DesignHammer

Introduce your business and what you do there.
I’m the former VP of marketing at Divers Alert Network. It was my job to oversee the entire web design project.

What challenge were you trying to address with DesignHammer?
At the time, we had two websites that we had to combine into one. Additionally, we had some global considerations. I had to bring everything together, tear down our old site, and then rebuild a new one. We brought on DesignHammer to help rebuild the new site. The objective was to have a fresh look and feel for the website so we could bring it into the 21st century.

What was the scope of their involvement?
The existing website was a mess. It was a data dump, had bad navigation, and was outdated. DesignHammer worked to completely build it from scratch. Our internal team worked together with them to create a site that’d be more user- and mobile-friendly as well as have the capabilities for multiple languages. 

Our teams worked collaboratively but the part that DesignHammer handled more in-depth was the design phase. We knew our audience as well as had a good handle on our services and how we wanted to arrange the content. Because of that, we didn’t have to do a planning or discovery phase with DesignHammer. Their team jumped in right at the design stage. We provided a sitemap, and they immediately started working on navigation issues. They designed the web pages and built a custom WordPress site.

DesignHammer went through the beta test with us and helped us troubleshoot. We went back and forth to clean up some of the errors, bugs, and issues from a design perspective. Then, our team took it from there. Internally, we handled populating the site so DesignHammer didn’t do any data transmission or repopulating. They were very instrumental in the design and navigation phases.

What is the team composition?
We mainly worked with David (Development Strategist) and Stephen (Account Manager). There were other teammates as well.

How did you come to work with DesignHammer?
I had interviewed several agencies because we had started this effort several years ago. The project was abandoned due to budgetary reasons but then I picked it back up again. This time around, I focused on interviewing local agencies. During the first go, I had interviewed agencies around the country. It was important to us that we choose an agency that we could talk face-to-face with. Ultimately, it was DesignHammer’s personality that sold me. They were refreshing, and I knew right away.

How much have you invested with them?
We invested about $100,000.

What is the status of this engagement?
The project was from November 2019–March 2020.

What evidence can you share that demonstrates the impact of the engagement? 
DesignHammer met every single milestone and deadline that we put together, as did we. Our internal team made sure we hit our deadlines so they could meet theirs. They were committed, and we were too. Their team consistently provided constructive feedback, knowing what our budget constraints were and what we could do. They knew our in-house capabilities.

Our team was very happy with the design. The engagement rolled on systematically and effortlessly. DesignHammer had a no-nonsense style. Their team didn’t overpromise, and they called things for what they were.

How did DesignHammer perform from a project management standpoint?
Project management was excellent. We wouldn’t have been able to meet the deadlines if they weren’t so on top of things. DesignHammer is one of the best companies I’ve worked with when it comes to project management. They had a custom client management system that we engaged with on a regular basis.

What did you find most impressive about them?
We were impressed with the personalities of everyone involved. From David and Stephen to every single member of their team, everyone worked really well. There wasn’t a lot of fluff. We’d hop on a call, get down to business, and knock it out. It was easy to move on from tasks because they managed the project perfectly.

Are there any areas they could improve?
No, nothing comes to mind. This engagement was one of the best I’ve had in my career. They were always accessible and responded in a timely manner. Their team did everything we asked them to do and more. I wouldn’t ask them to have done anything differently.

Do you have any advice for potential customers?
They’re not going to baby you so you must know what you’re doing. Go in knowing your goals and what you want. DesignHammer will definitely help you if you don’t have these things defined. However, to get the most out of it, make sure you know what you want.

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m a graphic designer at the University of North Carolina School of Government, a university-based continuing education entity for state and government officials. I’ve been there for 30 years. I produce publications, advertisement material, and miscellaneous graphic design support for courses. I also produce content intended either for purchase or free circulation.

What challenge were you trying to address with DesignHammer?

We were working with DesignHammer to create a comprehensive publication intended for use by everyone involved in our state's judicial system. The content provides a legal description of every crime and is paired with another publication that addresses punishment for these crimes. We needed help making the publication easier to use in digital format. A way to obtain better search results within the large volume of information, as well as easy navigation, were the primary goals.

