Outline2Design

BACKGROUND

Please describe your company and your position there.

As a developer I love creating sideprojects in my free-time. My projects are mid-sized and take a few months to develop as I'm always the only one working on them.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

For what projects/services did your company hire Outline2Design?

I've been looking for a graphics designer who I can work with on my private projects that is affordable and easy to work with. I've been in touch with a few designers and no one could fulfill my requests, nor provide enough expertise in a salary range that I could afford. Except Outline2design, they were keen on getting to know the project, the background of it and how I wanted it to look like and how my users should feel when using it.

What were your goals for this project?

I wanted to have a website layout that covered the most important areas of the website. It should be simple and easy to navigate without any additional distractions, just focused on text.

SOLUTION

How did you select this vendor?

Out of the many freelancers and companies I have worked with, I chose outline2design because they were nice, really nice. They talked to me like a normal person, understood what I wanted and took care of things I forgot while thinking about the project. They don't handle you like "just another client", they make your project also their project and put loads of effort and love into it.

Describe the project in detail.

The design works were done for a blogging platform with focus on simplicity and easy use.

What was the team composition?

There were around 4 people involved in the whole process as it was holiday time. But all of them had all the information already in place and didn't have to ask about the project all over again.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

As a side project, it's still in development and only available to a limited number of users, but those who are using it, are loving the layouts designed by outline2design.

How effective was the workflow between your team and theirs?

We had daily chats and I have been updated multiple times a day when they had questions or wanted to show their progress.

What did you find most impressive about this company?

The friendliness and effort they put into work and communication with their clients. They understand what you want, what you have inside your head and put it into place. They create art from your thoughts.

Are there any areas for improvement?

In the beginning I had a few difficulties understanding who was in charge now, because of the changes due to holiday season. But in the end I had my contact person until the project was finished and that was really nice.

BACKGROUND

Please describe your company and your position there.

Our company runs multiple reward sites and apps, where users complete surveys in exchange for prizes. I’m the CEO of the company.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

For what projects/services did your company hire Outline2Design?

The design of our new site, King of Prizes, not only the site, but also the King illustration and the logo.

What were your goals for this project?

For our new site, we didn’t want a standard theme that you can purchase for a bunch of dollars, we wanted a unique design. Our company has in-house developers but not designers, we needed someone that could interact fluently with our developers.

SOLUTION

How did you select this vendor?

We have work with PSD2HTML company in the past and from their site we reach Outline2Design, we were happy with the PSD2HTML results so we thought that Outline2Design will be the same good quality, also the price was good.

Describe the project in detail.

We needed all the site design, starting with the logo and a detailed illustration of a king to all the pages that a site that is a community have, user profile, dashboard, contests area, shop… All pages can be checked on our live site, kingofprizes.com All the site has been designed for desktop and mobile (responsive), in fact, we have uploaded to Google Play an app that is a webview (a browser that opens our site) and it seems that we have an Android code app.

What was the team composition?

We have been working with the same project manager during the 9 months that the project takes, it has taken that long because we were asking new pages every few weeks. There are some more designers so usually every time that I sent a new page it only took 1 or 2 days to start the work.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

Our site can be visited on kingofprizes.com and see the results.

How effective was the workflow between your team and theirs?

Communication was easy, they have internal tools so you can see the progress of the design and make annotations, also the ticket system was great.

What did you find most impressive about this company?

For most of the ordered pages, we only need to ask for a few changes, they get easily what was to be done at the first time.

Are there any areas for improvement?

It could have in the client area a page to download invoices, as I had to ask my manager for them every time that I send a new payment.

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I work for a digital production agency, and at the time of this project, I was the managing director.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with Outline2Design?

I have a local base of freelance designers, and we hired Outline2Design to supplement my team for two lower-budget projects that allowed us to see how they'd perform. We were looking for talented designers who could come onto new projects quickly.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

In the first project, they made different layouts based on existing design elements that could be used at various break points over a four-month period. They also did some animation work using those existing designs, which was incorporated into an online "barometer" that displayed different moods based on user feedback. They formatted the designs for web use as well as for a live shop-window installation. They also added their own touches and additional animations to the design as we went along, which was great.

