Raygun

BACKGROUND

Please describe your company and your position there.

I am an executive at Space 4 Art, a nonprofit providing affordable work/live and studio space for San Diego artists.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

For what projects/services did your company hire Raygun?

We received a capacity-building grant to update our outdated website and professionalize our fundraising efforts in the areas of individual giving and corporate sponsorship. For the sake of cohesion, we decided to go through the process of refreshing our brand at the same time.

SOLUTION

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

This vendor was recommended by our Board Vice President. After reviewing three proposals, this vendor offered the best price and was best aligned with the multidisciplinary experimental arts focus of our organization– they "got" us and our mission.

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

After a series of discovery meetings, Raygun presented Space 4 Art with a refreshed brand including a new color palette, font set, and signature line work. We then worked together to plan a comprehensive photo/video shoot of Space 4 Art studios and artists– Raygun recommended an excellent local photographer for this part of the project.

After the shoot, Raygun designed the new site, using a Squarespace template, with the photos as the focal point. As part of our initial agreement, Raygun was responsible for up to 5 pages of content entry. Space 4 Art did the rest of the content entry, and Raygun was available to assist with design challenges and give feedback. The project culminated with a one-hour training session for Space 4 Art staff.

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

We worked with one person, the Cofounder/Design Director.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

The new site is set to go live in a few weeks– we are still entering the last bit of content and making final tweaks. Already the redesign process has helped Space 4 Art create a more organized and cohesive marketing strategy. Our old website had so many authors over the years, and our new one has clear, concise messaging throughout. The cleaner site will allow us to regularly update content like artist feature blogs and testimonial quotes, creating highlights that will drive more traffic to the site.

How effective was the workflow between your team and theirs?

The Cofounder/Design Director has been amazing to work with. It was easy to schedule meetings and there was clarity about who was responsible for what.

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

We have a super small team– just 3 people. The Cofounder/Design Director became like a fourth team member during this process. It was refreshing to have someone else guide us through a discovery process about our brand and give an outside perspective about what makes our organization valuable and unique. Raygun lived up to their ideal of providing "creative power for good causes."

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

No. The project unfolded as expected. We were happy with the process and product.

BACKGROUND

Please describe your company and your position there.

I am Program Director at San Diego Design Week, an event presented by Mingei International Museum. San Diego Design Week is an annual five-day series of events that celebrates the region's interdisciplinary and binational design community through talks, studio tours, workshops, and self-guided tours.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

For what projects/services did your company hire Raygun?

San Diego Design Week brought Raygun onboard for the design and implementation of a website for the inaugural event in September 2020. This involved strategy to determine the best platform to showcase the events to an international audience of designers and the general public.

What were your goals for this project?

A main objective was to design a website that would be highly accessible to international visitors, including a fully bilingual experience in English-Spanish, to build an audience in the inaugural year of the event.

The website became a pivotal component of the event when the programming had to shift in response to COVID, as the website became the main point for attendees to experience the programs.

It was essential that the website be able to showcase various types of content for 110+ community organizations (including articles, photography, video, and more), with opportunities for attendees to navigate the content by filtering the events by discipline, location, etc. 

SOLUTION

How did you select Raygun?

Raygun has a working relationship with Mingei International Museum, having completed the museum's website. Raygun's team provides valuable input as a strategic partner - drawing on its impressive knowledge of accessibility and functionality and its involvement within the larger community of design, arts, and nonprofit organizations.

Describe the project in detail.

The team worked in partnership with Raygun as the strategy and approach to the event was established in the earliest phases. Raygun advised on opportunities for the website's features and functionality and then presented the website design to the team, with an opportunity for client feedback, which was then incorporated into the final design.

Raygun provided advice and feedback as the program was developed to continue to ensure the website's features would best support the content and showcase the program. Raygun guided the team through the content entry and managed the launch of the website in September 2020.

What was the team composition?

San Diego Design Week worked with Raygun's two principals as the point of contact for meetings, presentations, and other coordination. Raygun assigned a project designer to assist throughout the project.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

The website's launch during the inaugural event September 9-13, 2020 received thousands of visitors and helped drive a newly formed audience to San Diego Design Week's online events - many of which reached capacity.

