The Design Laboratory

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m the head of strategic partnerships and co-founder of GranterUK. Our company specializes in tax credit services for the UK agricultural and agritech markets, along with other related spaces. 

What challenge were you trying to address with The Design Laboratory?

We wanted to differentiate ourselves visually from a branding perspective in the market. Our company needed Design Laboratory’s expertise and advice to do this. 

What was the scope of their involvement?

Essentially, Design Laboratory gave us a branding guideline and built a website based on it. We already had a website, but we wanted to rebrand so they developed another one from scratch. This website essentially served as a funnel into our platform. 

On top of that, the team created other materials we could use in our sales processes and products. They also provided us with a concise way of boiling down our visual representation into text. That way, we could have a more specific brand vision. Overall, they worked on giving us a brand identity to differentiate ourselves from a visual standpoint. 

We’ve completed this project, but we’ll go back to them to do more work. We just have other priorities to complete at present. 

What is the team composition?

We’ve worked with a team of six people overall, including junior designers and senior members of the company, such as their director of operations. 

How did you come to work with The Design Laboratory?

I looked at various portfolios and had a wide view of different companies. We wanted to work with designers in the UK because our concept was abstract and difficult to translate for overseas companies. We found Design Laboratory and decided that they had the best portfolio. On top of that, I liked the companies they’d worked with and the brands they created for those firms. We believed they could do the same for us, so we hired them. 

How much have you invested with them?

We’ve invested about £30,000 (approximately $41,500 USD). 

What is the status of this engagement?

We started this project in April 2021, and the engagement is technically ongoing. 

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

For success metrics, we haven’t used any quantitative analysis. Rather, we measure success in terms of how we like their outputs and whether they’ve presented our brand in a visually interesting and captivating way. Overall, the end result we’ve achieved is good. 

How did The Design Laboratory perform from a project management standpoint?

Their project management has been good overall. 

What did you find most impressive about them?

The actual brand guidelines we’ve received from them have been impressive. 

Are there any areas they could improve?

It will be an improvement if there’s more transparency in terms of the engagement’s process itself. Design Laboratory’s priorities have shifted away from us a little bit when other clients are involved. Other than that, the whole process has been good.

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m the director and owner of 2020 Recordings, an audio company. We have specialists and experts in every field of audio and do voiceover, music, and sound design. We do everything from audiobooks, gaming, adverts, and podcasts to sonic branding and making tracks within the music industry. We’re a warm, friendly organization, but we’re experts in what we do.

What challenge were you trying to address with The Design Laboratory?

We had a couple of different companies that weren’t joined together. There was one for audio, one for music, and so on. We felt the lines were being blurred between all the industries. We wanted to bring everything together, stamp the brand through, and have a website that incorporated all but had separate areas within that.

Overall, we wanted to show how we were different from other audio production houses and made us unique. We had great clients in each of those separate areas, and we’d been growing 50% and operating word of mouth until COVID-19. We had time to consolidate during the pandemic, so we thought it was an excellent opportunity to do all of this.

What was the scope of their involvement?

The Design Laboratory made a brilliant logo for us. We were looking at name changes but decided to stick with the name. They’re currently designing and developing our website, as well as handling the whole branding aspect. We plan to launch in September.

We first started with a stage where we asked ourselves who we are. We wanted to show what we do, what we offer, and target those specific industries. We had a unique team of people working together from different industries in audio, so it wasn’t just about having the studios and equipment, but also about the people and how we handle our clients. We had to capture our culture and communicate that in the logo and messaging.

About a week ago, they gave us an initial presentation, and I wasn’t expecting to see much, but they delivered a complete overview of the website. Now, we’re going through it, taking things out, and filling in things. The layout is well-balanced and cleverly designed, so we’re keeping it simple and slick.

What is the team composition?

We work with Boris (CEO & Co-Founder), the director of operations, and 5–6 other people who have been main contacts. For various stages, we’ve had different teams and specialists, and they’ve all been phenomenal.

How did you come to work with The Design Laboratory?

We’re based in the same complex — it’s a huge community of about 80 studios. I would bump into Boris in the mornings, and we’d chat, so we got to know each other. I looked at a couple of other people on-site, but The Design Laboratory ticked all the boxes. Also, I liked Boris as a person and had a great relationship with him. I decided to just run with it because it felt good. He had the vibe and knew what I was about.

How much have you invested with them?

We’ve spent £30,000 (approximately $42,000 USD).

What is the status of this engagement?