Our second project was for a major end client who wanted us to design a series of dashboards they could display at an in-person exhibition stand in order to attract patrons. They wanted the dashboards to display aspects of their technologies in a very simple and visual way, so we gave Outline2Design a set of several items, like coffee, that the client would be handing out at their exhibition, and then a list of item data the dashboards needed to track and display. The design team came up with visual symbols to represent each parameter and created animations to signal each time the data updated from the back end.  They did an excellent job with it—the Norwegian prime minister attended an event where these dashboards were on display and found the animations so convincing that she thought the dashboards were updating in real time. They weren't, of course; we had an algorithm programmed, but that just shows you how convincing and realistic the animation job was. They were good, eye-catching visuals.

What is the team composition?

After making an initial request online, we had a business manager who checked over our brief and gave the design team any information they needed to return a price quote. Once we made our payment, I primarily worked with the design project manager, although I could also get in touch with the individual designers and animators if necessary.

How did you come to work with Outline2Design?

I'd hired PSD2HTML, one of their sister companies, for web development, so when I heard about their design agency I was interested in trying it out. It was appealing to get the design and the development from the same place because it's saved me an incredible amount of time coordinating between the designers and developers.

In the past, I've had to book designers far in advance, but Outline2Design could put someone on the job within a couple of days. We were also looking for something cost-effective, since we're based in Norway and the going rate for designers is 1,000 kroner ($125 USD), and their prices were very good.

How much have you invested with them?

The first project was around $3,000 for the design and animation, and the second project was about $5,000.

What is the status of this engagement?

We worked with them on our main project from September–November 2017, and then in December, we had a smaller project that they turned around very quickly.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

We had less proofing rounds with our client, which saved us a lot of time. Outline2Design understood our brief well and managed to deliver good results from the first attempt as opposed to having to do multiple rounds of revision.

How did Outline2Design perform from a project management standpoint?

They're pretty flexible. I can be very impatient when I need urgent answers on a project, especially since I act as a middleman between the designers and the end client. They're very good at getting back to me within a reasonable amount of time, although there's room for improvement. But I always felt I could go into Skype and send them a direct message if anything was truly urgent. They'd respond quickly from there, either with a status update or a note saying they could respond in more detail later on. Having that assurance of a response within 24 hours or so helps me ensure the end client stays happy.

I also like the setup of their client portal, and their communication is very clear. English isn't their first language, so there are a few misunderstandings now and then, but they're eager to make sure they've understood you. They're also clear about deadlines and pricing. I didn't ever feel like I was going to encounter any hidden costs. They were upfront if things would cost extra and they'd ask for confirmation before going ahead. It was very well-organized in that respect.

What did you find most impressive about them?

Their capacity and turnaround speed are great. They also ask good questions about your brief and come to the table with recommendations. A lot of designers will just take what you've written and come back with something that's completely off, or they don't ask the right qualifying questions initially. Outline2Design are pretty good at checking their understanding of the brief and they're proactive — they want to learn more about your project and understand the big picture before they start working.

Are there any areas they could improve?

As I mentioned earlier, I work with both Outline2Design and their sister company, PSD2HTML. They have separate client messaging systems, which is annoying for me because I can't coordinate the design and development as seamlessly and I end up having to repeat information. I essentially have two project managers I have to keep updating and briefing, and I'm never 100% sure if they've actually talked to each other and relayed information that we've discussed on Skype. I've voiced this concern to them already, and I think it would be amazing if they could find a shared client tool for joint projects.

It would also be nice if they provided an initial questionnaire in the client area for briefs that covered basic things like whether the project is for mobile or desktop, which browser optimization we want, that sort of thing. Something like this would make the process more efficient by removing a lot of simple questions in the planning stage.

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

Be very clear with your brief, and be clear and concise when you're answering their questions. Use links to screenshots with explanations instead of trying to describe everything verbally or in writing, because I think that really helps them understand what you actually mean when you have specific feedback about design changes.