The Gradient

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m a product owner at a commercial bank in Ukraine. I’m in charge of implementing open banking. We work with retail and corporate clients and have different lines of products.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with The Gradient?

We needed support with the UI/UX design of our mobile app. Our goal was to incorporate open banking into our existing mobile application flow.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

We contacted The Gradient to provide knowledge and advice on the best approach for this product and service since the app addresses a specific financial topic using account information and payment initiation services. The Gradient provided a subject matter expert who understands UI and open banking. The app is internal, and The Gradient was responsible for building the designs, flows, and prototypes. 

The Gradient provided fully finished designs in Figma with all the needed descriptions and localization adjustments for white and black modes for iOS and Android. The Gradient delivered the design systems for our developers to build. The Gradient considered the different preferences of iOS and Android users. They knew where to put certain features and were able to guide us through the preferences of the target audience.

What is the team composition?

We worked with a UI product designer and a product strategist, who was the subject matter expert.

How did you come to work with The Gradient?

We already had a positive experience with The Gradient in the past. We had an ongoing contract with the team because they had recently relaunched our mobile app, so we decided to contact them again. Open banking was a new feature in Ukraine, so we wanted to work with a partner who could provide us with benchmarks and best practices. We met with The Gradient and described our needs and expectations. We provided high-level requirements, and after two weeks of consideration, The Gradient came back with a proposal.

How much have you invested with them?

We spent $33,000.

What is the status of this engagement?

We worked together from July–October 2024.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

The Gradient's subject matter expert was really valuable for us. I loved the quality of The Gradient's proposal; the visualization and content were perfect. The team understood what we wanted and our needs. I liked how The Gradient proposed to address the scope because they defined which core functionalities should go into the first release and what could be done later. The team addressed the scope well and professionally.

How did The Gradient perform from a project management standpoint?

The Gradient delivered everything on time and within budget. We worked in two-week sprints because we worked in the same mode, and The Gradient adjusted to our way of work. Our scope was divided into two big blocks. On the sprint's first day, we discussed topics and did the planning. During the first week of the sprint, we had a status meeting to check and sync work. For instance, we had a planning meeting on Thursdays and a checkup meeting on Tuesdays. We discussed the topics and goals for the two weeks and what would be delivered. On the following Tuesday, we had a final checkup to provide extra feedback, and on Thursday, we had a demo sprint to demonstrate the finished prototype.

We had three control points within the sprint where we could track what The Gradient was doing, see the preliminary results, and adjust if needed. After each sprint, the team emailed our internal project team summarizing what was done and providing links to Figma files.

We communicated through email and Microsoft Teams. We collaborated via Figma since The Gradient had access to our board due to our existing partnership. Due to our security policies, we couldn’t share tasks in Jira with external teams.
Are there any employees from the service provider's team that you would like to give a shout-out to in this review?

Sergei was a good facilitator, guiding hard topics and discussions during our meetings. He designed this new app in alignment with our existing app's design concept. Sergei provided a smooth customer experience. On the other hand, the designer was an expert and knew how to address the work quality properly. Both teammates kept a balance between hearing what we wanted and steering us away from things we didn't need based on their professional opinions.

What did you find most impressive about them?

The Gradient was an expert in mobile apps and knew the best approach to customer interaction. The Gradient delivered their expertise in a professional and diplomatic way. They were able to negotiate with us and had a strong position advocating for their vision while keeping in mind our requests. 

Additionally, The Gradient's design work was excellent. We have another mobile app for a different customer segment that wasn't designed by the team, and it was much worse. We plan to partner with The Gradient again next year.

Are there any areas they could improve?

There’s nothing I’d have The Gradient improve. I’d like them to extend their expertise to web design as well.

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

I suggest preparing a description of your requirements and demands to help you move forward efficiently. We did our homework and had written requirements. We understood what we wanted and what was mandatory and nice to have. Be strong in your position on what is best for you and your company. The Gradient is an expert and can propose best practices and ideas, but you need to be sure what is best for your company to ensure their design aligns with your company's.

I also recommend not being afraid to ask for things. We were demanding and asked The Gradient for two or three alternative scenarios, which helped us get the best outcome. Be ready to edit and develop all of their ideas. I advise splitting the project into MVP and later releases. Edit the ideas according to necessity, criticality, and the effort needed for development.

