Design In DC

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I'm the founder and CEO of CiviClick, a public affairs and government relations software company.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with Design In DC?

We needed help building a new corporate website for our company.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

Design In DC did WordPress web development for us from scratch. They led a thorough and highly collaborative process where I did most of the copywriting and provided the content structure. Consequently, they did a remarkable job taking that material and walking it through their process. In addition, Design In DC's design team created beautiful graphics and went through many iterations, from the initial designs to the high-fidelity wireframes to the final product.

Regarding features, Design In DC's team created a standard corporate website but with a lot of custom graphics for the entire site, which are beautiful. In addition, the website was high-performance; they did a post-analysis with me and said it was the fastest site they had ever built. The platform has a 99% speed rating, which is phenomenal compared to any other websites I've had.

In addition to that, their services included hosting and maintenance for the site.

What is the team composition?

I mainly worked with Ziad (Founder), Rachel and Isabella (Project Managers), Rob (VP), and 8–9 other members of Design In DC's team that worked behind the scenes in different capacities.

How did you come to work with Design In DC?

I found Design In DC through online research and vetted and compared them to other firms I interviewed. I selected Design In DC because I believed they'd do the best job.

How much have you invested with them?

We spent about $18,000 with them on this project

What is the status of this engagement?

We worked together from September 2022–March 2023.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

Design In DC's work was instrumental in helping us reach up to 1,000 organic views on our website per day. I also got a 42% open rate and a 24% click-through rate in the emails we sent to 18,000 people. Moreover, the traffic we got to the site was phenomenal in the 24 hours following the email, which amounted to 4,000 site visits, and I'm sure those numbers will go up once we start with paid media.

Overall, Design In DC delivered high-quality, professional work with great attention to detail. Their design quality and graphics were exceptional. They surpassed any other web development firm that I've worked with in the past.

How did Design In DC perform from a project management standpoint?

Design In DC delivered within budget and met our deadlines, which impressed me because not many firms are that organized and do a good job in that area. Compared to other providers, Design In DC was one of the few vendors I've ever worked with without having a single problem — everything was perfectly smooth with them. Regarding tools and communication, we used Slack, Google Meet, email, and phone calls.

What did you find most impressive about them?

Many providers say they can do great quality work within budget and on time, but very few actually can. The website Design In DC delivered was phenomenal, and we had nothing but praise for it.

Are there any areas they could improve?

I didn't think there was anything they could improve on, and this is the first time I've said this about a vendor. Their performance was flawless, and they got a perfect score because nothing went wrong.

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

Design In DC is a professional firm, so you have to come with your ideas ready — their work will only be as good as your ability to articulate your vision to them. One of the reasons my project with them was so successful is that I had a very clear and defined idea, so I could articulate it and work through it with them.

In addition, I don't recommend someone that's a first-timer to them because they're not a budget website development company. If you're a professional with a business and reputation on the line and need a website to help drive revenue and brand awareness, they're the perfect fit because they will walk you along and create something beautiful for you.

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m an executive at a PR company.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenges were you trying to address with Design In DC?

I needed help redesigning my company’s website.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

Design In DC provided website design and development for us. They gave our previous site a new fresh look based on the strategy and ideas I communicated to them.

What was the team composition? 

We worked with around five members of Design In DC’s team.

How did you come to work with Design In DC?

We found them on Google.

How much have you invested with them?

We spent around $5,000 with them.

What is the status of this engagement?

We worked together from January–March 2023.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

I was delighted with our collaboration with Design In DC. They were a responsive, creative, and innovative team, and I was very happy with the results of their work.

How did Design In DC perform from a project management standpoint?

Design In DC delivered on time and within budget. In addition, they were responsive and had attention to detail. Regarding tools and communication, we used email, which was based on my preference, and phone calls to discuss anything related to the progress.

What did you find most impressive about them?

I liked Design In DC’s staffing model because I could always contact someone from Design In DC’s team for any questions.

Are there any areas they could improve?

I didn’t think they could improve anything because I was very happy with our partnership.

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m the owner of Examit LLC, an AP exam preparation site.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenges were you trying to address with Design In DC?

I needed help with website development.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

Design In DC did website design and development from scratch, including the front- and backend. We started with a four-month-long discovery phase where I told them my vision and requirements for the site. Consequently, we communicated back and forth to establish how the site would look, its functionalities, and the different pages. After that, we began the development phase, where they built the product.

I needed a user-friendly interface with a nice flow to let visitors take our course successfully, so in terms of features, users could sign up for the platform with a profile and subscription and have the ability to chat with other users in groups or forums. Moreover, it had quiz functions that tabulate and save scores and gamification badges depending on success.