What was the scope of their involvement?

DesignHammer created a process whereby our XML-structured content is annually translated into a Drupal-based website with excellent navigation and content searching features. These features help clients locate specific information and get absolute, date-specific results in their search queries—resources that are very useful in the legal process.

With DesignHammer’s expertise and guidance, we were able to leverage this large amount of print-published content in digital format. The last printed version was 900 pages, and this year it'll be more than 1,000 pages of legal text that's written in laymen's terms for general consumption.

When DesignHammer began working with us, we wanted them to create a website that people could use to search through our enormous amount of information with navigation panes, dropdown menu structures, and a very robust search feature that delivered concise results. Together we collaborated on a plan for how the platform should be structured so that all the online components were aligned correctly to the content structure. DesignHammer created the translation program that converted our content into the online format on the Drupal platform.

After three years after annually producing print and online iterations, the author requested a change that required a redesign of the website. Working collaboratively with DesignHammer, we went back to the drawing board to create a split-pane website that provides comparison views of new content and existing content.

For instance, a client’s search for crimes related to Abduction would generate results showing crimes related to Abduction in a split-screen, with a vertical pane on the right side of the screen detailing the latest changes to that law. This feature is particularly helpful for clients who use the website as a reference because the content changes annually.

After redesigning the interface we continued annually migrating new supplemental content using the program created by DesignHammer. To facilitate our annual review process during production, they created dev and stage sites that enabled this to be done without affecting the live version site that clients were using. With the dev and stage sites, we were able to conduct multiple internal reviews while checking the thousands of cross-reference links.

Additionally, DesignHammer created a web interface for me to control content migrations directly from my desktop at all stages of content development. It enabled me to manage multiple iterations with just a few clicks.

DesignHammer also worked with the campus IT professionals on coordinating Drupal version upgrades. Our Drupal environment hosts numerous courses and content besides the Crimes publication. The Crimes publication was just one project of many that DesignHammer worked on for the School of Government.

What is the team composition?

Our publications team worked with DesignHammer's group of five people. I primarily worked with Jay (Lead Developer), who guided with me on doing the XML coding. When I asked questions that involved other aspects of the website content formatting, Jay would work with the other members of his team to come up with solutions. All of the team members were pleasant and responsive.

How did you come to work with DesignHammer?

The school's administration wanted to find a company that had experience working with Drupal. DesignHammer was recommended by Boriana Ditcheva, a Web and Applications Developer/Systems Analyst in the School of Government IT Division. Meetings with administrators and the publications division manager preceded the lead editor and I meeting at DesignHammer’s studio to discuss technical aspects of the project.

How much have you invested with them?

We've spent less than $50,000.

What is the status of this engagement?

We started working together in July 2011.

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

Over the course of the project, the printed publication and online content have generated six figures worth of revenue for the school. We've learned from DesignHammer how to leverage the print production process to create the online version, and they've been very helpful in achieving synchronous print and online publishing.

How did DesignHammer perform from a project management standpoint?

There’s not much we've had to do in terms of project management. They already had a very efficient process in place for keeping track of all the phases and testing steps. After they created an initial version of the site, we were able to assess it as a group very quickly and make recommendations for changes. We went through a branding initiative at one point in the engagement and they were able to accommodate all of our requests for the inclusion of logos and things of that nature.

In the beginning, we managed the project using ActiveCollab. This software helped us make sure all our milestones were scheduled. Since then, they've changed to another project management environment, but we've seen no interruption in productivity.

All communication has been very thorough and everyone has been apprised continually. We're a small group, but in the site development phase of the project, it was very important that we were all aware of what changes were happening and when they happened. Everyone communicated very clearly. I never had an issue where I was left wondering if I was going to get a response. We could rely on them. They were always available to address buffer overruns and uploads. If there was a problem, they were readily available by phone and email.

What did you find most impressive about them?

