Sayenko Design

Please describe your company and your position there.

I retired from academic veterinary medicine in 2006. Since then I have been writing and self-publishing memoirs and historical novels.

For what projects/services did your company hire Sayenko Design, and what were your goals?

My website needed a complete overhaul and to be brought up to date and Sayenko was recommended to me.

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

I relied on the person who gave me their name, but only after talking to 2 other companies doing website development.

Describe the scope of work in detail, including the project steps, key deliverables, and technologies used.

We had a meeting where I described what I had in mind. After supplying Sayenko with the information, photos, etc. that they needed they made some drafts that I was able to comment on.

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

The project manager, at least one design person, and Kyle who did most of the work of putting the website together.

Can you share any measurable outcomes of the project or general feedback about the deliverables?

My hope was that with a more professional website my book sales would increase. So far that has not happened but I am still hopeful.

Describe their project management style, including communication tools and timeliness.

Everything was done in a timely manner. My concerns were addressed with good humor, considering my lack of expertise. The company seems to be run very efficiently with good communication with me as a client.

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

I am 86 years old and not very nimble with computers. The company continues to help me upload new publications and helps when I have problems uploading my blogs.

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

Don't think so.

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m an executive at a real estate company.

What challenge were you trying to address with Sayenko Design?

We wanted to streamline some of our processes through our website, but the platform we had was old, so we needed a new site.

What was the scope of their involvement?

Sayenko Design did web design and development from scratch using WordPress. They created an informational site where we can show our units and where our residents can pay their rent.

In addition to that, they’ve provided hosting and maintenance to the site.

What is the team composition?

We worked with Mike and Kyle (Web Designers).

How did you come to work with Sayenko Design?

They were already working with us when I took my current position.

How much money have you invested in this partnership?

We spent around $20,000–$25,000 with them.

What is the status of this engagement?

We worked together from March 2021–January 2022.

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

We gained a lot of traffic on our site thanks to Sayenko Design’s work compared to our previous platform.

How did Sayenko Design perform from a project management standpoint?

They met deadlines and stayed within budget. Regarding tools, we used Google chat and emails for communication.

What did you find most impressive about them?

Their overall support was outstanding — it was easy to work with them.

Are there any areas they could improve?

I don’t think there’s anything they can improve on — they adapted to our requirements.

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

Try to keep a tight deadline.

Please describe your company and your position there.

I am the Creative Lead in the Marketing Department at Erickson Incorporated. I design, manage and assist in all creative aspects that are delivered via marketing efforts and throughout the company internally.

For what projects/services did your company hire Sayenko Design, and what were your goals?

Our website was outdated and needed a better user experience, as well as a more modern design to appeal to the industry. We also needed a customized CSM that was easy for us to update the website as needed.

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

I was hired onto the team after this project was already kicked off by my previous manager.

Describe the scope of work in detail, including the project steps, key deliverables, and technologies used.

I can't speak to this from start to finish, but when I was brought onto the team, we had several check-in meetings for review. I also assisted in providing content documents to outline specific web pages, as well as helping to visualize how we can improve some of the design and UX in certain areas.

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

A project manager and web developer

Can you share any measurable outcomes of the project or general feedback about the deliverables?

The website refresh was received well internally and externally

Describe their project management style, including communication tools and timeliness.

Easy to submit tickets through their management system for website updates or requests. Their team always responds within a reasonable time and is able to prioritize issues that come up.

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

They delivered a site that was easy for us to update in WordPress.

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

When we first launched we caught a lot of bugs throughout the website. We let the team know ASAP and they were quick to resolve them.

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m a marketing communications consultant, and for this particular project, I’m working with Chugach Commercial Holdings, an investment company.

What challenge were you trying to address with Sayenko Design?

We were trying to set the groundwork of the commercial division by establishing its own brand within the Chugach family of brands. We also wanted to have a lead generation site that could help us establish our presence in the digital world. As a result, we hired Sayenko Design to support us.

What was the scope of their involvement?

Sayenko Design based the commercial division’s branding on the brand guidelines set by the parent company. Since they were already familiar with those guidelines, they figured out how the commercial division could have its own unique visual presentation while still adhering to the brand guidelines. They took one of the third-tier colors within the palette and brought it out front, in a way that looked professional and sharp.

After that, the team worked on a subdomain of our parent company website and implemented the new branding they created. The team adjusted an existing website, and they made it unique so that it could stand on its own two feet. In addition, they followed our requested changes and integrated the unique elements we wanted to implement.

What is the team composition?