We started working together in December 2020, and the relationship is ongoing.

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

The rebrand was a big job and responsibility, and they held our hand the whole way. Working with The Design Laboratory has been an amazing experience. We’ve become great friends, and they’re really in tune and passionate about who we are. Both of our companies work well together, so it’s been a super enjoyable project.

For the logo, they gave us three choices of where we could go with the whole idea, and they were all really good. It was a hard choice, but we definitely chose the right one. We also have an excellent photographer on board, and he loved the branding. I’m going to link him in with The Design Laboratory.

Overall, the experience has been invaluable and much deeper than I thought it’d be because it really got us thinking about who we are. They’ve been enlightening and positive through every step. Additionally, I’m 100% sure that what we’re spending on it is just a drop in the ocean to what we’re going to achieve.

How did The Design Laboratory perform from a project management standpoint?

Project management has been brilliant. We’ve been happy to work around them; it’s pretty effortless. We haven’t had rigid deadlines; we initially aimed to have it done by July, but we slowed it down. The Design Laboratory has been flexible and patient with us when we’ve gotten busy.

What did you find most impressive about them?

They’re passionate and committed. They genuinely care and want to do their best for us. Working with them has been a creative, innovative process. We can say exactly what we want, so it’s really easy to work with them.

Also, they have different impressive skills within their workforce, and the way they work together is seamless.

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

They know what they’re doing, so you can trust them 100%. Let them run with stuff and allow them to know everything about you and how people view you. Being honest will help the whole process. Moreover, enjoy the process. It can be super intense, but it’s also really fun.

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I am the co-founder and CEO of a tech startup in the sustainability space.

What challenge were you trying to address with The Design Laboratory?

Our business was new, and we needed to go through a full branding, identity, and tone exercise. We wanted to ensure that the brand was scalable. It must also properly represent our goals, the reason we started the business, and our core value proposition to potential customers.

What was the scope of their involvement?

We approached The Design Laboratory for a brand and identity process. They facilitated a brand discovery workshop where we tried to understand our goals. The workshop also dug into our business motivations and the pain points that we wanted to address through our services and products. Based on this workshop, they gave us feedback and suggestions around brand tonality, positioning, and underlying principles. This session was followed by name brainstorming sessions and brand strategy workshops. In the naming sessions, we also discussed our brand strategy. They submitted reports and suggestions on what we should do next and what our options were. 

Once we decided on a name, brand, and strategy, they started working on concepts. The Design Laboratory took all of our inputs and developed three visual and brand design concepts to a large degree of detail. We then reviewed these concepts and gave feedback. After submitting the concepts back to us, we chose the one we preferred. From there, they built our brand identity and tone. Their resources then presented the first finalized branding concept to us. 

After the presentation, we gave them our feedback and discussed it with them. Then, they developed the final branding guidelines and assets. These included core colors and guidelines for designers. In other words, they produced a branding bible that guided our team around the logos, colors, photograph choices, fonts, and alignments we should use. This was also their final deliverable for this scope of work. After giving us this branding guideline, they designed our website, which they created on WebFlow. 

The first iteration of the work has been delivered, including the website. We’re currently in talks about the next steps and set of tasks.

What is the team composition?

We work with around 7–8 people, and we mainly interact with their CEO and co-founder as well as with the head of operations. Our collaborations are more on the administrative and operational side. We’ve also interfaced with five designers from their team, including senior and junior teammates. 

How did you come to work with The Design Laboratory?

After kicking off the business, we needed an agency to develop our brand. We started looking around and did some research. Our team even asked our investors for recommendations. Off the back of that, we had a long list of 20 design and branding agencies in Europe and London. We went through the agencies’ portfolios online and shortlisted around five of them.

Our resources reached out to them individually and set up meetings to give them an overview of our company and needs. The agencies came back with proposals around how they worked and their fee structures. The Design Laboratory was one of them, and we eventually chose their team because their pricing wasn’t out of any insane ballpark.  

On top of having the most reasonable price, they also had the most sensible proposal, which showed us that they truly listened and didn’t simply paraphrase our words back to us. Their team actually processed the information and thought about how they could provide value to us. There was a clear indication of quality, so we hired them. 

How much have you invested with them?

We’ve spent around £30,000–£40,000 (approximately $41,000–$55,000 USD). 

What is the status of this engagement?

We started in January 2021, and the partnership is ongoing. 

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

The Design Laboratory has a great level of engagement, and their team listens to us carefully to come up with meaningful solutions. They've met our expectations in terms of brand direction and naming, capturing what we want from a tone and branding representation perspective. In all of these processes, the team’s engagement has been incredible. 

