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    Oakland, CA
    510.842.3826

We create multi-platform experiences on & offline

5.0
6 reviews 

We're an award winning web design and web development agency in the Bay Area connecting organizations to their audience by creating high impact web design on Drupal, Wordpress & Laravel.

 

What We Do

We create multi-platform experiences on and offline. Partnering with B2B, B2C and nonprofit organizations to help them achieve their goals, sell products, collect donations or convert leads. Our process starts with a deep dive discovery that teaches us about the nuances and goals of your organization. Our multi-disciplinary teams collaborate from project kick-off through launch, integrating strategy, design and engineering that keep customers engaged.

 

How We Do It

Our process will help you define a strategy and development plan to ensure a successful launch. We’re precise, organized and consultative in our approach. We believe in sticking to timelines and clear communication. After launch a successful launch, we continue to work with our clients to enhance, secure and protect their websites on WordPress, Drupal and Laravel.

 

Who We Do It For

We work with a diverse group of clients including financial and professional services, E-commerce, education and nonprofit organizations. We specialize in content management system powered websites that produce measurable results. No matter what industry you are in, we would be proud to partner with you from pre-flight to post-launch. We’re committed to our clients and make their goals our priority.

READ MORE...
 
$10,000+
 
$150 - $199 / hr
 
2 - 9
 Founded
2000
Show all +
Oakland, CA
headquaters
  • State Creative
    360 22nd Street
    Oakland, CA 94612
    United States
    510.842.3826
other locations
  • State Creative
    United States

Portfolio

Key clients: 

Our portfolio page showcases several clients. Here are a few:

  • UC Berkeley
  • Litman Gregory AdvisorIntelligence
  • California Association of Food Banks
  • Zuli
  • Center For Creative Land Recycling

Hello Wonderful

The project started with an elegant yet playful logo which laid the foundation for the color palette. Next, we moved on to architecture and web design. Users browse thousands of activities, ideas and products and save their favorites by logging in with credentials or through Facebook. Content is displayed with an infinite scroll for fast load times. Users share content through social media channels like Pinterest, Facebook, Twitter and Google+ or leave comments though the Facebook Social Plugin. To encourage click-through rates, there is a dynamic API that showcases popular posts and recommendations based on site actions. Google Adsense provides a revenue stream. Hello Wonderful has been featured on Good Housekeeping and Buzzfeed and inspires thousands of parents everyday.

UC Berkeley DCAC

A contemporary responsive website built on Drupal. The site won an award and has seen improvements in several major metrics. Features include a full-fold hero image, animated entry points and parallax imagery on the home page. The site features a hidden menu, manageable staff pages, filterable school pages and dynamic Drupal Views. The website provides information on schools, districts and funders while also highlighting the creative and effective work DCAC provides within communities throughout California. To inspire visitors and make the DCAC brand shine bright, we used minimalist web design. Also, we designed the organization a new logo to use for multiple programs.Lastly, we also maintain the website security ...

Rogers Family Foundation

We built The Rogers Family Foundation an interactive, responsive website on WordPress. The home page features a custom design with full-fold slideshow, custom selection menu, entry points with rollover text and animation. Modules allow for staff management, graphic resource uploads, visual data short-codes and blog. It is a mobile friendly site so it loads flawlessly on tablets and phones, yet offers a rich experience on desktop browsers. The Foundation is focused on innovative, strategic and engaging work that can be measured with the new site. Since launch, we continue to ensure website security with ongoing maintenance.

Litman Gregory AdvisorIntelligence

Following a project strategy report, we simplified a complex process with a highly custom portal built on the Laravel framework. The responsive e-commerce platform includes a website in front of a paywall that showcases information about the company and curated research. Subscribers have access to a dashboard and premium research after signing a DocuSign agreement and paying through Stripe payment gateway. The custom CMS gives administrators the power to manage users, features and track real time data about the system in addition to categorizing, tagging and placing stories where appropriate. The device agnostic platform enhances their long term business strategy while streamlining the information delivery and...

Reviews

5.0
6 reviews 
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Web Development for Freight Services Provider

"They were able to accommodate, listen to, and respond to what I anticipated we needed."

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5.0

Quality: 
4.5
Schedule: 
5.0
Cost: 
3.5
Willing to refer: 
5.0
The Project
 
$10,000 to $49,999
 
Aug. 2016 - Jan. 2017
Project summary: 

State Creative built a new Wordpress website, providing everything from design and development to content consulting. The website serves marketing, e-commerce, and account management functions.

