Slick

BACKGROUND

Please describe your company and position.

I am the Head of Product of Wynter

Describe what your company does in a single sentence.

Ideal customer research platform for B2B marketers.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What specific goals or objectives did you hire Slick to accomplish?

• Optimize design process
• Design new product features
• Consult and support overall design face-lift

SOLUTION

How did you find Slick?

• Online Search
• Referral

Why did you select Slick over others?

• High ratings
• Great culture fit
• Good value for cost

How many teammates from Slick were assigned to this project?

2-5 Employees

Describe the scope of work in detail. Please include a summary of key deliverables.

Ongoing collaboration consisting of multiple deliverables including optimization of design process, consulting on design system improvements, designing new features, consulting on design strategy and research.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

What were the measurable outcomes from the project that demonstrate progress or success?

Design outcome speed, quality and clarity improved noticeably almost immediately. Over time Slick's team was eager to learn more about our business and product challenges and work an integrated team, which was always a challenge with other companies in the past.

Describe their project management. Did they deliver items on time? How did they respond to your needs?

Deliverables were on time, communication was clear and proactive, not only waiting for instructions but sometimes driving outcomes if that was needed.

What was your primary form of communication with Slick?

• Virtual Meeting
• Email or Messaging App

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

Flexibility to work in changing environment of new startup company. Adjusting to processes, not being rigid and set in their ways, but willing to listen, offer perspective and know-how and agree on processes and outcomes that was working the best for us.

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

Nothing stands out at the moment. When we needed any adjustment, it was usually resolved within a few days, mostly a few hours.

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m the CTO of Rep.ai, an AI platform for e-commerce marketers. Users can leverage our platform to have chatbots that sell their products on their e-commerce sites.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with Slick?

We wanted to create a self-serve platform and needed help with the UI/UX design side of that project, so we hired Slick.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

Slick has helped us with UI/UX design for our platform. Initially, they asked us about our ideal customer profile. Based on that, they started working on the designs using Figma. Their approach has been creating a very smooth and minimalistic design without many items and with a white background.

What is the team composition?

We’ve worked with five teammates from Slick, including one of the founders who is also in charge of sales, another founder who is also in charge of design, a UI designer, and an animator.

How did you come to work with Slick?

We found them on Upwork and liked their portfolio, so we called them. We really liked Slick’s attitude and the projects they were working on. Therefore, we started working together.

How much have you invested with them?

We’ve spent around $30,000.

What is the status of this engagement?

We started working together around July 2022, and our engagement is ongoing. Currently, one of their designers works with us full-time.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

We really liked the designs that Slick has produced — they’re very minimalistic, slick, and of high quality. Slick is great at thinking about a lot of scenarios users might face, so the designs they produce are very well-thought-out.

How did Slick perform from a project management standpoint?

Slick has delivered on time and within budget most of the time. Initially, we started working on projects on an estimation basis, where they told us how much each project would cost beforehand. Recently, we switched to a full-time collaboration, where we pay them by the hour.

Since switching our collaboration model, Slick has worked faster and better. The designer we’re currently working with from their team is very good and timely, and he delivers faster than expected. We use Jira for project management, as well as WhatsApp and Slack for communication.

What did you find most impressive about them?

Slick always makes an effort to deliver a very user-friendly and great UI/UX; they work hard for it. Other designers simply deliver what they get asked for. However, Slick always provides suggestions on what they think won’t work well and what could happen differently.

Additionally, Slick provides feedback on the client's requirements, thinks of alternatives, and comes to the table with different approaches. They also think about business strategies rather than focusing on screen designs, so their approach is very different. They prefer minimal requirements so that they can be very creative and take care of the rest. Thus far, that approach has worked very well.

Are there any areas they could improve?

It would be great if Slick improved their sales process. Their current sales process is a bit pushy, which we didn’t like when we started working with them. Other than that, they’re amazing professionals.

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

Hire Slick on a full-time basis rather than on a project basis. Once we start working with someone as if they were part of your team, you’ll experience a very different and effective approach — they’ll start participating in your meetings and knowing everything about your product. When we switched our engagement model with Slick, they started working much better.

