Sandstorm Design

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m the director of global marketing for a packaging company.

What challenge were you trying to address with Sandstorm Design?

We were rebranding our company as one brand. That required a brand-new website with our entire portfolio and line of products.

What was the scope of their involvement?

Sandstorm Design rebuilt our website from scratch. We worked with them to create a new structure and design along with new content and organization. Alongside us, Sandstorm Design chose to use Kentico CMS for our site to manage and control content. They worked with a third-party agency to align on our new brand guidelines and look and feel.

What is the team composition?

Our primary team consists of 4–5 people, but several people contribute to our project behind the scenes. We’ve worked with a UX director who guided us through the wireframe design and UX process; a creative director who led us through the creative aspects; a programming lead developer who built the site; and a project manager who has kept our timelines and managed our priorities throughout the project.

How did you come to work with Sandstorm Design?

Sandstorm Design had worked with the parent company that recently acquired us. We reached out to other agencies for bids in our decision process, but we ultimately selected Sandstorm Design to be our partner.

What is the status of this engagement?

The project started in May 2019. We launched our website a month ago, but the work is still ongoing.

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

We just launched the first phase of the website for a trade show about a month ago, so it’s still too early to give quantitative metrics. However, qualitatively speaking, people are pretty happy with the new site and its look and feel. As we fully align our brand under one company, we still have some room for improvement, but the content management tool works well for us, and we’re looking to add more content and templates down the line. We’re happy with what Sandstorm Design has delivered within such a short timeline. 

How did Sandstorm Design perform from a project management standpoint?

With every new partner, there’s an early period where each party is learning each other’s processes. Once we got in a flow with Sandstorm Design, we decided to schedule weekly meetings to keep things moving and identify any hurdles. It helps us stay on track and maintain visibility. This has been important for making adjustments or changing requirements on the fly. Sandstorm Design has accommodated that well to meet our strict deadlines. 

We communicate mostly over the phone or email. Because they’re local, we’ve had in-person meetings, especially in the early days, when we were mapping requirements and brainstorming ideas.

What did you find most impressive about them?

Sandstorm Design offers dedicated web services compared to other vendors I’ve worked with, where web design would be one of many services. We’ve never had to reorient their creative team towards thinking about the web; Sandstorm Design is focused solely on web design and development.

Are there any areas they could improve?

Because of our initial tight deadline, everything was urgent. Sometimes, it was hard for us to get a quick response or decision from Sandstorm Design because outside of our weekly meetings, we use email. That made it hard to get a hold of someone from their team right away.

Any advice for potential customers?

I’d recommend two pieces of advice to help move a project with Sandstorm Design forward. 

First, take the time to them your business, customers, messaging, processes, and complexities. We didn’t do a good enough job at first, but once we did that, it was smooth sailing. 

Second, agree on your project organization and methods of communication. Learning how people work with each other is essential for any new relationship. It’ll improve your efficiency and decision-making.

Introduce your business and what you do there.

We’re an insurance-tech company, and I’m one of the managing partners. We’re a startup that specializes in placing insurance for residential condo associations.

What challenge were you trying to address with Sandstorm Design?

We wanted to reinvent our internal processes and how we interact with our clients — it would be an overhaul of everything. Sandstorm Design would help us create a solution that allows property managers at condo associations to easily access their information.

What was the scope of their involvement?

Sandstorm Design developed a web portal from scratch based on a concept we had. They also provided branding and strategic planning. We needed help figuring out the limitations of what we could do and how to set things up to be more user-friendly for employees and clients.

Everything was based on transparency and efficiency. We wanted a very clean, user-friendly format, and we wanted everything in the system to work as quickly as possible. 

The MVP of the product is live now, and it’s going through its last round of testing. We have many more features we’d like to build out, so this will be a perpetual project.

In terms of branding, they helped us come up with the entire brand strategy: our company name, colors, logo, and more. 

What is the team composition?

The team is quite large because they pull different people during different parts of the project. The brand strategy team had about 3–5 people, and there were about 10 people involved in development and project management. 

We had one project manager that coordinated between the different teams (e.g. development and UX teams).

How did you come to work with Sandstorm Design?

We were looking for a team that could both help develop our brand and develop the web portal.

We reviewed a bunch of companies on Google, and we interviewed three. There was a team of four stakeholders deciding which company to hire.

We evaluated companies based on their own branding. Our logic was, “If they can’t do it right for themselves, they certainly aren’t going to do it right for us.”