We continue to hear positive responses from attendees who visit the site, and the site's functionality has been excellent. Raygun has always been quick to respond to questions from our team. 

How effective was the workflow between your team and theirs?

We received constant communication from Raygun through email, Basecamp, and Slack, and through phone calls and Zoom when necessary.

The principals were very professional in their presentation of the materials for review with very effective communication during meetings and exchanges. 

What did you find most impressive about this company?

Raygun's insightful input on strategy and knowledge of accessibility and functionality were truly impressive. Its involvement and wide range of experience with nonprofits and art and design organizations in the community proved essential in pivoting in response to COVID to effectively use technology to virtually organize and create community connections. 

Are there any areas for improvement?

There were times when the project could have moved more quickly but we were operating at a time of great uncertainty during COVID, which Raygun navigated extremely well. Ultimately the team's feedback was incorporated into the project, and the final product was truly impressive. 

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I work for an international museum. We’re located in San Diego, California. I’m the creative director and technology strategist. 

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with Raygun?

Initially, we wanted to put our collections online. But, the more we worked with Raygun, we realized we needed to rethink our whole digital platform and how we were communicating with the public.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

The end product was a new website. But, they provided much more than just web design and development. They were a strategic partner, helping us make decisions that would serve our organization long-term.

First, they got to know us as an institution. (But, they came into the first meeting already knowing a lot about us, which showed they cared.) After that,  they helped us think beyond simply getting our collections online. 

They took part in planning and strategy along with us. They learned our main goal was to increase our accessibility, and they helped us think about other ways to achieve that. They challenged how we made our decisions, and that approach helped us think differently. 

They helped us access how our needs for the website would be different during museum renovations. We also thought about how to create a site that could scale with us as our institution changed. We also did empathy interviews with our audience. Then, we went into design and development.

What is the team composition?

I worked with two people, Stacey (Co-Founder & Design Director, Raygun) and Dalton (Co-Founder & Technology Director, Raygun). 

How did you come to work with Raygun?

We saw an example of their work with a new children’s museum in San Diego. It was joyful, frictionless, and stunning. We met with them and found they were easy to work with. It was so easy, and they’ve been phenomenal to work with ever since.

How much have you invested with them?

We’ve probably invested close to $50,000 over the past 5 years.

What is the status of this engagement?

We started working with them in 2015, and the partnership is ongoing.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

Everything they’ve helped us with has been done really well. When we closed for renovations, we lost about 80% of our web traffic. We launched the new website six or seven months afterward, and we re-gained that traffic quickly and consistently.

We’ve had much more engagement througout our site, versus just on our calendar or exhibitions page. Now, people are exploring new sections. Raygun suggested that we add a section with long-form content. That has been really successful.

How did Raygun perform from a project management standpoint?

I communicated with Stacey daily, if not weekly. The team is really organized and Stacey keeps everything moving. They’re really good at communication and following up. I don’t think I’ve ever had to ping them twice. If we notice a bug, they’re really quick to respond. 

It feels like a partnership. They really cared about the user experience and how we could be authentic to our mission. Even if we make a decision that they may not have recommended, they’ll go above and beyond to support it and ensure we’re set up for success.

What did you find most impressive about them?

They can build and design anything. They built very custom features for us. For example, we use a tool called Airtable to organize aspects of our museum. They set up a CMS that connects with Airtable so that everything feeds directly into our website, and we don’t have to update it in two places. 

Also, if something is important to us, it’s important to them, whether they agree or not. If it’s important to us, they make it a priority.

Are there any areas they could improve?

I’m excited to see them grow and scale, and we’re hoping we can grow with them right now. Due to their size, we’re not able to execute on everything we’d like to. But, we also don’t have the budget to execute on everything anyway, so it works out. It will be exciting to see them grow.

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

Potential customers should listen to their advice. I rely on them so much. They’re quite a dynamic team, and they do good work.