Overall, they’re truly talented. They apply their own thinking to what they deliver and listen well to our feedback, applying what we say decisively and speedily. In terms of time management, they’ve been great. There haven’t been any major overruns in timelines other than what’s unavoidable, which are on our side. 

Finally, we also measure success by looking at the deliverables and how useful they are for our team members, including UX designers and frontend engineers. Using the brand guidelines they’ve created, our products are designed to look good and consistent with our branding. Quality isn’t lost in translation. 

How did The Design Laboratory perform from a project management standpoint?

Project management has been a big part of our engagement. Their head of operations has worked well and plugged in seamlessly within our team. Even though she isn’t a designer, she participates in all discussions and provides her own inputs. She makes sure that everything runs smoothly, things are on time, and our expectations are managed. On top of that, the schedule of work is clear. If anything changes, it’s clearly communicated with me and our co-founder. In other words, their project management isn’t only effective; it’s also seamlessly part of the process. It doesn’t feel awkwardly bolted on the side. 

In terms of tools, they’ve used Miro to run the workshops, collect data, and provide outputs. The deliverables have been given in PDF format, which is great because we want to read and understand the content. We haven’t met in person, and the workshops are facilitated remotely and online. Overall, they’ve provided the most seamless workshops I’ve seen. 

What did you find most impressive about them?

The level of engagement and the fact that they truly listen to us differentiate them from other providers. The tangible design and brand deliverables reflect this in terms of content, tone, copywriting, visuals, and designs. Moreover, their attention to detail is incredible. They put an enormous amount of thought into the brand and all of its elements, which ultimately reflects the principles we’ve discussed over many workshops. 

In a nutshell, what we love about working with them is their attention to detail and ability to translate that into a coherent, high-quality branding that’s neither trivial nor gimmicky.  

Are there any areas they could improve?

We haven’t had the luxury of having personal interactions. Doing things in person can have interesting impacts on our engagement, though such impacts can be positive or negative. This is no fault of theirs, but it’s clearly the missing piece of the engagement.

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

Branding and identity design isn’t something you can throw over the wall; you can’t simply put a brief together and email it, expecting to get great results in return. Companies and teams like The Design Laboratory do their best work when you engage them properly. That's because their job isn’t to come up with your brand; it’s to shape your brand based on what you want your business to do and the reasons you’re doing it. In other words, you’ll get a much higher-quality output when you engage with The Design Laboratory properly.

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m the founder and managing director of Warrior Addict, a men’s yoga brand. 

What challenge were you trying to address with The Design Laboratory?

We were only beginning our business and hadn’t even launched, so I needed to find someone to work with to design our first clothing collection. 

What was the scope of their involvement?

The Design Laboratory helped me with the clothing collection’s design and reworked my branding. Initially, I did all of our branding by myself, so they took what I’d done and came up with a concept for our logo and brand marks. 

Meanwhile, our first collection consisted of men’s yoga wear. I sent my ideas to them and met with them to discuss the tasks. Then, they came up with a price. At every step of the design process, I’d meet them to either approve their outputs or make some adjustments. Among the things they designed were shorts, sweatpants, t-shirts, long-sleeve shirts, vest tops, and yoga mat bags.

What is the team composition?

I worked with four people from their team. They were all designers and associated with the college of fashion I attended. We also worked with more senior teammates who had plenty of experience in branding and design. 

How did you come to work with The Design Laboratory?

The Design Laboratory had an association with a college of fashion in London, and I’d done a few courses with them. I contacted the college and they recommended The Design Laboratory.

Moreover, I liked Yann and Boris (Co-Founders and CEOs), who were enthusiastic and supportive of what I was doing. On top of that, they were knowledgeable, so I decided to work with them straight away. 

How much have you invested with them?

We invested around £14,000 (approximately $19,000 USD).

What is the status of this engagement?

The project lasted from January–August 2016, or approximately eight months.

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

The project centered around branding and design, so success metrics were difficult to measure. However, I was truly happy with them, their work, and the quality of the outputs they produced. In fact, I continued to use the logo they designed for me, including the color scheme they chose. I’d never change it. Overall, they definitely did their due diligence, and I was happy with the results. 

How did The Design Laboratory perform from a project management standpoint?

Their project management was excellent. There were fewer project management tools years ago, so we mainly communicated via email and face-to-face meetings.

What did you find most impressive about them?