They’re dedicated to quality. Even though the content in the index has been increasing, the amount of time required to produce it has been continually reducing because of our efficiency. Normally, a publication this size takes 9-12 months to complete, but we've been able to produce it much more quickly. Once all the files are sent to the printer, we wait about a month for print and distribution. We've been able to simultaneously execute the digital online version with the print version so that the two's release dates coincide.

Are there any areas they could improve?

I don’t have any negatives about working with them. They’re a joy to work with.

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

The collaboration with DesignHammer took effort on both our parts. They presented the opportunity and facilitated a solution that we were struggling to develop. If it weren’t for their expertise and feedback about what was required to make the site work and make modifications to it, it wouldn’t have been possible to complete the project.

My advice is to trust these professionals but be willing to work. Become more self-reliant and develop the technologies yourself in order to make this happen. This effort produces a high-quality product. We had to work hard to figure out what it was we needed to do in order to receive this, but DesignHammer helped tremendously.

Introduce your business and what you do there.

Cal-ISBOA develops and promotes business and operational best practices to advance the business officer profession and support the operations of Independent Schools in California. As the Membership Engagement Manager, I support the membership, provide professional development, and manage communications.

What challenge were you trying to address with DesignHammer?

The website redesign project has been on the association's agenda for quite some time. Being a state association and a small operation, we needed a vendor who could work within those parameters and the confines of Wild Apricot.

What was the scope of their involvement? 

DesignHammer gave our site a facelift. In the beginning stages, they asked for a list of websites that we admired, and we gave them admin privileges to our Google Analytics. That way, they could look at our bounce rate and site traffic to identify any opportunities. We also polled our members to collect feedback and got a few key answers. They commented that our site wasn’t user-friendly and that it took too many clicks to get what they wanted. 

So, DesignHammer’s team focused on overhauling the navigation. They went through the entire website, mapping out all of our pages and reorganizing the content to be more intuitive. Some changes were as simple as just renaming a term because they realized that our language didn’t make sense to our members. It’s great to have that kind of external perspective.

They also helped put together three email templates that tied our communication blasts to our website’s visual theme. Now, every time we want to send an email, we just have to duplicate the template and fill it with new content.

What is the team composition? 

They assigned a team of four, including a project manager, a lead designer, and a developer.

How did you come to work with DesignHammer?

I did a lot of research, looking for different companies that would be willing to work with a small organization. We didn’t have a lot of manpower nor a large budget, so we needed a partner who could operate within our limits. 

One of the companies that we’d worked with for our single sign-on (SSO) recommended DesignHammer. Just from looking at their prior work, I could tell that they were able to execute on similar projects to ours. 

How much have you invested with them?

We landed within the range of $10,000–$15,000.

What is the status of this engagement?

Our engagement lasted from July 2020–January 2021. Once we had the layout and knew the direction, it was just a matter of grinding the website out. 

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

Our board is very happy with the outcome. The site came out just as we’d envisioned, and it’s so much more dynamic and modern now. Even our members have said that the layout makes more sense. For example, our annual membership survey is no longer hidden away behind a bunch of clicks. We’re able to have the survey appear in the main navigation bar, which means I get fewer questions about where to find it.

DesignHammer really just improved the look of our association. Our site represents a more useful presence going forward, and we look professional. That’s where we’ve needed to be for quite some time.

How did DesignHammer perform from a project management standpoint?

It was all very well thought out. They took us through the project step by step, providing reports so that we knew exactly where we stood, what was coming up next, and what was left to be done. I liked having a clear checklist to track our progress.

The team was also very personable, which was great. It was nice to be human and not have to be so buttoned-up all of the time. We enjoyed working with each other. They knew where we were coming from, and we understood their point of view.

What did you find most impressive about them?

DesignHammer genuinely understood the scope of our association. This is a two-person operation with budgetary limits. We’re not a national membership with thousands of people; we only have 275 schools. But they still made us feel important and appreciated.

Are there any areas they could improve?

No, they nailed it.

