Lighthouse London

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m head of delivery for a company that acts as a service provider for data and news. I work in the insurance, aviation, and infrastructure areas, but different divisions specialize in various focus areas.

What challenge were you trying to address with Lighthouse London?

We needed a UX upgrade for our site.

What was the scope of their involvement?

They redesigned the backend of our data offering before moving on to designing the new product suite that we incorporated into the site. They designed all the pages for that. From there, they completed the marketing page for our site as well. 

What is the team composition?

We worked with about 10–15 people, including a project manager, developer, a UX expert, and the finance department. 

How did you come to work with Lighthouse London?

A member of our team selected about 10 possible providers, later narrowing that down to three. They did a presentation for us, and we decided to hire them based on that.

How much have you invested with them?

We spent between $150,000–$250,000. 

What is the status of this engagement?

We worked together from August 2018–November 2020.

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

They worked very hard on our relationship, got things done according to our timelines, and were as responsive as possible throughout.

How did Lighthouse London perform from a project management standpoint?

We use Skype and Google Hangouts for communication. Our team is generally under-resourced, so it took us some time to keep up with them. The only delays were on our end, and they delivered on time. 

What did you find most impressive about them?

This was a tricky project to navigate, between all the data and financials, but they came up with an engaging result. Their designs were very strong.  

Are there any areas they could improve?

When we engaged them, we expected that the user designs would be responsive. We ended up having to request that service in addition, and I assumed that it would be offered together.  

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

Be clear about your vision and assumptions from the start.

Please describe your company and your position there.

I am the Co Founder and CEO of a London-based tech start-up that operates in the field of anti-counterfeiting.

For what projects/services did your company hire Lighthouse London?

The development of a UX Prototype.

What were your goals for this project?

Speed, and the ability to understand and realise complex ideas.

How did you select Lighthouse London?

We contacted a number of companies (many of which feature on Clutch), submitted information about the project, and then held preliminary meetings in order to assess each company's ability to achieve our goals.

Describe the project in detail.

A Prototype that demonstrates features/functions of TAGD(s) authentication system and its integration across relevant retail platforms. 

What was the team composition?

We were assigned a Project Manager and 2 UX/UI Designers.

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

The Prototype has already been used to secure meetings with two global retail brands.

How effective was the workflow between your team and theirs?

We were updated regularly via Basecamp, and held numerous video conferencing calls, both scheduled and ad hoc. Given our time constraints, Lighthouse was incredibly flexible. 

What did you find most impressive about this company?

The team at Lighthouse are friendly, efficient, incredibly creative, and devoid of ego. They consistently proposed ideas and interpretations that superseded our own. At each stage of the project we were presented with multiple options, which were then thoroughly scrutinised. 

The result of the process was that the Prototype was realised to a much higher standard than we had envisaged.

Are there any areas for improvement?

No. Put simply, we have not worked with a better UX and UI design agency.

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m the co-founder of FitQuid, a health and wellness company. We’re currently working on an app.

What challenge were you trying to address with Lighthouse London?

We needed help with the frontend design of our app and making the idea into something physical. We only had a concept and idea.

What was the scope of their involvement?

Lighthouse London helped with the frontend design and with formulating the actual concept and the final look of the app. They did the standard elements such as a splash screen, onboarding, home screens, and a shop. It was a standard application design. 

It’s a health and wellness app. People can engage in activities as well as healthy behaviors to earn points. Then they use those coins to purchase business services from our shop. It’s an iOS and Android app. They’re native technologies for both.

They have a process in place whereby you’d do a workshop to get a common understanding of the intricacies and the details of the concept. They also did quite a few interviews and polls, as well as some market research.

What is the team composition?

I mainly work with the co-founder and the designer. We also interact with the other co-founder of Lighthouse London when it comes to invoices, etc.

How did you come to work with Lighthouse London?

We had a conversation with them and I felt they were the right fit. I was looking for a team that would not only be able to implement the vision that I had but would also challenge every aspect of it.

I decided to go with Lighthouse London because of the people. They’re passionate about what they do. Michal (UI/UX designer) considers the work he’s done so far as his baby.

He insisted on viewing the work that the developers were doing to make sure that the design guidelines that he drafted for the app are being fully implemented. That kind of commitment and passion was the reason why I picked them.

How much have you invested with them?

