to how our customers are interacting with the website. They followed the AODA guidelines as well as our university’s design guidelines and delivered the final product for us to review.

What is the team composition?

We mostly worked with the co-founders throughout the project.

How did you come to work with Day Shift Digital?

We came across Day Shift Digital through an internal referral.

How much have you invested with them?

We spent around $15,000 CAD ($12,000 USD).

What is the status of this engagement?

Our partnership ran from June–December 2021.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

Feedback from the people within our group has been generally positive, and they’ve been quite impressed with how the platform is working in its current state.

Moreover, we saw an increase in web traffic, as they’ve also optimized the UX and navigation of the website.

How did Day Shift Digital perform from a project management standpoint?

They did well from a project management perspective and communicated clearly and consistently. The team was very easy to talk to and they were very transparent in providing us with the information that we needed.

Other than that, they strictly adhered to our timelines and kept us accountable for what we had to deliver. We mostly interacted through email and Google Meet and utilized Google Drive to collect content.

What did you find most impressive about them?

We were impressed with how easy it was to work with them. Day Shift Digital was very personable and they were always willing to jump on a call whenever we had problems.

Are there any areas they could improve?

They could maybe customize the way they manage their stakeholders depending on their level of knowledge.

We had a huge problem with our site’s hosting platform, but I didn’t know enough about the process to ask the right questions.

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

I felt very taken care of throughout the duration of our partnership, so I would just advise you to trust and rely on them to deliver your expectations.

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m the project manager for the AIDS Bereavement and Resiliency Program of Ontario (ABRPO). We’re a provincially funded organization that provides grief counseling, support, and capacity building to AIDS service groups and hard reduction programs. 

Our group does this by producing educational content that we post on our website; we also offer other services that can be booked through our website. I oversee the creation of our online learning materials; I also schedule some of the other services we offer.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with Day Shift Digital?

We wanted to expand our reach and bring our resources into one easily accessible website. Our old website was horrible — it had to be 10 years old — and it was a disaster since users couldn’t find anything on it. As a result, we hired Day Shift Digital to help us create a resource library. They also built a website for us from scratch. 

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

Day Shift Digital created a new website for us and focused on easier navigation. We had a lot to offer, and the team worked to organize these offers intuitively and neatly. That way, end users could easily find what they needed. 

In terms of technologies, the site was built on WordPress. The team used Figma to let us view the bones of the site before they added colors and pictures. On top of that, they set us up with LearnDash, which we used for online learning components. 

What is the team composition?

We met only three people from their team, including Tom (Co-Owner & Web Developer) and Sarah (Co-Founder). Another person worked with us on the design side of the project; other people also worked behind the scenes. 

How did you come to work with Day Shift Digital?

My boss found Day Shift Digital. They did some work for one of our sector partners, and we decided to hire them for this project because we liked the sites they’d done before. The team also gave us a presentation of a couple of sites; their price was right. More importantly, they understood what we were trying to do, so they were a good fit for the project. 

How much have you invested with them?

We spent about $8,000. 

What is the status of this engagement?

Our contract lasted from February–August 2021. However, we still engage them in an informal way by asking them to do updates on the website from time to time. 

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

Our traffic increased by 200% after the new website was built. 

How did Day Shift Digital perform from a project management standpoint?

Day Shift Digital was highly organized and friendly. Their resources were also kind and nice. They worked together well as a team, and everybody knew their exact roles. There wasn’t a lot of micromanaging. People had their tasks and fulfilled them. 

Moreover, the team kept true to our timelines while also encouraging us to be up to date. They sent us schedule reminders, which were extremely helpful. We mainly communicated via emails, but we also used Google Meet when we needed it. 

What did you find most impressive about them?

They seemed to be a small team, and we felt that they gave a truly dedicated and personal touch to our project. They might have had many other clients, but we felt like we were their only customer when they worked with us. 

Are there any areas they could improve?

When Day Shift Digital handed the website to us, there was a slight learning curve on my part in terms of using the site’s backend. This was partly my failing because I wasn’t technologically adept.

To be fair, they provided us with tutorials and lists. However, I would’ve appreciated another meeting where they could’ve shown me how to do things on the website. I eventually asked them for that kind of tutorial, and they did help out.

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

Stick to your own timelines. Work with Day Shift Digital’s timeline, and don’t be late. The team sticks to schedule, so if you’re late, then the whole project will be delayed.

BACKGROUND

Please describe your company and your position there.

I'm the Marketing Lead at Dying With Dignity Canada, a national human-rights charity committed to improving quality of dying, protecting end-of-life rights, and helping Canadians avoid unwanted suffering.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

For what projects/services did your company hire Day Shift Digital, and what were your goals?

