Day Shift Digital

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.

BACKGROUND

Please describe your company and your position there.

I am the marketing coordinator for a SaaS company that specializes in registration and management software for camps and conference centers.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

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

Our website was created 10+ years ago on a developer friendly (but not very user friendly) system. We hired Day Shift Digital to work with our web designer and build out a new website that is modern, gave us more control, improved the mobile experience, is SEO friendly, and satisfied AODA legislation.

SOLUTION

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

Our web designer researched multiple different web developers that she could work with, and Day Shift Digital was the clear choice for our needs.

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

We had no web development background or expertise, so we put all of our trust in Day Shift Digital. They had multiple calls with us before the project to define our timeline, needs and goals. Once the project kicked off DSD communicated clearly with us and in a timely manner. They delivered the entire website to us, with all plugins, special requests, and Google analytics and adwords setup on time, including training videos so we could get up to speed with a brand new website.

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

I worked primarily with Tom, DSD's owner, as well as Sarah and Megan.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

The website is much easier for us to work with, update, and change. Our broad goal of "modernization" has been achieved, as the website is simply easier to view and use vs our former site.

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

DSD communicates clearly and in a timely manner. They keep you in the know on projects, and setup Google Hangouts for most questions. Their emails are well thought-out, complete, and extremely well formatted.

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

Day Shift Digital was able to communicate extremely well with us. Before they were brought to me by our web designer, I had chatted with 5-10 different web development companies. DSD far and away had the best communication skills, as they were able to make something foreign and difficult to understand, simple and easy. They always explained things in layman terms, recognizing that we do not have coding or website development background.

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

None - Day Shift Digital tackled our problems head on, and talked us through any issue we had.

BACKGROUND

Please describe your company and your position there.

We are a registered charity dedicated to supporting LGBTQI2S youth through mental health services and practical supports. During this project, I was the Communications Lead.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

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

To design a brand new official website for the organization.

SOLUTION

How did you select Day Shift Digital and what were the deciding factors?

We heard good word of mouth about their services.

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

After an initial briefing, the Day Shift Digital team presented a skeletal outline of what the new website would look like (web pages, structure), to which we gave feedback. Once we collected all of our content, the team designed the website, using our brand guidelines and imagery. We had several rounds of feedback and adjustments, before the website went live.

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

Three people.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

The website turned out really beautifully, and compared to our former website, we've seen an increase in youth contacting us for our services through the online sign up.

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

We were very impressed by Day Shift Digital's project management. They met all their deadlines, and kept our team accountable to ours (but were flexible when we needed them to me). Meetings were always informative and intentional, and the team was always available to answer questions.

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

Even after the website went live, the Day Shift team continued to be available to answer questions about the website and help troubleshoot issues. I found that very helpful and supportive.

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

Nope.

BACKGROUND

Please describe your company and your position there.

I am the Creative Director at Giaimo, a Toronto-based architecture firm integrating design and heritage conservation. We specialize in working with existing buildings.

As a young firm founded in 2015, we have grown to 10 staff and have a diverse portfolio working on renovations, restorations, adaptive reuse, and integrating new with old.

I joined in October 2020 and oversee strategic planning, digital media, business development, and communications, while collaborating with the studio on new design initiatives and research. I have been the main point of contact with Day Shift Digital, coordinating the website and my teams' needs.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

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

To design and develop a new custom website for the firm.

What were your goals for this project?

Our existing website was a simple squarespace template not meant for architecture, it was for photographer portfolios.

As a young firm founded in 2015, this squarespace website was sufficient for us at first, but over the last two years our team has more than doubled as has our portfolio and we needed a new way to share the stories of our studio, approach, process, and projects in more detail.

The goal was to create a significantly more comprehensive website, that could showcase our research, design process, team, and provide a narrative to each of our unique projects as opposed to just showing photos of it once complete.

We also wanted to highlight our unique brand and services as we specialize in both design and heritage.

SOLUTION

How did you select Day Shift Digital?

I then reached out to 3 different consulting agencies that offered both website design and development, Day Shift Digital included, after having an initial conversation with each as well as receiving their proposals we selected Day Shift Digital.

I was familiar with the other 2 agencies already and happy with their work, Day Shift I did not know but was recommended to me by a friend in the tech industry.

Ultimately, we were happy with all 3 agencies we met with, but felt Day Shift's process was most flexible and responsive to our needs, as well as the most affordable.

Describe the project in detail.

Day Shift developed: mood boards for the design of the website, site map, wireframes, high fidelity design, and then final design and development of our new website.

We provided some basic branding, including our logo, preferred typeface, design parameters (large size font, lots of white background) and a list of websites we liked and did not like.

However, going in we did not have a specific design in mind and they developed that with our feedback. The focus was to tell our story, sharing lots of text and images in the form of: project pages, news page, research pages, about our practice, about our process, and contact.

What was the team composition?

They had one main project manager/point-of contact. In the kick-off we met the entire team (3 others), and then when we had meetings during design the design team was there and when in development the development team was there.