We’ve spent £20,000–£30,000 (approximately $25,700–$38,500 USD).

What is the status of this engagement?

We worked together from March–August 2020. We’re still making final changes.

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

They did a standard frontend development process that a lot of companies do but their unique selling benefit (USB) is their people and passion. They not only designed the concept and brought it to life but they also enriched it with their points of view and their experience, which we valued. 

Lighthouse London had a huge part to play in the design of the shop and the app, the target audience, the visitors, and specific UX elements that we would consider in terms of our target audience. Our target audience is an aging population, so that came with different UI/UX factors. 

We needed larger fonts and certain colors to make sure it was acceptable for people with a range of vision impairment issues. The biggest value that they’ve added was that we were able to put the concept into practice. We started off with a concept and now that concept is a reality with all the intricacies thanks to their work.

How did Lighthouse London perform from a project management standpoint?

Lighthouse London’s project management was very good. We had a weekly update meeting. That frequency was increased whenever we felt there was a need to do so. Their communication was also great. 

Towards the end of every milestone, they sent us full reports, timesheet reports, and projected hours to be worked as well. There was clear, on-point communication of the project progression, so we were never surprised. We used Basecamp, which was very user-friendly and easy to handle. It was great.

What did you find most impressive about them?

Lighthouse London cares about what they do, and they’re passionate about their work. They want to represent themselves in everything they do and want to make sure it’s done perfectly well. 

They added value to what we wanted to do. The team talked to us and enriched us with their experiences. They gave recommendations and suggestions that added value to the application.

Are there any areas they could improve?

No, not that I can think of. I was so impressed with their work. They did a tremendous job.

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

Establish expectations. Some people already have an idea that’s fully formulated and just want someone competent to come in and implement it. If you establish that expectation, it’s a lot easier for Lighthouse London to work with you.

We had an hour-long meeting where we asked them what their expectations were as a vendor and we told them what we expected as well.

Introduce your business and what you do there.

We’re a tech startup in the R&D phase about to launch our product. We’re a cybersecurity company building a SaaS solution to improve their cybersecurity against hackers. We’re trying to take a complex problem and make it very simple. 

What challenge were you trying to address with Lighthouse London?

Cybersecurity is fast-growing and competitive, so they helped us bring our brand alive. They translated into our new product for us. We also tasked them with creating a simple solution for a complex problem.

What was the scope of their involvement?

They’re focused on our product’s UI design, in terms of wireframing and UX. As part of that, they did design research and low- and high fidelity wireframes.

What is the team composition?

We engaged with a total of five people across the project.

When we initially spoke to the company, we were engaging with Dan (Co-Founder). Then he handed it over to Tom (Co-Founder) and he oversaw the project. Then we worked with a designer and she was the most involved member of the team. We also had a few other people come onto the project, one who did design research, and another who worked on wireframing with our primary designer.

How did you come to work with Lighthouse London?

Initially we found them on Clutch. We did an initial screening looking through portfolios and they made it onto our shortlist.  We selected them because of their enthusiasm and the skills they had. They clearly understood what we were trying to do and were excited about the project. They were also very reasonably priced and we were able to work directly with the team.

How much have you invested with them?

In the first phase, we spent £24,000 (approximately $30,000).

What is the status of this engagement?

The project lasted from March–July 2020.

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

We’ve been talking to potential investors, beta customers, and industry pairs. When we’ve demonstrated the website, we’ve received unanimous praise for the work and direction.

How did Lighthouse London perform from a project management standpoint?

They did very well. They used Basecamp, we had a weekly call, and they walked us through reports regularly. We noticed that they sometimes worked late to make sure we were still on track. They finished on budget as well, and they helped us track it.

What did you find most impressive about them?

The difference between Lighthouse London and other service providers was that they challenged us and came back with better ideas. They pushed us to improve the product.

Are there any areas they could improve?

We gave them some minor feedback on the project reports. Instead of breaking down the project on how many hours we’ve used, we asked them to tell us how much we’ve spent of the budget and what we were projected to spend. For example, we wanted them to say that if we are 70% through our budget. Then they could outline if we were projected to be under budget or over. They implemented that feedback and it made it easier to determine how we should manage the budget.

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

Encourage them to challenge the customer. It’s easy to have a set idea of what you want, but they have great ideas. Let them figure out how they’ll achieve your goals.