Currently, they continue to provide hosting to the site.

What was the team composition? 

We worked with around six members of their team.

How did you come to work with Design In DC?

We chose them for this project because they offered me the best price among my list of potential providers. Additionally, I read great reviews about them on Clutch.

How much have you invested in them?

We invested around $80,000 with them.

What is the status of this engagement?

We worked together from September 2021–October 2022.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

People gave us great feedback on the site; they said it looks good and professional. Moreover, we didn’t encounter any bugs or crashes, but they made some changes to the site based on our requirements without any additional charge.

How did Design In DC perform from a project management standpoint?

We used email and Slack as the main tools for communication. Additionally, we had biweekly meetings to review the process, and they were great at framing answers to my technical questions.

What did you find most impressive about them?

They had a good, modern, and affordable design team. In addition, they understood my vision and the functionalities I was looking for.

Are there any areas they could improve?

They could improve their time management to deliver the products on time.

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

Keep frequent and open communication with them.

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m the creative director of a custom software development and data science company that serves the US federal government market.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with Design In DC?

We had a strong concept of how we wanted to reframe the content of our website regarding its layout, written content, and photos of our employees and facilities. Our goal was to create a modern and mobile-friendly website managed through a CMS that didn’t look like a standard template website; we wanted it to be more fluid.

However, we didn’t have the ability in-house to make a fresh and modern interpretation of our concept through a web design. Thus, we wanted to find a company with good design skills and strong knowledge of CMS technologies so that they could take our concept and turn it into a nice-looking website that met our goals.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

Design In DC helped us design and develop our WordPress website from scratch. Initially, we provided them with a set of PDF files containing a very detailed content plan, including the site’s layout, the pictures and logos we wanted to include, some hints about design elements we wanted to see, and the written content for each page.

Then, Design In DC took our input and created a website prototype to show us how they had interpreted our requirements. We iterated with them on their designs for several months until we reached the design we wanted.

Design In DC also offered website hosting services, and their prices were reasonable. However, we had an existing WordPress installation through a managed WordPress provider, with whom we were very happy. Thus, we instead asked Design In DC to help us deploy our site into the staging area of our hosted WordPress system once it was finished, which they did. Once the site was completed, our team took over the site, added the remaining content, and published it to our production system.

It is a basic corporate website with 4–5 pages and a corporate news section where we can post new articles and press releases. It isn’t very complex. Still, it has a lot of elements that span multiple sections. For example, some parts of the page scroll at different rates from others, and it has both horizontal and vertical scroll elements.

As for the technology stack, the site was completely built on WordPress, so it is PHP-based. It also has custom JavaScript coding to create the novel scrolling elements and some of its animated elements. The rest of the site was coded using standard languages like HTML and CSS.

What is the team composition?

We were assigned a project manager, who also was our main point of contact. We also worked with a development lead and WordPress expert, as well as with an engineering lead. In addition to those three people, we also had a couple of video chat meetings with the lead designer.

How did you come to work with Design In DC?

We were looking for web design and development companies in the DC-Baltimore region because we wanted to work with a company headquartered close to us. During this search, we evaluated a large selection of around 40–50 available companies. Then, we narrowed our options down to 5–6 companies by looking at their portfolios and choosing those whose design aesthetics resembled what we were looking for.

We then contacted those fewer options, and Design In DC was the fastest to get back to us with a proposal. They provided us with a very reasonable quote for the work, and we liked their portfolio the best, so they became the obvious choice for the project.

How much have you invested with them?

We spent around $15,000.

What is the status of this engagement?

We started working together in March 2022, and Design In DC completed the design at the beginning of October 2022. We launched the site in mid-October 2022. However, we’ve kept asking them questions since then, and they help us fix small bugs whenever we find them. We plan to continue working with them on an ad-hoc basis to make evolutionary changes to the site over time.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

Our new site looks and feels exactly as we had hoped. It is eye-catching and nice-looking, and it defies the typical WordPress website; it doesn’t feel like a WordPress website at all. Additionally, it’s very modern and mobile-friendly, exceeding what our internal team would have been able to produce. We’re very happy with the result, and we’re now receiving very positive feedback from external people.

One of the primary drivers for redeveloping our site was to help our recruiting and hiring process. We’ve already received good feedback from our recruitment team because candidates have looked at our website and reached out to us. Thus, people are now responding very positively to our new site, which has helped us attract new people.

How did Design In DC perform from a project management standpoint?