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

If you come into the project with a very strong vision of what you want, you’ll be able to get the results you’re looking for a lot faster. DesignHammer is good at what they do. Just tell them your ideas up front, and they’ll nail them right away rather than going through multiple options to figure out a direction.

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I was a professor/researcher in journalism at a university 2008–2020. I now work at a different university.

What challenge were you trying to address with DesignHammer?

We began accumulating data in 2014, and then we published four reports on the state of local news in the US. We wanted to convey the loss of local news, as well as places where local news still thrived. However, after publishing our first report in October 2016, higher traffic led to problems with our rudimentary website.

Over the past four years, we grew an initial database of 7,000 news outlets to six major databases of more than 12,000 news organizations. This includes newspapers, independent digital sites, public broadcast stations (both radio and television), and ethnic media. We added roughly 10,000 data points with multiple variables, and we needed to graphically represent that. There was a lot of data to not only process but also have interact with a Tableau map feature.

What was the scope of their involvement?

Our initial website was designed in 2016 by another company. DesignHammer redesigned the site in 2017–2018, and then they did a major upgrade in June 2020.

DesignHammer split one big interactive Tableau map into 51 state and DC maps. From there, they made each state interactive down to the county level. They took the basic design of our first website and transformed it into a site that was interactive on multiple fronts. They also spruced up the design.

I was so pleased with DesignHammer’s work that I had them take over issues that occurred with another site, and they also did that seamlessly. In the latter half of 2020, they took over the maintenance, updating, and archiving of two other websites.

What is the team composition?

We worked with an account manager.

How did you come to work with DesignHammer?

The account manager made an introductory call to someone who was handling multiple websites for the university.

I had been using a different designer. However, whenever I had a problem, it often took days to hear back. There was also a lot of turnover in staffing.

How much have you invested with them?

The original design was around $9,000. The more recent engagement cost about $5,000.

What is the status of this engagement?

We hired DesignHammer in 2017. I recently moved to another education institution, but I assume the engagement is ongoing because DesignHammer works on other websites at the school. The website we worked on together is still accessible.

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

When I called DesignHammer and explained that we needed to expand the website, they understood what we wanted to accomplish. They were very invested in the project. They also made really good suggestions about how to speed up the load time, which was important for such a complicated website. The website has never been down, and we’ve never lost the color key. The color key is really important because everything is branded, and prior to bringing on DesignHammer, we were continually losing it.

We grew from one interactive Tableau map into more than 350 Tableau maps on the website. Those maps allow any users — from an esteemed scholar who’s very comfortable with advanced quantitative methods, down to a community activist — to drill down to the county level to see what news organizations are there. They can get a sense of demographic information, input from a variety of government sources: the census, the Federal Elections Commission, the Economic Development Commission, and circulation figures that come from the industry. Anyone can tell how vibrant the local news ecosystem is in a particular county. DesignHammer displayed the interactive maps in such a way that it’s seamless and interactive.

Our website has been visited by a number of people, from US senators and congressional representatives to philanthropists and ordinary citizens. Journalists routinely send people to the website when they cite the study. The site is highly recommended by many people who consider our research the standard for assessing the state of local news in the US. I’ve had numerous requests from scholars as well as journalism organizations from around the world for information on how the site was designed.

How did DesignHammer perform from a project management standpoint?

What I loved about DesignHammer was that I could always reach the account manager within the day — I’ve worked with other website companies where it often took several days to get a response. The account manager was knowledgeable about what could and couldn’t be done, and when he didn’t know the answer, he said he’d get back to me, which he always did within a couple of hours.  

They always provided estimates on how long tasks were going to take. If they ran into problems, they immediately sent an email and let me know about the delay.

What did you find most impressive about them?

Their responsiveness and attentiveness were impressive. The team was responsive when I let them know I wanted to change directions or came across a problem. They were attentive to all details, even those I had overlooked, and to what we were trying to accomplish.

I didn’t experience any turnover at DesignHammer; I dealt with the same people. They cared about the project, which is fairly unusual for web design companies. They wanted to understand what we were trying to accomplish and then suggest improvements. I went into the project with a vision and a notion of what template I wanted to use, and they were very good at figuring out how to make that template work.

