ProCreator

Please describe your company and your position there.

Resonance is a marketplace platform for the creative industry. We connect creative professionals to employers and students for performance events, lessons, and other creative services. I am the CEO and founder of the company responsible for the overall vision, trajectory, and management of the company.

For what projects/services did your company hire ProCreator?

We hired ProCreator to handle the UI/UX design for our iOS and Android mobile apps. They were tasked with developing over 1,800 sreens and user work flows, including custom artwork and icons. They were tasked with creating an aesthetic and user experience that appeals to the majority of creative professionals in the industry, something they acheived with flying colors. Not only does the product need to look fantastic, but it needed to be simple enough for users to navigate and understand complex interactions including negotiating contracts, booking professionals, and building a media rich profile.

What were your goals for this project?

We needed a fantastic mobile design and user experience for an industry that has never been served with a modern technological solution.

How did you select this vendor?

We interviewed over 50 design teams across the world. We used multiple reviews sites, referrals, and internet research to find the teams we were interested in hiring. The founding team members (CEO, CTO, and COO) were all involved in the interview process. The reason we chose to go with ProCreator was due to their previous work on other projects, we specifically liked their approach and aesthetic for the majority of the past projects they shared with us during the interview process. Most importantly, they were easy to talk to and understanding right from the get go of what we were trying to accomplish with our platform. After two or three hour long interviews with them we decided to hire them.

Describe the project in detail.

They were hired to design around 2,000 mobile screens for both iOS and Android. As CEO, I was present and offered detailed breakdown of requirements, technical limitations, and user experience necessities. They were tasked with being present for all technical meetings, company brainstorming meetings, and delivered wireframes of various user flows, wireframes, and ultimately pixel perfect screens accompanied with all designed components via Zeplin. They were an integral part of our product development process and delivered fantastic end products.

What was the team composition?

The team involved 2 designers Sandesh (lead) & Prerna (Assistant). Sandesh was the primary point of contact for the majority of the project and we brought Prerna on towards the end to accellerate development as well as utilize her design strengths.

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

ProCreator delivered a FANTASTIC product that greatly exceeded every expectation I had as a business owner. They were well researched in design theory, industry trends, and did the work necessary to research our target industry and market. Procreator was attentive, quick to respond, timely in delivery, and an essential element to making a first of its kind product to an untapped industry. They created an aesthetic that exceeds some multi-million dollar design agencies, and are proud to present this product to our user base.

How effective was the workflow between your team and theirs?

They were very efficient in communication, giving daily updates on work processes, content delivery, and always planning ahead so as to ensure maximum time efficiency. They were quixk to fix any errors that rarely occured, redesign after additional brainstorming, and lending valuable input when it came to best practice UI/UX experience. We communicated through Slack, Jira, and email daily.

What did you find most impressive about this company?

They gave considerable attention to customer service, design aesthetic, and postive attitude. They have a unique artistic yet practical approach to design that is easily reflected in all of their work, as is evidenced by their past projects as well as ours. They were punctual in delivery and flexible and prepared for the many pivots and challenges that came up during the course of the project. Their lead designer, Sandesh, delivered the best experience I've had with an outside vendor due to his approach to design, meeting management, and flexibility and he ranks second to none when compared to past vendors I've worked with. Procreator represents the pinnacle of professionalism and will make your design needs a tangible reality. I give them my highest recommendation without any reservation.

Are there any areas for improvement?

They are almost TOO courteous at times! But all in they are a fantastic design agency to work with.

Please describe your company and your position there.

Netcore is a global Marketing Technology Company that offers solutions for enterprises that redefine Digital Marketing.

The first and leading Marketing Automation, Analytics and AI/ ML solutions provider in India, Netcore serves a strong base of brands creating 10+ Billion Customer Connects monthly and handles 30+ Billion Events a month.

Headquartered in Mumbai, India, Netcore has offices in the SEA, MEA, UK, and the USA with an employee base of 500+ spread across 13 strategic locations.

I am Product, Analytics and Engineering Leader at Netcore spearheading the Product Management and Machine Learning Teams. I have been associated with Netcore solutions for over 5 years now.

