Momentum Design Lab

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m the Manager II of technology at a healthcare company. I work within our enterprise, analytics, and insights department.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with Momentum Design Lab?

We’ve worked with them on two projects. For the first project, we sought resources to revamp the UX for an internal application. For the most recent one, we needed to contract experienced Sencha Ext JS developers to augment resources for a JavaScript framework project on a tight timeline.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

During the initial project, one of their UX designers worked with myself and our business partners to come up with a new look and feel for one of our internal applications. The designer selected the color theme and then created a style guide we could pass on to developers on subsequent projects.

We had to onboard Momentum Design Lab for the second project—per internal hiring guidelines—and set up a master service agreement. Afterward, we interviewed resources to identify a pool of developers to support development for our current app. Our team selected two Ext JS developers and handed them a list of user stories and concerns. The developers worked hand-in-hand with our team to get up to speed. Finally, we provided the codebase after they finished that stage.

What is the team composition?

For the first project, we worked with a designer, a representative, and David (CEO, Momentum Design Lab). We worked with two Ext JS developers on the second project.

How did you come to work with Momentum Design Lab?

We previously worked with their parent company that had assigned a resource from Momentum Design Lab. When I reached out for the design project, I didn’t know the resource was from that team until I found out they no longer worked for the parent company. I then contacted Momentum Design Lab directly after researching their service offerings. The team felt like a good fit for us.

How much have you invested with them?

We spent around $65,000 on the first project and the second cost just under $200,000.

What is the status of this engagement?

We started working together in March 2018, and the partnership is ongoing.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

Momentum Design Lab came in at our time of need; we made them our preferred partner vendor, which gave us access the team’s considerable experience. For the second project, we wanted to go with a vendor we already knew. To transition from a design project to a coding one with Momentum Design Lab made sense for us. The first project met our needs, and the second project exceeded our expectations.

How did Momentum Design Lab perform from a project management standpoint?

I serve as the project manager as part of the staff augmentation agreement. I determine the project structure, schedule meetings, and scale the team as needed. We communicate daily and even hourly as we approach releases into different environments.

What did you find most impressive about them?

From a management perspective, Momentum Design Lab is fantastic to work with. The team is always available to answer questions, even with the time zone difference. They are helpful in terms of development—particularly evident during the second project—because they ensure we get exactly what we want. The developers have gone above and beyond to deliver on tight deadlines.

Are there any areas they could improve?

The first project had some miscommunication because the resource developed more than we needed. In a few instances, that led us down the wrong path because she didn’t have the technical experience we needed for scripting services. However, the miscommunication may have been our fault for not being clear on our expectations.

Any advice for potential customers?

They did a great job, and I would use them again if another project comes up within my purview. Prospective clients should reach out directly through the team’s online contact form. Their customer-facing employees are great to work with.

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m the CEO of Semandex Networks, a data analytics software company. We build software products for linking and visualizing data.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with Momentum Design Lab?

We needed help in designing the visuals for our software to ensure users could easily understand, navigate, and interact with the backend of our product.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

We approached Momentum Design Lab with previous iterations of our UI and asked them to make improvements. We first had an in-person kickoff meeting, in which we demonstrated how users interact with one of our products and shared the user feedback we had received up to that point. After detailing our objectives and goals, they began abstracting the user interface in simple sketches.

In our second session together, we used these sketches to develop a user workflow and pin down exactly how the user would interact with the product. Additionally, during that meeting, we made sure that all the designs were easy to understand and presented a unified message. This included creating a marketing concept and message, as well as a new logo. 

After all of the requirements were established, they built interactive mockups and wireframes, which we later implemented through JavaScript.

What is the team composition?

We worked with a program manager; there was always a lead designer— although there was some turnover in the role—and we interacted with a junior designer. I believe there was a senior UI/UX team member that acted as a technical program manager, but we mainly interacted with a point and an assistant designer.

How did you come to work with Momentum Design Lab?

I was looking for a nearby, boutique UI/UX firms on Clutch.co. Based on their reviews, information from their website, and their availability, we decided that Momentum Design Lab was a good fit for our project.

How much have you invested with them?

We spent between $30,000–$40,000.

What is the status of this engagement?

The design project lasted from December 2017–July 2018, and our internal team finished the implementation in August 2018. We have an additional UI/UX project waiting for a contract to be issued, which will result in a continued engagement with Momentum Design Lab.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

We have not released the product to our end users yet, but we’ve received positive reactions in private showings with customers. They're impressed with the look, saying that it is sleek, elegant, and easy to follow.