Are there any areas they could improve?

I’ve had a lot of experience with web designers during my time in academia and prior to that when I was in journalism. I can’t think of anything that I would suggest DesignHammer do differently. I was delighted that we didn’t have to spend a lot of money to get really excellent service from a web design company. Service really is the name of the game, and they provided it in an outstanding way.

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

Establish what you want to accomplish, and listen to their feedback. Feel free from the first day to add qualifiers or make counter suggestions on how to solve a problem.

Introduce your business and what you do there.

My current organization is Etix. We’re a ticketing software provider for entertainment venues. We work with everyone from Smithsonian Museums to small, haunted houses. We have a cloud-based platform that’s been around for 20 years. I’m the director of marketing. I oversee a product marketing team and a client marketing team. The former helps market our products to customers and the latter works one-on-one with our clients to help them sell tickets via our platform.

What challenge were you trying to address with DesignHammer?

We were working with another company for our website but when they went under a few of their resources formed DesignHammer.

What was the scope of their involvement?

I’ve worked with them on professional websites for a series of organizations I’ve worked for.

What is the team composition?

I’ve worked with David (Managing Partner), Frank (Partner), and Robert (Partner) from the beginning.

How did you come to work with DesignHammer?

I’ve known them for about 20 years. I was the director of media operations for a minor league baseball team in North Carolina. It was a pretty big brand, and people were just starting to understand the power of websites back then in 1999/2000. We were pleased with their work up to that point, as we were streaming broadcasts and putting forth a unified brand when a lot of other organizations weren’t. I started working with them when I started my next job as well.

What is the status of this engagement?

Their work with Etix, my current organization, ran between June and September 2016.

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

The fact that I’ve worked with DesignHammer throughout my 20-year career speaks to their quality. They’re dependable and honest and their process and prices and deliver exactly what they say they will. Overall, they’re great people to work with.

How did DesignHammer perform from a project management standpoint?

They’re the best I’ve ever worked with. We have kick-off meetings in-person but they work very well remotely.

What did you find most impressive about them?

The highlight of working with them was when I worked for a nonprofit and they worked really well inside our tight budget. We had great conversations about the scope and they worked with me to keep us inside our budget and provide a product that made me happy.

Are there any areas they could improve?

I honestly can’t think of anything.

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

20 years into a marketing career, I feel like a lot of companies have a great sales process but not many can back it up with good people and good work. DesignHammer has been able to back up everything, though. They haven’t missed a deadline or gone over budget once.

Introduce your business and what you do there.

When I worked with DesignHammer, I was the CCO at a global IT service provider focused in the ERP space and specifically SAP We hosted and managed customer information and critical ERP applications.

Our company had our own data centers and provided infrastructure and technical administration of SAP applications for Fortune 500 companies pretty much 24/7. I was responsible for all the commercial elements, including sales, marketing, solution architects, pre-sales, and customer management.

What challenge were you trying to address with DesignHammer?

We were a privately held organization within a parent company that had a very large and diverse product portfolio. We were growing, but nearly to the extent that we wanted to be, so we brought them on to help us develop a web presence that reflected the values, culture, and quality of services that we offered.

What was the scope of their involvement?

I have the overall vision of what we wanted, specifically stipulating that we wanted the final product to be clean and easy to navigate all the products and services we were offering. Once that was outlined, they pretty much took over the design and development from there using WordPress to build the site itself.

What is the team composition?

There were about 3–4 people on their team in communication with us throughout the work.

How did you come to work with DesignHammer?

Initially, we found them through a web search. We liked that they were local, and were impressed by the look and performance of their own website so we decided to move forward with them from there.

How much have you invested with them?

The total cost of the project was about $50,000.

What is the status of this engagement?

We worked with them from around October 2016–January 2017.

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

They were able to turn around the project in a very short period of time, and our lead pipeline saw direct increases almost immediately after we launched. We were able to put together a pretty comprehensive digital marketing strategy directing people to the new website, and it served as a great landing pad for all of the traffic that we were gaining and turning that into new contract value.

