Spark DSG LLC

BACKGROUND

Please describe your company and position.

I am the Group Creative Director, UX Strategy and Research of Vanguard

Describe what your company does in a single sentence.

Vanguard is one of the largest investment firms who pioneered index mutual funds – where it's vision is to take a stand for all investors, to treat them fairly, and to give them the best chance for investment success.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What specific goals or objectives did you hire Spark DSG LLC to accomplish?

• Explore a set of tools and sandbox of design components for my product designers to use for the modernization of retail public site.

SOLUTION

How did you find Spark DSG LLC?

Referral

Why did you select Spark DSG LLC over others?

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

What was the size of Spark DSG LLC’s team?

2-5 Employees

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

Spark collaborated with us as an embedded team within my growing new team in the creation of UI components for our new design system. Vanguard just developed a new global brand but it was up for interpretation how it's translated into reusable, component-based design system in the context of retail digital experience.

After my team completed design discovery on existing inventory, Spark worked closely with us through two phases with each broken down into design sprints. The first phase was oriented towards creating a collection of prioritized components which were further refined through example page mock ups. The second phase was focused on finalizing the individual component styles and specs of ~30 components identified by my team that we owned and expanded further from.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

• Spark provided us with streamlined resource/solutions when I was still building/hiring my new team. Their initial foundational work helped us to complete our first component-based design system for retail public site, which eventually became one of the critical/foundational pieces that enabled us to achieve modernizing 33,000 old legacy pages into a rebranded, scalable site on a new platform.

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

They followed the multiple design sprint timelines working closely with us and delivered everything in time.

What was your primary form of communication with Spark DSG LLC?

• Virtual Meeting
• Email or Messaging App

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

Their process/culture is nimble unlike big agencies that was perfect for my team/project need. They also communicated and set expectations diligently that made their team feel more like part of my embedded team instead of an outsourced vendor.

Are there any areas for improvement or something Spark DSG LLC could have done differently?

There have been some minor hiccups in setting up and using a shared collaboration tool during pandemic but that's more from my company's strict security policies.

BACKGROUND

Please describe your company and position.

I am the Director of Product Management of a healthcare IoT company

Describe what your company does in a single sentence.

We make healthcare more efficient and safe through the use of location-based intelligence of people and equipment and properly monitored environments.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What specific goals or objectives did you hire Spark DSG LLC to accomplish?

• Digitize and optimize IoT hardware installation processes
• Rethink and redesign how we approach IoT device management

SOLUTION

How did you find Spark DSG LLC?

Referral

Why did you select Spark DSG LLC over others?

• Pricing first our budget
• Great culture fit
• Referred to me

What was the size of Spark DSG LLC’s team?

2-5 Employees

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

User and user experience research, persona development, and voice of customer activities to build two new web-based products:

• A product that replaces manual process that utilized other off the shelf products that no longer met our growing needs
• A product that replaces a current outdated product which requires ground up research and design to make the product better on a holistic level

Delivered:

• User research and reports
• User Personas
• User surveys
• User journeys
• High level acceptance criteria
• Design comps
• A/B testing and reports
• User feedback sessions and reports

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

• Complete all defined deliverables (user research reports, design comps, user testing reports)

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

Delivered on time, was able to adjust to our changein priorities and added project. Very structured and professional in their approach to UX research and UX design. Other than providing SME support and access to our users, they were a full service shop that required little to no oversight.

What was your primary form of communication with Spark DSG LLC?

• Virtual Meeting
• Email or Messaging App

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

All interactions felt like working with senior-level staff who had confidence in their tasks and abilities to complete them. The interactions were always kind and pleasant yet they knew when and how to push back when needed to ensure an expected outcome.

Are there any areas for improvement or something Spark DSG LLC could have done differently?

Speed of project or more hours allocated to us on a weekly/monthly basis could have been higher. Ideally for our timelines, the engagement should have spanned about 1/2 time (but same number of hours).

BACKGROUND

Please describe your company and position.

I am the former Chief Marketing/Revenue Officer of Morehouse College

Describe what your company does in a single sentence.

Higher education institution.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What specific goals or objectives did you hire Spark DSG LLC to accomplish?

• Design a new mobile first website
• Build a platform to drive admissions and enrollment demand

SOLUTION

How did you find Spark DSG LLC?

prior work

Why did you select Spark DSG LLC over others?

• Great culture fit
• Company values aligned
• ecommerce experience

What was the size of Spark DSG LLC’s team?

2-5 Employees

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

Overall site design from UX/UI development to creative positioning to SEO implementation.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

• Meeting project timeline and budget constraints; plus KPIs for operational outcomes such as admissions and advancement demand.

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

They were very predictable and managed the project extremely well and led me/my team through it with def. Spark anticipated our needs and got ahead of them regularly.

What was your primary form of communication with Spark DSG LLC?

• Virtual Meeting
• Email
• Messaging App

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

The Spark team members are passionate about their work and take everything they do with a level of professionalism and craftsmanship that you hear about in the movies about times gone by. It's refreshing that a group of people can apply that mentality and approach on a consistent basis but do so with humility and class.

Are there any areas for improvement or something Spark DSG LLC could have done differently?

No.

BACKGROUND

Please describe your company and position.

I am the Sr. Product Manager of Watts Water Technologies

Describe what your company does in a single sentence.

Global manufacturer of water related solutions for commercial and industrial markets

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What specific goals or objectives did you hire Spark DSG LLC to accomplish?

• UI/UX for connected solutions

SOLUTION

How did you find Spark DSG LLC?

Referral

Why did you select Spark DSG LLC over others?

• High ratings
• Great culture fit
• Good value for cost
• Referred to me

What was the size of Spark DSG LLC’s team?

2-5 Employees

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

• Design user interface/experience for new connected solution.
• Ensure wore frames are consistent and aligned with functional specification.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

• On Time delivery
• UI/UX Design

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

They were very responsive, collaborative, and always on time

What was your primary form of communication with Spark DSG LLC?

• Virtual Meeting
• Email or Messaging App

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

The people!

Are there any areas for improvement or something Spark DSG LLC could have done differently?

No