How did Momentum Design Lab perform from a project management standpoint?

We communicated with the team on a weekly basis and used Basecamp to track the project progress with email notifications and updates. Our program manager always followed up with us regarding any issues or questions.

What did you find most impressive about them?

Momentum Design Lab attracts and hires high-caliber and specialized employees with solid résumés.

Are there any areas they could improve?

Overall, we were pleased with the project. The only concern we had was regarding turnover in the lead designer role. We had two different lead designers for the first and second phase of our project and were apprehensive about the time it would take to onboard and brief someone new for the position. However, Momentum Design Lab handled the transition excellently, and both lead designers were incredibly talented.

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

One thing that added to the success of our project was that we came in with a concrete realization of our concept. If you approach Momentum Design Lab with an abstract idea of your goals, they will give you the results that you want, but it may take more back and forth to come to that conclusion. With any creative company, if you're not articulate in what you want, it can be a time consuming and expensive exercise to solidify the project plan.

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I'm the CEO of a tech startup called My Assets. Our application is designed to help high net-worth individuals track and manage their global assets in one place.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with Momentum Design Lab?

We tasked Momentum Design Lab with framing and expanding our initial concept and ultimately designing the most appropriate user experience for key parts of our website.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

Momentum Design Lab started the UI/UX design process with a three-day workshop for all the major stakeholders of our product. In that environment, we formed a clear understanding of our goals which translated into a much better brief and articulation of the final product to be built. After a strong kickoff phase, we spent 16 weeks working together via teleconference twice a week.

They guided us through each step of the UX using graphics and wireframes to define the look and feel and offered suggestions from a design standpoint. In building the architecture, they considered how it should operate and which features to include from the user perspective.

What is the team composition?

We worked with a five-person team from Momentum Design Lab that included a project manager, principal designer, and a fantastic relationship manager.

How did you come to work with Momentum Design Lab?

Our head of product found Momentum Design Lab. We searched for UX/UI designers online and shortlisted 2-3 options. After assigning each firm a few challenges, their team's work reflected the vision we wanted. Their previous work also aligned with the type of design we preferred.

How much have you invested with them?

We've done two rounds of development with Momentum Design Lab. The first one cost $266,000 and the second cost $60,000.

What is the status of this engagement?

We worked together from February 2017–July 2018. Momentum Design Lab completed our assignment in two tranches. The first stage took 16–18 weeks, and they wrapped up the final part in about two months. We did a lot of work in-house in between.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

We built the final My Assets product based on Momentum Design Lab's design. They provided critical support in finalizing our concept and when we required additional design work, it was Momentum Design Lab that we returned to.

Our website is now fully functional and ready for launch. Our board is extremely happy with the way the new product looks, feels and functions.

How did Momentum Design Lab perform from a project management standpoint?

As a startup, we didn't have processes in place internally. Following Momentum Design Lab’s established method helped us collaborate effectively. In the very beginning, they mapped out a 16-week schedule. We had a set number of hours to complete all the tasks. They were honest whenever we were overspending or falling behind.

Momentum Design Lab laid out all our tasks to complete, decisions to make, when we needed to provide feedback, and what they'd send back in return. We held weekly hour-long conference calls and stayed in touch daily over email.

One of their best strengths was keeping us on track and reporting on progress. They found a polite way to alert us when we weren't delivering aspects of our commitment. I appreciated that they were never draconian or heavy-handed about these requests.

What did you find most impressive about them?

Through design and development, Momentum Design Lab converted the ideas we expressed into the best possible results. They offer excellent customer service and client relationship management. Their staff is personable both on the phone and in-person. Everyone has a positive, can-do attitude.

Are there any areas they could improve?

No, not really. Momentum Design Lab did an excellent job for us.

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

I highly recommend doing the three-day design workshop, whether you think you need to, or not. It will be worth it.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I'm the CTO of an enterprise software company that manages video content for both marketing and compliance purposes.

SOLUTION

What challenge were you trying to address with Momentum Design Lab?

We needed help bringing our vision for an enterprise product to life through a modern UI. We wanted to organize our information effectively and in a design language that our engineering team could follow.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

What was the scope of their involvement?

Momentum Design Lab developed the UI for our platform based on our requirements, providing wireframes and high fidelity mockups in the process. They built the platform using Angular and Zeppelin, allowing our internal developers to create prototypes as needed.

What is the team composition?

