Draward

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m the owner of Dynamic App Design. It’s a one-person company. I hire designers and developers.

What challenge were you trying to address with Draward?

I hired them to work on designs for my apps.

What was the scope of their involvement?

I initially hired them to design logos. Then, they built marketing materials for the business. Most recently, he’s been working on UI design and app design. We’ve been together for so long. In the beginning, it was formal processes with deliverables. Now, we go by hour and we work together so much. We have 13 apps we’ve worked on together.

Initially, they used Photoshop and Illustrator, but more recently he’s been working with Sigma.com. I typically provide the starting point, and they take it from there because I’m not a designer.

What is the team composition?

I exclusively worked with Alex (Senior Designer).

How did you come to work with Draward?

I found him on Upwork.com years ago. I’ve hired lots of designers over the years. But once I found him, I haven’t hired anyone else. He works so fast and the designs are always excellent — I can’t justify hiring anyone else.

How much have you invested with them?

I’ve probably invested around $30,000 by now.

What is the status of this engagement?

We partnered with them in January 2013. The relationship is ongoing.

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

We have 13 apps now published in the App Store, six of which have been featured by Apple. That’s a huge deal because there are millions of apps on the App Store. We’ve had close to 5,000,000 downloads over the years, and that’s a lot due to the design.

I have a camera app. I’ve been redesigning marketing slides in the App Store to see if I can attract more downloads. He came up with a great design that modernized it and showcased the app well. Sales increased by 40% just from that marginal change. You can’t measure everything when it relates to design, but if I didn’t have Alex I wouldn’t be as successful.

How did Draward perform from a project management standpoint?

We work on Skype, Google Docs, and Sigma.com. He works fast.

What did you find most impressive about them?

He gets really close to an amazing design in a first draft. Obviously, it still needs tweaking, but it’s always great. Other designers would give atrocious first drafts, not on the right track. Alex is always on the right track from the beginning.

Are there any areas they could improve?

No. I’m very lucky to have him.

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

Provide as much info as you can. The more information you can give, the better because he is going to be using it. He’ll use his own creativity, on top of that.