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m an executive at Capital Markets Elite Group Ltd, a financial services company.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenges were you trying to address with Slick?

We wanted to enhance the whole look and feel of our trading apps.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

Slick provides us with UI/UX design services using Figma as their main tool. We started by giving them our brand book and a list of expectations so they could understand our needs. They’ve guided us through the whole process and taken our ideas and requirements to translate them into the entire concept of the product. 

What was the team composition? 

We’ve been working with 3–4 members of Slick's team, including two of their directors and their design personnel.

How did you come to work with Slick Studio?

I found them through online research.

How much have you invested in them?

We’ve spent $120,000 so far, including other projects with them.

What is the status of this engagement?

For this task, we started working together in September 2022, and the engagement is still ongoing because we have other projects with them in our pipeline.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

Slick has done a fantastic job, and we’re more than pleased with their designs and overall work because they’ve been very helpful throughout the process.

Regarding metrics, Slick's work has been key in increasing the traffic and customers we’re getting because everything within our platform is now seamless and easy to use.

How did Slick perform from a project management standpoint?

Slick has delivered everything on time and within budget — they’ve been very good with their estimates. In terms of communication, their team has been responsive using Zoom, Microsoft Teams, and email as main tools.

What did you find most impressive about them?

Slick's team’s friendly approach is their biggest strength; they’re always kind and adapt to the project’s needs politely and effectively.

Are there any areas they could improve?

I don’t think there’s anything they can improve on — they’re fantastic and do everything efficiently, so we’ll continue to onboard them for future projects.

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

Be clear with your requirements so they can scope out the project correctly and avoid increasing its cost. Still, Slick is flexible and highly accommodative in their pricing, even if the work goes beyond scope.

BACKGROUND

Please describe your company and your position there.

I'm the CEO of a pharma software startup headquartered in Chicago, IL

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

For what projects/services did your company hire Slick Studio?

We’d wanted to improve our website’s ability to help our selling process. This involved a landing page redesign, a new walkthrough/training flow, and new designs for several features.

SOLUTION

How did you select this vendor?

We searched online for available designers, and and shortlisted 4. After interviewing them, we chose this vendor based on their past projects and cost estimate.

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

We provided qualitative feedback from focus group participants who used our site without prior experience as an input to your design process. The design team then "roughed out" several options for our feedback, and then iterated with us over several weeks to achieve the desired outcome and coverage.

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

Our team worked directly with a project manager, and one design associate.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

We're very pleased with the deliverables from their team, and how well they collaborated with our team. The design is now with our developers and product teams, who are testing it with new and existing users, who are giving it rave reviews. The scope was fully completed, and largely on time. We believe their work is a key input to our user-friendly and easy-to-navigate web app.

How effective was the workflow between your team and theirs?

We have no complaints. We used slack and email, and iterated on designs on Figma. These tools and processes worked well.

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

They were very responsive - I never waited more than a day for a response to one of our queries.

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

No, I was largely satisfied.

BACKGROUND

Please describe your company and your position there.

I am the COO and Head of Product at Roopairs. We are a vertical saas company focused on building productivity tools for the commercial equipment industry.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

For what projects/services did your company hire Slick Studio?

Our platform was originally built mobile-first; however, as we grew, we started to get a lot of requests to build a more desktop-friendly platform. We hired Slick Studio to help us bring our product to desktop while also improving faulty components along the way.

SOLUTION

How did you select this vendor?

I was referred to Slick Studio via a colleague who worked with them previously and had a good experience.

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

We are still trying to nail down a good process of working together but generally the stages of each project went like this:

1. Roopairs Team works with their customers to understand initial requirements for the desktop version improvements.
2. Roopairs Team writes up a detailed product requirements document (prd) and presents it back to the customer for approval.
3. Once approved by the customer, the Roopairs Team would pass the PRD along to the Slick Team for review.
4. Once the Slick Team reviewed, they would proceed to a low-fidelity wireframe. 
5. Once done with that, the Roopairs Team would review it internally and also with customers. 
6. Once approved, the Slick Team would move to hi-fidelity designs. 
7. Once done with that, the Roopairs Team would review it internally and also with customers. 
8. Lastly, the Roopairs Team would get the final version of designs and requirements and send them off to engineering.

