FleetCreature

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

Actually, there are two organizations for which I’ve done work with FleetCreature. One is called Buddhist Geeks. That is a media, primarily podcast, organization that also puts on events and hosts a virtual training community. The current organization that I’m running is called Meditate.IO, and it’s similar. It’s an educational training platform, primarily virtual. We offer training on how to support people in learning how to train their minds in the digital age. In that organization I was the co-founder and director.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with FleetCreature?

The first project we did with them was when I was with Buddhist Geeks, and it was for a project called the Buddhist Geeks Dojo. With that project we were looking at how to integrate a smoother and more polished user experience into our virtual training community. Our goal was to augment and modify the platforms we were using, which were primarily Google based. FleetCreature worked with us to ascertain the best ways to achieve that goal, and they ended up also designing some graphics in order to execute on that improved user-experience flow.

Most recently I also worked with Mike Redmer when I was consulting for the new project, Meditate.IO. Mike ended up helping at the early stages of that project in terms of identifying and refining our understanding of our market, as well as our understanding of what the minimum viable product we were launching really was. He helped as a consultant on that project, bringing to the project a general business sense that was valuable to the startup.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

FleetCreature took a look at our prototype community and the whole user experience flow: from the time that someone signed up for the community, to the time they entered into the community, to seeing the events in the community, to joining in on a live event—all of those aspects of what happened inside the community space. FleetCreature reviewed all of that and offered suggestions on how to improve the process. That was one service—just general design consulting.

FleetCreature also recommended creating some custom graphics for each of the different shows that we had taking place inside of the community. They then ended up creating several graphics that represented the theme or the content of a particular show. They also designed some header graphics for our event pages in order to differentiate specific tiers or kinds of events. Some events were lead by Buddhist Geeks; other events were lead by facilitators (i.e., people who are training to host events); and then there were simply member-led events. FleetCreature ended up recommending a way of visually differentiating those types of events for the sake of clarity, and then they went on to design that graphic for us.

How did you come to work with FleetCreature?

I had done some work previously with Mike Redmer. We had done some work together on an app project called Rewire. On that project, I was actually the consultant—specifically, I served as a meditation consultant and, in that capacity, I had the opportunity to observe firsthand the skills he was developing in terms of user interface and design. When we were working on this project together, I remember thinking he would be a good person to tap because he had those skills. That’s how we came to work together.

How much have you invested with FleetCreature?

Each of the projects on which we’ve engaged with FleetCreature has required an investment of under $10,000.

What is the status of this engagement?

The Buddhist Geeks project took place in 2014. And I just finished up a consulting package with Mike in the last few months for Meditate.io.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

Could you share any evidence that would demonstrate the productivity, quality of work, or the impact of the engagement?

The most recent relevant metric would be that Mike helped us craft our minimum viable product and ended up turning it into a short online course. We’ve had 3,000 people join the course since we launched just a few months ago. That’s been a good metric. It’s been successful.

How did FleetCreature perform from a project management standpoint?

On the consulting end, obviously, I was dealing directly with Mike for everything. There wasn’t a whole lot of project management involved there. For the other project, however, he acted as the initial contact and helped with the initial design consulting, but then he pulled in his lead Art Design director and passed off some of the consulting and design work to him. Mike was involved at the beginning, as a creative force, and then backed off and handed things off as the project unfolded. That was smart.

What did you find most impressive about FleetCreature?

The companies that I’ve run are in a unique space, a meditation and mindfulness space. Because of that I would say it’s probably unique for a design agency like FleetCreature to have a deep background and knowledge in that area. I haven’t seen many, if any, that do. This knowledge is primarily because of Mike’s own background.

The other thing I’d say is that, since I’ve known Mike, he has always been rushing toward what’s emerging—in terms of the technology and thinking about what’s coming next. I know there are a lot of folks who do that, but it seems like he wants to be not just at the cutting edge but before the cutting edge, seeing what’s happening before it’s here. That’s something that is important to him. I suppose that’s why, as long as I’ve known him, he has—perhaps predictably—been on top of building apps, focusing on user experience, seeing block chain technologies coming around the corner—the latter of which I know is something he’s focused on now. That’s one way that I think he is unique, and it’s a special part of what makes Mike who he is—and what makes FleetCreature what it is.

Are there any areas FleetCreature could improve?

I haven’t really worked with Mike’s project team for a while. In the first project we worked on together, which was right when the company was started, there was perhaps some lack of clarity about who was responsible for which aspects of the project. It got clarified pretty quickly, and I think they figured out that part of their business. Again, that was a while ago. I imagine some things may have changed since then.