Please describe your company and your position there.

I am a Director of The Cruising Association, Britain's leading organisation for cruising sailors. With over 6000 members around the world, we provide services, information, help and advice to sailors worldwide.

For what projects/services did your company hire Lighthouse London?

We are looking to revitalise/revamp an existing Mobile App and Website.

What were your goals for this project?

We wished to refresh the look and feel of the App, whilst at the same time introducing more complex features, and yet make the App easier and more intuitive to use.

How did you select this vendor?

We looked explicitly for experts in usability, then asked two vendors to make proposals. This company submitted a proposal which showed a clear understanding of our goals and we were satisfied to meet our outcomes.

Describe the project in detail.

Once selected, we had a discovery meeting to set goals, and agreed on the primary focus. The company then carried out a short series of telephone interviews with a selection of users (members) to identify the most important feedback from users. This information was fed into a design which was worked up into an interactive model. This model was used to get sign off from all our stakeholders and company board.

What was the team composition?

The company has a central communication system to which our team was invited. Most contact was with one key consultant and the CEO.

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

At the time of writing, the interactive model has been used to socialise the wider project among around 100 key stakeholders with almost universal acceptance. The project is currently in the next phase of final design prior to final coding.

How effective was the workflow between your team and theirs?

Excellent. Information was exchanged daily and key stakeholders were encouraged to give feedback as the design progressed.

What did you find most impressive about this company?

Attention to detail. Unique thought and design patterns which we would not have thought of. They proposed a number of solutions we wouldn't have thought of which they encouraged us to consider.

Are there any areas for improvement?

We'd always like more for the money!

Introduce your business and what you do there.

We are a custom software development agency, and I am the managing director.

What challenge were you trying to address with Lighthouse London?

We tend to work with our clients to create custom software and custom web platforms. We didn’t have UI/UX skills in-house, so we were looking for an agency to support our UI/UX requirements.

What was the scope of their involvement?

We have worked with them for about two years now and have brought them in on about six or seven projects for their UI and UX capabilities.

Typically, they will work with the client early on to take our backlog, which is basically a list of things that the software needs to do, and then will then create the wireframes from scratch. They will take the software requirements and create even the most basic low fidelity wireframes through to the finished product.

What is the team composition?

We have worked with around six people from their team.

How did you come to work with Lighthouse London?

I think we got in touch with them through a referral from a personal contact. The thing that stood out for us is their understanding of development. They were able to understand what is technically possible and what would be too expensive or complicated, and really understand that what they design has to be built by us. They were able to deliver stuff to a really high standard and on time, which is basically all the things that anyone looks for.

How much have you invested in them?

We have spent about £200,000 (approximately $244,405 USD) with them.

What is the status of this engagement?

I think it was January 2019, and we are still working with them.

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

They are able to give applications a modern and interactive feeling and create software that is highly functional, but highly intuitive which is what we are looking for.

Although I can’t necessarily give feedback on the end results of a customer because I don’t have those stats, we are able to move a project from concept through to delivery in a really rapid process. In terms of rapidly prototyping MVP apps and really intuitive apps, they are able to do that quickly. Our projects get delivered on time with them

How did Lighthouse London perform from a project management standpoint?

In terms of project management, I think it is a really smooth and effective process. They have a lot of infrastructures that are able to keep projects running smoothly. Typically, it can be quite a sticky process where we are having to collect all the assets that they are creating and basically revert them into actual working software. With Lighthouse London, they are able to work with us to rapidly get all of the assets and all of the resources we need to continue on with the project and remove any blockers in the way.

In terms of their project management, the communication back and forth is highly effective. We are always talking to them on Slack, back and forth through email, and getting stuff from them very, very quickly.

What did you find most impressive about them?

I think it is their ability to really understand the value of the products.  A lot of the other design agencies we work with can get really caught up on the creative side and miss some of the real technical value and the intuitive aspects that they are really good at.

Are there any areas they could improve?

I can’t think of any areas of improvement. Out of all the design companies we have worked with, they have been the best.

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

My advice to anyone working with them would be to listen to their advice and ask for the direction. You get the most out of any consultancy company when you ask for direction and listen to the feedback that has been given.

Please describe your company and your position there.

I’m the founder of an interior design studio based in central London. We specialise in creating minimal / monochrome / urban / scandinavian style spaces, which combine beautiful materials and textures with architectural features and designer furniture.

