What evidence can you share that demonstrates the impact of the engagement?
We pushed the boundaries of what we were expecting from them because we were so satisfied with the work they provided. My initial intention was to find a designer who would simply update the look and feel of my mobile app and make it appealing to my user base.
However, Yazin came in with the mindset of providing information and insight on my industry that would deeply impact my product and the services we offer within the app. Instead of simply being a designer, he became a business partner.
He dove deep into the UX and all the touchpoints that I had with the user, which had a huge impact on the services we offered and the way we structured our business model. For a startup, to get someone as experienced as Yazin and to get his insights at a fairly low cost has been amazing.
How did MSTQ perform from a project management standpoint?
Yazin is always on time, and he’s often generous with his time. If you have a strict timeline, he’s always going to be there to extend a 30-minute call into a 2-hour conversation without billing extra. That’s something that I really appreciate.
I am someone who has a strict roadmap to respect because we have to satisfy investors, and Yazin understood that rapidly. He jumped into my team and our vision, and structured his design around where we needed to build our solution.
I had him come on Zoom calls to explain the work he was going to do and the steps he was going to take, and we aligned that with our development team and our efforts. He was in charge of all of the design.
I almost gave him a white card to do anything he wanted in that regard. He is a fun guy to work with, and he understands the industry. Additionally, he’s very engaged in the project.
What did you find most impressive about them?
MSTQ’s insight and knowledge of the industry were so valuable that we just kept working with them. When you work with MSTQ, what you get is the quality of service of a design studio at the price of working with a freelance partner.
It’s not as affordable as working with a freelance designer, but working hand-in-hand with Yazin means that we get a personal, tailored experience.
It almost feels like working with an employee you just hired. If you go to alternative studios, you’ll pay excess prices and the process will become bureaucratic, which isn’t how it feels with MSTQ.
Are there any areas they could improve?
The way he works correlates with my own work ethic and culture, which is something I shared with him. However, we could’ve benefited from having a platform to share the product development to make sure that he was on time and to see the real-time evolution of the design.
What happened with MSTQ is that he would share emails with me to give me progress updates, which made me lose track of what was going on as well as the expected delivery.
On the calls, he would tell us what he was going to give us the following week. I didn’t really mind because we’re a startup, but for other clients, I think Yazin should have a roadmap on a public platform such as Jira or Confluence to share that information.
Do you have any advice for potential customers?
You have to consider Yazin as your partner, and that’s how you’ll get the most out of your time with MSTQ. You don’t have to be shy about having fun and telling him stories about the business.
He wants to know the culture, the dynamic, the users, the journey, and the story behind the company because he wants to reflect that in his designs. I would advise customers to share all the information with him, become friends with him, and treat him like an employee on your payroll.
He’s much more than a designer; he’s smart, educated, and can have trickle-down effects on your product, business model, and company culture to a certain extent.
MSTQ approached the project with the goal of providing more than just design services, offering valuable knowledge and insights about the industry to help the business improve its all-round offerings. They are a communicative and thoughtful partner who has become a part of the internal team.