How did DesignHammer perform from a project management standpoint?

Their team was diligent, flexible where we needed them to be, and incredibly professional in navigating the politics of our own organization. We really appreciated their ability to work with us no matter what they need was in order to deliver exactly what we were looking for.

What did you find most impressive about them?

We were fielding a large number of additional requests, additions, and changes from further up in the organization, and their ability to react quickly to changes and incorporate everything thrown their way was really impressive. They were always responsive to us, so we never had to wait to know if something was going to get resolved quickly or not.

Are there any areas they could improve?

No major constructive criticisms come to mind. I’m definitely going to be working with them again in the future.

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

Know what you want to do when you start the engagement because they can create something that looks nice, but it’s going to be really outstanding if it reflects your voice and is personal to your company.

Introduce your business and what you do there.

We are a research and consulting company in the pharma industry. I am the director of marketing and communications.

What challenge were you trying to address with DesignHammer?

They handled the design and development of our website.

What was the scope of their involvement?

We have a database for one of our specific products that has to contain a lot of business information, and we wanted to be able to use the information collected there and display it dynamically on the site, so that was the main deliverable that they focused on at first.

Since then, we’ve worked with them on a wide array of projects, including basic hosting and ongoing development of the site, the build of a web app that we used at trade shows for a few years, and general consultation on decisions relating to our suite of digital properties.

What is the team composition?

We have one main point of contact with them, as well as a designer who handles the UI/UX design. Between the two of them, they handle the bulk of the work, and bring a few other teammates in on specific projects whenever they need to. We also have an account manager, but they are not as involved directly with the work unless we are changing projects or services.

How did you come to work with DesignHammer?

They have been working with our team since long before I joined the team, but I know that they had one of the more competitive offers on our RFP and were appealing in part as well because of their proximity to our offices. We liked the idea of being able to sit down and discuss things face-to-face, so we decided to go with their team.

How much have you invested with them?

We’ve spent somewhere in the $150,000–$200,000 range.

What is the status of this engagement?

They were first brought on to develop the website around October 2013, and we have continued to work with them across a variety of projects since then.

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

Their work has been able both to satisfy our goals in term of the content that we wanted represented on our website and the capability to continuously update it as well as to deliver huge increases in traffic and leads that we were gaining across all of the site’s analytics. Having the dynamic representation of all of that information was important to us, but it also turned out to be way more valuable to our current and potential customers than we could ever have imagined.

On top of that, they have worked hard since the site first launched to continue adding features and making the site easier to use, which we’ve really appreciated. They have supported us in our growth over the years, and never taken our business for granted or stayed complacent with the state of the site when there was anything they could still research or improve.

How did DesignHammer perform from a project management standpoint?

They do an excellent job of managing the relationship. If there’s ever anything that doesn’t go according to plan, it’s because of us. We’ve been really impressed by their commitment to sitting down and talking through every project plan, and then keeping us to the timelines we decide on and communicating about any deviation that we experience from there.

They provide an online interface where we can go to log any issues that we have and keep track of requests, so we never have to wonder what the status of a specific project is. They often come to us to ask how things are going or to let us know about issues that they are already working on that we didn’t even catch.

What did you find most impressive about them?

Their whole team is highly collaborative and does a great of understanding what you’re trying to accomplish. They let your core business goals be the driving force of their approach to each individual problem, and I think that goes a long way in getting us better quality solutions over the course of a long engagement like this one.

Are there any areas they could improve?

I think the biggest challenge we have is just that our developer is only one guy. Everything he does is fantastic, but there have occasionally been perfect storms where it was hard to schedule everything that needed to be fixed because we only had so much capacity. That’s never been a big inhibitor for us, but there is a bit of recognition that we really rely on him for quite a bit.

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

This is a little bit true no matter who you work with, but be realistic about what your own time frames and processes are. That way you can make sure you’re providing them with everything they need to deliver their services to you.