Sandstorm Design impressed us in many different ways. We appreciated their story: A company that’s doing right by their clients, growing their business, and doing cool things within their industry.

It was a good fit because those are the same characteristics we want for our business. Since both of our companies were going in the same direction, we decided to work together to help one another get there.

We also had the opportunity to meet several members of their team, including the owner and Sandy (Founder & CEO, Sandstorm Design).

What is the status of this engagement?

We started engaging with them around this time last year, and the engagement is ongoing. 

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

We are extremely impressed. The end product is a million times better than we even thought possible. 

We threw a lot of unique requests at them.  The team morphed our ideas into these awesome, very simple to use functions in the portal. The features have made our lives a million times easier.

How did Sandstorm Design perform from a project management standpoint?

Their project management was spot-on. We changed deliverables constantly, and they took everything in stride, making all the necessary adjustments and keeping us up-to-date.

They were always on time for our weekly status calls. They were very well-prepared, and their updates were always very informative. We communicated through Basecamp, and their emails were very timely. The project manager was always available for a quick call as well. 

What did you find most impressive about them?

They really do care about our success and what they’re putting together. They treat the project as if it were their own.

Are there any areas they could improve?

Nothing comes to mind.

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

A potential customer should ask Sandstorm Design questions because the team has so much knowledge and great ideas. 

Also, customers can give the team the freedom and trust that they’re really good at what they do. This is the work they love, and they’re really good at it. This is what we did, and it’s paid off.

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m the VP of marketing for a credit union. We’re headquartered in Illinois, and we have 15 branch locations and a call center in Nevada.

What challenge were you trying to address with Sandstorm Design?

We needed to go through a rebrand and core conversion. We had started as an SEG-based credit union for a well-known company; although we've been community-chartered for a long time now, people weren’t coming in our doors because they thought they had to work for that company to bank with us. We needed a different name as a public credit union.

What was the scope of their involvement?

We enlisted Sandstorm Design to think of a brand-new name, slogan, and website as part of a from-the-ground-up rebrand. Their team started with surveys and interviews within the community to test our theory of the connection between our company name and the lack of customers. Their research confirmed our thought that people were confused about whether they could bank with us or not.

The rebranding process started with the name, brand, voice, and tone, so Sandstorm Design came back with a couple of suggestions. Their team came on-site to meet us first and be introduced to the culture at our branches. We’re colorful and bright, and we wanted to highlight our staff members, so we needed them to come on board and meet us first.

We had a previous website, but it had been built internally and only for functionality purposes. With the rebrand, we wanted to highlight our new look and how our products are different from the competition. Sandstorm Design took over the development process from the beginning and built the site from scratch, including a new logo and theme. We provided our input throughout the design process, but we came to their team with a blank slate. They created a straightforward site on Drupal 8 that integrated our online banking system. They provide ongoing site maintenance.

Since we were debuting a new brand, we rolled the brand and the site out together. We figured out the conversational tone of our brand before building the website.

What is the team composition?

There was a team of 5–6 people that we worked with weekly. They worked on the backend doing the wireframing, and they would pull in other people throughout the projects if needed.

Our main point of contact was Emily (Senior Director of Client Delivery, Sandstorm Design). We worked with developers on the website. For the branding, we engaged with an account manager, but that individual is no longer with the company.

How did you come to work with Sandstorm Design?

I joined my company shortly after they hired Sandstorm Design. My company went through an RFP process and looked at local vendors in Chicago. We wanted a vendor that didn’t specialize in credit unions or know our former brand, because we didn’t want any stigmas of the old brand to hinder the project. We looked for a vendor that was farther away from our location so they'd remain openminded.

A lot of proposals came in, and our decision came down to feeling comfortable with Sandstorm Design’s capabilities. We'd seen some of the work they had done before as well.

How much have you invested with them?

My company has spent between $600,000–$700,000 on this project.

What is the status of this engagement?

The rebranding project was from May 2014–June 2015. They visit our office monthly for maintenance purposes. We also hired them to create a second website for us, which we plan to launch this October.

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

We get compliments on our website all the time. The site’s unique for a financial institution, and Sandstorm Design did a good job building our voice and tone. We’re now recognized in the financial industry for our brand; we’ve made it come to life, but they’re the ones that created it originally.

We go by new member and new household growth, and those numbers saw a huge spike after the rebrand. We achieved our key goal of stepping away from our old brand, which led to more customers banking with us.

How did Sandstorm Design perform from a project management standpoint?

Their team is on top of things. They do a good job of keeping us on deadline to make sure we’re not going over hours. They use Basecamp as a project management tool, and we communicate via phone and email.