The Reviewer
 
51-200 Employees
 
Etobicoke, Ontario
Chris Miller
VP, TForce Logistics
 
Verified
The Review
Feedback summary: 

State Creative’s deliverable has received positive feedback. The team provided significant training on how to use the site. They were responsive and available; they developed a thorough understanding of the target market and specific business goals.

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

TForce Logistics is a provider of third-party logistics services for final mile activity to our clients. I’m the general manager and vice president.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with State Creative?

We had an old website that was outdated. We had also been purchased in the last couple of years and had gone through a name change, so we needed to update our website.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

We gave them an idea of what we wanted to portray to our customers. State Creative assisted with everything from the design, suggestions for content, revisions, completion, and the built out of the website. They also gave us training on how we can maintain certain aspects of the site ourselves. They completely rebuilt the website on WordPress. The site is pretty straightforward in terms of detailing what we do for anyone that is researching us as a function of direct sales opportunities or seeing our name come across through various marketing channels. We have functionalities associated with the ability for low volume clients to use the site for tracking and tracing of orders. The site links through to our operating system, and also has functionality that has potential partners for us to go on the site, register, and communicate with us. There’s also communication capabilities for someone wanting to reach out to us with general questions or sales opportunities. State Creative had two primary resources working on the project as well as a development team.

How did you come to work with State Creative?

They’re located in the same building as us. I had referred them previously to other folks in the industry. We are owned by a conglomerate that owns 55 companies and they did some work for some of those other companies. We didn’t put it out to a competitive bid but I did verify those costs against both our previous provider as well as folks that had an idea of what the cost should be for that type of site.

How much have you invested with State Creative?

We spent between $20,000 and $25,000 for the site.

What is the status of this engagement?

We started working together in the fall of 2016, and the site was completed and launched late in quarter one of 2017. I continue to ask questions if I need help. It helps that they’re so close.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

Could you share any evidence that would demonstrate the productivity, quality of work, or the impact of the engagement?

We track site views, but I don’t know where we are right now. I’ve received positive feedback from folks within our organization and folks that deal with our organization from a partner perspective. We’re very pleased with the outcome.

How did State Creative perform from a project management standpoint?

They did great. For any organization that provides that kind of service, they need to teach the client to maintain it as well. They were extremely flexible and responsive throughout the process.

What did you find most impressive about State Creative?

I would have a difficult time comparing them to anyone else because I haven’t gone through the web development process before. I’ve dealt with a lot of tech companies and my perception is that State Creative is small relative to some other agencies. They were extremely engaged all the way through from learning about the business and understanding what we were trying to accomplish, our target market, to helping us develop the site. I’m not an expert in social media or website development and they were able to accommodate, listen to, and respond to what I anticipated we needed.

Are there any areas State Creative could improve?

I had no issues with them. They were very responsive and executed to what I had hoped and expected.

5.0
Overall Score
  • 5.0 Scheduling
    ON TIME / DEADLINES
    They were pushing us, not the other way around, generally speaking.
  • 3.5 Cost
    Value / within estimates
    Without anything to benchmark against, I perceive the value to be fair.
  • 4.5 Quality
    Service & deliverables
    I’m rating against my expectations and not any other industry knowledge.
  • 5.0 NPS
    Willing to refer
    There’s nothing that I perceive that they could have or should have done differently or better.

Custom Laravel Dev for Finance Firm

"State Creative really cared about making sure we were confident, comfortable, and happy with the end result."

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5.0

Quality: 
4.5
Schedule: 
4.0
Cost: 
5.0
Willing to refer: 
5.0
The Project
 
$50,000 to $199,999
 
Dec. 2015 - Apr. 2017
Project summary: 

State Creative redesigned a finance website to meet modern performance and usability standards. They used a thorough discovery process and delivered wireframes before proceeding into the development phase.

The Reviewer
 
51-200 Employees
 
California, USA
Consultant, Asset Management Firm
 
Verified
The Review
Feedback summary: 

State Creative offered a tried and true web development process that made the work a breeze. Their integrity and genuine care about the quality of work they delivered made the website a success. Feedback has been positive thus far.

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I work at an asset management firm in Northern California; we have several branches. We have an asset management business, a family of mutual funds, and a research publishing business, which allows us to leverage our own models and research to help other financial advisors run their own business.

I came in as a research consultant and ended up serving primarily as the project manager on a website overhaul for our research business. My job was to work closely with our entire team here, and also to find a web development agency we could partner with to build a new site. I’ve been focused on that for the past two years now.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with State Creative?