Yann and Boris were brilliant; they were incredibly creative, clever, and passionate about what they did. I could tell that they loved working with brands and that they loved their job, making them a real pleasure to work with all the time. I wouldn’t have had that level of service at any other design studio. I was so pleased with the work that I remained in contact with them.

Are there any areas they could improve?

We were a tiny brand, and we had to stop working with them because we didn’t have the budget. They were quite expensive, and a lot of their customers were massive brands. That being said, their services warranted their price, so I couldn’t really fault them for it. 

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

If you want to launch a business and want a company to help you with your branding, use The Design Laboratory. They’re good, and I highly recommend them.

Please describe your company and your position there.

Apheris is a deep tech company that fundamentally changes how organizations collaborate securely and extract value from data. Our platform enables secure data analyses across distributed data of multiple parties while keeping proprietary information private.

With Apheris, organizations can build new data solutions and unlock entirely new insights from distributed data of multiple parties without compromising on security and ownership.

For what projects/services did your company hire The Design Laboratory, and what were your goals?

Our goal was to refresh our brand appearance so that it looked professional, well thought-through and was aligned with our company identity.

How did you select The Design Laboratory?

Design Laboratory was recommended to us and after our first discussion with the team, we felt that our project was in the right hands.

Describe the scope of their work in detail, including any steps and the final deliverables.

At the beginning, we did a virtual workshop with the goal to define our needs. They invested their time well in asking questions and getting a better understanding of our company, our mission, and our identity. After that, they came up with a few options on branding including logo, font type, colors and assets. We iterated on the brand package until we felt that the branding fit our company.

How many people from The Design Laboratory team worked with you, and what were their positions?

Our main contact throughout the project was Boris (Co-Founder & Creative Director), and he made sure to always include the people of his creative team to make our meetings efficient and fun nonetheless.

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

With the resulting brand guideline and adjacent assets like logo, icons, illustrations, we were able to completely rebrand our marketing material including our website, social media profiles and other public appearances.

Our branding is now consistent with our internal and external communication material.

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

We had recurring online meetings with the Design Laboratory team in which we gave our feedback on the material of the next iteration. The meetings were very efficient and fun nonetheless.

Missing feedback was collected from us whenever needed and overall the communication was smooth and timely.

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

Their storytelling abilities showed us that they understood our mission and vision extremely well, and we were very happy with the results. The team always listened carefully to our feedback and were able to propose new ideas which we really liked.

They did a great job in explaining how they derived at what branding decision for us to choose from. Our branding fits our company.

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

We requested branded Office templates for PowerPoint and Word which was something new for them, too. Hence, it needed a few more iterations than we were used to until we found the final templates with which we were satisfied.

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m the chief executive and co-founder of Solar Polar Limited, a green solar company. We are bringing to market a solar thermally-driven cooling system. It can be used on the farms of India or Africa. It can also be used for air conditioning houses without any electricity.

What challenge were you trying to address with The Design Laboratory?

We’re a small company run primarily by engineers. We didn’t have the expertise in branding, corporate messaging, and imaging. Our company is very good at making things work and coming up with new ideas but we didn’t have the ability to communicate that to the outside world and that’s why we hired The Design Laboratory.

What was the scope of their involvement?

The first project The Design Laboratory did for us was to produce an infographic that explained how our system worked. What we needed was a very simplistic view of an incredibly complicated system which they did beautifully. You can either send it to somebody and they can read it through or you can flash it up on the screen and talk people through it. 

The second project involved looking at our branding and logos. They rebranded it and made a far more powerful message. When they presented us with the different concepts they’d come up with, the first one was very clever and was sort of building around an infinity loop. Then they came up with a smile logo, it was sort of like a globe but then the bottom half was a smile. 

Subsequently, they integrated that into a website with some animations. The team also helped us with the wording. Later, it was also rolled out in our business cards and paper. They even changed the headers for things like our LinkedIn accounts. The branding they developed goes throughout all of our communication materials.

That project is finished already but if we need any changes, they still do it. We’ve put in some joint bid for various projects where they’re working with solar renewables.

What is the team composition?

I primarily talk with Yann (Co-Founder & CEO). The lovely thing about them is you don’t get one of them, you get the whole team. There are about six or more people who work with us.

How did you come to work with The Design Laboratory?

I was introduced to Yann through a colleague who had worked at a company that had done a project with him where they got three artists to brand their bottles. She said The Design Laboratory was very nice to work with. I met Yann and we started chatting and realized we could probably work together.