Design In DC was very accommodating to our feedback, and they did everything we asked them to do, ultimately delivering what we were looking for. Their team was great at staying on budget.

Although the project’s duration stretched longer than initially estimated, I didn’t fault them because we made it clear that it was more important to us to get it right than fast. They initially estimated a 3–4-month duration, but it took longer. Still, we didn’t ask them to hurry up; we were iterating on the product, and they worked as fast as possible on the changes we kept asking them to implement.

Given that we work in software development, we’re accustomed to identifying and reporting bugs. Thus, we would test the prototypes that Design In DC was building and create a list of the bugs we found, detailing where we found them and how to produce them. Then, we sent those lists to Design In DC’s project manager via Slack for them to review them, ask questions, and clarify details if needed. After that, they worked with their design team to fix those bugs, updating us as each bug was fixed. Finally, they would ask us to review the site again and verify if the issues had been fixed to our satisfaction.

As for communication, we had a private Slack channel between their team and us, which was our main communication channel. Throughout the process, we also had 4–5 virtual meetings to discuss the project in greater depth.

What did you find most impressive about them?

Design In DC’s work and portfolio distinguished them from other providers. They do a great job at breaking away from how traditional, template-based WordPress sites look, and the sites they build have non-traditional elements.

Are there any areas they could improve?

It took us a bit of time to get used to our interactions with Design In DC’s teammates. Many of their employees are spread over different time zones, which became clearer over time. For example, if we had feedback or questions for the designer, we had to wait until this person was working within their local office hours. However, it wasn’t a negative experience for us; it just took adjustment from our side. Additionally, the project manager was always very responsive and available during our business hours, which was great.

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

Don’t hesitate and go with them; you’ll be satisfied with their work.

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m an executive at Lateenz LLC, a cultural education platform.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with Design In DC?

We were starting our business, so we needed to have a website.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

Design In DC did our website from scratch using WordPress. Their efforts also include maintenance and hosting. 

Their team also offers SEO packages, and we plan on doing that in the future.

What is the team composition?

We’ve been working with 2–3 members of their team, including Ziad (CEO) and a creative director.

How did you come to work with Design In DC?

We found them through a Google search.

How much money have you invested in this partnership?

We’ve spent around $14,000 with them so far.

What is the status of this engagement?

We started working together in December 2021, and the engagement is ongoing.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

We feel like they’re very professional and responsive — overall, they’ve done a nice job.

How did Design In DC perform from a project management standpoint?

They’ve been good with project management, organized, and flexible with their processes. Regarding tools, they use Slack, Zoom, and Figma.

What did you find most impressive about them?

They listened to what we wanted and delivered what we asked them to, so we’re pleased with everything, including their graphic design.

Are there any areas they could improve?

Using different tools for project management can get challenging, especially for someone that’s not tech-savvy like me.

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

Provide them the input and efforts they ask from you so the project can go smoothly.

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m the director of a medical clinic.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with Design In DC?

We were trying to update our website to reflect our current practices. Basically, we wanted to replace our older site.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

After an initial interview with Design In DC, where we described what we wanted to accomplish, they created a framework in which we could gradually define what we wanted in deeper detail. During this process, they worked with us to put together samples of how the different components of the site would look.

Although we provided most of the content to populate the website, Design In DC was in charge of most of the design part, including the logo, features, and navigation. We went through a series of iterations and changes until we were happy with how the site looked. Then, they custom-coded the site and hosted it on WordPress.

What is the team composition?

I worked directly with 4–5 people from Design In DC, including designers, developers, and a project manager.

How did you come to work with Design In DC?

We did wide-range research to find a partner and found several agencies online, including Design In DC. We ultimately chose them because we liked their own site.

How much have you invested with them?

We spent around $15,000–$20,000.

What is the status of this engagement?

We started working together in August 2021 and launched the website in May 2022. Still, we have an ongoing relationship with Design In DC.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

Design In DC delivered a site that we were entirely happy with. Given that it is an informative website, we don’t keep track of visitors nor receive business through it, so we don’t have any hard metrics on the impact of the engagement.

How did Design In DC perform from a project management standpoint?

Design In DC performed very well, and we had a very good and collaborative relationship during the development process. We communicated via Zoom calls; it all was done remotely. Additionally, we used text messages or Slack to provide minor feedback, and they used a visual platform to show us the designs so that we could provide feedback and make notes about required changes. 

Design In DC was also very responsive in identifying and solving problems. Sometimes, we weren’t able to articulate what the issue was accurately. However, they helped us through those challenges and figured out the best way to solve them.

What did you find most impressive about them?