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m the CEO, CPO, head of board of directors, and owner of a fintech company.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with The Gradient?

We needed external support from an IT development team to create a prototype for our product.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

The Gradient provides UI/UX design and product strategy services for our company. We own sophisticated mathematical models and calculations that we deliver to clients as PDF reports and UIs. The Gradient helps us build UIs and reports to fulfill our clients' needs. The team also answers our clients' questions. The Gradient has created all the visual communication and UI for our company. We involve the team when we need to do conceptual work and UIs.

Our project consists of two blocks. On the first block, The Gradient has designed PDF reports from our handwritten notes and Microsoft Excel tables. On the second block, the team has designed a UI based on user use and lean methodologies for our next product. The Gradient uses Figma and Microsoft OpenAI Studio for some of the extensions and documents every single notion. 

What is the team composition?

We work with a product strategist, a product analyst, and a UI designer.

How did you come to work with The Gradient?

The Gradient was a referral from our IT development company. The Gradient had sufficient experience in fintech applications, especially in our core markets, like England and the Middle East. The team had designed complex applications, like trading applications for professional investors.

How much have you invested with them?

We’ve spent close to $50,000.

What is the status of this engagement?

We started working together in July 2023, and the engagement is ongoing.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

The project's primary success metric is our end clients' feedback, and all our customers mention that we have an amazing visual design when they see our products.

How did The Gradient perform from a project management standpoint?

The Gradient generally delivers work on time. The team is very responsive and agile. We mainly communicate through Slack, WhatsApp, and email.
Are there any employees from the service provider's team that you would like to give a shout-out to in this review?

I want to highlight Nazar's work.

What did you find most impressive about them?

The Gradient is super agile and skilled. The team delivers high-quality work at a good price, which is difficult to find. I'm impressed by the type of expertise the team has in small boutique companies, which can be expensive, price-wise, and very difficult to find in Ukraine. The Gradient's expertise is much more expensive in Switzerland and the UK, but it would be three times more expensive if I worked with a company from where I’m based. For me, as a startup, that is very important. The team is also very flexible in project setup and always makes themselves available on very short notice, which helps a lot.

Are there any areas they could improve?

There could be little improvements in terms of project management. When we had a big delivery, I mainly did the project management and scoping. However, this is still minor, and The Gradient's flexibility is much more important.

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

I recommend trusting The Gradient's expertise and process and having fun.

BACKGROUND

Please describe your company and position.

 I am the CMO, CBDO of a medical laboratory

Describe what your company does in a single sentence.

Medical Laboratory

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What specific goals or objectives did you hire The Gradient to accomplish?

• Digital Transformation

SOLUTION

How did you find The Gradient?

Referral

Why did you select The Gradient over others?

• Close to my geographic location
• Great culture fit
• Referred to me
• Company values aligned

How many teammates from The Gradient were assigned to this project?

2-5 Employees

Describe the scope of work in detail. Please include a summary of key deliverables.

• The Gradient worked on customer experience strategy as a part of a broader perspective of company’s digital transformation plans.
• They then conducted a JTBD-interviews to uncover consumers’ unsolved needs and carefully explained us principles of the methodology along with presenting insights from interviews.
• Afterwards, there were a couple of sessions to discuss competitors and benchmark analysis, which gave us knowledge of other players that we knew, however never looked close enough.
• As a result, the team presented their take on the strategy and, later during the project, strengthened it with the product concept of our company’s future.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

What were the measurable outcomes from the project that demonstrate progress or success?

As this is a strategic project, it is too early to evaluate, however it opened up array of new projects that we are working on right now and we already have clear vision and guidlines how and where to move. 
We are in possetion of plan of projects and guidline for their implementetion. 

Describe their project management. Did they deliver items on time? How did they respond to your needs?

The Gradient made sure to give highlights on the project progress. I can not tell that 100% of the project went absolutely smooth, however the agency did very well with managing all stakeholders while being laser-focused on getting to the end result. Project management was condacted skillfully and any delays was caused by need for better or further investigation for better result.

What was your primary form of communication with The Gradient?

Virtual Meeting

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

I would say this would be there willing to grow with each project as I was told that they changed some of the things after our project to make things more efficient. While from reviews and portfolio the agency seems like a good partner to build digital product, however we discovered a great partner to create a strategy and transform the company, which is more than a product. It was good example of when the agency was almoust integrated as part of the internal team.