I carry extensive experience in Financial services and Mobile domains, now building one of the Biggest Customer Analytics and Engagement Platform – Smartech. I am Passionate about solving problems making optimal use of technology, analytics and AI/ML.

For what projects/services did your company hire ProCreator?

We onboarded them for their UX Consulting and Design services for a complete user experience redefinition and overhaul of the platform. We had a well engineered & functionality rich product which was primarily led by product team and multitude of features were added over the years.

We therefore needed a Design Team that could lead and execute the Product Design Initiative and streamline the Product to simplify the workflow and meet the needs of the modern day marketer. Also, we needed to be on-par with International Design Standards.

What were your goals for this project?

We onboarded them for a product design & development of one of the key components of our Marketing Automation Platform for few months. After being happy with the work, we continued our engagement and now have collaborated on various other modules.

The goals were to create a user centric design that delivers great user experience, simplifies a marketer’s day to day activities, looks and feels modern and takes the product to new heights.

How did you select this vendor?

We selected them after evaluating their past work and the expertise that they bring to the table. Procreator had good experience of working with different enterprise companies, B2B offering and complex Software as a Service products for varied industries and domains. After having a few meetings with them, we knew the two of us were a great fit for one another.

Describe the project in detail.

With the product we first engaged with them, our goal was to design a revolutionary tool - Journey builder from the ground up; a tool that lets marketers create complex customer journeys easily and intuitively through a drag & drop builder with infinite canvas.

ProCreator worked on various areas of design like User Experience Consulting, Design Strategy, User Research & Interviews, UX/UI Design and Illustration Design. They helped us in creating a very well designed product.

What was the team composition?

Procreator provided us with well-experienced UX Consultant, Account Manager, UX/UI Designer, Illustrator and even Interaction Designer. Some team members were on a retainer basis and were always available while a few were pulled in ad-hoc depending on the project necessity.

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

The engagement with Procreator was pretty impressive. Procreator assisted us in designing, testing and validating new ideas with our customers. We have had a collaborative engagement where the design expertise of Procreator was matched with our business expertise to deliver a great product.

We have simplified the product to a great extent with Procreator. We were also amazed by the turn-around time, reasoning skills and overall client-vendor relationship with which the design team has worked.

The biggest outcome of engagement with ProCreator has been the development of Design Thinking Mindset. ProCreator helped our stakeholders and developers in understanding the designs and design approach helping build a design thinking and users first mindset amongst our internal team as well.

How effective was the workflow between your team and theirs?

ProCreator is very efficient when it comes to designing. They have a well structured process of working and delivering designs despite them working remotely at their Studio. Projects have some minor ups and downs but overall, the engagement has been pretty smooth.

Our product team was involved, informed and updated on every step of the design journey. One of the great things about ProCreator is they understand the requirement very nicely, ask correct questions and we don’t need to supervise, monitor or manage them. They are a self-managed team and keep us updated every step of the way.

They used to send us daily updates on Slack, deliver wireframes & designs via invision, proactively reach out for face to face meetings to help eradicate roadblocks or come to a consensus and send weekly project status report to help us track the project progress.

What did you find most impressive about this company?

Their turnaround time, domain expertise, strong process, user-centered design approach, agile ways of working and innovative & forward thinking mindset like product managers is what sets them apart.

They are able to narrow down the core reason for the problem and then they used to propose structure, concepts or solutions that helped meet our business objectives without sacrificing the user needs and goals too.

The other good thing about them was they always insisted on speaking/interviewing with the users or the Customer Success Managers to really understand the pain-points and needs to craft a solution around that. Their ability to think out of the box in terms of design and development was pretty amazing.

Are there any areas for improvement?

We have been greatly satisfied with the designs, processes and workflows and we really appreciate what they bring to the table. We are happy with their working style and have nothing to propose in terms of improvements/changes at this stage.

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m the business head of the digital department at J Walter Thompson – Mumbai.

What challenge were you trying to address with ProCreator?

Since my team is relatively new, our developers lacked sufficient knowledge to design the UX/UI for our client’s site. ProCreator came onboard as a technology partner to handle the web design and help us deliver our project.

What was the scope of their involvement?