One of Design In DC’s strengths is that they’re very creative. Other providers usually produce stock-looking websites, but Design In DC was able to develop a completely custom website for us, demonstrating that they were much more creative than the average web developer.

Are there any areas they could improve?

No. They did everything well, and it was a great experience.

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

I don’t have any particular advice. The beauty of Design In DC’s approach is that clients can go in without a preconceived idea of how the process needs to be. They only need to describe what they want, and Design In DC can take it from there, which makes them very easy to work with. Regardless of your experience in web development, you can expect to have a good interaction with them and a great outcome overall.

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m the chief of staff at a lobbying firm. We do lobbying and consulting work for various companies, trade associations, and coalitions.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with Design In DC?

Our website hadn’t been updated for 5–6 years, and we wanted it to look more modern, a little fresh, and more tailored toward prospective clients.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

We had a series of calls with Design In DC where we described what we were looking for and what we needed. Then, they designed the site, and we went through several rounds of edits and gave them our feedback. They completely overhauled our existing website, and the process took 9–10 months. 

What is the team composition?

We worked with about three people from Design In DC, including a project manager, the CEO, and someone in charge of development. A few other people popped in and out of the project. 

How did you come to work with Design In DC?

I did some research and reached out to several web firms in our area. We’re a small team and have no capacity for website development or management, so we needed a partner that could do everything for us — that’s why we selected Design In DC.  

How much have you invested with them?

We spent just under $15,000.

What is the status of this engagement?

The project lasted from July 2021–March 2022.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

We really appreciated Design In DC’s hard work and how they took the project and ran with it. We didn’t have to be too involved in the day-to-day development of the website, which was what we were looking for. 

How did Design In DC perform from a project management standpoint?

They were pretty good at project management. We used email and Zoom to communicate. Sometimes communication was slow, and I had to remind them of certain things. However, their performance was satisfactory on the whole.

What did you find most impressive about them?

Design In DC was the sleekest and most modernized firm we spoke with.

Are there any areas they could improve?

They could have been better on the communication front. Also, the team could have gotten a better feel for our desires and needs when it came to content or media on the website. There was a bit of a disconnect at times because we’re in vastly different industries, and they could have worked a little harder to connect the dots. Other than that, everything was fine.

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

I’m happy to refer Design In DC — I’ve already recommended them to another organization.

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I operate as the CMO for a management consulting firm headquartered in Laurel, Maryland. The majority of our work is in the government contracting space, working with local, state, and federal governments.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with Design In DC?

We were going through some growth, and we needed to update and refresh our online presence, so we hired Design In DC to help us redesign and build a better website for us.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

Design In DC helped us revamp our website. Their main task was ensuring that the users could easily find what they were looking for. The process included content design and layout, page layout, and development.

What is the team composition?

We worked with three people from Design In DC, including a project manager and a web developer.

How did you come to work with Design In DC?

I had know Design In DC for a couple of years, but we still did our due diligence and looked at other companies before choosing them. We wanted to compare them to other local web designers familiar with government contracting sites. Ultimately, we chose Design In DC due to their quick turnaround times and their pricing, which was more in line with our budget.

How much have you invested with them?

We spent around $20,000.

What is the status of this engagement?

We started working together around October 2021, and they finished the site in March 2022.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

Design In DC developed a site with an improved user journey and UX, and they made it more SEO-friendly to help us appear higher on search engine rankings. Given that the site was just recently launched, we don’t have any metrics to provide. 

How did Design In DC perform from a project management standpoint?

Design In DC’s project management was good. The project manager was very communicative and responsive. Regarding the deadlines, we missed the first one. Our objective was to launch by January 1st, but we came across the holidays and other challenges. However, we were able to get back on track, and Design In DC delivered the site in a timely manner.

Still, the experience of working with Design In DC was great. They used a lot of innovative tools to communicate with us and ensure that we kept involved and engaged in every step of the process. Additionally, they were very willing to go back and make the changes we requested without any hesitation or questions. Overall, it was a very cordial and easygoing relationship.

What did you find most impressive about them?

Design In DC’s willingness to be collaborative was their biggest differentiator. They were very willing to listen to us and accommodate our demands. They were excellent team players and facilitated a very collaborative process.

Are there any areas they could improve?

The number of technology pieces that Design In DC used was high, making it difficult for us to follow the process. Regular customers have to focus on their job while following the process and getting up to speed on the different platforms they use. If they could streamline their process a little more, the project would be easier for their clients.

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

Tell them what you’re looking for, bring some ideas from similar sites you like, and discuss which features you would like to see on your site. Design In DC is very open, collaborative, and patient.