For what projects/services did your company hire Lighthouse London?

Our website was in need of some work to better represent our maturing business. The previous version didn't represent us well and wasn’t converting as well as we would hope, mainly down to the UX, content and structure. We were also in need of someone who could give advice on digital strategies and act as a sounding board for our ideas on an ongoing basis.

What were your goals for this project?

We wanted a website which reflected our design ethos and communicated our service and skills in a clear way. Our aim was to increase conversions from visitors to the site.

How did you select this vendor?

We reached out to a handful of agencies who all pitched for the work. We’d met Lighthouse a couple of years back when we worked in the same area and they were also recommended by someone in our network. They impressed us with helpful advice from the start as well as being a good personality fit.

Describe the project in detail.

Lighthouse helped us refine our positioning, messaging and user journeys through the site and provided UX foundations for us to work from. They also acted as consultants after launch to help add incremental improvements and refine strategies over time.

What was the team composition?

We worked with one of the company founders as well as two of the UX/design team.

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

The site has received great comments from clients and led to an increase in conversion from online leads as well as a drastic increase in average project size.

How effective was the workflow between your team and theirs?

Communication was good. We used online tools to keep in touch which helped stay on track and remain aware of what was going on and what was needed next.

What did you find most impressive about this company?

The work produced was excellent but the best part was how easy it was to work with Lighthouse. They felt like an extension of our own team and were a fun bunch to work alongside. They listened to all our ideas, understood our goals instantly and helped us improve upon these in ways that we hadn’t expected.

Are there any areas for improvement?

Nothing major. Our sessions generated lots of ideas, at the start it was hard to keep on top of all of these. This improved as we found better ways to document our sessions and build lists of tasks for us to concentrate on in the future.

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I'm the marketing manager for a vehicle data house company. We've got a few products out there. We package up vehicle data and send it to consumers for purposes like valuation and testing.

What challenge were you trying to address with Lighthouse London?

We wanted to streamline some of our data and products into a single, personalized, mobile-first experience. We usually only see our users about once every three years when they buy a car, so we wanted to stay in the loop and offer more of our data in an ongoing way.

What was the scope of their involvement?

They started by conducting some research, creating driver personas and using our customer base to do some questionnaires as well as one-on-one interviews. They then used product data to create a bespoke design with illustrations and animations. We didn’t give them any sketches—they had free rein and ran with it. They translated their designs and shared them through InVision.

Their designs, including UI/UX designs, were focused on a mobile-first web app that could easily translate into an iOS app. We used React on the frontend.

What is the team composition?

We worked with different people at different stages. We had one person helping with the research stage and another overseeing the accounts throughout. There were one or two designers we worked with consistently. Altogether there were about 14 members.

How did you come to work with Lighthouse London?

I saw their reviews on Clutch and they were on my shortlist. They’d also been recommended to my director by another source.

How much have you invested with them?

We spent 50,000–60,000 pounds ($62,000–$74,000 USD).

What is the status of this engagement?

We worked together from March—July 2019.

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

They’ve got a very modern approach. They’re very responsive and detailed. Their team members were friendly and eager to learn about our product. We’ll work with them again.

How did Lighthouse London perform from a project management standpoint?

Their project management was thorough. It was very fluid. They had a team member who helped with managing that and it was well taken care of. Their communication and attention to detail were great.

What did you find most impressive about them?

They had a fresh approach and they weren't afraid to show us things that we hadn’t asked for. They were very creative and put a lot of ideas forward. We weren't strict with our current branding or anything—we gave them a creative license and they came up with some really nice ideas that we've adopted.

Are there any areas they could improve?

No, I think we were really quite happy.

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

Be very specific in your direction with them.

Please describe your company and your position there.

My role is Co-Founder & Product Manager at a company that's developing a parent mobile app. Everyone’s parenting journey is different because we are all different. This life-changing experience can be uplifting, lonely, mind-blowing and sometimes frightening and we all need support in managing the good and bad times. We are passionate about providing that support. Our innovative app aspires to connect and empower all parents, whatever their circumstances through (1) Collaborative problem solving (2) Shared experiences (advice, stories, ideas) The app is inspired by our own parenting journey as well as by other mums and dads who feel there is a lack of genuine and real-time support at local community level - the app fills that gap by connecting parents in local communities to share ideas, stories, advice and information. This fantastic app is a dedicated ‘one-stop-shop’ solution helping us all to navigate the challenges of parenting together.