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

In our opinion every thing where done good, but like in any project, in process new demands are arising and first "result of the project" descriprion can be more specified. However we needed speed to start the project more then precision planing so it was done good enought.

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m the co-founder and CPO at a startup. We’re building an investing app focused on the US market.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with The Gradient?

We needed help with customer research and digital product design.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

We initially arranged customer interviews and meetings with the agency. We interviewed many customers to understand the pain points. Then, we did a lot of prototyping and more customer interviews to show people the prototypes and see what they liked about them. Afterward, we talked with The Gradient to find a product approach that resonated with the customers. At that point, we started with mobile app design.

We’ve built more prototypes and called customers again to show them the different approaches to the mobile app and a few product iterations. The Gradient has assisted with product design and business logic. They’ve also introduced creative ideas for the product.

The mobile app’s frontend uses Flutter for both OS, and the backend uses Node.js and Python. The Gradient has provided detailed instructions for the internal development team to implement because the product must behave and interact as the product team designed it. 

What is the team composition?

We’ve worked with up to four teammates from The Gradient, but we usually have three people on the team.

How did you come to work with The Gradient?

I had experience working with them from my previous agency.

How much have you invested with them?

We’ve spent around $200,000 in this period.

What is the status of this engagement?

We started working with them in December 2022, and our relationship is ongoing.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

The app is already live and available for download in stores. So far, we’re happy about the user conversion. Users can start investing and putting money into their brokerage account almost immediately; they have to answer a lot of questions, but the process takes 5–10 minutes. Currently, around 15% of the users successfully go through the long onboarding process and fund their brokerage account, which is a high number for this industry.

How did The Gradient perform from a project management standpoint?

We’re happy with the deadlines. The Gradient uses an agile methodology. We try to move as fast as we can, but they’re also flexible. When we need to speed it up, they can add more designers.

We mainly use Figma and Notion for project management, but the tasks for the developers are posted into Jira.

Are there any employees from the service provider's team that you would like to give a shout-out to in this review?

Oleg (Founding Partner & Design Director) has led the project through the most important stages of the conceptualization of the product. He’s been highly involved in crucial design and product decisions.

Ruslan (Product Designer) is a strong designer. The visuals in the app are great; users love them.

Tania (Business Analyst) is the third piece of the team. She’s glued the project all together and has been crucial for its success.

What did you find most impressive about them?

The depth of their approach is impressive. They dive deep into the problem and become an expansion of the theme. Also, The Gradient is ready to innovate; they don’t limit themselves to the initial tasks we ask of them. The team always tries to figure out the best way to solve the problem.

Are there any areas they could improve?

I don’t think they could do anything differently. Nothing in particular comes to mind.

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

The Gradient works for people with a lot of flexibility and ownership of the product. As a startup founder, when you have an idea that you need to develop, you might not know the project’s boundaries. If you feel like ideating and creating something new, The Gradient is a perfect fit.

BACKGROUND

Please describe your company and position.

I am the Partner of a marketing company.

Describe what your company does in a single sentence.

We build and market business and consumer products.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What specific goals or objectives did you hire The Gradient to accomplish?

• Build UX/UI Flows For Mobile Apps
• Work With Developer To Develop Mobile Apps
• Analyze Business Opportunity And Conduct User Interviews

SOLUTION

How did you find The Gradient?

Clutch Site

Why did you select The Gradient over others?

• High ratings
• Pricing fit our budget
• Great culture fit
• Good value for cost

How many teammates from The Gradient were assigned to this project?

2-5 Employees

Describe the scope of work in detail. Please include a summary of key deliverables.

We contracted The Gradient to help us design a mobile app from scratch and to help work and communicate with our development team during the build.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

What were the measurable outcomes from the project that demonstrate progress or success?

Complete UX/UI designs for mobile app done and handed off to development team seamlessly. Designs were super polished, well documented, and looked excellent. Edge cases were carefully considered and accounted for.

Describe their project management. Did they deliver items on time? How did they respond to your needs?

Yes - this is the third project we've worked with The Gradient on and once again they've gone above and beyond our expectations. Items were delivered on time and communication was excellent throughout the entire process.

What was your primary form of communication with The Gradient?