We worked with a sales contact, designer, and project manager. I was typically  in touch with them on a daily basis through regular meetings.

How did you come to work with Momentum Design Lab?

I talked to five or six design firms before deciding to work with Momentum Design Lab. I liked that they were not only close to us, but that they also had the expertise directly relevant to the type of work we were looking to do.

How much have you invested with them?

We've probably spent around $30,000 in total. The original project was around $25,000, but we reengaged them for a second pass on one of its key elements.

What is the status of this engagement?

We worked with Momentum Design Lab from August 2017–April 2018, but there was some time in between that period that we weren't actively working on the project. We reengaged them for additional work that was just recently completed.

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m the VP of product management for a marketing services company. Our services help brands activate their media campaigns on social platforms. I oversee a number of initiatives within the organization.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with Momentum Design Lab?

We started to develop web-based audience platform and needed to hire a firm that could accelerate our efforts around the design. The firm would need to guide our product and engineering teams in building out a solution at a rapid pace. We reached out to Momentum Design Lab to aid us in overcoming the challenge.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

We have a platform that creates models of audiences based on first-party data. It also uses third-party data to design optimal audience segments. We feature those segments in ad campaigns that we activate on behalf of our clients. Momentum Design Lab lead the platform’s design and ensured everything operated in accordance with a planned process. Our product and engineering teams were developing under a strict timeline, so Momentum Design Lab’s logistical control over the project caused some initial tension. However, their adherence to strategy kept us engaging with end users, getting feedback, and iterating new designs.

What is the team composition?

We ran two simultaneous projects with them. They assigned a project manager and two designers to each undertaking. If a project scaled up, they’d add more designers to the team.

How did you come to work with Momentum Design Lab?

Momentum Design Lab was referred to us by a colleague. One of the factors that stood out to us was their experience working with companies in our field of advertising and marketing technology. They also demonstrated a disciplined approach in the way they engaged with us as a potential client. For those reasons, we thought they’d be able to guide us through the process and complete the platform quickly.

What is the status of this engagement?

We contracted them from March–October 2017.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

We trusted Momentum Design Lab with a complex system and asked that they find a way to express the different attributes of an audience to the end user. We’ve implemented everything that they’ve designed for us. As a result, we’ve experienced a strong market increase on the audience platform. That correlation proves that they provided an effective design that enables a software as a service (SaaS) solution.

How did Momentum Design Lab perform from a project management standpoint?

We communicated regularly and they were extremely responsive. Everything stayed on schedule. They participated in stand-ups and attended meetings twice a week. Meetings consisted of reviewing design requirements and discussing the current iterations of deliverables.

What did you find most impressive about them?

They quickly integrated themselves with the team, so it never felt like we were working with contractors. Most of our team works remotely and that helped Momentum Design Lab seem like a more permanent entity in our company. They developed a good rapport with the product and engineering teams.

Are there any areas they could improve?

I’d prefer to have everyone on-site each day so they can work as a team. Momentum Design Lab came on-site whenever needed, but that’s not an ideal situation. However, I recognize that’s more of a logistics and cost-related issue.

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

Be patient, trust their advice, and maintain frequent communication. Also, expose their designers to the end user to facilitate a better product.

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m the product manager at Adthena. Our company focuses on competitive intelligence for search. When conducting a Google search, there are ads at the top of each page from Google Shopping, PayPal, and so forth. Due to competitive intelligence laws, it can be difficult for AdWords users to compare data. We provide an analytics platform that can compare that data to help clients better understand their paid and organic search landscape.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with Momentum Design?

Within search services, there are two main concerns: getting insights into ads to see how the competitive landscape changes over time and ensuring that brands and trademarks are protected. We were looking to improve our tools in the brand protection space and needed resources to design the UX/UI.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

When we started, we didn’t have any wireframes, but I provided a dossier of 10–20 pages on all the information they needed to know. We held a workshop to discuss the requirements, and, within a couple of days, they delivered high-fidelity designs as an initial draft. After some back and forth, we had the final designs in four weeks.

What is the team composition?

We worked with a project manager and a UX/UI designer. The designer also reported to a senior director who updated the designs as needed.

How did you come to work with Momentum Design?

We found them on Clutch and liked their portfolio designs. I sent out a contract to a number of agencies, but Momentum Design was the only one that replied quickly with a proposal.

How much have you invested with them?

We spent £25,000.

What is the status of this engagement?

Their work lasted from May–June 2018.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

We're very happy with how the designs turned out; they're the most visually pleasing part of the app. We’ve also shared them to a few of our prospects, and they’re excited as well.

