Iris Creative Co.

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m the executive director of the Vibrant Village Foundation. We’re a private family foundation working to improve the health and well-being of communities around the world. We make grants to local organizations and operate three field offices in Kenya, Ghana, and Ecuador.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with Iris Creative Co.?

Our website was out of date. We wanted it to accurately reflect the change in our strategic direction and capture the look and feel of the foundation. The site needed to be easily manageable because we don’t have a full-time communications person.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

We had one or two in-person meetings where I shared the mock-ups I designed and Iris Creative took the project from there. We knew how we wanted the UI/UX, so there wasn’t much of exploration process. They came in to execute our vision. We also wanted icons to reflect the sectors we work in. This was an area that Brandon (Principal & Creative Director, Iris Creative Co.) took the lead on. He ultimately developed custom icons that work well for us. They designed everything and built out the site using Craft CMS. Currently, they take care of backend security and are available to help with more substantial updates.

What is the team composition?

We worked directly with Brandon. He worked with other people on the backend, but we weren’t in contact with them.

How did you come to work with Iris Creative Co.?

I was referred to a local agency, but they were out of our price range. I asked them for recommendations and Iris Creative was their first suggestion.

How much have you invested in them?

We spent around $4,000.

What is the status of this engagement?

The redesign took place from September–December 2017.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

Everyone seems to love the new website. Its modern UI/UX and bright photos are reflective of our spirit. We had a lot of information on our old site that bogged things down. Now, the design and functionalities are much more streamlined.

How did Iris Creative Co. perform from a project management standpoint?

Brandon was laid back, easy to work with, and delivered on everything we asked for. He went above and beyond the initial scope of work with the time he put into designing the icons. Aside from a couple of in-person meetings, we mostly communicated through email. We also used a project management platform to handle the day-to-day work and deliver content revisions. Overall, they were fantastic.

What did you find most impressive about them?

Brandon understood us as well as our aesthetic. Based on that foundational understanding and effective communication, he was able to deliver what we wanted.

Are there any areas they could improve?

We only interacted with Brandon and I was the sole contact on our side. As a result, I can’t speak to how he performs within a bigger team process. I’d test that out before engaging in a long-term project that requires more team involvement.

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

Make sure you have an in-person meeting and note how well communication goes. We did a lot of the process internally which saved both time and money. If you can write the copy beforehand, the design and development process will go quickly.

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I am the Founder and President of a small, boutique intellectual property law firm. 

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with Iris?

We were trying to update our website. I had started the firm as a sole practitioner and I had designed the original website to reflect that. As the team grew, I have not had an opportunity to update the website. We added people on the website, but the content didn't reflect that we were a growing organization. I wanted to show that with a better, more updated and modern website.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

It's a little complicated because when we were working with Iris Creative, they were partnering with another firm called Conveyor. Between the two outfits, they did a great job. They interviewed a number of our clients and found out information from them about what our strengths are as a firm and why they like to work with us. They were able to incorporate some of that information directly, but some of it is just their understanding of what kind of content would be helpful.

With all of that information, they put a lot of time and effort into developing the content, getting great photography done of our clients and of ourselves, and putting all of that together, which is an amazing feat, to represent what we are as a firm. I was very pleased with the whole process. What we have now is a website that is really representative of what's important about our firm.

They did everything from scratch, which was phenomenal. They would give us drafts of the website, both the written content and the visual design. We would give comments back as to what we liked and didn't like, and they gave us possibilities as far as colors and different things like that. They did everything from scratch, which was terrific because that's definitely not our strength. We ended up with a new logo, branding, advice on how to use our branding, et cetera.

How did you come to work with Iris?

I found them through a very good friend of mine who is a professional photographer and has worked with Iris Creative. 

How much have you invested with them?

We've spent about $20,000 total with them.

What is the status of this engagement?

We started working with them in April 2016. We ended up launching the website in September 2016, and our engagement with them ended at the same time.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

We've had a lot of positive feedback. People really like the format of the website, find it easy to navigate, and think it looks really modern and great. What some of our clients have said is that they really liked the case studies.

How did Iris perform from a project management standpoint?

Good. It was all very organized. They kept things moving and if there were any flips in the timeline, it was more on our end. We did not use face-to-face communication because we're at a distance from them. We did either email or occasionally phone. They often used GoToMeeting or some kind of video conferencing as well.

What did you find most impressive about them?

They were very closely involved. It was not anything where we were left to fend for ourselves. They really did a lot of handholding through the whole process, which was great. That was something our team really needed.

Are there any areas they could improve?

No. I can't think of anything in particular.

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I am the Director of Cloud Marketing, from a global perspective, for Westcon Group. We are an IT distributor that is located in 170 countries with almost 30 logistics facilities worldwide.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with Iris Creative?

