Pixoul

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m the founder and CEO of a tech startup in the health and wellness industry. We’ve developed a platform that streamlines the online consumer journey. Right now, we have CBD products, vitamin supplements, and more as a starting point, but we’re basically a one-stop shop solution to help consumers make more informed decisions when they’re researching and shopping online.

We’re now expanding it to turn into a platform that allows people to connect with holistic health and wellness professionals, and we’re in the midst of planning that.

What challenge were you trying to address with Pixoul?

We first started working with them for UI/UX research strategy and design. Our challenge was around learning what is the consumer behavior online and pain points.

What was the scope of their involvement?

Pixoul helped us with the research, testing, and design of our site. We had to get data around what was working and what wasn’t to make more strategic decisions and improve our product.

Initially, they facilitated a few in-person testing sessions. We had a set up with a couple of cameras, and we would watch people’s behaviors and record the screens — both desktop and mobile. Pixoul walked people through the interview script to get specific data, and then we would synthesize it and turn it into actionable items to iteratively improve our website.

After that, we worked with one of their UI/UX designers for product development work.

What is the team composition?

When the project was more engaged, we had 3–4 people. After the research strategy and testing, we had just one contractor at a time.

How did you come to work with Pixoul?

We were looking for large, more experienced UX firms. We happened to be in Dallas, and Devon (CEO & Founder) is based there. We had some in-person meetings, and it just seemed like they had the right experience and expertise to bring what we needed to the table.

How much have you invested with them?

Throughout our engagement, we spent close to $100,000. The larger amount was during those first few months when the team was completely engaged, and then we switched to the contractor set up, which was more of a monthly fee.

What is the status of this engagement?

We worked with them from June 2019–February 2021.

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

We’ve had a lot of significant positive feedback on the improvement of our UI, and the UX on our site has improved progressively over the last year or two.

How did Pixoul perform from a project management standpoint?

We had them using all of our tools. The bulk of communication was through Slack, and we added them on Wrike, our project management tool, to have visibility on the tasks assigned to them.

What did you find most impressive about them?

First, they did a really good job with all the in-person testing and data gathering at the beginning of our engagement. In terms of organizing and executing an event like that, they stood out.

Now, comparing them to other independent UX designers, the quality of their work was higher than any other designer that we’ve worked with.

Are there any areas they could improve?

Not to take away from our very positive relationship, but the initial project was quite costly and I don’t know if we saw the full return on that.

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

Be clear in the requirements, goals, and KPIs tied to your project. Often, people just assume that they need to improve their UI/UX, but it’s a measurable thing. You have to tie the words you’re using with company goals and KPIs.

Secondly, know how you’re going to measure success or what success looks like so you can follow through and make sure you’re getting the most bang for your buck.

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m the owner and director of operations for Healthcare Compliance Pros. We do healthcare consulting.

What challenge were you trying to address with Pixoul?

We needed help improving the UX design on our web app.

What was the scope of their involvement?

Initially, they provided some new design elements, wireframes, and more to overhaul the UX/UI of the SaaS application.

Since then, they’ve conducted extensive user research, and competitor analysis for a new platform, before any code was written.

They are starting to build the infrastructure of our new platform using HTML5, among other technologies. They are using Azure Cloud for web services.

What is the team composition?

Devon (Entrepreneur) was my initial contact. He oversees a team of roughly five people daily, with another two developers working part-time.

How did you come to work with Pixoul?

I searched online, and vetted a few freelance agencies with a mini dashboarding project. We liked the relationship and work ethic we saw in Pixoul, as well as the direction they took with the mini-project.

How much have you invested with them?

We’ve spent between $200,000–$999,999.

What is the status of this engagement?

We began working together in July 2018, and our work with them is ongoing.

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

We gather monthly feedback from our employees and some of our end users. Pixoul creates products that express our communicated desires and goals very well. 

How did Pixoul perform from a project management standpoint?

They communicate well without overpromising anything. They are very collaborative, and proactive, which is great. They reach out to us to schedule meetings and give progress reports.

What did you find most impressive about them?

I like the flexibility they show, allowing us to be very hands-on and participate, while still taking over where needed. We’re on the same wavelength. Partners like them are hard to find, in my experience.

Are there any areas they could improve?

It’s hard to criticize them because I’ve had very bad experiences with other companies. However, if I am to be hypercritical, I would say their prices could be more competitive.

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

Be prepared, and be as specific as possible. However, don’t overthink. They bring a lot to the table and will help guide you along the way.

Please describe your company and your position there.

I am a product manager at a tech company in media and marketing.

For what projects/services did your company hire Pixoul?

We hired Pixoul to create a new product from the ground up.

How did you select this vendor and what were the deciding factors?

We received proposals from 5 design/engineering firms. Our deciding factors in order of weight were: - quality of past work on similar projects - speed of starting - communication - pricing

Describe the project in detail and walk through the stages of the project.

The project started with a document describing the new product. The first stage was to take that document and create an information architecture. The next stage was low-fidelity wireframes. The next stage was to create a brand for the new product. Pixoul presented a number of options. The final stage was to take the branding and apply it to the wireframes to produce high-res user flows.

How many resources from the vendor's team worked with you, and what were their positions?

In total we worked with 3 people, 1 was a project manager, 1 was a UX researcher and 1 was a designer.