ProCreator worked closely with my team to deliver a website to our client. They designed the UX/UI for 45–50 web pages, and we did the development. Currently, we’ve sent the designs to our client in InVision and Zeppelin for feedback. Procreator participates in all of these discussions, helping us implement changes and update copy.

What is the team composition?

I’ve mostly worked with Sandesh (Co-Founder, ProCreator) and Rajat (Co-Founder, ProCreator).

How did you come to work with ProCreator?

One of my directors had worked with ProCreator and recommended them. We looked at their previous work, and they seemed like the best fit for us.

How much have you invested with them?

We’ve spent between $10,000–$25,000 thus far.

What is the status of this engagement?

The project started in September 2018, and the work is ongoing. They completed most of the design assets by the end of December, and we’re now collaborating to implement the client’s changes. We plan to continue working with ProCreator on future projects.

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

ProCreator delivered a brilliant set of UX/UI designs, and our client is happy with the final product. I appreciate that they can communicate directly with both my team and the client. Since I’m the only touchpoint on our side, it’s helpful when they respond to questions that I can’t get to. They even help sort out our client’s pain points.

How did ProCreator perform from a project management standpoint?

They’ve been on point for most things and help out with a number of tasks. If there’s ever a delay, they let me know so that I can inform the client. We primarily communicate through phone, email, Google Hangouts, WhatsApp, and text. As for project management tools, we use Google Docs, InVision, and Zeppelin.

What did you find most impressive about them?

ProCreator is a collaborative agency that offers professional services. They’re knowledgeable about their field, and their design choices are backed by solid research and technical skill. If the client asks an obsolete question out of the blue, they can handle it.

Are there any areas they could improve?

They’re a bit cost-prohibitive, so not all of our clients can afford their services. However, we don’t compromise on quality, and you definitely get what you pay for.

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

Put your faith in them, and they’ll deliver. They’re that good.

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I'm the marketing head of PlayShifu, an augmented reality-based product start-up. We make educational games for young children. I take care of all the online and offline marketing, social media, paid ads, websites, and branding.

What challenge were you trying to address with ProCreator?

Our previous website was done by our internal team. We wanted something crisp. We had added a lot of products to our product range, which have gone global and are doing very well both online and offline, and we felt it was the right time to ramp up our design, make it crisp, and increase our visibility.

What was the scope of their involvement?

We first went through what are our requirements were and who our target audience is. They created a detailed plan of what we wanted to communicate with through the site. We gave them a brief of all of our products. We also sent them all of our products so that they could experience them as well. They came back with a strategy for communication. We went back and forth finalizing the strategy and how we wanted to structure the final website.

The next stage was the wireframing. We had wireframes for each page, a pop-up window, and the entire flow of the website. It was quite detailed, and we went back and forth a couple of times during that stage. We did a deep dive and took a lot of time in deciding on those wireframes so that everything would work best during the design stage.

We then went to the design phase which took up most of the time for the project. We demand a lot and wanted everything done according to our guidelines. We wanted it to be a mobile design and there were a couple of discussions around that. They wanted it to be desktop first, and we wanted it to be mobile, but we met in the middle and figured out a way to make it work for both mobile and desktop.

What is the team composition?

Since the beginning, we've been in touch with Rajat (Co-founder, ProCreator) and Sandesh (Co-founder, ProCreator). During the wireframing stage, we were in touch with Amey (Co-founder, ProCreator) who was the design head. Our development team was in touch with their development team so that we could integrate it end to end.

How did you come to work with ProCreator?

We were actively looking for a good partner as we wanted someone who understood our brand and empathizes with what we do. We didn’t want a run of the mill company that would just create a beautiful design. Instead, we wanted something that would strike a chord with our target audience.

We received a couple of references. While we were looking in the market, we talked to a couple of agencies and ProCreator’s pitch impressed us a lot, so we went ahead and finalized working with them.

How much have you invested in them?

Around $10,000.

What is the status of this engagement?

We worked together from April to July 2018.

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

It was really good to work with them because they were very detailed. They took our feedback positively and worked on it. We plan to work with them again in the future when we have more products the market and want to add some pages to our website.

How did ProCreator perform from a project management standpoint?