Our research website hadn’t been updated in eight years. Everything on the site was hard-coded and highly customized, which meant that it was very clunky and cumbersome to make any updates or changes. We were constantly leaning on our old web developer to make updates, and it became costly to manage the site. Our site had not emphasized our subscribers experience so UX become a major focus as well. There were a number of issues we wanted to tackle. We wanted to redesign and rethink the way we were presenting content. It was important that we found an agency that would be willing to give us full ownership of the content management system so we could make changes and adjustments ourselves and avoid issues that we ran into previously.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

State Creative has a solid discovery process, involving detailed and thoughtful questions about our business, market, subscribers, target market, and the way we want to utilize the site. Then they provided a detailed document outlining exactly what the functions were going to be, including wireframes and a process for the design and development phases.

The design process was very thorough. Garrett Goldman, our primary contact, asked us to synthesize our team’s voice into comprehensive feedback about the design, to ensure things were as clear as possible. We used InDesign to provide feedback.

Once the design was complete, they worked on the development process using Laravel as our content management system. We weren’t familiar with Laravel, but given what we needed from a functionality standpoint, Laravel was the best choice according to State Creative. It fit our needs and didn’t have a bunch of bells and whistles that we weren’t going to utilize. It also made for a clean, easy to use interface on the admin panel. A number of people in our company can go in and make updates and they don’t need a background in programming to be able to do so.

How did you come to work with State Creative?

We threw out a pretty wide net and looked at about 20 companies as part of our vendor search. We reviewed online information and portfolios to narrow the list down to ten. We set up phone calls to discuss the project, then selected five firms to whom we would put out an RFP.

One of the differentiators that made State Creative stand out is that they’re a very process-driven firm. They have a tried and true method for building a website the right way. They were the only firm that asked for more information to help guarantee they could build us something great. They’re experts in what they do, and they’re not afraid to push back in a way that will be better for us in the long run. Another big differentiator was that we had one project manager throughout the life of the project.

How much have you invested with State Creative?

We’ve invested between $75,000 and $115,000.

What is the status of this engagement?

The project began in December of 2015, and our relationship is ongoing. We launched the site in March of this year and are now in maintenance mode. We hope to engage in Phase II to help polish the site after we learn more about how our users are making the most of the new platform.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

Could you share any evidence that would demonstrate the productivity, quality of work, or the impact of the engagement?

We are thrilled with work they’ve done. It’s still early, but we’ve gotten glowing feedback on how easy it is to use the site. Our user base is not the most technologically savvy group, so we wanted a site that was intuitive, easy to use, and very clean. It was important that we distilled the real value that we bring to the table. The feedback from subscribers has been great so far, and it’s also been positive across the firm internally. It looks like we spent twice as much as we did. I’m optimistic that this will translate in a quantitative sense, and I’m excited to see how that impacts our business.

How did State Creative perform from a project management standpoint?

I didn’t know it was possible to have such a positive experience going through a web development project. Garrett is excellent. I’ve worked on projects in the past, and almost always, there’s some big sticking point. State Creative sticks to a method that has worked for them, and I think we both positioned ourselves for success when we agreed to trust one another. State Creative is an excellent design shop and web development agency and we know our clients best. Things got a little intense leading up to the launch date, but that is to be expected. Having a consistent project manager was a big differentiator. Garrett was our advocate throughout the life of the project and ultimately helped us launch a successful new site.

What did you find most impressive about State Creative?

A high level of integrity and authenticity. We are not designers or programmers, and sometimes we may not completely comprehend the implications for a particular request, or something might get lost in translation. I felt that State Creative really cared about making sure we were confident, comfortable, and happy with the end result and the process to get there. They genuinely cared about doing a great job, and it really showed. The entire team went above and beyond to ensure we could all be collectively proud of the final product.

Are there any areas State Creative could improve?

There could be some improvement in the process around launching the actual site. Having a process around that which is just a dialed-in as everything else would have made it the launch even more seamless and solid. It would also have instilled confidence at a time that can be very nerve-wracking.

I would also suggest offering additional support after beta testing, once new users are adopting a new system. We can only plan so much before the human element highlights areas that can use some tending to/refining. Perhaps there is a Phase II project in our future.