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

At each stage the Pixoul team produced quality initial work and incorporated feedback to iterate to an MVP stage that made sense. We are on-target to launch an MVP of the new product.

How effective was the workflow between your team and theirs?

It's been very effective. The team, led by the project manager has communicated very well and we aren't losing time. The project manager has clearly articulated next steps and deadlines after each successive stage of the project.

What did you find most impressive or unique about this company?

I've appreciated their communication and especially their willingness to receive and incorporate feedback. They have quickly learned the nuances of the experience we are creating for users.

Are there any areas for improvement or something they could have done differently?

Not at this time.

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m the manager of talent acquisition and sourcing for a company that focuses on the reliability and maintenance of energized assets.

What challenge were you trying to address with Pixoul?

We needed to redo the UI of our customer-facing application since it wasn’t user-friendly. We hired Pixoul to find us a resource that could help out with our interface.

What was the scope of their involvement?

We hired an engineer to handle a lot of the coding on the backend, but we were at a point where we needed a developer to come in to fix the frontend. Pixoul provided us with a UI resource that had experience in using Angular and React to create a better interface for our candidates. 

What is the team composition?

There are 11 people on the team and four people on the talent acquisition side. 

How did you come to work with Pixoul?

I used to work with them for freelance projects, so I decided to partner with them for this project.

How much have you invested with them?

We’ve spent between $110,000–$130,000.

What is the status of this engagement?

We started in July 2021 and the partnership is ongoing.

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

Their work has helped us cement a lot of candidates. I appreciate the volume that their work has provided.

How did Pixoul perform from a project management standpoint?

Pixoul has been really good at communicating and meeting deadlines.

What did you find most impressive about them?

They are able to find a lot of options and candidates quickly. 

Are there any areas they could improve?

No, I don’t think so. 

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

Stay closely tied with Devon (CEO & Founder). He’s really responsive and will work with you to continuously improve the quality of candidates that they’re bringing in. 

Please describe your company and your position there.

I am a Product Manager at a Tech Company

For what projects/services did your company hire Pixoul?

Our users needed a visual view of data they entered into the website to better manage their submissions. Previously, they could not see the data they entered which resulted in a lot confusion and manual work to keep it organized.

How did you select this vendor?

We were looking for developers within our timezone, with experience in visually presenting various data types. This developer had several past projects that met our requirements.

Describe the project in detail and walk through the stages of the project.

We provided documented requirements, preliminary mocks and access to the site. We only required assistance in how to present the data so they took our requirements and within two weeks we received complete flows and prototypes of each step and page.

How many resources from the vendor's team worked with you, and what were their positions?

My team worked directly with Devon and two of his UI/UX team.

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

We are very pleased with the project result. Our users love having quick views and access to the details of data submitted that they previously did not have.

How effective was the workflow between your team and theirs?

The developers were very responsive and flexible in the process. We worked mostly via email but had a few conference calls to solidify details.

What did you find most impressive or unique about this company?

Though we did not use their entire process, they did walk us through it and it was impressively detailed. We appreciated their responsiveness, level of detail, ability to produce our vision and level of experience with what we were searching for.

Are there any areas for improvement or something they could have done differently?

N/A

Please describe your company and your position there.

I am the CEO of a technology innovation services company in The Woodlands, TX

For what projects/services did your company hire Pixoul?

We needed a design company to help us design a compliance platform that our engineers could rapidly innovate from for a client. We hired Pixoul to focus on the UX/UI design and conduct research with users on the platform. Our goal was to build the platform that customers loved to use.

How did you select this vendor?

We scoured the internet for talented design companies and selected our top 3 based on their portfolio and reputation in the industry working with small business. After interviewing them, we chose Pixoul because we felt they really understood how we conduct business and would satisfy our client.

Describe the project in detail and walk through the stages of the project.

The design team conducted intensive research with platform users, gaining insightful feedback that most companies would miss. From there, they worked with our development team to generate iterative designs that tested our product ideas. They were instrumental in streamlining our iteration cycle and producing incredible prototypes that our engineers found useful and quick to implement.

How many resources from the vendor's team worked with you, and what were their positions?

Our engineers worked directly with the Pixoul design team and our client's project manager to produce a continuous delivery of services.

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

We love working with Pixoul and their amazing team of designers. The UX/UI work they performed accelerated our development cycles and produced tests the platform users are excited about. Their work impressed our client and left them wanting more technology innovation services.

How effective was the workflow between your team and theirs?

With each sprint, our design and development teams increased velocity, focusing on the most important aspects of the platform. The continuous cycle of iteration between our engineers and Pixoul designers was crucial to the project success. With everyone working remotely, collaborative communication was critical to meeting deadlines and managing expectations.

What did you find most impressive or unique about this company?

The designers ability to translate user research into working designs amplified our engineering abilities to continuously deliver software that met client needs. The designers were open to feedback and increasingly agile in their delivery of prototypes.

Are there any areas for improvement or something they could have done differently?

The challenges of remote teams presented communication misunderstandings in the early stages of the project. However, the entire product team was able to come together and improve this issue over time. Everyone was incredibly adaptable and capable of working with limited information at times. The only improvement would be to use this project to develop policies guiding remote teams in the future.