What did you find most impressive about them?

I’ve been on other development projects before, and this was by far the easiest process of building out a brand-new website from start to finish.

Are there any areas they could improve?

No, not really. When we first started, we had to push them a little more than we wanted to because the financial industry is a stuffy world that is steeped in tradition. I think they were afraid of going too far, but we were comfortable with taking a big risk with our brand. They were initially more conservative, but once Sandstorm Design understood our objective, they did a great job.

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

Keep up to date with all of your timelines. Sandstorm Design will keep you on track as well.

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I'm the interim CTO for a financial technology startup. I’m in charge of strategy for all of our tech products.

What challenge were you trying to address with Sandstorm Design?

I needed a partner who could execute on our founder’s vision for our different products, from UX to dev to branding.

What was the scope of their involvement?

Sandstorm Design has worked on numerous projects, often conducting an initial discovery phase to determine the project specs and needs. They’ve helped with UX, web design, mobile app design, user journeys, engagement journeys, and actual dev. For various products, they developed brand concepts and created an entire suite of logos.

One of our biggest projects was a piece of software that helps us vet businesses through an automated process with AI capacities. Sandstorm Design built the non-native app using Ruby, HTML, Javascript, PostgreSQL, and Gulp. We’d developed a prototype, but it wasn’t user-friendly or scalable, so we gave Sandstorm Design all of the information to rebuild it. They designed the product from the ground up, working on both the frontend and backend. They created a better user experience and cleaned up the database so that it was scalable and could store the data in a way that allowed for long-term big data analysis.

For branding, they ran a concept workshop that helped determine the look and feel we wanted. They created a family of brands and outlined how we could scale them, including logos for future projects and different messaging points across various media types. 

What is the team composition?

They have multiple teams working across multiple projects. For example, they have a tech team with about 4–6 developers and a design brand team with 4–5 team members. We also interact with a senior level project manager and smaller teams that do miscellaneous tasks.

How did you come to work with Sandstorm Design?

I’ve known the founder since she founded Sandstorm and have worked with her and her team extensively in the past.How much have you invested with them?

We’ve spent around $500,000.

What is the status of this engagement?

This project started in May 2017, and the work is ongoing.

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

Their work was so extensive and rigorous that we now have a patent pending on the app because it’s so unique. Our founder is pleased that Sandstormers ‘gets’ her vision. It’s also allowed us to cut the cost of processing applications in half, which means we can scale our business at a much better profitability point. Because the branding was so solid, we can launch new products over time and be confident that they’ll all fit within the wider brand.

How did Sandstorm Design perform from a project management standpoint?

They maintain constant contact and use various tools to track progress (e.g. Basecamp, Trello, Slack). We have weekly status meetings, and they’re extremely flexible with how much we get involved. The project manager is great at her job.

What did you find most impressive about them?

Their UX and branding work is some of the best I’ve seen. Any number of firms can deliver good looking products, but Sandstorm brings meaning, purpose, and rigor to every aspect of design. They helped us define user journeys, personas, and an integrated brand experience. Plus, Sandstormers are good humans; they’re kind, calm and creative problem-solving partners.

Are there any areas they could improve?

They could be more direct and “cut to the chase” with Type A clients like me.

Do you have any advice for future clients of theirs?

Share as much information as possible with them about your project. The more they know, the better the partnership will be.

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m the executive director at The National Orthopedic Trauma Association. We’re a professional membership organization for primarily orthopedic trauma surgeons and our mission is research and education based.

What challenge were you trying to address with Sandstorm Design?

Our website was outdated and we were having issues with our SEO. We needed a full overhaul for our site to remedy our numerous technical issues.

What was the scope of their involvement?

Sandstorm redesigned our entire website, improved our SEO with better analytics, and made our site much easier in terms of navigational aesthetics.

What is the team composition?

We worked with Max (Senior Developer, Sandstorm Design) and Mel (Project Manager, Sandstorm Design).

How did you come to work with Sandstorm Design?

We went through a formal RFP process and viewed demonstrations of three companies in person. We chose Sandstorm because they brought in several members of their team and we liked their previous design work with other nonprofits.

How much have you invested with them?

We’ve invested $120,000.

What is the status of this engagement?

Our work together began in October 2017 and ended in April 2018.

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

They created a website that resolved our main issues, such as clunky navigation and faulty SEO. They were also able to help develop our more complicated design processes, such as a search function that links to a separate education site.  