5.0
Overall Score I didn’t think it was possible to have such a positive experience with a web development project. They did a very high-quality job and followed through on all their promises.
  • 4.0 Scheduling
    ON TIME / DEADLINES
    They made themselves as available as they could.
  • 5.0 Cost
    Value / within estimates
  • 4.5 Quality
    Service & deliverables
    They deliver really great work.
  • 5.0 NPS
    Willing to refer
    I’ve already referred them to our own clients.

Web Design for Family Foundation

"I’ve been happy with how the collaboration went."

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5.0

Quality: 
5.0
Schedule: 
5.0
Cost: 
5.0
Willing to refer: 
5.0
The Project
 
$10,000 to $49,999
 
Mar. 2015 - Ongoing
Project summary: 

The client hired State Creative to refresh their website with the goals of making it more modern, more mobile-friendly, and better suited to reflect their work.

The Reviewer
 
11-50 Employees
 
San Francisco Bay Area
Dana Wellhausen
Director of Grants & Evaluation, Rogers Family Foundation
 
Verified
The Review
Feedback summary: 

The new website makes relevant information more accessible and receives excellent feedback both externally and internally. The client praises State Creative for their ability to deliver high quality work on time and make changes based on feedback.

BACKGROUND

Please describe your organization.

We are a family foundation located in Oakland, California. We focus on obtaining funding for educational improvement in the Oakland area, supporting science research in partnership with UC Berkeley, and helping Oakland institutions better serve our community.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What business challenge were you trying to address with State Creative?

We were looking to refresh our website without undergoing a full rebranding. We wanted a website that reflected our work, and that was more modern and mobile-ready.

SOLUTION

Please describe the scope of their involvement in greater detail.

We paid for two designs. The first was a custom design that would take the site to the next level, one that would represent a considerable improvement over what we currently had. Second, however, to give us a point of comparison, we asked for a basic, out-of-the-box solution. Even though this was not the way State Creative usually worked, we had a good experience. It was great to be able to choose the page we felt most comfortable with.

How did you come to work with State Creative?

Our foundation is very modestly funded, and we had difficulty in finding a company that would just focus on revising our website, without engaging in a full-scale rebranding. We had a few references for both local and out of state companies. We ultimately decided that, since our funding comes from a local company and our focus is on Oakland, we should find someone in this area. We looked at State Creative online and were impressed with some of the websites they had created. The past clients we talked to had great experiences with State Creative, and their team seemed able to do the work we needed.

Could you provide a sense of the size of this initiative in financial terms?

The total cost of the project was $20,000.

What is the status of this engagement?

We started working with State Creative in March of 2015, and the website was launched last week [Mid-January, 2016]. The length of time the project took was our responsibility. Although the website was completed in October of 2015, we delayed its launch to give us time to focus on our strategic plan. We needed to add that new content to the completed site.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

Could you share any statistics, metrics or other feedback from this engagement?

We’ve gotten excellent feedback from both our internal staff and our outside partners. Our previous website was very challenging to navigate. Right now on the revised site, a user can access the relevant information about what our institution does and find all the important areas easily. State Creative also ensured that the site would offer more intentionality in leading users to our information. This was something that we didn’t know how to ask for, but they built it into the site perfectly. This functionality will serve us for years to come.

How did State Creative perform from a project management standpoint?

State Creative was excellent in finishing their work on time, their design process was very straightforward, and we were always able to give feedback on their work. They would almost always make the changes we requested. If there was ever a time when they couldn’t make those changes, they always gave us good reasons for whatever technical problems we were facing. We wanted the website to be functional on mobile devices, so this was a constant design consideration. The only delay we encountered in the project was to give us more time for our strategic planning.

What distinguishes State Creative from other providers?

I appreciated the ease of working with Garret Goldman. He was always responsive and found the answer to any questions I had. State Creative used their knowledge and expertise to ensure that any decision we made would be the right one.

I’ve had some experience working on websites in the past, and I appreciated the short-code page they created for us. It has all the relevant technical information for the site, from fonts to colors. In other projects I had been involved with, we were just handed developed pages without the information necessary for us to manage the site ourselves. It’s been helpful for me to have all that information when doing tasks like formatting our newsletter. From a user perspective, the way in which they packaged our site has been great.

Is there anything State Creative could have improved or done differently?

Since our site was relatively small, the project was very straightforward for them. I’ve been happy with how the collaboration went.

5.0
Overall Score
  • 5.0 Scheduling
    ON TIME / DEADLINES
  • 5.0 Cost
    Value / within estimates
    We received a lot for what we paid. State Creative even scoped out an additional page for one of our team members.
  • 5.0 Quality
    Service & deliverables
  • 5.0 NPS
    Willing to refer
    I’ve already recommended them.