That includes communication, especially early on in the engagement, and making sure that the right people are on the frontlines so that you’re always moving forward.

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m the senior director of live events and marketing at the Carolina Theatre of Durham which is a management organization and nonprofit that manages the historic Carolina Theatre in downtown Durham, North Carolina.

What challenge were you trying to address with DesignHammer?

DesignHammer developed our Drupal website back in 2012 and they are currently working on relaunching our website.

What was the scope of their involvement?

We were looking to get off the Drupal platform and move to WordPress and they were able to come in and get the project launched. We originally selected a different vendor to do the design but as we got deeper into the process we needed to look elsewhere to make sure we could launch the site and DesignHammer stepped right in. They were able to take everything we had done previously and make it completely functional and work to our exact specifications. We continue to work with them for hosting and maintenance for a lot of our web services. They came in and did a code audit, made some fixes, and implemented design functionality. 

What is the team composition?

I’ve communicated with four different people from their team.

How did you come to work with DesignHammer?

After choosing WordPress as the platform we wanted, we had a vendor selection process.

How much have you invested with them?

We’re well over the $25,000 threshold and that is divided among different areas including the monthly retainer for maintenance and hosting.

What is the status of this engagement?

We began working together in December of 2012 and the collaboration is currently ongoing.

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

For all of the work that they’ve done, we’ve had minimal complaints and queries about the changes implemented, and we have a lot of different types of users, which really speaks to the usability of the site. This tells me that the functionality, design, and experience have all been very good. 

We launched the site in June and their work has been a way for us to present a really clean and fresh look with improved functionality and responsiveness to our audience in the middle of this pandemic. Projects like this were able to be addressed because of DesignHammer. Back in 2012, they started thinking in advance about mobilizing our site and that is exactly what we’ve needed during this time because now our mobile traffic is more than 60% of our overall traffic.

How did DesignHammer perform from a project management standpoint?

Their project management has been great; they’re very responsive. DesignHammer is quick to make any fixes needed and clean up code. They created a seamless and easy workflow resulting in no errors.

What did you find most impressive about them?

They made excellent suggestions that got us to a point where we were comfortable launching the site. They understand what our needs are and are able to really iron that out, and for not being in a performing arts business model, I think it speaks to their effectiveness. The bulk of this work was done in a virtual setting which is very impressive. Because of the setting, everything could have turned out much differently but it didn’t because of DesignHammer’s close attention to detail and the work they put into it.

Are there any areas they could improve?

No, I can’t think of anything.

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

Know your own organization and what you need to ask them to deliver.

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m the CEO of an organization that provides education and resources to the 501(c)(6) associations in the state of North Carolina. 

What challenge were you trying to address with DesignHammer?

We wanted to be able to better understand our web traffic and figure out how to improve engagement with our site. Specifically, we needed to increase attendance at conferences and events, which members register for online. 

What was the scope of their involvement?

DesignHammer helped us collect and analyze our website analytics so that we could figure out what areas needed to be improved. They provided recommendations to us based on their findings, such as the bounce rate of certain pages. Based on this information, we restructured our site to make it more user friendly and easier to navigate. This involved reorganizing and removing content from the site. 

What is the team composition?

Our main points of contact were David (Managing Partner) and Stephen (Account Manager). 

How did you come to work with DesignHammer?

They are members of our association, so I had come to know them over time. After discussing their business alongside what I needed for the site, we decided to work together. 

What is the status of this engagement?

We started working together in early 2019, and the engagement is ongoing. 

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

They’ve been a tremendous partner, continuing to work with us as our business evolves. The team has been phenomenal. 

How did DesignHammer perform from a project management standpoint?

They’re as good as anyone I’ve ever worked with. They spent a lot of time understanding our company, so they can provide the best solutions. Their work is very thorough. 

Occasionally, we meet in person, but most of the time we talk over the phone or via email. 

What did you find most impressive about them?

They’re unique in their ability and desire to understand us. Many other consultants don’t spend as much time seeking to understand the businesses they work with. The team is kind, responsive, and detail-oriented. 