How did Sandstorm Design perform from a project management standpoint?

We communicate once a week, typically, using Basecamp or in conference calls. The team was always willing to support us with supplemental training or additions to our project. They were responsive, helpful, and easy to work with.

What did you find most impressive about them?

They have a higher level of expertise than some of the other companies we’ve interviewed. Their team structure is highly effective, and they even perform usability studies in their on-site usability lab. We liked that we had full access to their team and not just one representative.

Are there any areas they could improve?

No, we haven’t had any issues and nothing comes to mind.

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

Having the in-person meetings was helpful at the beginning. We liked being able to view their different designs before selecting Sandstorm as our vendor, and I think it’s important to talk to the right people about specific concerns before beginning the project.

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m the VP of chapter operations at The Association for Corporate Growth, a global organization with 14,500 members in 59 chapters. I work with chapter operations, and I handle all of the associated technology, databases, and website governance issues.

What challenge were you trying to address with Sandstorm Design?

We wanted to redesign our website to enable a mobile platform for 59 individual websites (one for every chapter). They all needed to integrate back to a database and be mobile-friendly.

What was the scope of their involvement?

Their team led us in selecting a mobile platform for our website (Drupal 8), and helped us design and develop the user interface to our liking. We did usability testing with our customers and then contoured the design with that feedback in mind. The team coached us through the project and showed us what factors would contribute to the longevity of the platform.

What is the team composition?

We had a full team of developers, sub-developers, a usability group, a UI group, and a design group. Our main point of contact was Emily (Senior Director of Client Delivery, Sandstorm Design).

How did you come to work with Sandstorm Design?

We worked with a consultant and completed an RFP with their help.

How much have you invested with them?

We’ve invested $200,000–$1,000,000.

What is the status of this engagement?

Our project began in March 2016, and the platform went live in May 2017.

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

We had 800,000 hits to our website, which we had never had before. The project has been a success from all marketing, usability, branding, and SEO standpoints.

How did Sandstorm Design perform from a project management standpoint?

We had a great partnership with Sandstorm’s project management team. They were great and collaborative, especially with our other partners. Every week we used Uber Conference and Basecamp, which helped with management details.

What did you find most impressive about them?

I liked that they helped build our platform with components that can be updated when the time comes. I appreciate that aspect because it won’t cost as much as another brand-new project. Their team is also full of fun, authentic people. I felt like they were an extension of our staff and not just another vendor. Our last service provider always gave us a new representative, so it was hard to cultivate a relationship and we were just one of several clients. We never felt that way at Sandstorm since they have high retention rates and quality staff; that speaks volumes about their team management in my book.

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

I would advise potential customers to be honest and realistic about their expectations. It's important to always communicate and reiterate goals in order to keep the project under control.

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m the director of marketing for Metro Infectious Disease Consultants, a company that does infusions for patients and studies infectious diseases.

What challenge were you trying to address with Sandstorm Design?

We needed a partner to develop an app that made billing more efficient for our doctors. They’d try to solve the problem themselves, but a solution never emerged.

What was the scope of their involvement?

Sandstorm Design built an in-depth mobile app that our doctors can input their billing information into and the billers can submit it directly to the insurance companies. They currently implement app enhancements as needed. Beyond that project, we also work with them on other tasks, such as scheduling and organization projects for our business. For example, we’re collaborating on a way to better understand how and when our doctors use the app, so we can understand any issues and fix them quickly.

How did you come to work with Sandstorm Design?

I knew their founder and was impressed with the past work they’d done in the medical field. I spoke with the CEO and lead developer about our problem, and they understood what we wanted, so we hired them.

What is the status of this engagement?

We began the project in June 2016, and the work is ongoing.

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

The app is incredibly efficient; our doctors are able to submit their billing information 4–5 minutes faster than before. It also saves us 3-4 days of work, too.

How did Sandstorm Design perform from a project management standpoint?

At the beginning of the partnership, we spoke multiple times a week for 1–2 hours at a time. It’s less now, but they’re still extremely responsive. After every meeting, they provide an extensive recap and action plan. They keep us on track and, whenever I request a change that may derail the schedule, they adjust well.

What did you find most impressive about them?

The team is nice and easy to work with. They communicate well and proactively engage in our projects. Unlike other firms, they went above and beyond to provide superior service.

Are there any areas they could improve?

No.

Do you have any advice for future clients of theirs?

Trust that they'll handle the project professionally. Give them detailed information and answer questions they have. Make sure every decision maker is present during meetings to keep the process moving quickly and smoothly.