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

I worked with about four people from their team, however, I mainly interfaced with one person, which was our core designer on the project.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

We are very pleased with the deliverables from the Slick Team, and our customers really like the progress which has been made to improve our platform.

How effective was the workflow between your team and theirs?

The workflow has been difficult for a couple of reasons... Firstly, the time change difference is not ideal as meetings will have to take place either early in the morning or late at night for us. Secondly, my team was not fully prepared to handle the influx of new designs and therefore couldn't keep up with their team.

This is not the fault of Slick but of our own. With that said the workflow had to get paused every once and while which was unfortunate, but necessary. As soon as we get a product manager on our team, I don't seeing this being a problem anymore as our workflow should drastically improve.

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

Their UI/UX skills are impressive and I like their approach to problems and how they deliver solutions simply.

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

I think some more clarity on what resources come with their service would have been helpful in the beginning. Understanding how much they can assist between design and product management would have been helpful. We greatly needed help with design which they did a great job on, but when it came to product management, we were unable to keep up with the new designs. I had originally thought that product management would be included and more hands-on, but that wasn't as much the case.

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m the CIO of Pasha Bank Georgia, a financial institution.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with Slick Studio?

We needed help with UI/UX design.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

Slick Studio did the UI/UX of our retail landing page; their team offered 2–3 styles, and we chose the one that was best suited for our customers. They also helped us develop the concept of our website and created prototypes for it before we reached the final product.

What is the team composition?

There were five people involved in the process, including a project manager, UI/UX specialists, and an analytics person.

How did you come to work with Slick Studio?

They were referred to us.

What is the status of this engagement?

We worked together from October 2021–January 2022.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

Working with them was an incredible experience.

How did Slick Studio perform from a project management standpoint?

Project management was fully comfortable for us; they were flexible, timely, had an agile approach, and were result-oriented. In terms of communication, we used Zoom, Slack, and email. We also met 2–3 times in person.

What did you find most impressive about them?

They were innovative and modern — they're an overall good and experienced team.

Are there any areas they could improve?

I don't think there's anything they can improve on.

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

I’ve recommended many companies to work with them, and my suggestion is not to give them more projects than they have resources for.

BACKGROUND

Please describe your company and your position there.

Economies is a leading financial network providing news and analysis about the different financial markets

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

For what projects/services did your company hire Slick Studio?

We needed Slick Studio to design our mobile application

SOLUTION

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

They looked very professional in estimating the time the project will need. They have a large team of talented designers as well as a very impressive portfolio. They were very honest and cared about our satisfaction. The relationship turned to be more than just customer and a service provider.

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

They listened to our ideas and we explained to them what we were the crucial points in the project. Luckily they also had a background in fintech and financial markets which made the task easier. Every week we had 2 meetings and there was an impressive progress. We gave them our notes and in the next time they were already done and better than expected.

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

In total, we worked with 5 people. From Team leader to fellow designers.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

Their documentation was very clear and easy to implement.

How effective was the workflow between your team and theirs?

The syncronization between our team and theirs was very good and efficient.

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

How professional they are. They cared about your project as if it was theirs. They used to suggest solution to cut expenses on us. Their pricing is competitive and they are very kind and nice on the personal level.

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

I think they know well what they are doing. They are on track to be one of the leading design studios in the world.

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m the CEO of a pre-seed stage fintech company.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with Slick Studio?

We needed someone to provide us with branding, UI/UX design, and product advisory for our business.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

Slick Studio provides us with branding and UI/UX design services. They deliver high-fidelity wireframes using Figma and consult us on the product’s direction based on user and developer feedback.

The app is available on iOS and we’re currently working on the release for Android platforms.

What is the team composition?

We’re in contact with three UI/UX designers from Slick Studio.

How did you come to work with Slick Studio?

They were highly recommended to me by a mutual contact.

How much have you invested with them?

So far, we’ve spent north of $20,000.

What is the status of this engagement?