We’re working with two people, including Mike (Owner) and Kyle (WordPress Developer).

How did you come to work with Sayenko Design?

I wasn’t sure how our parent company found them, but I was introduced by my parent company to them. We chose Sayenko Design because we wanted to work with a company that was already familiar with our brand.

How much have you invested with them?

We’ve spent $10,000–$15,000.

What is the status of this engagement?

We began working together in August 2021, and it’s ongoing.

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

We’ve been very satisfied with their design skills. We’re still in the process of benchmarking because we didn’t have an online presence before. There’s nothing quantifiable at the moment, but we’ve gotten positive feedback on the appearance of our website.

How did Sayenko Design perform from a project management standpoint?

They have a great project management tool, and they do a great job of keeping us on track. I have a lot going on my side, and they ensure that we meet the deadlines and goals that we set at the beginning of the project. We’re also impressed that they’ve been able to meet our deadline despite us not meeting our deadlines.

What did you find most impressive about them?

Their ability to create a clean and fresh design is impressive. In addition, once they had the mockup prepared, they came to us and talked us through any issues we had. They also did a good job of having that conversation so that we could get the best results.

Are there any areas they could improve?

They could’ve helped me reach my deadlines better earlier in the process. However, it wasn't really their responsibility.

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

Clearly communicate your needs to Sayenko Design, and don’t hesitate to push back if there’s something that you don’t like.

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m the shareholder and owner of a public accounting firm called McDonald Jacobs. We primarily provide tax audit and assurance consultancy services for various companies.

What challenge were you trying to address with Sayenko Design?

We were looking to do some thought leadership content and boost our SEO abilities and knowledge, but our site was really limited. We also wanted to drive new customers and employees, so we asked Sayenko Design to build a platform where visitors can learn about our unique culture and organization.

What was the scope of their involvement?

Sayenko Design provides us with ongoing web development and SEO services. The site is built using WordPress, and some of the features that we have are linking articles on various sites and listing our employees as writers for the posts.

Other than that, we’re also able to highlight some of our unique aspects by helping us build the content and integrate them into the various pages of the site. We initially provided them with a lot of the documentation, and their job is to implement that into the specific areas of the platform.

Moreover, they also help us with keyword research to help identify the top words for SEO.

What is the team composition?

Our main points of contact are Mike (Seattle Web Designer) and Kyle (WordPress Developer).

How did you come to work with Sayenko Design?

We did an RFP based on some recommendations from our external IT provider. They have a list of vendors they’ve previously worked with and we decided to work with Sayenko Design. We chose them because of the additional services they were doing that we didn’t even consider.

How much have you invested with them?

I believe we’ve spent around $25,000 USD.

What is the status of this engagement?

Our ongoing partnership started in December 2020.

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

In terms of the scope of the project, they’ve really helped define, identify, and produce an output based on the conversations we had, and our strategic strengths in the market.

How did Sayenko Design perform from a project management standpoint?

They perform fairly well, as they have a project management software that’s easy to use in terms of responding to emails. The development is taking longer than we realized because we underestimated the time it takes to build a website.

What did you find most impressive about them?

I like the fact that they’re able to help us root out what’s unique about our company and highlight that on our website.

Are there any areas they could improve?

They let us slack off quite a bit, so they could maybe push us more to keep the project on track.

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

I would suggest having invested individuals from all aspects of the company be part of the team, so that everybody can weigh in and benefit from Sayenko Design’s knowledge.

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m the president of Skyline Communications, a low-voltage systems integrator. We design and install communication and security systems. As for security, we focus on electronic access control and video surveillance systems. As for communications, we do structured fiber and cat six cablings and implement wireless solutions, including emergency responder radio coverage and indoor cellphone coverage.

What challenge were you trying to address with Sayenko Design?

We needed to refresh our website so that it better reflected what we did. Most of our customers are IT people, and they mainly determine who to work with based on online research. Thus, we also wanted to have higher visibility so that potential customers could find us when searching for companies in our industry.

What was the scope of their involvement?

Sayenko first understood who we were trying to reach with our website. Then, they did a competitor analysis and looked at different websites of companies in the same industry and other tangential industries. After that, they proposed an outline for our website based on the best features they saw on our competitors, and finally, they developed our website on WordPress.

What is the team composition?

I worked with three people from Sayenko.

How did you come to work with Sayenko Design?

We had used some lower-end designers in the past, but we didn’t get as professional of a project as we wanted, and we didn’t get the regular maintenance we needed. Thus, we started looking for a new company, but we still wanted to find a boutique and small company to get a personal service.