I've been working with Iris for quite some time. I find that they have an understanding of the business in which we work in, have a really nice eye for design and are creative. In addition, they help me with problem-solving. I may not anticipate everything involved in the campaign and they are proactive in helping me identify certain things and a workaround.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

I get them involved at a very early stage, from a first idea and brainstorming through to completion. I give them everything that I can like print, webpage development, responsive email design, etc. We've worked on e-books together, brochures, event collateral, we've even done some booth design. They're my go to for design work.

We've done some pretty creative things with regard to the Skype for business product and UCC [Unified Communications and Collaboration] market, that's where we got an e-book and did some creative marketing. They've also been helping me host events on behalf of Microsoft. This is where they've worked with me on e-mails, the registration forms, and even webpages in different languages.

We are also working on what we're calling a “fast start” portal. Iris Creative helped me design and build a website that speeds up the time of adoption when customers want to sell Microsoft products, such as Office 365, to their customers or the consumer of the product and are new to us. It gets the customer who's not familiar with Westcon-Comstor or is not quite sure how to go about navigating the Microsoft world, a fast path to figuring that out. There are a lot of materials, resources and learning aids.

Another thing that I'm really proud of that we've worked on together was a section of our website called “Cloud insight”. It's global in nature, so we're working on getting it translated into seven major languages now. Iris was really helpful in getting the keystone pieces ready for market consumption. They're absolutely beautiful, stunning and I love them. I can't wait to get them in all of their languages and into the hands of our customers.

What is the team dynamic?

I don’t know the size of the team, and I'm okay with that as long as I have one main point of contact that I trust.

How did you come to work with Iris Creative?

I knew Brandon [CEO, Iris Creative] before Iris Creative was Iris Creative.

How much have you invested with them?

I am planning to invest $35,000 this year, the price is a bit more than the previous year.

What is the status of this engagement?

I have been working with the Iris Creative team since January 2015 and our work is still ongoing.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

I get a lot of positive feedback, especially on the creative insight project. Again, absolutely fantastic work from them, hands down probably some of the best anybody has ever seen us put out, with regards to responsiveness.

Unfortunately, we have not invested a lot in Google Analytics or any sort of tracking mechanism. I also don’t actually deliver the materials on a local level, those are owned by the regional marketing managers.  

The best metric I can share is for our email work, we have a 10%-33% open rate. Some emails knock it out of the park and the message is right. When it doesn't, it could be the wrong list or copyrighting, it's not a matter of design. Iris is very good with the design and Brandon does ensure that things are built for all mobile platforms.

How did Iris Creative perform from a project management standpoint?

I think they do well. They are available for a regular cadence call if you need details on scope of work, they're more than happy to provide that. They are very communicative and open, you just have to understand that if you're on the East Coast and they're on West Coast the time difference. We often make decisions over text phone email, whatever works best.

What did you find most impressive about them?

I think what makes them stand out is that they're continually very passionate about the marketing that they do. You can tell that they're always learning and working on education of new styles, and staying up-to-date on what's new. They're very adaptable and flexible to changes within the marketing industry.

What makes it fun to work with them is that they're willing to push boundaries. If you have the desire to be creative and inventive then they are the right team for you.

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I am the owner of a digital marketing agency.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with Iris Creative?

We needed design help. We’re programmers and strategy implementers and we did not have any design talent.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

For three projects with an orthodontics office, a bakery, and a credit reporting agency, they helped with branding, website design, and copy. We built all websites from scratch, using Laravel, a PHP framework.

For the website design projects, in particular, we would come up with strategy, ideas for content, and what would go where. I would present our future plan for the project, team, and the goals for the client. Then we would have a discussion with Iris Creative about how those goals could be met and what design could help. They’d also give feedback and suggest changes.

The process was similar to branding projects. I would meet with the clients first and discuss problems. I’d sum them up and talk with Iris Creative. They would give ideas, and we’d go back to the client and get a better feel for what’s in line with their goals. They would come up with anywhere from 3-6 options to start from.

It was a partnership and a lot of back and forth. The work was not just handed off.

What is the team dynamic?

Around 3-4 people from Iris Creative worked with us for all the projects.

How did you come to work with Iris Creative?

We actually worked in the same office space three years ago. We met there and decided to start out on a project together.

How much have you invested with them?

We’ve probably invested around $60,000.

What is the status of this engagement?

We began working with them in the around October of 2014. We are still working together.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

All the clients have been very happy. One of the clients said that his business increased approximately three times within six months after launching the website.

How did Iris Creative perform from a project management standpoint?

Personally, it’s hard for me to figure out. I was pretty organized at a time when Iris was not well organized, and then we flipped around - I became disorganized and they were organized.

We primarily communicated over Slack. However, for the three aforementioned projects, we also worked in the same office as them.

What did you find most impressive about them?

The quality of design and the understanding of the psychology of marketing and how it's going to affect the end user is most impressive.

Are there any areas they could improve?

The turnaround time was difficult to work with at times.