The communication was very clear and we didn’t have any problems. They were very responsive. We had a lot of calls and meetings so that both teams were on the same page. They ensured that we were clear on what they were trying to pitch, and they really understood our brand and what we wanted to communicate.

They introduced us to Slack and it was a cool medium to communicate. They also shared their designs through InVision. We were able to review, tag, and comment. It was pretty smooth and they collaborated in a very good way. Any suggestions they gave were accompanied by an example which is something we really appreciated. The design phase was a little stretched out, but they were able to hit the deadline by making up for that extra time in the development phase.

What did you find most impressive about them?

They have a very good understanding of how clean design works. Their approach was very crisp. I really appreciated that they understood the product so well and were able to incorporate the communication very well into the design.

Are there any areas they could improve?

They could make their design a little more viewable. We had to constantly remind them that it was for a global audience, but they understood what we meant and took care of it.

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

If you decide to partner with them, reach out, ask for a pitch, and give them a brief or some material they can think about. Evaluate what they come back with because that was what convinced us to choose them as a partner. During the execution phase, be clear and communicate what you want. If you are clear on what you need, they can make it happen.

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m head of product of Crowdfire, a social media account management platform that allows agencies and individuals to grow their online following.

What challenge were you trying to address with ProCreator?

We were undergoing a major redesign project with our in-house team, but were falling short of resources. Our overall challenge revolved around UX design and planning.

What was the scope of their involvement?

We’ve worked with ProCreator on graphic design for our website and branding. We’ve gone through a wireframing stage during which we’ve set up the product flow. The next phase has then consisted of visual design. We’ve mostly stored design assets in Zeplin.

What is the team composition?

I work directly with their co-founders. I coordinate with one (who is also the director) along with his team on the design work.

How much have you invested with them?

We’ve spent a total of $1,800 ($600 per month).

What is the status of this engagement?

We started working with them in January 2018 and the collaboration is ongoing.

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

I don’t have any metrics at the moment.

How did ProCreator perform from a project management standpoint?

They put transparency into their work procedure. We communicate daily via Slack and also use Zoho Books for accounting.

What did you find most impressive about them?

They’re very responsive, which is important to me. I can reach them on Slack and they usually deliver on time. If they exceed a deadline, they let me know about it. Their approach to design matches our vision for the product.

Are there any areas they could improve?

I often have to be very specific about the requirements for a task, which takes up a lot of my time.

Do you have any advice for future clients of theirs?

Communicating your expectations and scope of work are important, as is documenting everything.

This review was updated by Moujhuri Guha (Business Head, Crowdfire) on December 19, 2019. The original star ratings were: Overall - 4.5, Quality - 4.5, Schedule - 5, Cost - 4, NPS - 5. New Content is below.

BACKGROUND

Please describe your company and your position there.

Crowdfire is a social media management tool and is in the market for the past 9 years. I am the Business Head and looking after product development and other aspects of the company.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

For what projects/services did your company hire ProCreator?

We have earlier had inhouse designers but we realized it's not a regular day to day task and thought outsourcing will be a better way to get our design work sorted.

What were your goals for this project?

It is an ongoing Project. We hired Procreator for additional feature designs as our product was already built. We eventually started with page designs and now as in when our new feature releases we get the design done by them.

SOLUTION

How did you select this vendor?

Procreator was referred to us by our Co-founder.

Describe the project in detail.

As mentioned earlier we have done a lot of work together and it's more like ongoing projects. Designing pages Logos Banners

What was the team composition?

Initially, we were working with the co-founders and now they have grown the team and we have been assigned with our Project manager who helps us with the design. Very efficient team.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

The designs were beautifully done. We ideate with our project manager on how we want it done and the outcome is pretty much the same as the vision we have.

How effective was the workflow between your team and theirs?

It is pretty smooth. We use slack to communicate with the members. Once a week we also meet to discuss on the project.

What did you find most impressive about this company?

Creativity and timeline.

Are there any areas for improvement?

Giving more time in understanding the product use cases.

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m the founder of an enterprise resource planning (ERP) solutions provider for elementary schools.

What challenge were you trying to address with ProCreator?