Are there any areas they could improve?

No. 

Do you have any advice for potential customers? 

It’s important to be engaged with them. You’ll quickly understand the depth of their knowledge and the care they have for their customers. I highly recommend working with them. 

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m the group creative operations director at a digital content marketing agency that works with B2B technology companies. 

What challenge were you trying to address with DesignHammer?

We’ve been working with them for four years. Originally we engaged with them because we had multiple enterprise-level Drupal websites that we were working on for our clients. It wasn’t an in-house skill that we had, so we hired DesignHammer to assist us.

What was the scope of their involvement?

After completing the Drupal sites, they then began helping us with a variety of other projects, including simple ones, such as creating a traditional landing page, or complex ones, such as developing an assessment ROI calculator. 

The most recent project they’ve worked on is building an open-source, web-based, Angular app from scratch that utilizes our client’s API. It was a complex product so they had to figure out ways to build elements in a flexible and dynamic way, making necessary changes as the API changed. It was beyond our experience as a content marketing agency so DesignHammer set up everything and helped lead us in a lot of those conversations. 

Although they were more than capable, we ended up building the wireframes and design ourselves because we have the expertise and it was easier. They also write up specific, holistic project plans so that we know exactly what’s in the scope, what’s driving the cost, and what factors might jeopardize the budget and potentially require an uplift. We white-label some of the projects that we work on with them, and for others, we introduce them as our development partner. 

What is the team composition?

Regularly, we work with about six people from their team. Two of them are account managers and four of them, varying developers. 

How did you come to work with DesignHammer?

We were looking for someone to help us with the Drupal websites I mentioned earlier. After doing some research on Google, I found them and noticed that they were based out of Durham. I reached out to and interviewed them, along with three other companies. We ultimately chose to work with DesignHammer because they were local — we’re based in Raleigh — amongst other factors.

What is the status of this engagement?

We started working with them in June 2016 and our engagement is still ongoing. 

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

The project has been complex and challenging because the API is always changing, but DesignHammer has been able to make adjustments on the fly. The team has also spent a lot of time on the code. We feel comfortable with them and we even let them talk to clients directly if needed, so we don’t have to be the middleman.

How did DesignHammer perform from a project management standpoint?

They’re really good at pivoting when needed or communicating when a pivot needs to occur. The team is also always open to discussing how certain changes will impact the project timeline and whether we should prioritize any of them. A lot of the time, we don’t work in the agile method, although I know they can. They haven’t missed a deadline, at least not one that they haven’t told us about in advance. 

DesignHammer is also really good at explaining why something is running behind schedule, and it’s usually not because of them. Most of the time it’s out of their control. They’re always clear about what’s going on and give us thorough and constant project updates. Depending on the project size, they use an in-house project management tool that they built themselves years ago, and it works really well. 

What did you find most impressive about them?

Everyone on their team, from developers to account managers, is incredibly smart and wants to do good work. They’re easy to work with on top of also being open, communicative, and transparent. If they can’t take on work, they let us know. They don’t want to overload their own team and I respect that. That’s an important aspect when it comes to having a partner.

Are there any areas they could improve?

One of the things that has improved over the years, and will need continuous improvement, is their ability to work with an agency like ours. It can be difficult because, sometimes, clients don’t give us the information we need, and we also have very short timelines. DesignHammer was a little bit more used to running things a lot more black and white when they started. 

They’ve now learned to work with us to navigate the grey areas and understand that it’s inevitable, especially in the marketing world. As per their request, at least once a month, we discuss our relationship, instead of discussing the project, which I truly appreciate. I’d still like to see continued improvement in this area.

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

Bring them in early because they are a truly valuable asset. If not, they are also open to digging into the trenches to make sure that they do their research thoroughly so that they can do the work. They do this to make sure that you don’t run into any problems down the line.

Expect them to be planners and expect them to write up everything so that everybody is on the same page in terms of expectations. Sometimes that can be overwhelming, but, if you trust their process, it’ll work out.