For what projects/services did your company hire Lighthouse London?

The company recruited Lighthouse to take on the the UI and UX elements of the project

What were your goals for this project?

With limited budget, we wanted to recruit a local UK design firm who understood the UK market & its demographics, to help produce a first design iteration of a mobile app against our requirements and pain points captured from our MVP. The aim was then to off-shore this for futher design enhancements and development.

How did you select this vendor?

We wanted to partner with a local UK design firm, so shortlisted firms against this as a key criteria. A recommendation from a Google resource then led us to partnering with Light House.

Describe the project in detail.

Project was setup to deliver a mobile app for parents which included the following features for an MVP: - Group chat feature - buy/sell feature

What was the team composition?

Team consisted of 2 Co-founding members (a husband and wife team) who interfaced directly with the Light House team (PM and Designers) to produce the first design iteration.

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

We achieved a successful visual representation of a mobile app that spoke directly to our defined pain points and requirements.

How effective was the workflow between your team and theirs?

We found the workflow between both organisations to be very effective and efficient. LightHouse offers flexible engagement via their project toolset(s) and standard in-person, email, phone call etc., as and when required, to ensure project goals are understood and timelines are achieved.

What did you find most impressive about this company?

The company's ability to interpret our requirements and position the most effective way forward. This controlled costs and timelines to deliver the right set of features to test the market with.

Are there any areas for improvement?

No. 

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m the managing director and founder of Propio, a property investment platform that enables users to invest in property through their phones.

What challenge were you trying to address with Lighthouse London?

We needed to revamp the product to make it user-friendly and meet a specific UK tax legislation called an ISA. We also wanted Lighthouse London to create a new marketing site to attract a younger demographic to our platform.

What was the scope of their involvement?

Lighthouse London provided design and software development skills, strategic product advice, and project management services to structure a new technical product. We know about our customers’ demographics, likes, and lifestyles. After giving them a brief discussing our base and comparable websites for inspiration, their team figured out the look and feel for our new platform. Once we signed off, they rolled out our new technical products. Their team used Sketch and InVision as the main technologies.

What is the team composition?

We had a primary point of contact and a project manager. I believe we had a team of around five people throughout the project that were skilled in design, development, and project management. I’m also on good terms with the co-founder, so I could speak to him about any commercial decisions.

How did you come to work with Lighthouse London?

Lighthouse London came highly recommended from a business we used to work with.

How much have you invested with them?

We invested between $50,000–$10,000.

What is the status of this engagement?

We engaged with Lighthouse London from April 2018 to March 2019.

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

Overall, we’re happy with the work completed by Lighthouse London. We’ve seen a 61% increase in our user base, and about a 30% increase in conversions. Customers have given positive feedback on the simplicity and design of the site.

Our team was particularly impressed with their design and UX capabilities. Lighthouse London is full of creative people that can structure complicated and complex information in a user-friendly and clean way. That’s their true strength. They also have a set of senior leadership that is responsive and flexible to demands. If we want to discuss something that isn’t going well, they’re open to that. Another impressive trait about them is their network. They’re good at bringing in outside resources when they don’t have a certain skill in-house.

How did Lighthouse London perform from a project management standpoint?

Day-to-day project management was great. Their team is always responsive, using Slack to communicate with everyone involved with the project. The contact on our end who was involved in managing the project was always privy to what was going on. Their senior-level resources were excellent at structuring and breaking down the project. In terms of other tools, we used Asana and Basecamp to communicate with the designers.

What did you find most impressive about them?

Being a startup, our demands and goals change on a monthly basis. Lighthouse London was flexible at adapting to our requirements. Even when we’re unclear about specifics, they’re happy to deal with any challenges. I’d also say that pricewise, their costs are competitive for the skills they deliver.

Are there any areas they could improve?

During our project, we said that we wanted more insights monthly. I think they could do better with their reporting. In particular, forecasting what the next month would look like in terms of cost, time, and goals.

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

Meet with Lighthouse London and have a workshop. Their team is happy to set up a time to get a better understanding of how they can support you, and find out whether your teams will work well together. I would urge people to have a decent workshop as opposed to a short meeting or going over a proposal.