What is the status of this engagement?

We started working together in December 2019 and the work is ongoing.

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

The Design Laboratory made a brilliant infographic that demonstrated an extremely complex process and broke it down to a simple one. Their work has been very well received. As a company, we’re not quite ready to do the full launch yet but the amount of interaction we’ve had with the public, it’s all been very positive.

The number of positive responses we’ve had has gone up. We’re very happy with their work. We couldn’t quantify it, but we’re absolutely blown away by just how brilliant they are.

How did The Design Laboratory perform from a project management standpoint?

When you go to The Design Laboratory’s office to talk about what they’ve done, changes, or what you like, the whole team joins. We communicate primarily by email and meetings in their offices. Before COVID-19, we were doing the initial part of the work in-person. I haven’t been to their office since the lockdown, but I probably talked to Yann on the phone once every two weeks. 

They’re incredibly patient. The team keeps us on track because sometimes they’re waiting on feedback from us.

What did you find most impressive about them?

The Design Laboratory team is so clever. They have the ability to translate your bumbling and stumbling abilities to communicate what you do into something very sharp, concise, and visually appealing. They’re an amazing creative force.

Are there any areas they could improve?

No, I can’t fault them in any way. 

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m the co-founder and CEO of a digital production studio. We make content including videos, articles, and podcasts about popular TV series and movies.

What challenge were you trying to address with The Design Laboratory?

We hired them for design and branding services.

What was the scope of their involvement?

They did all of the artwork and branding for our mobile application. It’s a subscription-based app, so we needed it to have a premium feel. The design fits the genres that we cover in our work, primarily science fiction. 

What is the team composition?

I think we worked with every member of their team at some point. There were about three senior teammates and two junior members. There were typically about six people from their side in our meetings. 

How much have you invested with them?

We invested around £15,000 (approximately $19,295 USD), but we had a part-fee, part-equity deal. 

What is the status of this engagement?

We started working with them in November 2019, and our work is ongoing.

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

We’ve been getting positive feedback from users. They often complement the premium feel of the app. 

How did The Design Laboratory perform from a project management standpoint?

We have a WhatsApp group, but we also communicative through emails and over the phone. 

What did you find most impressive about them?

Their experience and design expertise is impressive. I feel like I’m getting a world-class experience without the drastically high fees. 

Are there any areas they could improve? 

No. Whenever we do have feedback or changes, they’re very receptive. 

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I am the director and co-founder of a company called Animal Spirits. We are a spirit company that produces gin and later on, we also want to produce other spirits. We are based in London and we are just opening the market in the UK.

What challenge were you trying to address with The Design Laboratory?

I wanted professionals who already worked with companies that produce spirits. The plan was to work with the best to get the best results.

What was the scope of their involvement?

They did complete branding for us. At first, they produced a bottle that had to be scalable. The bottle is designed so that we can create more spirits by changing the colors or pictures on the bottle. They provided us with the logo, trademark, deck, and all the documents we need for the company presentation pitch as well.

They carried us through the whole idea, creating the best story out of it and taking care of the whole brand so that it could be presented in a nice way.

What is the team composition?

We directly worked and had meetings with three people. I think there were two other people that were involved in smaller parts as well.

How did you come to work with The Design Laboratory?

They were recommended to us by a friend. She knew them personally and had also worked with them and was very happy with the cooperation. We went for a drink, and discussed our idea and what we wanted. There was chemistry. They are a cool bunch of people that know what they are talking about. They have also worked with really big companies in the alcohol market.

I interviewed other companies before and they were roughly the same amount of money but didn’t offer as much as The Design Laboratory. I had also tried to do something with local designers, and it was worth nothing. I spent several hundred and I got nothing out of it. People need to be professional to work on that level.

What is the status of this engagement?

We started working together in the summer of 2017. The project was slow-moving because I had a full-time job. It wasn’t slow from their side. We are still working together, and they are still helping us.

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

I am very happy because they really started with the idea and shaped it around the picture. I always had a chance to choose the way we went, and they offered alternatives and we followed one of those — and then more alternatives. It’s been a long time and I am more than happy.

How did The Design Laboratory perform from a project management standpoint?

We have regular calls through Zoom. Prior to Coronavirus, we had in-person meetings. I can always email them and they answer me pretty fast. Communication is always open and friendly and it is very nice to work with them.

What did you find most impressive about them?

It was the contact with them, their personality, and how they can really make up the story and dream about it. They can take you to their dream and show you the possibilities of how it can look. That was something that really attracted me, and I always left our meetings feeling very positive and in a very good mood.