How did Momentum Design perform from a project management standpoint?

They used a project management software, which they updated frequently. They also used InVision to make sure that we constantly had up-to-date designs as well as Zeplin, which was good for design-to-engineering handoffs. We had a relatively small budget for 3–4 weeks of work, and they delivered within those parameters.

What did you find most impressive about them?

I appreciated their speed. Like I said, they were the only company to get back to me with a proposal and meeting time within a week. I had set ambitious targets to meet, and they were up to the challenge. By the time we signed the contract, they had already started working on the project. They completed the final designs in under three weeks, which is exactly the kind of speed a startup needs.

Are there any areas they could improve?

I wasn’t sure if they were working on the project full time. Sometimes the designer would spend three days to provide 5–10 new screens, but then it would take two days to touch up one screen. I didn't know if they were working on multiple projects or not, but that was my only concern.

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

We’re a software company that offers three products focusing on patient engagement and health information. We enable normal people to access their medical records, either online or through an app. We entered this side of the business because it's typically difficult to retrieve clinical data from doctors’ systems.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with Momentum Design Lab?

When we reached out to Momentum, we only had two products: a legacy solution that had existed for eight or nine years, and a new product that lacked UI/UX experts on staff. Through self-training, myself and my team guided the design. Since we did most of the QA in a startup atmosphere and saw the same interface day-in and day-out, it was easy to gloss over pain points. We were interested in getting fresh eyes on our product and seeing how we could improve the experience for the patients who leverage our tools.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

Momentum performed a heuristic analysis and expertly evaluated the parts of our product that they would change. They analyzed the information architecture and helped us understand the journey that patients went through while leveraging our tool, down to the number of clicks to get to the information they wanted. We still have their detailed, in-depth analysis. During our engagement, my team and I learned design thinking from them. Momentum gave us helpful ideas and pointed us to resources we could use.

What is the team composition?

We had one project manager, a lead designer, and one or two salespeople who helped during the sales process. We also had a few junior designers, who didn’t interact with us much, but did help the main designer.

How did you come to work with Momentum Design Lab?

We put out an RFP to a couple of user experience and design companies to see who would be the best suited to help us. Momentum bubbled to the top. Their initial proposal was so buttoned-up that it blew everyone else away. We met with them a couple of times, and looked at eight to ten other companies, before settling on Momentum.

How much have you invested with them?

We didn’t have the budget to work with them on an ongoing basis, so we worked on a fixed-fee contract. We pointed out the areas we wanted to focus on, and they priced the project based on the effort they anticipated.

What is the status of this engagement?

We worked with Momentum between July and October 2017.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

Our entire internal team was satisfied with the Momentum design team’s output. Their input benefitted us by pointing us in a direction we weren’t intending to take before. Internally, no one was disappointed with what they gave us, especially since we continue to learn from and reference much of it today.

We shared many of their designs during a quarterly user group to show our clients the direction in which we were heading. All our clients clambered to ask how soon we’d have it available, which spoke to the elegance of the designs Momentum proposed.

We adapted their designs into our third product, which is easily the best-designed and slickest of the three. With a subset of the product they reviewed, we launched a new product for a smaller market.

How did Momentum Design Lab perform from a project management standpoint?

We’ve had some differences of opinion about design, mainly because I can be stubborn. I have an architecture background, so my designs are sometimes a bit different. Momentum’s lead designer and I had some long discussions, but their communication was mostly top-notch. They did a phenomenal job with project management, bridging the gap between different disciplines and ensuring that everyone understood what each person said.

What did you find most impressive about them?

When we were trying to figure out color schemes and similar elements, they put together a bunch of mood boards and got all our stakeholders—including our CEO, the chief strategist, my team, the product team, and the marketing team—to give their opinions. Their goal was to come up with something that matched the whole company's design taste. They got a nice cross-section of our company and based their designs on that feedback. That helped with acceptance and gave everyone a chance to be heard, which doesn’t always happen.

I was also grateful for their approach to meeting our requests. We wanted to have our own design, but we also wanted to have something to show at our quarterly user group. They built towards that, keeping our deadline in mind and creating a clickable InVision mockup that clients could play with when visiting our location. I was grateful for Momentum’s ability to prioritize this. They kept us focused.

Do you have any advice for future clients of theirs?