We wanted to create an app that enabled school administrators to log daily student activity. An app could gather this data more efficiently than traditional record-keeping methods.

What was the scope of their involvement?

ProCreator designed the entire UI/UX of our app. We provided the mockup wireframes that they optimized. Once this was done, they used Sketch to create every screen and delivered the designs to our developers. The mobile and web versions of the app are complete.

What is the team composition?

I worked with Rajat Bagree (CEO, ProCreator) and Sandesh Subedi (Director, ProCreator) to coordinate the design process.

How did you come to work with ProCreator?

I got to know them through a project with my previous company. Once I started my own business, I contacted ProCreator.

How much have you invested with them?

We spent around $14,000.

What is the status of this engagement?

We started working together in March 2017. The web app launched later that month and the mobile version launched in December 2017.

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

We had a rudimentary version of our app on the market at the time of contracting ProCreator. They were able to incorporate a lot of user feedback when designing the new iteration. So far, it’s been well-received.

How did ProCreator perform from a project management standpoint?

We used Slack as a project management tool. Their team is good at what they do, but don’t maintain very good client communication. There have been times when they didn’t make deadline delays known to us in advance.

What did you find most impressive about them?

ProCreator didn’t blindly follow orders. They brought their own ideas for improving the product. They work towards perfection in whatever project they take on.

Are there any areas they could improve?

Their communication skills could be improved.

Do you have any advice for future clients of theirs?

It’s important to decide upon deadlines, deliverables, and cost from day one to ensure a clear scope of work.

Introduce your business and what you do there.

We’re a logistics solutions provider. I'm a product manager for the company, in charge of development and delivery.  

What challenge were you trying to address with ProCreator?

We were looking to educate and engage users around a lot of data points related to our platform. We needed a good design to make it easier for them to understand what our product offered.

What was the scope of their involvement?

ProCreator designed an improved dashboard for our users. They put in place the processes for creating sketches and then building prototypes. They created numerous streams for the product, which allowed us to communicate more data with users. We’re currently working on our brand design language.

What is the team composition?

Sandesh Subedi [Co-Founder and Director, ProCreator] is our primary point of contact. We also worked with Rajat Bagree [Co-Founder and UX Designer, ProCreator] and a designer from their team.

How did you come to work with ProCreator?

We were looking for an agency that could help us and came across them. We looked at some of their past work, and found it to be similar to what we were looking to do with our own product. We contacted them and received a reasonable quote.

How much have you invested with them?

The cost of their services has been between $10,000 and $15,000.

What is the status of this engagement?

We started working with them in January 2017.

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

Our customers like the new version of our product more than those of our competitors, in terms of look and functionality. ProCreator contributed to that.

How did ProCreator perform from a project management standpoint?

They used the latest collaboration tools on the market for the delivery. ProCreator is transparent in telling us how much effort they put into each task. We’re shown the number of hours taken by each team member for each task.

We mostly communicate through Slack. Whenever they share something with us, we have a walkthrough call. 

What did you find most impressive about them?

Proactiveness was the most important factor. In some cases, they went out of their way in order to understand our product better.

Are there any areas they could improve?

We have no improvement points so far.

Do you have any advice for future clients of theirs?

Once the development team has a clear understanding of the business and scope, the work will be reduced by half. ProCreator is very good at communication and understanding requirements.

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m a co-founder of Programming Hub, a platform that helps people from over 50 countries learn how to code. We realized that there was no good way of learning or interacting with the material since conventional teaching methods don’t apply to programming. We needed to start from the basics, so we built an application centered around learning modules that users would enjoy going through.

Users ranging from beginner to intermediate can use our platform to learn programming more efficiently. So far, we’ve built approximately 20 courses and are bringing new and updated technologies to allow users to build their careers.

What challenge were you trying to address with ProCreator?

One of our biggest challenges was reevaluating our entire value proposition. The platform was originally reference-oriented, working like a cheat sheet or a quick reference. We later changed the focus to learning and needed to modify the user journey, which called for a full revamp of our UI and UX.

What was the scope of their involvement?

ProCreator came to our office for a discussion around our problem and value proposition. We elaborated on who our users were, what their needs were, and what we intended to provide in terms of value.