We found Sayenko and discovered that they were very professional. Additionally, they had good processes for a company of their size.

How much have you invested with them?

We spent between $10,000–$25,000 on the website redesign. However, the ongoing maintenance cost is minimal.

What is the status of this engagement?

We worked together from September 2020–January 2021, but they still provide maintenance services to our site. We expect to have this site up and running for at least five more years. Although we would try to fix any important issues immediately, we don’t want to do another total refresh for five years if we can help it.

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

Our website’s adaptability to different devices and platforms is really good compared to how it was before. It looks great whether our customers access it from an iPhone, an Android device, a tablet, or a computer. Before this redesign, our website had some adaptability issues.

How did Sayenko Design perform from a project management standpoint?

Sayenko’s project management was professional and structured. We had weekly updates throughout the project, so we never experienced a time where we didn’t know what was happening.

What did you find most impressive about them?

Sayenko’s process was great. They knew what they were doing at every step of the way, and they had a great process in place, from competitor research to launching the site.

Are there any areas they could improve?

No, nothing comes to mind.

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

Make sure that when Sayenko asks questions, you put a good amount of effort into answering them. For example, if they want to know more about your competitors, spend some time thinking who they are so that you can point them in the right direction. Likewise, when talking about what you offer, make sure that you give them good information.

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m the digital marketing and development supervisor of Therapeutic Health Services, so I oversee our website, Google advertising, and social media channels. We provide addiction treatment and mental health services in the Seattle area, as well as counseling and other means of support for both adults and youths to help them with their behavioral health. Additionally, we’re one of the leading providers of medication-assisted treatments in Seattle for people suffering from opioid or prescription painkillers addiction.

What challenge were you trying to address with Sayenko Design?

We had a website that worked really well for us in terms of SEO, but we wanted to get a refreshed visual design, improved navigation, a better loading speed, and a better look and feel overall.

What was the scope of their involvement?

Initially, we set up a meeting with Sayenko to discuss what we were looking for from our site. We completed a questionnaire of 12–20 pages to describe what we wanted, list sites that we liked and disliked, and specify the elements that we were hoping to get.

Then, we met again with them to go over our answers, and we started meeting with their team to discuss our content optimization. Sayenko completed a keyword analysis and gave us some ideas while we provided them with some main keywords related to our focus.

After that, we started with the content migration. They gave us a form on Google Docs, where we pasted the content from our existing site in plain text form so that they could copy it to the new site later. From there, Sayenko went into the production phase and started creating the site.

Throughout the process, they showed us the wireframes, and we gave them our feedback. After 1–2 weeks, they came back and showed us the designs of some of the main pages and the complete design of the home page, with color and everything.

We then had another round of feedback. However, we didn’t do many iterations because we just offered our comments, and they either made the changes or gave us recommendations to proceed in a different way.

After that, Sayenko gave us training on using the site, and I proceeded to fill in the remaining pages with content. The site went live without any hiccup, and it was a very smooth process.

What is the team composition?

We first worked with Mike (Owner & Chief Designer), who walked us through the contract and bidding process and explained how the whole process would look like. Then, we worked with Nick (Digital Marketing Supervisor & SEO Specialist), who talked to us about keyword optimization and the content of our site.

After that, Kyle (Web Developer) was the person with whom we worked the most. He handled the construction of our site and coordinated with us for changes. He was also the one who showed us the wireframes and provided us with training.

How did you come to work with Sayenko Design?

I searched for local design firms and looked at referrals from other friends who work in this field. Then, we went through a bidding process, and we reviewed all the bids that we got with our team. Sayenko had the most competitive bid; it was in our price range and included the services that we needed.

How much have you invested with them?

The total cost of this project was around $24,000.

What is the status of this engagement?

We started working together in May 2021, and Sayenko launched our site at the end of August 2021.

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

One of our greatest success metrics was meeting the deadline. Our goal was to launch this site before the end of August, and Sayenko achieved that. Additionally, I had gone through a site redesign process before, and I’m sure that this project was the smoothest of the two. It was clear that Sayenko’s team did this kind of work all the time.

In terms of actual success due to the project, we haven’t seen any significant results so far because we've just launched it. From now on, we will measure the increase in our page views, organic conversions, and other similar metrics.

How did Sayenko Design perform from a project management standpoint?

Sayenko, without a doubt, was a fantastic group to work with, and Kyle was fantastic as well. They were communicative and very responsive to our requests, and we were very impressed with their ability to deliver and meet our expectations. Additionally, they always had good recommendations for us.