Communicate the project's vision and goals clearly and early. Communicate what you’re hoping to achieve and learn. Momentum asked us to do that, so I set up a call to cast a nice vision. That gave their team everything they needed to keep us on track during the project. They won’t forget what happens during the kick-off call, so be as prepared as possible at the outset. This will help during the project’s timeline.

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m the business process owner at AMN Healthcare, a staffing company that matches physicians and nurse practitioners for hospitals, health systems, physician groups, and clinics. I manage the sales and delivery sides.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with Momentum Design Lab?

We had a provider portal where doctors can create profiles, schedules, and go through the needed processes to get them on an assignment. We wanted a better UX/UI design and mobile compatibility to accommodate doctors’ busy schedules.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

We provided a lot of ideas and materials at our initial meeting, including process maps and old wireframes from previous customer events. We also held a workshop to review these items and our processes. Momentum called doctors and our internal recruiters to see what they wanted from the UX. Next, they built InVision wireframes and design screens in collaboration with our input. We also migrated all our systems to Salesforce to enhance the visual design for end users.

The engagement is completed but the portal is not yet launched. We’ve deliberated on coding extensively and are most likely using Angular.

What is the team composition?

There were at least 10 resources. We worked with: a senior vice president, the project manager, a couple UX designers, and developers.

How did you come to work with Momentum Design Lab?

A VP from our IT department requested a lead form on their website.

How much have you invested with them?

We spent between $250,000–$500,000.

What is the status of this engagement?

Work started in July 2017 and ended January 2018.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

Internal users find the new design simpler and more user-friendly. I think that’s a win because it matches our original goals. We are about to start the first of three user testing phases prior to launching the portal.

How did Momentum Design Lab perform from a project management standpoint?

The team worked in a timely manner. They uploaded design elements into InVision after discussing the concepts during our weekly or biweekly calls. Momentum used Basecamp to store documents, meeting notes, and attachments. Basecamp worked very well because it centralized everything we needed to save.

The project manager performed consistently before transitioning out near the end, when most work was completed. She kept us on track and maintained spreadsheets, timelines, invoices, and documentation well.

What did you find most impressive about them?

While I haven’t previously worked with other providers, I found their national experience very helpful for explaining concepts in an accessible manner. Every time we had concerns, Momentum brought in examples from engagements with major tech companies. The team also helped us better understand who our customers are and the support they need. That process refocused the way we think about customer service and growth.

Are there any areas they could improve?

There were some administrative challenges separate from design and development. We weren’t prepared for sudden resource changes; Momentum didn’t make it fully clear that people would transition on and off. Knowing that upfront would have been helpful because our internal systems require lengthy onboarding and offboarding processes.

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

Momentum’s past work allows them to ask the right questions. Give them as much information as possible; materials such as process maps help them understand specific industry nuances. They can design around those specifications and processes.

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I work for Technomic, a research and consulting firm in the food service industry. I oversee our online research tools, as well as our syndicated research for clients.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with Momentum Design?

We did a technical audit of our current platform a few years ago and interviewed clients and discovered that some clients found it overwhelming and too complex. We wanted to rebuild it to be more intuitive and user-friendly. We hired Momentum to do UX/UI design and help us meet our client needs.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

We started by walking through our goals. We spoke with a UX specialist, who interviewed about 15 of our clients about their impressions of the old platform. He then brought them back to respond to initial mockups of the new site to get their feedback. The interviews were extensive and we learned a lot about what was intuitive for our users and what we needed to work on. Once we had that feedback, we tried to lead the data and visualizations flow in the same logical path.

Once the initial interviews were complete, the design team built the mockups and wireframes for the second round of interviews. We used Visual Studio’s design and got through a few rounds before completing the CSS files. We got all the fonts and design elements from the developer.

Once design was done, we worked on marketing videos with them. We also went back for corrections and some additional work. The platform is live, so most of their involvement is on a smaller scale now. We’re still implementing final changes to phase out our legacy site.

What is the team composition?

We had a project manager, a UX specialist, a lead designer, and two additional designers. The lead designer went over the UX interviews with the specialist to get information from him, then worked with the design team on the individual pages, buttons, pop-ups, etc.

How did you come to work with Momentum Design?

We found them through an online search. Our COO heard of them, but hadn’t worked with them. We considered three firms. The questions they asked and the feedback they gave us made them stand out. We also liked their past work. They showed us samples of other sites they built to give us a sense of their design style.

How much have you invested with them?

Including all the design and marketing, we’ve spent approximately $100,000.

What is the status of this engagement?