After conducting some research and understanding the product, we started the wireframing stage. We went through a few iterations over one and a half weeks in order to make sure that our users and stakeholders would be happy with the results.

We had a few meetings during the design phase—discussing the app’s theme, UX, and visual elements. We chose a minimalist design in order to bring attention to the learning.

What is the team composition?

We worked with four of their members, including a web developer and three designers.

How did you come to work with ProCreator?

We interviewed a few companies we thought could work well with us. We came across ProCreator, interviewed them, and gave them a few tasks. We saw that they had the right potential.

How much have you invested with them?

The total cost of their work has been close to $10,000. We work on a retainer model.

What is the status of this engagement?

We started working with them in July 2017 and have an ongoing collaboration.

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

The design ProCreator created has been able to improve our value proposition. The user feedback has been positive overall. We’ve also increased our retention rate and revenue.

How did ProCreator perform from a project management standpoint?

They’re punctual in delivery and have good work ethics. One positive point about ProCreator’s team is their ability to reason. We’re able to brainstorm and discuss why an approach is good or not. This has helped us improve our design and UX. They have an overall good approach.

We communicate through phone calls and internal meetings. We also created a Slack channel to share designs. They used InVision during the wireframing stage, while we used it to go through the user flow and approve the work.

What did you find most impressive about them?

One of their biggest strengths is the passion they bring to a project. Unlike other teams who deliver designs without justifying the work, ProCreator does research and explains why a choice is good. This is what makes us choose them over other vendors.

Are there any areas they could improve?

I’ve yet to discover a place where they could’ve performed better.

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

You should talk to them more during the initial stages so that their team can better understand your product. It’s important to determine who the customer is and what their needs are. Only then can the design team bring value.

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m the co-founder of a company that provides a financial planning tool aimed at young urban professionals in our country. I’m also in charge of business and product development. Our product offers users a way to ensure they are saving consistently on a monthly basis.

What challenge were you trying to address with ProCreator?

We wanted to create a new visual language for comprehensive financial planning. We built a basic version of the platform and tested it with users. We realized enhancing UX was critical for motivating engagement because the app addresses a stressful, tedious topic.

Finance, even when simplified, requires in-depth explanation. Most of our testers didn’t know what mutual funds or fixed deposits were, so we needed to explain financial concepts. Our key challenges included: implementing the iterative nature of financial planning, making details available but not intimidating, and developing a visual identity that limits users fears about finance.

What was the scope of their involvement?

We cut the scope down to three areas: developing the planning paradigm, creating the visual identity, and showcasing financial details. They built us a prototype financial planning app. We wanted our app to help users determine how much they need to save on a monthly basis and which products are right for their goals. 

They were tasked with creating the app’s visual identity using the wireframes that I had built with various tools. They worked on app design using Zeplin and InVision. They also planned the iterative paradigm, along with our solution for dispensing financial details within the app. The app includes various indicators to make financial calculations and assist users with financial planning to meet their specific goals. 

What is the team composition?

We worked with Sandesh (Co-Founder, ProCreator).

How did you come to work with ProCreator?

They were recommended to us by another party.

How much have you invested with them?

We’ve spent around $5,000–$10,000.

What is the status of this engagement?

We started working with them in August 2017. They have successfully built our prototype. We plan to work with them to create the next version of our app.

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

Feedback has been positive since the app's December launch. Most of our users appreciate its visual identity, finding it to be user-friendly. In general, the larger iterative planning paradigms we’ve used have worked fairly well. There is room for improvement such as with the app's financial details. However, considering we've built an entirely new and unseen product, they’ve done a good job.

Overall, they adhered to the vision we discussed. We have made numerous changes using our internal designer, which is a testament to the design language used by their team. The product is flexible and reusing its design libraries is a simple process.

How did ProCreator perform from a project management standpoint?

They are reliable and responsive. We’ve mainly used Slack and WhatsApp for updates. We email for in-depth communication. I use a Google Docs spreadsheet for tracking design work, which they update constantly.

ProCreator was put in a tough situation, considering we had a fixed timeline and budget. We needed to build a prototype quickly in order create further iterations for users. Instead of disputing us, they accepted this challenge.