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m the SVP of administration for Summit Ridge Energy, a solar power provider. We are in the community solar space and we create projects that we then sell to residents — such as apartment renters — who cannot have solar power in their homes.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with Design in DC?

We don’t have a retail business; we sell to other financiers, developers, and utilities who then use different means to get our products to actual residents. Because of this, our biggest challenge was to establish credibility and represent ourselves properly online. We had an existing website, but it was a bit archaic and didn’t tell our story very well, so we hired Design in DC to redesign the whole thing.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

Design in DC managed the process from start to finish. We familiarized them with what we do, who we are, and the different messages that we were trying to communicate. They then put together a skeleton or a framework for how we could best lay out our content. They also offered to set up a splash page while they were bringing down and revamping the old, more ramshackle website.

What is the team composition?

The two owners were engaged throughout the whole process. There were also various developers and coders behind the scenes as well as a project manager who helped us craft our story to be more legible and attractive. In total, we interacted with 7–8 folks from their team. 

How did you come to work with Design in DC?

I found them when I was looking up ideas for best practices at Clutch. They were one of the several companies that popped up in that search. 

What is the status of this engagement?

We began working together in November 2021. We have launched the site, but I expect that there will have a continued relationship with the team for our site maintenance needs.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

People from within our company, who were loath to pass along our website to potential clients, are quite pleased with the redesign’s outcome. They think it’s very attractive and clear. Potential partners have also given positive feedback about our website. 

A marketing agency that offered to do our branding has even expressed that they don’t see renewable energy companies having web pages that good. It was all really pleasing to hear.

How did Design in DC perform from a project management standpoint?

They always adhere to timelines, even when we’ve had to move stuff back due to certain changes from our side. Other providers were a bit inflexible when it came to these situations, but Design in DC rounded together the necessary resources in order to meet every deadline.

What did you find most impressive about them?

What really stands out to me is the engagement of their leadership. We appreciate that we’re not just designated to the technicians and designers but are kept in touch with the people who could actually solve the problem. Everything gets taken care of very readily and very patiently, even when we change our minds on certain decisions that have already been set prior.

I also like that we’re able to have a relationship with them where we can discuss issues very candidly. I can talk about the concerns that we have on our side and they can talk to me about theirs — all while still maintaining businesslike communications. 

Are there any areas they could improve?

I don’t mean to cast aspersions, but a lot of the copy-editing responsibilities fell towards us, which was a bit of a surprise. We checked the spelling, punctuation, and tenses of their writing and did more corrections than I expected. It hasn’t been a problem, though, and they could’ve been intentionally leaving misspellings to make sure that we were thoroughly checking the website. 

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

Don’t hold back and don’t keep secrets. Be candid with Design in DC and tell them all about what you want to accomplish. A lot of other providers will try to fit you into a box, but their team will change their box to fit your needs. 

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m the president of Moment Engineering + Design, an architectural and structural engineering firm specializing in custom residential home design.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with Design In DC?

We needed a company that could help us with our rebranding efforts. Our goal was to project our image in a more modern way than before.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

Design In DC designed and developed a new website from scratch and created a new logo for us. I initially gave them some sample websites just to give them an idea of what we were looking for, but they more or less took the ball and ran with it. We were able to give feedback along the way to hone in on the site’s final design.

What is the team composition?

I’ve worked with four people from Design In DC.

How did you come to work with Design In DC?

I found Design In DC through a Google search. We ultimately went with them because I really liked their website and some of the other website designs they’ve done.

How much have you invested with them?

We’ve spent around $25,000 in total so far.

What is the status of this engagement?

We started working together in October 2021, and the engagement is ongoing.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

The website’s only been operating for a short time, but it’s working well. We’ve been getting a lot of organic searches as well as more leads coming through the site, so I’d say that it’s been a positive experience overall.

How did Design In DC perform from a project management standpoint?

Design In DC has performed really well in terms of project management — everything has been delivered as per the dates outlined in the beginning, and they’ve been in constant communication with us throughout the whole process.

What did you find most impressive about them?

I’m impressed with Design In DC’s willingness to go above and beyond to give us results that would make us happy. There have been a couple of misfires along the way, but they’re always willing to give everything another shot and come up with something that fits exactly what we were looking for.

Are there any areas they could improve?

The only thing I could mention is that Design In DC uses Slack quite a bit. I’m not really a big fan of Slack, so I found that a little bit annoying. Other than that, I think the back and forth process between our teams has gone pretty smoothly.

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

The more information you can provide them, the better. If they don’t hit the target in their first attempt, they will stick with it and make sure to give you what you want.