We started working together around July 2016 and completed the initial design project in January 2017. We still work with them on other projects.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

Our biggest goal was an intuitive platform design that people wanted to engage with. Our previous platform was geared toward more of a power user. We were trying to redesign to accommodate the more moderate users. We have received feedback specifically from users in sales departments who used the previous platform and are pleased with how great the new platform looks and works for them. It’s not intimidating and overwhelming in ways our old site was. Board members from our parent company have seen it and comment positively about the look and feel of the new design.

How did Momentum Design perform from a project management standpoint?

Our project manager was very detailed. We used Slack, Visual Studio, and Invision for the project and had no issues.

What did you find most impressive about them?

The UX interviews really stood out to us. We received a lot of internal information that we could learn from as we made decisions about the new platform.

Are there any areas they could improve?

This comes from any team environment, but consistency among team members is important. Our UX specialist underlined this for us as a reason our clients struggled with the original platform. Sometimes the back button wasn’t in the same place and we had to remind designers to stay consistent. It would help if the lead designer was more diligent in catching that sort of thing.

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

They’re very timely. Once the project gets going, it will be fast-paced. Make sure you make time in your schedule so you don’t delay the process. Also, be sure that design elements and fonts fit your workflow and your clients’ needs. We had to adjust some Mac fonts that didn’t work for our Windows users.

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

Infinera is a leader in optical transfer. One of the key technologies we enable is high-speed bandwidth using the Photonic Integrated Circuit (or PIC), which allows us to build products which essentially carry almost all the internet traffic in the world today. I look after product management for software-defined networking (SDN), and the product I manage is called Xceed.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with Momentum Design?

We needed a cutting-edge GUI [graphical user interface] display, which was important in order to present a lot of information about a network in a concise manner. Internally, our engineering team was more suited for building network functions. When it came to designing a GUI for presenting the information in the most concise and visually appealing manner, we would have to rely on Momentum Design for help.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

We worked with Momentum Design on the frontend GUI design and implementation for our Xceed product. We initially asked them to design the interface for our topology screens, which present the way in which different optical nodes connect to one another. Displaying that is where their team came in.

We haven’t had too many changes on the broad direction, but there were lots of low-level details which we tackled. Momentum was responsive to these requests as we went through them.

Momentum provided us with wireframes and visual designs, as well as implementing some of the key functions. After this, it was up to us to take the GUI and integrate it into the backend code developed in-house. Designing one window made it easy for our team to replicate that work. Momentum Design gave us the basic building blocks which we could then take to the next level.

What is the team dynamic?

We’ve worked with 4-5 people from their team at different stages. There were around three visual designers, one project manager, and one developer for the actual implementation. Not all resources worked from beginning to end—the visual designers worked for the first month, after which the developer worked with us on implementing things on the backend.

How did you come to work with Momentum Design?

We were looking for a visual design company local to the Bay Area, and evaluated a couple of options. We found Momentum Design to be the most suitable for our requirements.

When we started the project, we didn’t know where we wanted to go, and the other companies we evaluated were not comfortable giving us a proposal until we defined exactly what we needed. This is where Momentum stood apart—they offered to work with us to get us across the line.

How much have you invested with them?

The cost was around $140,000.

What is the status of this engagement?

We started working with Momentum Design a year and a half ago. The project lasted for four months, from May until August 2016. We launched in September.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

Internally, the overall GUI was well-received. It was one of the most unique interfaces we’d worked with internally, which not only attracted kudos from us, but also from our sales teams and end-customers.

We are using it to increase the interest level for our SDN products, as well as for the marketing launch we had in September. We built a video for this, and used the visual elements from the GUI quite effectively.

How did Momentum Design perform from a project management standpoint?

One of the things I noticed with Momentum was that they use the Agile methodology. I’ve worked with multiple engineering teams with the same approach, and, by comparison, Momentum’s process was one of the best Agile implementations I’d seen. They had a strong project manager who worked with the developers and with me. I’ve tried to use them as an example internally, for our engineering people. Momentum did an exceptional job of this.

What did you find most impressive about them?

Their project management capabilities were very good. We’ve noticed Momentum’s skills from the visual design stage through to implementation. A good deal of this was the fact that we had a strong developer who had worked on different GUIs for almost 25 years. Our internal people, at the beginning of the project, were skeptical that we could deliver this in 4 months, but Momentum stepped up to the plate. This sets them apart.

Are there any areas they could improve?

I’m struggling to find something bad about them, seeing as I’m a fan of the work Momentum did. If I had to pick something, it would be giving us even more options for the directions we chose.