Are there any areas they could improve?

I don’t think so. It was a long project and they always kept track of it. I have nothing to improve and it was very good. We discussed everything in smaller details and always followed the idea, so I am happy.

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m the European brand lead for a cleaning product firm with an environmental kind of angle.

What challenge were you trying to address with The Design Laboratory?

We have a limited edition program and the challenge we had was how to drive more passers for our limited edition. We wanted to use them as an opportunity to change consumer behavior.

What was the scope of their involvement?

The Design Laboratory helped us shape our strategy for our limited edition program for 2020. They came up with a strategy which was around changing people’s thoughts by making them into works of art. They helped us elevate our brand into the art world. 

The team also found us a partnership. They found us three inspirational artists to align to our values of using their creativity as a force for good. From that, they helped us translate beautiful works of art, from these three artists, onto our  bottles. 

They really worked with the artists on shaping the creation of their art, the curation on having the artist pick which piece of art they’d want to do for this project, face graphing the art, and then translating that into a 2D design file for us to put onto our bottles.

What is the team composition?

We worked with Boris (Co-Founder & Creative Director) and Yann (Co-Founder & CEO). I worked really closely with Yann throughout the program. We still check in and have a very strong relationship even though we’re not working on a project at the moment. 

Boris oversees the creative team. Our main creative point of contact was Benio (Creative Manager). He went above and beyond throughout. He was working directly with the different print teams and the printers and really understanding the processes. He was very reactive to any kind of feedback. He really helped us shape the project and the end results.

How did you come to work with The Design Laboratory?

My boss had worked with them before in an innovation capacity. When we were looking for people who would inspire us as a team, she set up a meeting with them to have an inspiration day. Having spoken to them and seeing their role and the thought leadership that they brought, I chose to brief them on this project.

How much have you invested with them?

The total cost was around £70,000 (approximately $89,000 USD).

What is the status of this engagement?

The project took place from January 2019–January 2020.

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

The end product was really strong. At the time, I didn’t have a creative director in-house. I really relied on The Design Laboratory to help me through that. We had three incredible collections with amazing designs. 

Not only was the product incredibly strong in the end but the relationship that they helped us build and facilitate with the artists have been phenomenal. We have a really strong relationship with all three artists. 

The Design Laboratory started and then stewarded it over to us which has been great. It wouldn’t have been as easy had they not been there to grease the wheels and make the way.

How did The Design Laboratory perform from a project management standpoint?

We’d communicate through email. If there were any glitches in the project, I’d then have a call with them. Yann is someone who wants to build very strong relationships with the clients he works with. He very much wants to understand the business and the challenges as well as just having more inspirational conversations. 

What did you find most impressive about them?

The expertise they brought to the project and the relationships with the artists that they were able to facilitate stands out. That alone, I would not have been able to do. They were able to elevate our thinking and facilitate a really great outcome that I would definitely not have been able to do alone.

Are there any areas they could improve?

The one tension we had is our company in Europe is quite small. We still have a challenge with the budget. They wouldn’t be doing their job if they weren’t pushing for more with us though. It’s a healthy amount of tension to get the project done and pushing for the best end result.

Please describe your company and your position there.

Otentu is a new discovery and development platform for young art and design students. I am the founder and CEO

For what projects/services did your company hire The Design Laboratory, and what were your goals?

We needed to establish our brand voice both for students as well as millennial affluent customers who appreciate creativity. we are disrupting an existing industry and offering a brand new solution. Our goals were to develop a visual communication language and platform for our new innovation.

How did you select this vendor?

We conducted an search and a request for proposal from several firms and then conducted interviews and portfolio reviews.

Describe the scope of their work in detail, including any steps and the final deliverables.

The project included several steps

1. alignment and expectations setting
2. Data sharing
3. conceptualization of new ideas
4. development of final brand platform with focus on digital assets
5. development of non digital brand assets including print items
6. development of social platform templates

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

5 people

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

We have received complete and detailed brand platform that guides all the future development and marketing efforts. Design Lab were always delivering beyond expectations with extra examples and applications to help us visualize the end state and give us some extra items to work with. They were passionate about the project and were personally connected and it shows in the final deliverables.

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

Project management was organized and on time. they kept us to deadlines and made sure we receive all the revisions within hours sometimes to make sure we keep on track.

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

They are professional and cool designers. But their personal connection to the project and their belief in it was shining difference. It was clear that they loved working on our project.

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

No