What did you find most impressive about them?

Freelancers I’ve previously worked with weren’t always respectful of our time. In contrast, ProCreator was punctual and adapted to our way of working. They stuck to their timeline and met our expectations. It’s been a great work experience, which is why we’re trying to hire them for the second phase of development.

As a startup, we value flexibility, speed, and focus. There were multiple design approaches, but they focused on our business requirements and how to fulfill them. They went above and beyond when it came to screen design. They put a lot of thought into meeting our criteria and addressing user needs. They tweaked the design flow when determining it would suit our users better, which we really appreciated.

Are there any areas they could improve?

The balance between visual design and usability is always tricky, especially where our company is based. We deal with a diversity of languages, technological familiarity, and preferences. Potential users possess diverse screen sizes and internet speeds. Designing in our market requires making compromises around visual design for the sake of usability. For example, our continue button looked great, but it was displayed in the bottom-right corner of the screen and was too small for many people to notice.

As ProCreator moves forward, they have to think critically about what end-users would find useful. There need to increase user testing focusing on UX. Their UI skills are excellent, however, and the gaps I mentioned can be attributed to our budget constraints.

Introduce your business and what you do there.

Ikinaki is an app for beauty and health enthusiasts—people looking to share and read peer reviews, discover new products and shop for them. It makes shopping for beauty and health products more fun, social, and exciting.

What challenge were you trying to address with ProCreator?

We made a basic version of our app, and it was well received. We wanted to add more features to make the app even more useful, so we needed someone who could build wireframes and perform user testing in an iterative manner. We ultimately wanted a product that was better received by existing users.

What was the scope of their involvement?

ProCreator helped us integrate new features into our existing app. In that process, they recreated some of its elements including the flow from one page to another.

We provided guidelines for what we wanted. Ikinaki is primarily a social platform where people can share reviews with each other and get recommendations from friends. There are different views based on what people are looking for. It sorts based on elements like image, product type, category, price, rating, tags, etc.

We built a feed of friend reviews, which is customized based on whom a user subscribes to. There is also a step-by-step process for posting new reviews, a discussion forum where users can ask their peers questions, a notifications module, and plug-ins for inviting friends to the platform using Facebook, Gmail contacts, or phone contacts.

Users logged in using phones initially, but they helped us create social sign-ins. Users have access to all their content through the profile page, and there are also aggregate product pages where all the reviews for a particular item can be seen.

What is the team composition?

I’ve been in contact with the two co-founders.

How did you come to work with ProCreator?

We found them through an agency that lists providers for startups.

How much have you invested with them?

The total cost of their work has been around $2,000.

What is the status of this engagement?

We started working with ProCreator in September 2017 and have an ongoing relationship. The project is currently in the testing phase, but most of the work is complete.

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

We haven’t released the new version yet, but I’ve shown the blueprint of what we’re trying to build in the next six months to stakeholders. It definitely looks like a much more professional app. It has the design elements we would normally see in a production app. We’ve had good feedback—the app inspires more confidence in terms of look and feel. They helped us create a more impactful user experience.

How did ProCreator perform from a project management standpoint?

We had a collaborative process with calls 2–3 times per week to discuss how our features would fit into the wireframe. We used InVision to access wireframes and Lookback to record user testimonials. We mainly used Google Hangouts, Slack, and WhatsApp for communication.

ProCreator was on time with everything. They were dependable, responsive, and flexible. There were times when we asked them to slow down the work in order to wait for inputs from us, and they were patient in accommodating us. They’re a team of nice and passionate people. The overall experience has been positive.

What did you find most impressive about them?

I’ve found ProCreator to be adept at providing a good customer experience. They’re more dependable and trustworthy than most vendors. ProCreator is honest in terms of quotes, and they’re reliable.

Are there any areas they could improve?

The output we’ve seen from them has been good but creating a dedicated research and user testing team would be an improvement. ProCreator does this, but they could adopt a more structured approach.

Do you have any advice for future clients of theirs?

As long as there is a good conversation at the start and expectations are clear, everything should be fine. ProCreator is open to dialogue, they understand different business perspectives, and they care about the people whom they work with.