Illustratebyme.com

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m the director of marketing and new business for a custom software and app development firm. Our headquarters is in Louisville, Kentucky. 

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with Illustratebyme.com?

Right before the COVID-19 pandemic, our entire company planned to get our headshots done. We scheduled it for April 2020, but it didn’t happen. At that time, we were expanding our workforce; we were hiring people not only to work in our offices but also remotely anywhere across the US. We didn’t have a way to get our headshots done because of the hybrid model we’d adopted. 

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

Illustratebyme.com provided us with custom-drawn headshots. Thomas (Sales Executive) asked for the colors we wanted in hexadecimal form. Then, we gave them headshots or photos of the people that needed the avatars. He took those photos and created animated headshots while using our company’s brand colors on the background.

What is the team composition?

We only worked with Thomas, who was a sales associate and a designer.

How did you come to work with Illustratebyme.com?

In early March 2022, I got a call from Thomas. He said that a lot of companies had the same issue as us. He offered to create avatars for us, saying they’d done it for many other companies. It was similar to what we had planned, which was to have our people draw stick figures of themselves as headshots. That was how our engagement with Illustratebyme.com started.

How much have you invested with them?

We spent $1,500. 

What is the status of this engagement?

The engagement lasted from March–May 2022. 

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

The illustrations went fairly well. I liked my avatar, though some people on our team didn’t like them that much. They said the avatars didn’t exactly look like them. However, that was likely because we decided to go with one style for all of our avatars, and some people didn’t like the style. 

How did Illustratebyme.com perform from a project management standpoint?

Illustratebyme.com’s communication was good. When I sent them emails, Thomas emailed me back fairly quickly. 

In terms of tools, we received files in Adobe Illustrator format so that we could make changes to them if needed. They uploaded the avatars via Google Drive. For payments, they used a tool called Secure.Checkout. We mainly communicated via email. 

What did you find most impressive about them?

The quality of their work was good. Though some of our teammates didn’t think the avatars looked like them, I thought they were pretty accurate. Moreover, since Illustratebyme.com had many different designers on their team, we could also choose from many styles. 

Are there any areas they could improve?

The clarity of communication could improve. Since we communicated only by email, things got confusing. Our emails had up to 46 messages in one thread. Finding information, finalizing project details, and keeping track of things were a little confusing. Other than that, everything went well. 

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

When you submit headshots or photos, make sure you like how you look in them. Illustratebyme.com will recreate the photos accurately, so don’t just submit any photo you have.