In the beginning, we had a breakdown in our communication, but we managed to move past that without facing any real issues. Sayenko also set some internal deadlines that they wanted to meet, but we ended up missing a couple of them by a few days. However, this had no impact on our project’s success at all.

Despite those initial challenges and once we moved to the actual development, it was smooth sailing. Overall, their project management was great.

We used a really intuitive project management tool, but I don’t remember its name. On it, we had our active project, and we could share files, track tasks, set goals and deadlines, and communicate. Sayenko trained me to use that tool very quickly, and once I was up and running, it was very helpful.

What did you find most impressive about them?

The visual design skills and knowledge that Sayenko brought to the table were impressive.

Are there any areas they could improve?

It would be good if Sayenko were a little more patient with their clients at the beginning of the process. However, this wasn’t an issue for us because we’re a small, lean organization, and we were able to move really quickly. Other than that, everything was fantastic, and they offered excellent communication.

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

Make sure you know what you want from the project and what you’re looking for from your site. Also, be ready to put in this project the time necessary for it to be successful.

They’re the designers, so they will do the heavy lifting. However, they don’t know your company nor your content as well as you do, so make sure that you spend some time preparing your content and yourself for the project. This way, once they start working with you, they’ll do it in a timely manner.

Introduce your business and what you do there.

We provide online training and mentorship to nonprofits regarding their communication and marketing programs. I’m the COO.

What challenge were you trying to address with Sayenko Design?

We needed help redesigning our website. We had two WordPress sites. One for our regular website and one for our blog. We wanted to combine them into one and do a complete redesign and logo refresh.

What was the scope of their involvement?

Sayenko Design consolidated our WordPress sites into one platform. They gave us 2–3 design choices, which was helpful.  The team did some coding on the backend to make sure that our training materials and blog posts pop up on our home page.

They also redesigned our logo. They spent a lot of time learning who we were as a company, which we really appreciated.

What is the team composition?

I worked with Mike (Owner & Chief Designer), Nik (Web Strategist & SEO Specialist), and Kyle (Web Developer).

How did you come to work with Sayenko Design?

I went on Clutch and found another company and we didn’t gel. They recommended Sayenko Design and we decided to take a meeting with them. We got along really well and decided to work together.

How much have you invested with them?

We spent $33,000–$34,000.

What is the status of this engagement?

We started working together in November 2020, and we went live in February 2021. We’re still working together on small updates.

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

The new site helps us feature our trainings and blog posts in a better way. We’ve recieved a lot of great feedback about the site’s aesthetics. Users say it’s great and much easier to navigate than other websites. Our newsletter subscribers and our number of leads are up, too. We’ve had no complaints so far.

They’re very responsive. A lot of companies say they’re going to be your partner but end up doing things their way. Sayekno Design actually listened to our needs and adjusted our backend to match what we were saying.

How did Sayenko Design perform from a project management standpoint?

Their project management was all very organized. The team was very clear on what we needed to provide.  

What did you find most impressive about them?

The team was very responsive. They were very quick to get in touch with us when we had any questions.

Are there any areas they could improve?

It was sometimes confusing as to where we were supposed to post questions, but that’s very minor.

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

Have an idea of what you want, first and foremost. Take some time to go in and find websites that you want and show them that.

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m the director of sales and marketing at the corporate level for a nonprofit. We have five verticals in the senior living industry — predominantly housing, community-based services, affordable technology, philanthropy, and business services.

What challenge were you trying to address with Sayenko Design?

We needed a new corporate website that would better reflect our brand and the direction we were headed in. Additionally, we’d grown significantly since our original website was created, so we wanted to unite all of our affiliates under one URL. 

What was the scope of their involvement? 

Sayenko Design created our corporate website, uniting our affiliates under one URL. It was a bit complex in that regard because we had to port in or migrate about 20 URLs under one domain. As a result, we wanted to make sure we had a clean UX to navigate between all of our communities.

Their team developed a search tool that allowed users to move between each of our 15 communities based on various criteria (e.g., level of care). When a user navigated to a community website from our corporate page, they were actually going to an individual page for that community, complete with its own look and feel. However, there was still a simple navigational feature at the top of the page that would allow users to go back to the corporate site.

The project itself was built on WordPress, and we moved all of the sites from GoDaddy to SiteGround. Our IT director took care of the SSL tasks.

What is the team composition? 

It was a small team. Mike (Seattle Web Designer) was our project manager until the development started. Then, Kyle (WordPress Developer) took over since he was our main developer.

How did you come to work with Sayenko Design?