On our end, we had one main point-of-contact (myself) and then in meetings there were 3 other client reps, and at key points I had the entire office (10 people) review and provide feedback internally for me to pass onto Day Shift Digital.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

Overall the website is significantly more functional and beautiful and now meets our needs. Two key challenges we had going in were: we did not want to look like every other architecture firm, and we wanted our unique brand to come through with a playful creative element.

We did not know how this was possible, given that architecture firm websites tend to look the same simply because we all require the same functional needs, but Day Shift was able to come up with a solution that makes us stand out without sacrificing function.

Similarly, they developed a fun design element that we have not seen on another website which aligns with our brand.

How effective was the workflow between your team and theirs?

Workflow was very clear and streamlined. Both sides had one point of contact which helped a lot. Day Shift Digital always responded promptly to our questions or comments, and deliverables were met as per schedule if not earlier by Day Shift.

Calls/meetings were scheduled when necessary, but most communication occurred over email.

What did you find most impressive about this company?

Day Shift Digital was very collaborative, responsive, and understanding of our goals and needs. When there were points in the process where we we unsure with the material being presented to us, they were great at providing solutions and ensuring we would be happy with the final product.

We were a highly engaged client to work with, because as architects we feel strongly about design. However, while we all work in design, website design is very different from architectural design in terms of approach and process, so it was a challenge at times for my team to understand/trust the process.

Despite all this, Day Shift was able to work well with us and create a website we're happy with.

Are there any areas for improvement?

No, any time there was an issue or concern on our end Day Shift readjusted their process and provided an improvement in the moment.

BACKGROUND

Please describe your company and your position there.

Temerty Faculty of Medicine, University of Toronto Manager, Digital Communications

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

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

We had an existing magazine website that was developed 5yrs back, the site looked good, but had developed a number of issues on the backend. It was also confusing to use as a result of patchwork development over the years. We did want some minor visual improvements to the front end too, but with the same look and feel.

SOLUTION

How did you select Day Shift Digital and what were the deciding factors?

We had worked with Day Shift Digital on a smaller development project and found them to be very thoughtful about the work and overall workflow. When quoting they provided a great level of detail and took time to investigate how we were working and what was important to us moving forward.

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

Overall the project included: Strategy/discovery Development Audit Testing/Revision Training The project rebuilt an existing Wordpress theme that we had developed years back.

The development included: Font and colour updates, Social media sharing improvements, menu improvements. The views created include: navigation, search archives, footer, accessibility, magazine cover, article blocks (multiple column options) and migration to a multisite set up.

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

We primarily working with Sarah Lesh, Partner & Developer, on the project, but did work with Tom Haxell, Partner & Developer, also.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

The issue of the magazine was much easier to create, and the magazine looked amazing. The new theme allows for a lot of flexibility without compromising user experience.

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

Dayshift was great at keeping the project on track. They were easy to get a hold of - they were happy to jump on a call to work through an issue if needed. There was helpful shared documentation for reporting on bugs. Overall very transparent and communicative.

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

They have a wonderful ability to understand not just the requirements, but the tone and ideas behind the project. The product that they deliver goes above and beyond the initial request in thoughtful and intuitive ways.

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

Our biggest challenge was only in making sure we provided enough lead time to have them work on the project.

BACKGROUND

Please describe your company and your position there.

I am the communications lead at CESBA, a non-profit professional association that represents adult and continuing education program staff working in about 60 school boards across Ontario.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

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

We hired them to design a new website.

What were your goals for this project?

We wanted a bilingual site that looked sharp and on-brand. The site needed to be easy to navigate for our members and include much of the same content they were used to from our old site along with several added tools that they would value.

SOLUTION

How did you select Day Shift Digital?

They were recommended by a LMS platform company we had hired. We also put out a call for proposals, which they completed. We found their proposal and pricing similar to a couple of other suppliers, but we what set them apart was getting a recommendation and meeting them. Their personalities seemed like a good fit with our team.

Describe the project in detail.

The website is bilingual and AODA compliant with multiple tools, including a resource library, job board, event calendar, blog, and conference site area.

What was the team composition?

We worked with both Tom and Sarah, the co-owners, then we met another Sarah who did the design. We interacted with Tom and Sarah directly. They hired at least one other person to help with the implementation.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

We received positive feedback from our members, as well as inquiries about where things were located on the new site that we were able to resolve quickly. This shows that there has been a lot of activity with our members and it has gone smoothly.

From the perspective of managing the site, it's been so intuitive that I have been able to work out how to do most things myself, but Tom has provided training and has been very responsive to any questions.

How effective was the workflow between your team and theirs?

Tom and Sarah were delightful to work with on this project. They took the time to thoroughly understand our organization, team and web needs. They were responsive, amenable and solutions oriented. Our timelines were aggressive and they met them.

What did you find most impressive about this company?

We are thrilled with our Day Shift Digital website! We wanted a site that prioritize user experience and a clean, intuitive back-end that was simple to maintain and update. Design and function do not compete in our AODA compliant site. We most value that they were good listeners and problem solvers.

Are there any areas for improvement?

There was more manual work to move the content pieces from our old site to our new one that we had to do ourselves than I thought. I had misunderstood the volume of work that that would entail and who was responsible.