Our website was built in 2015, and had accumulated more than 700 pages, most of which were outdated. Over the years, we uncovered several challenges with the website that hindered our ability to communicate priorities and engage with donors and supporters.

We engaged Day Shift Digital to build us a WordPress site that was easy to navigate, accessible and bilingual in English and French.

SOLUTION

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

We published a Request for Proposal online and shortlisted three vendors. After interviewing the candidates, we selected DayShift Digital based on their experience, references, design process, and deliverables for the budget.

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

We had a kick-off meeting to explore our goals and needs, the content of our new website and the structure. From there, DSD moved into moodboarding to define the website's overall tone and feel, with an extensive review of our brand guidelines. Then, they created a sitemap and wireframes for our approval.

Next came high-fidelity designs so we could see the wireframe with colours and images, bringing the website to life. The next steps were web development and content migration before going into testing and revisions. The DSD team led a training session with key members of our Marketing and Communications team so we could learn how to use the WordPress system.

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

A project manager was the main point of contact for our team, but there were also two other developers we had communication with throughout the project.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

Our supporters have expressed their appreciation for the new website, which is much easier to navigate and access the information our supporters, volunteers, and donors need. It has only been a couple of weeks since we launched, but so far, the project has more than met our expectations.

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

We had regular check-ins during each stage of the project. If there were any delays, our Project Manager let us know promptly so we could adjust our timelines internally. There was a tracker set up once the website was launched to track any feedback or errors that needed fixing, and that worked very well.

Day Shift was very quick to respond to emails and there were no hiccups in the process.

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

Day Shift Digital was very professional, friendly, and approachable. They know what they are doing and were able to manage all of the unique requests we had for our website.

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

When we first launched, we had some issues with the contact forms going to spam folders, but Day Shift stayed on top of the issue and was able to remedy it quickly.

BACKGROUND

Please describe your company and your position there.

I'm the primary marketing graphic designer for Connected. I am responsible for brand consistency, collateral and how to brand is designed internally an externally through every asset.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

For what projects/services did your company hire Day Shift Digital, and what were your goals?

We needed Dayshift Digital to rebuild our website for 2 main reasons: we needed an accessible site and our backend needed an overhaul. The previous developers that we partnered with didn't develop the site to be easily usable and scalable. There were a lot of glitches and inconsistencies through the back end.

SOLUTION

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

We chose Dayshift Digital because of their website services listed, knowing a couple of people on the team already, and having worked on a couple of smaller projects with them in the past. We researched several companies and this seemed to be the best fit for us.

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

We had a kick off meeting to discuss how this project should be organized and what the file system should be, what tools we were going to use and anything else we needed to address before the work started. In the early days, we had several syncing calls to go through the website page designs to ensure alignment between the developers and the designer (myself) to make sure we were still within scope and that we were not asking for anything that could not be completed. Once design files were complete, we moved into development which was in Wordpress.

As well as developing the website, Dayshift took on all content migration of each and every item on our old website. They provided internal QA, two revision rounds and ongoing collaboration to make sure nothing was missed. For QA/notes, we used Smartsheet which is a live document that we all continuously updated. For ongoing content changes, we used Google Docs to make sure that any changes made on the old site were being migrated over to the new site. An entirely brand new website, backend and front end was provided by the end of this project. Dayshift Digital also assisted in transferring of hosting.

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

Our main point on contact on the project was Sarah Lesh, who helped facilitate all feedback, any project deliverables, steps or questions. We also worked closely with Anthony Wilson (developer) during the first round of QA to make sure there was no disconnect between designer and developer.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

Clients and our employees are very impressed with the new website. They believe that it speaks much more to our brand. We have yet to begin measuring engagement for the new site but I believe we will have an increase in understanding of our services and engagement due to the new website.

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

The engagement between client and developer was a flexible one. We had a couple of video calls if we needed to talk about something specifically visual but other than that we were in constant communication through email and they made it clear that they were reachable whenever we needed them and they were just a call away. The timeline was neatly organized and provided via SmartSheet so we could see the exact day mapping of the projects and the sub-tasks.

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

I found the most impressive thing about Dayshift was their understanding of someone who does not come from a developing background. They understood every request I had, even if it was not written out in correct developer terms and they intuitively knew what I wanted and what I was asking for at every step.

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

The only thing that could have gone a little bit better (although it was completely fixed by the end) was the first round of feedback was more intensive than I would have hoped. When we received the first version of the site, it was quite far from the design files that were provided. Although that to be true, after airing this issue, they made it clear that the work would not be done until we were 100% happy with the final product and they stayed true to that promise.