We found Sayenko Design while searching on Google for a local development team. Other companies undercut the budget, putting in inexpensive bids that were ridiculously too low because they didn’t understand the whole scope of the project. In contrast, Mike’s team had a good grasp of our needs, and his technical savvy during his initial presentation was far superior to everyone else. That was exactly what we were looking for.

How much have you invested with them?

It was originally $60,000, but there were some add-ons throughout that totaled about $10,000.

What is the status of this engagement?

The project lasted from January–December 2020. It was supposed to be a four-month project, but we saw several delays due to COVID-19. We had to populate all of the content ourselves, but I couldn’t get to all of that because I was too busy fighting COVID-19-related fires.

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

Our IT director came in after the project was completed, and he noted that Sayenko Design built a really clean site. It loaded faster and even had video. 

What I liked about the site was that the content blocks were all customizable, which made it easy for us to manipulate them on the backend by ourselves. These became templates for communities that wanted to join our network but didn’t have a great website of their own — all they had to do was choose one of our content blocks and populate it.

How did Sayenko Design perform from a project management standpoint?

They excelled at project management. Mike did a great job of taking our creative feedback and kept the project on task. If it wasn’t for him nudging us forward, I’d end up putting off the site because I’d be too overwhelmed with something COVID-19-related. 

The team used a separate project management system that we weren’t in love with, but that could also be because I worked in five other systems on a daily basis and didn’t want to learn another one.

What did you find most impressive about them?

Sayenko Design is definitely a development agency. In the past, I’d worked with an ad agency to develop a site, but what I got was a pretty site that wasn’t high-performing on the backend. Sayenko Design wasn’t like that — they’re developers, which meant we got a really high-quality product.

Are there any areas they could improve?

No, nothing comes to mind.

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

When you go into development, you need to realize that the project is pretty set at that stage. That’s why it helps to make your edits and really rally your team before you start developing.

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m the executive director of a nonprofit organization.

What challenge were you trying to address with Sayenko Design?

Our website hadn’t been updated in at least a decade, so we wanted to completely revamp it.

What was the scope of their involvement?

In the first phase of the project, we talked through our objectives and what we were trying to achieve by redesigning our WordPress website. We also gave them a lot of information about our organization, what our values were, and who we were trying to reach through our website.

Then they designed the site, chose a color scheme, planned the layout, and created wireframes. They worked closely with my team to make sure that their designs met our needs.

We also needed to rewrite a lot of content, so they gave us advice on what would be effective and how we could use it to improve our SEO.

Then we worked with their developer. Once they completed the development, we fine-tuned some things, made sure everything worked properly. The links worked, the menus and submenus were functional, and we had all the content we needed. They taught us how to use the admin side of the website so we felt comfortable using the site on our own.

As we went through that, we asked them to do a few more things to improve the site even further before launching it. Now we’re beginning a new phase and are planning to build an e-commerce site.  

What is the team composition?

First, I worked with Mike (Web Designer) to discuss our strategy. He stayed involved throughout the project and I felt like I could reach out to him whenever I needed to. Then I worked with a designer on the wireframes and homepage. Once that was set, we worked with the developer.

How did you come to work with Sayenko Design?

I did an online search and narrowed it down to a few web design companies. Their reviews on Clutch were a major factor in my decision-making process. I reached out to them and asked them to submit a proposal, so we selected them.

How much have you invested with them?

We’ve spent between $16,000–$18,000.

What is the status of this engagement?

We started working with them in July 2020 and our partnership is ongoing.

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

We recently launched the site, but we’ve already received positive comments about how elegant the site looks and how easy it is to navigate. Even our board members have commented on what an improvement it is. We think it will have a big impact on our organization.

How did Sayenko Design perform from a project management standpoint?

Project management was one of their strong suits. They laid out the whole process and provided a timeline for us. Then they used a project management tool to remind me what needed to be done. It was easy for me to go into their portal and see their progress. I was also able to upload documents and comment on their work through that portal. Overall, it was a very effective tool. They really helped keep us on schedule.

What did you find most impressive about them?

First, they were very strategic about our design and helped us think about what we were trying to achieve.

Second, they had amazing project management skills. They were flexible and responsive no matter when we reached out to them.

Third, their entire team was awesome to work with. Overall, they were skilled, knowledgeable, and insightful. Their developer was amazing.

Are there any areas they could improve?

I don’t think they need to improve anything.

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

New clients should be prepared to work closely with them. I didn’t realize how much time we would have to dedicate to the project on our side.

They should also leverage all the talent Sayenko Design has because they’re very skilled and insightful.