Erica Neubauer Design

Please describe your company and your position there.

I am the owner and founder of RatedReads.com, a book review website that gives ratings to books for content. I've run the site for 14 years and have more than 1800 reviews with ratings.

For what projects/services did your company hire Erica Neubauer Design?

The last time I had Rated Reads designed was in 2010, so it was far overdue for an update. It required a major overhaul in both how it looked and how it functioned.

I had heard a number of ideas from visitors over the years about what they would like to see the site be able to do, so we incorporated those ideas and others that I had to make it provide useful information and usability.

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

I searched online on various sites like Thumbtack and asked friends if they had recommendations. I found Erica after having an unsuccessful starting process with another designer. I knew this time she really *got* what I was wanting. She was professional, orderly, on time, and friendly.

Describe the project in detail and walk through the stages of the project.

We videoconferenced and talked about what I envisioned for the project and she told me what would be feasible. She sent me an initial page to tell her some basics about what I would like from the website. She told me about other sites that seemed to be similar in terms of what visitors would go to and enjoy, and their strong points.

She got to work right away on a mockup for the home page to show an overall design, and immediately I was really pleased with the way it looked. Contemporary, attractive, some whimsy, and really functional.

We talked next a lot about how to implement the functionality I aimed for: the main ways visitors would search on the site for books. She told me what she could do and then worked on that. I gave input about how it was working, which was great, and on some tweaks I thought would make it a bit more like what I pictured.

We touched base via email every week and would talk every few weeks. I had assignments to work on on my end. I did all I could to make the site do all I wanted it to do. In the last month, there was a lot of nitty-gritty. Some trial and error. Fixing details that weren't working quite as anticipated, for example. Tweaking!

Then we finally got to where we could set a launch date, and we were able to work together for a few weeks past that to make sure the site was functioning just as expected.

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

I really only recall working with Erica.

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

The site is really everything I wanted and more. Erica implemented some ideas of things I wouldn't have thought about. The site is beautiful, functional, very satisfying. I've gotten lots of good feedback. It's just night and day from the old and worn-out site.

How effective was the workflow between your team and theirs?

It was great. It was easy to get in touch; I like to write down ideas in email when they strike me, and Erica responded in a timely manner. I didn't expect responses over a weekend or on a couple of occasions when she told me precisely when she wouldn't be available. And that was just fine.

I knew exactly what to expect, and that's what matters to me.

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

I felt comfortable about really handing over the design to Erica. I had previously worked briefly with someone I didn't feel wowed by. I didn't really trust their designs and I had to give them lots of ideas and suggestions. But with Erica's team, I felt I could trust the team to come up with better design ideas than I had.  And she definitely delivered. Really talented, organized, professional, on time.

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

I can't really think of anything.

Introduce your business and what you do there.

Grace Episcopal Church is a historic church based in downtown Ocala, Florida, and that started in the late 1800s. I’m the church’s historian, and I’ve been a volunteer there for over 15 years. However, I’ve been a member for longer than that.

What challenge were you trying to address with Erica Neubauer Design?

We’ve had a printed newsletter for a long time that we hand out in our church and mail out, and we’ve had different people in charge of doing it at different times. The last lady in charge of the newsletter retired, so I was asked to take it over.

As I’m a regular at the church’s meetings, and I’ve written a few articles for the newsletter in the past, the rector thought that I would be the right person to take it over. However, he had a vision for it that was very different from what we had done in the past, so we engaged with Erica Neubauer Design to get help for its design.

What was the scope of their involvement?

For the first couple of months, Erica (Senior Graphic Designer) and I listened to the rector’s vision to take over and redesign the newsletter. During this process, he showed us different newsletters to describe what he wanted.

I had never done a newsletter before, nor had I worked with a graphic artist before, but Erica reassured me that it wouldn’t be a problem. She asked me to send her photos of the church for the design, which I already had anyway. The rector and I also made a list of possible articles that Erica used to put together and send newsletter samples to us, using our church’s branding colors.

Through an elimination process, considering the rector’s feedback, we kept iterating on the design until we reached what we wanted. For the next years, that was how our newsletter looked like.

What is the team composition?

I just worked with Erica.

How did you come to work with Erica Neubauer Design?

Erica was doing other work for the church at the time — and I think she still does — so I didn’t decide directly to work with her. The rector only told me that she would help us.

How much have you invested with them?

I don’t know this because I had nothing to do with the finances side of our engagement. I assume that Erica billed the church for her services, but I had no exposure to that part at all.

What is the status of this engagement?

We started working together sometime in 2015. It took a little bit of time to get started, as we were talking to the rector and trying to figure out what we would do. However, the first newsletter came out still in 2015. We kept producing newsletters until 2020 when we stopped because the church closed due to the pandemic.

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

Our newsletter ended up looking very good, and we received comments from the bishop in the diocese and other churches about it being really nice-looking. Erica had total control of how big the photos were, where they were placed, and how many were used, and she put everything together beautifully each month.