• Virtual Meeting
• Email or Messaging App

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

Honestly, don't even know where to begin. Every touch point with The Gradient has been superb. We've worked on three projects with their team so far and every team member we engaged with was fantastic. Great attitude, excellent communication, highly skilled, and incredible attention to detail and organization. They really feel like a part of our internal team.

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

None

BACKGROUND

Please describe your company and your position there.

I’m a Co-founder and Chief Product Officer of Treeum. Treeum develops fintech products for the Ukrainian market.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

For what projects/services did your company hire The Gradient?

In 2021 we started working on a mobile app Multi Invest for investing in stocks, crypto and other assets, focused at first time investors. The challenge was to create an app that would make investments clear and accessible for beginners, as well as comply with regulatory requirements. We came to The Gradient for Product Design, with a strong focus on creating a good user experience.

SOLUTION

How did you select this vendor?

We held a tender in which 4 leading agencies in Ukraine participated. We chose The Gradient because of their impressive expertise in UX design, as well as their approach to cooperation with the development team. They created detailed documentation for developers, which significantly saved us time and effort on development.

Also, The Gradient has significant expertise and experience in the design of investment applications and products, and they were able to apply this experience as well as the best practices in working on our application.

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

The first stage of the project was creating wireframes of the future app and align them with regulatory requirements. The next important stage was creating design system and UI for the approved wireframes. The next step was product iterations based on the new input data from developers and making appropriate changes to the design and structure of the product.

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

The team from The Gradient consisted of the Founding Partner who oversaw the project, 2 product designers and a business analyst.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

Thanks to the detailed documentation by The Gradient team, our developers were able to implement their designs easily. As a result, Multi Invest app was successfully launched in the App Store and Google Play in February 2022 and has thousands of users.

How effective was the workflow between your team and theirs?

From the beginning of our cooperation, The Gradient team gave us a well structured plan for the project stages and always met the set deadlines. We had a very transparent project timeline and we could rely on the terms that were indicated by The Gradient. We were satisfied with the quality of communication with The Gradient team and we want to note that their team was very responsive and was sincerely involved in the project.

Our developers were especially pleased with the communication because they received not just a design, but a detailed description of all interactions in the interface and also quickly received answers to their questions that arose during the development of the product.

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

Firstly I want to note The Gradient's deep understanding of user experience and their love for users, their sincere interest in how to make user experience better.

The second thing I would like to note about the company is the involvement of The Gradient team in the overall process of working on the product and joint work with our product team, which also includes lawyers, marketers, copywriters, etc. That is, they were not only responsible for the design of the product, but were also a full-fledged part of the work on the product as a whole.

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

In retrospect, we would have started working with The Gradient earlier and with their expertise and assistance, we would have been able to bring the product to market faster.

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I am a product owner for Ukrsibbank, which is one of the biggest banks in Europe.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with The Gradient?

We hired The Gradient to help us with the UI/UX design of our mobile banking application, which was launched about 5–6 years ago. We wanted our app to have a new and modern look.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

The Gradient assigned some people to the project, then proceeded with improving the UI/UX design of our mobile application.

What is the team composition?

We worked with their UI/UX designer and managing partner.

How did you come to work with The Gradient?

We did an RFP and contacted about 10 companies. Afer that, one of our internal designers told us about The Gradient, saying we should include them in the process. Selecting the right company was very crucial, but we chose them because of their pricing and the quality of their work.

How much have you invested with them?

We spent less than $50,000 USD.

What is the status of this engagement?

We worked with them on this project from August 2021–June 2022.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

They delivered the expected results and were very accurate with their deliverables. Their creativity was good, too. Overall, I am very satisfied with the quality of their work.

How did The Gradient perform from a project management standpoint?

They mostly hit all the deadlines; there were only very few delays. They also worked in a systematic manner and always informed us if there were any problems.

What did you find most impressive about them?

I was most impressed with the accuracy of the materials they prepared and how well they respected our deadlines.

Are there any areas they could improve?

None — they were among the best agencies that I had ever worked with.

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

My advice is to make sure you establish a good agreement before starting the project.

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m the chief product architect for a research services company. I lead a development team that builds an interactive video application.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with The Gradient?

