Halfsquare Designs

Please describe your company and your position there.

Vintage Peony is York Region's local stockist of Annie Sloan Chalk Paint™. We proudly carry a wide selection of Annie Sloan paints, waxes, finishes, brushes, tools and stencils.

You can find everything you need for your next project in one stop! Vintage Peony also offers a variety of workshops, beautifully painted furniture, gifts, home decor, and vintage and antique finds. I am the owner

For what projects/services did your company hire Halfsquare Designs?

We asked Halfsquare Designs to move our website from one platform to another in order to be able to sell and advertise our products and services through Social platforms.

What were your goals for this project?

We wanted to be able to promote products on Facebook and Instagram and give the customers a direct link to our website and the products.

How did you select Halfsquare Designs?

Halfsquare has years of experience in the project i was looking to have done.

Describe the project in detail.

Move current website from one platform to a new platform. Connect all products and services to Facebook and Instagram platforms.

What was the team composition?

2 team members worked on our project.

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

The project was completed in a month. We have had great results having our website connected to Facebook and Instagram. It has resulted in direct sales from social platforms and saved us time answering customers inquiries about our products they can get the info by simply clicking on the picture.

How effective was the workflow between your team and theirs?

Very effective.

What did you find most impressive about this company?

I was impressed with the knowledge the team had and the speed of the project. It was a collaborative and positive experience. I would certainly engage with this company again.

Are there any areas for improvement?

No i don't think so.

Please describe your company and your position there.

I am an Event and Project Specialist with Fluid, a Toronto based event and fundraising agency that is founded on championing and partnering with Canadian nonprofits

For what projects/services did your company hire Halfsquare Designs, and what were your goals?

Initially our corporate site was hosted on WordPress but to make any changes we had to pay our previous web designer, whether the change was minor or major. Seeing that none of our team has extensive experience with web development, it was time to find a site that allowed us to easily make changes.

In addition, since we launched our corporate site 5 years ago, we felt it was time for a rebrand to better represent the changes in our business model.

How did you select Halfsquare Designs and what were the deciding factors?

Having previously worked with Halfsquare Design on numerous projects, we knew Melissa would be the perfect fit in helping bring our new website to life.

Describe the scope of work in detail, including the project steps, key deliverables, and technologies used.

Some of the key pieces in the scope of work for our new website included a pop up contact us button, more creative that represented the services we offer and the clients we work with.

We wanted the site to be professional, easy to navigate and a reflection of our brand.

To kick-off the website development, our team created a brief that outlined content and creative requirements that was reviewed during our first meeting. With a quick turnaround time, Melissa produced the first version of the site on our new website platform SquareSpace. Following we had a few more follow up meetings to make any additional tweaks.

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

One. Melissa was the project manager and the web designer. She's a rockstar!

Can you share any measurable outcomes of the project or general feedback about the deliverables?

After we launched the rebranded website, we've heard great feedback from clients and friends on the new design and the brand consistency we have no created across all platforms.

We have received quite a few new business leads through our new contact us pop up button as well.

Describe their project management style, including communication tools and timelines.

We had regular communication with Melissa over email and Google hangouts where she provided status updates on the site and any follow up questions. We also had a few status meetings to ensure our visions were aligned.

After the site launched, Melissa also provided a full website training package for our team to ensure we can now easily access the backend of the site and make edits accordingly.

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

Melissa gave us a professionally redesigned website that made our lives easier when it came to editing and making revisions. The handover process was done with a full training of the SquareSpace platform.

Beyond the training, we were also provided with a training package for us to reference in the future. Even with our quick turnaround request, Melissa was wonderful to work with!

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

None!

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m the CFO of Verona Health Solutions Inc. We manufacture all-natural animal health products. I do HR and handle all the financial reports.

What challenge were you trying to address with Halfsquare Designs?

We brought them on to handle our marketing and content program. Our team decided we wanted to have a third-party provider instead of employing a full-time individual to handle our social media, design, and marketing.

What was the scope of their involvement?

When we started, Halfsquare Designs helped us establish our social media content and channels. Our social media was all over the place and they helped us bring everything together to have a consistent design among all our channels. They also made sure we had consistent content and contributors.

The Halfsquare Designs team helped us narrow down what the deliverables should be. Along the way, they’ve helped us with the design of our marketing materials. That includes brochures, feeding charts, and handouts. They send the files directly to the printer.

What is the team composition?

We work with two individuals.

How did you come to work with Halfsquare Designs?

I had met Melissa (Founder) previously. I was familiar with her social media channels so I knew she was creative and artistic. She has had 20 years of experience in the marketing industry and studied design in school. When she said she was available, the engagement naturally evolved because we were both a good fit for the other.

How much have you invested with them?

We’ve invested between $10,000–$30,000.

What is the status of this engagement?

Our ongoing engagement started in January 2019.

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

They act quickly on projects. We ran into a situation where we had our website design and hosting with another company and it went offline. We were unable to access our website and Halfsquare Designs was able to get it up and running within a day. We were really happy with how quickly they acted and made it a priority.

How did Halfsquare Designs perform from a project management standpoint?

They’re always giving recommendations as far as other programs we can use. Their team is organized and always delivers on time. When we choose a date or goal, they meet expectations.

What did you find most impressive about them?

They make the time to understand the project from the get-go. Halfsquare Designs is open to feedback. As we go through a project, they regularly check-in and make the time to handle any adjustments. There are no limits on how many drafts we can do; we go until we get it right.

Are there any areas they could improve?

No, nothing comes to mind. They’ve achieved everything we’ve thrown at them.

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

From the start, know what your expectations are and what you’re looking for. Take the time to discover those with Halfsquare Designs. They’re great at structuring what needs to happen and what the deliverables are.

Please describe your company and your position there.

Y&A Distribution is a wholesale distributor of alcohol products and accessories throughout North America.

For what projects/services did your company hire Halfsquare Designs?

We hired Halfsquare to design and develop our company website and assist with the development of our marketing materials.

What were your goals for this project?

We required a dynamic website that would encompass inventory management and e-commerce functionality - that would aid in business development and marketing initiatives.

How did you select Halfsquare Designs?

We've worked with Halfsquare on previous projects and have always been happy with their work and expertise. They were referred to us by a mutual business associate.

Describe the project in detail.

We had many deep-dive discovery calls so that they could understand our company and business objectives. This allowed them to fully understand the scope of our requirements.

Halfsquare helped us further our brand development and also walk us through their strategy to develop a website that would enhance the customer journey. They went back multiple times to tweak our website until it was perfect!

What was the team composition?

They are a boutique agency and thus provide top notch project management and services. Ray acted as the project manager and consultant and Melissa's role was more in design and website development.

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

Outcomes: a beautiful, interactive website that showcases our vast inventory and achieves our business development objectives.

How effective was the workflow between your team and theirs?

Very effective and fluid. They moved at our pace but also was able to drive the project along in a timely manner.

What did you find most impressive about this company?

Ray and Melissa offered conceptual advice to better our requirements and processes.

Are there any areas for improvement?

N/A