Our ongoing partnership started in September 2021.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

The designs they come up with are very sleek, highly functional, and balanced — the UI of the app is aesthetically-pleasing, but it still focuses on creating a good customer experience.

How did Slick Studio perform from a project management standpoint?

They’re quite good from a project management perspective, as they consistently deliver their tasks on time and within budget.

We mainly communicate through Slack.

What did you find most impressive about them?

We’re impressed with their product-focused mindset.

Are there any areas they could improve?

They could improve on getting more bandwidth.

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

I would advise maintaining regular communications and taking Slick Studio in on a full-time basis, because they can give you the resources you need.

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m the owner of Backlinked, a digital marketing marketplace.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with Slick Studio?

We wanted to redesign our marketplace's dashboard to make it more efficient and easy to use.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

Slick Studio handled a complete redesign of our marketplace dashboard.

We started the project by providing them with detailed information about our marketplace app, which included data from our Google Analytics and Hotjar accounts. They then analyzed the data to figure out how the app’s users interacted with the marketplace.

After that, we told them exactly which pages and views they needed to redesign and sent them the base style that we wanted for the dashboard. We showed them some UI/UX work that we liked as well as our brand guidelines, logo, and font style. 

They delivered a design plan for the dashboard within a week. We were completely satisfied with the design base they prepared — they took all of the things we wanted and made something new out of it.

Slick Studio worked on Figma for the redesign, which allowed us to see their progress in real-time.

What is the team composition?

Our main point of contact is their project manager, but we've also worked with three other people on this project.

How did you come to work with Slick Studio?

We found Slick Studio through a social networking platform for designers. We looked through their previous work, as well as their client testimonials, and found that they fit the style that we were looking for, so we went with them.

How much have you invested with them?

We’ve spent $11,000 so far.

What is the status of this engagement?

We started working together in August 2021, and the engagement is ongoing.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

The marketplace app only went live this month, so we don’t have any quantitative metrics yet. However, we have received very positive feedback from our clients. We are also anticipating an increase in our sales following the app’s release.

As for the quality of their work, Slick Studio definitely exceeded our expectations. They were able to take our design to the next level and give the app a much more professional look and feel.

How did Slick Studio perform from a project management standpoint?

Slick Studio has performed very well in terms of project management. We didn’t have any problems with regard to our schedule and budget. They were always ready before they had to be ready, and they never asked for more money than we agreed upon.

We primarily communicated through Slack and Google Meet. We have two scheduled calls per week to discuss feedback and the progress of their work.

What did you find most impressive about them?

We definitely feel like we are getting much more value than we pay for.

I also appreciate how communicative Slick Studio is — it’s like they’re online all the time based on how fast they get back to me.

Are there any areas they could improve?

Slick Studio could work more on their project management. Towards the end of the app’s redesign, I had a feeling that they were not as focused as they used to be, possibly because of a new project that they started working on. They still performed really well so it wasn’t that bad, but it also wasn’t the same.

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

Make sure not to micromanage them and let them do their work. They work in Figma, so you will be able to see their progress in real-time and might even be tempted to give them feedback as they work. Only give them feedback once they’re done and once they ask for it, and everyone will be happier.

BACKGROUND

Please describe your company and position.

I am the CEO of an identity verification platform

Describe what your company does in a single sentence.

Identity verification platform for conversation platforms

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What specific goals or objectives did you hire Slick to accomplish?

• Develop a new application design
• Feature development

SOLUTION

How did you find Slick?

Referral

Why did you select Slick over others?

• High ratings
• Close to my geographic location
• Pricing fit our budget
• Great culture fit
• Referred to me

How many teammates from Slick were assigned to this project?

2-5 Employees

Describe the scope of work in detail. Please include a summary of key deliverables.

research competitors analyze their software products and deliver new design approach

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

What were the measurable outcomes from the project that demonstrate progress or success?

The received outcome was delivering better results in terms of customer acquisition, conversion and retention.

Describe their project management. Did they deliver items on time? How did they respond to your needs?

The project was delivered on an agreed schedule.

What was your primary form of communication with Slick?

Email or Messaging App

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

I appreciated their client-oriented, research-based, and quantitative approach. 

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

N/A