How did Erica Neubauer Design perform from a project management standpoint?

Erica was very easy to work with. If I didn’t have photos of something, she found them on the internet. We handled everything via email, and we talked on the phone occasionally.

We also had deadlines to meet because our goal was to publish the newsletter at the beginning of each month. We both knew the deadlines, and we collaborated to meet them and define our objectives for the next month. If she had some time constraints from working on other projects, we worked around them.

What did you find most impressive about them?

I hadn’t worked with other providers, so all this was new to me. However, I can say that Erica was incredibly creative, showing a talent for putting together articles and pictures very creatively. Additionally, she was great at working with schedules and calendar items.

Are there any areas they could improve?

There’s nothing I can think of that Erica should have improved. She did an outstanding job for us.

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

I can’t give any advice because I had no prior experience working with a designer.

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m the director of a nonprofit company called New Town Macon; I’m in charge of our placemaking activities, events, programming, and marketing.

What challenge were you trying to address with Erica Neubauer Design?

We needed help with web development and graphic design for our business. Our old site’s code is gnarly and hard to edit, so we also wanted to address that.

What was the scope of their involvement?

We’ve been working with Erica Neubauer Design for several years. Her tasks include designing our annual reports, which we give to our supporters and stakeholders. She helps us build strategic plan report cards and structures them in a way that effectively communicates what we’re trying to accomplish as an organization.

She also manages the new website she’s creating for us on WordPress and provides ongoing maintenance.

What is the team composition?

We’ve been working just with Erica (Owner).

How did you come to work with Erica Neubauer Design?

We were looking for someone who could develop an online tool for our organization. We worked with other providers on this, but it seemed like we couldn’t get it done correctly. We brought Erica casually and informally to look at where we were with the project. She saw what we lacked with the project, and she accomplished overnight what we had been trying to achieve with the other company. 

She’s brilliant and handled things well, so we decided on bringing her to this project. The site she’s creating tells the story of our organization and what we do. It also has microsites that function within our main site, like lending programs, commercial property finders, and other services.

How much have you invested with them?

We’ve spent around $4,000 with them so far.

What is the status of this engagement?

We started working on this project with her in October 2019, and the engagement is ongoing.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

Her reports for us genuinely express how we can accomplish our goals and strategic plans — her work is excellent, and I have no complaints. For us, the major success will be when the website gets done — from what I’ve seen on the backend of the site, it will make my life much easier with the quick edits function they’re developing.

How did Erica Neubauer Design perform from a project management standpoint?

She’s excellent; she’s responsive and delivers exactly what she promises. Additionally, she never misses a deadline. We meet a couple of months before working, develop the project’s timelines, and go through the content we’re going to manage. 

Erica’s also very organized and reaches out whenever we need to solve something, like the content for a particular page. She’s also checking in to check the progress of some processes to ensure we’re on time with the project’s progress — it’s a communicative partnership. 

In terms of tools, we use email to communicate with each other, and Google Docs and Dropbox to share files.

What did you find most impressive about them?

She’s knowledgeable about her work and never ceases to amaze me. Whenever I email her with an issue, she immediately figures out the problem and where it’s coming from. Erica gets in there with a creative approach to troubleshooting through good solutions.

Are there any areas they could improve?

I don’t think there’s anything they can improve on — she delivers exceptional results.

Please describe your company and your position there.

I am the Marketing Director for Adventure Cat Sailing, we offer tourism trips on sailing catamarans under the Golden Gate Bridge to 40,000 guests per year.

For what projects/services did your company hire Erica Neubauer Design?

Erica has an ongoing design/consulting role with us due to her talent and understanding of our industry and our business. She helps us with mainly website design and branding, but also all social media imaging and other visual branding needs in the digital and print mediums. Our latest project was revamping our entire website as part of a 30th anniversary refresh.

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

We worked with Erica on projects in the past, and she quickly understood the vision and the goals of our company. Once you work with Erica it's clear she is the choice.

Describe the project in detail and walk through the stages of the project.

We had a series of dialogue to figure out what areas of the website need the most attention, and what were the overall goals/vision for the project (we wanted to increase site speed specifically for example). From there Erica set up a test site and we exchanged ideas and critique back and forth as we worked on various sections of the site prior to going live.

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

We primarily worked with Erica.

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

Our site speed has stayed significantly higher, we have very positive comments on our site look/feel, and we can say it's driving traffic successfully through our online metrics.

How effective was the workflow between your team and theirs?

Erica is easy to get ahold of, open to new ideas and overall very accessible in the entire process.

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

They have the best blend of professional talent, creativity, and a positive attitude to work with! Erica has repeatedly helped smooth out design elements, generated fresh and new website looks, created consistent brand messaging, and she's always open to new ideas or collaborations along the way to get the job done right. You won't be disappointed, Erica is the real deal.

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

Nope!