We were rebuilding our flagship web application. We’d just gone through an extensive revamp in our branding with a separate company, so we wanted a unique look that matched our brand.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

We initially engaged with The Gradient to help us with the redesign and some UX workflow reimagining. We asked them to tailor the design to our new brand look and feel. Also, they’ve done some user research from the ground up and helped us think through the application workflows.

What is the team composition?

We primarily work with a lead designer and Kate (Business Analyst), who’s sort of a project manager. Additionally, we’ve worked with one of the founders. He’s served as a project manager and a creative role for the project. 

How did you come to work with The Gradient?

We searched online. We had 5–6 companies worldwide to choose from for our redesign. In the end, we came to the unanimous decision that we wanted to work with The Gradient. Their work was excellent, their attitude was great, and the price was right.

How much have you invested with them?

We’ve spent over $100,000.

What is the status of this engagement?

We started working together in March 2021, and our relationship is ongoing.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

I don’t have any metrics to share right now because the project is still ongoing. However, they’ve saved us countless hours in internal design and redevelopment that we would’ve had to do if we hadn’t had their guidance.

How did The Gradient perform from a project management standpoint?

Project management has been excellent the whole time. Communication is fantastic, and they’re able to meet our priorities. We’ve been very happy with the way they’ve managed the project.

We primarily share a Notion workspace to track all the deliverables and open questions, and they use Miro for brainstorming. Also, they’ve slotted into our internal processes with Linear, which is similar to Jira. For communication, we do multiple Zoom calls per week and have shared channels on Slack. Our development team speaks directly with the designer to get questions answered, and we often brainstorm things before our Zoom calls.

What did you find most impressive about them?

They feel like they’re part of our team, which isn’t always the case with vendors. They’re totally invested in our project and excited to work on it. We've been really impressed with their ability to communicate with us and the quality of their work. Some of the other design vendors that we’ve worked with pale in comparison to what The Gradient has been able to deliver. They create refined, thoughtful design systems that make our development so much easier.

Are there any areas they could improve?

No, I don’t have anything.

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

Treat them as part of your team.

BACKGROUND

Please describe your company and your position there.

Our company is the leading non-banking financial group in Nigeria and with operations in Cote D'voire. We offer insurance (both Life and General), Asset Management, Pension Funds Administrations and Trust services with the group.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

For what projects/services did your company hire The Gradient?

Over time, we have had an increasing need for our clients to download multiple mobile applications to purchase products across our various businesses within the group and service these products, and thus, it was deemed necessary to consolidate all the businesses' applications into one mobile application. This birthed our company's Mobile Application design project. The aim is to give our clients the opportunity of interacting with a single application for all our products and services. The Gradient team were hired to design the UI/UX for this new consolidated app

SOLUTION

How did you select this vendor?

We have an RFP involving two international vendors upon which "The Gradient" was selected.

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

The project commenced with an introductory session with the vendor and the team. They then proceed to conduct intensive research, gathering industry reviews and information on our competitors (across all our businesses). From there, we had several sessions to review and understand the as-is customer journeys with the various business owners.

After this, we had several additional sessions to review additional features and improvements that are needed to improve the customer experience. The Gradient then proceeded to prototyping User Experience (UX) and these were reviewed severally with various business owners from global level (group level) to the individual business level. We spent around 7 months to land this project.

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

We worked directly with a team of 4 from "The Gradient" comprising of the founding partner, 1 business analyst and 2 product designers

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

The deliverables from the vendor were satisfactory. The UI/UX they provided will serve as the foundation to the development of the Mobile App that we will develop subsequently. We have conducted several reviews of their prototypes with our business leaders across the group and they were satisfied with the level and the quality of their work. The work reflects the major objective if this design project which was to simplify and improve existing customer journeys and also reduce friction on the user interfaces

How effective was the workflow between your team and theirs?

The business analyst was very easy to work and interact with regardless of the cultural and time zone differences. We had our sessions over Microsoft team which made communication easy and we were able to address all issues on the fly. Their team was highly dedicated to the project, and they were also quite resourceful. Their team was interesting and engaging to work with

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

Great leadership starting from their founding partner, to the rest of the team, their willingness to understand an industry they had zero knowledge about was something to reckon with. There was no doubt about their UI/UX capabilities from start to finish which saw us to execution. They were also available for sessions with short notice which speaks to their dedication to the project.

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

Enhance their knowledge of the insurance industry to provide them with the broader perspective.