Web Design for Radio Show

"I have nothing but overwhelmingly positive things to say about State Creative."

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5.0

Quality: 
5.0
Schedule: 
5.0
Cost: 
5.0
Willing to refer: 
5.0
The Project
 
$10,000 to $49,999
 
2011 - Ongoing
Project summary: 

State Creative partnered with the client for the purpose of creating a new website that would be more visually appealing, professional, and easier to update than their old site.

The Reviewer
 
2-10 Employees
 
Washington D.C. Metro Area
Laura Kwerel
Producer, Interfaith Voices
 
Verified
The Review
Feedback summary: 

Although there were no metrics to directly measure the agency’s work, the new website State Creative contributed to has enhanced the client’s entire image. The agency is praised for their responsiveness and ability to deliver high quality work.

BACKGROUND

Please describe your organization.

My company is called Interfaith Voices. We're a public radio show about religion. We air on a combination of National Public Radio stations and community radio, which total 86 stations. We're based in Washington DC.

What is your position?

I'm the Senior Producer of Interfaith Voices.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What business challenge were you trying to address with State Creative?

We had a really old website built on Drupal that was out of touch with modern times.

SOLUTION

Please describe the scope of their involvement in greater detail.

One of the great parts of working with them is that I don't know what's going on behind the scenes, and I don't need to know. They just make it work. They designed a content management system that was really easy for us to use. Being a weekly radio show, we update our website every single week. They made it really easy for us to do that.

How did you come to work with State Creative?

I'm not exactly sure, because our intern at the time found them. I think they had always been the main group that we were considering. We had seen the good work they had done on a website for another radio show. We thought their graphic design was really good and easy to use.

Could you provide a sense of the size of this initiative in financial terms?

I think it was between $10,000 and $15,000. They gave us a nice deal.

What is the status of this engagement?

We work with them all the time, on everything from problems with our podcast, to needing to redesign a part of our page because we have to add something new. We first got this new website in 2011. For the past four years, they have continued to support us and make updates to the website. They're always available, and I have nothing but good things to say. The last time they did a major overhaul of the site was six months ago. We love it, so we continue to work with them frequently.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

Could you share any statistics or metrics from this engagement?

I don't have the exact numbers of visitors of the old site vs. the new one because we weren't tracking the old site. I don't have any quantitative data, but the way I feel about the show has changed directly because of the website.

The show, compared to before, now feels more professional and more in-step with modern times. It even feels edgy. I feel that our website is our public face, our calling card. We have a lot of high-profile people who come on the show. Their first stop, when deciding if they want to accept, is always the website. When they visit it, and see such a professional-looking place, they know it’s a professional show.

How did State Creative perform from a project management standpoint?

I have nothing but overwhelmingly positive things to say about State Creative. Garrett, whom I've always worked with directly, in particular, is extremely professional. He's very responsive, and we're pleased with the work that he and his team did. The graphic design is beautiful, modern, and someone visiting our site would get a good impression of our show as being a professional radio show. One of my favorite things about working with Garrett is that they continue to be helpful.

What distinguishes State Creative from other providers?

I have much confidence in their ability to execute what we talk about. If we have a plan, they make it work exactly as we discussed. I have a lot of faith in their ability to take it from an idea, to executing the final product.

Is there anything State Creative could have improved or done differently?

It turned out that after they made the site, there were things that we didn't like, but it was because we hadn't made clear what we needed. What I always tell future clients who will be working with them is to make sure they understand what State Creative is making for them. Once they do it, it is hardcoded and hard to reverse. So, they should maybe use other websites as examples that State Creative can work off of. That's not really negative feedback, though; I don't think it was their fault.

5.0
Overall Score
  • 5.0 Scheduling
    ON TIME / DEADLINES
  • 5.0 Cost
    Value / within estimates
  • 5.0 Quality
    Service & deliverables
  • 5.0 NPS
    Willing to refer

Web Design for University Program

"They [State Creative] know their stuff really well, and they're very competent and very good at what they do."

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5.0

Quality: 
5.0
Schedule: 
5.0
Cost: 
5.0
Willing to refer: 
5.0
The Project
 
$10,000 to $49,999
 
2013 - Ongoing
Project summary: 

State Creative did design and development work on two sites for the client, and also updated their logo.

The Reviewer
 
Public University
 
Berkeley, California
Chief of Staff, University Program
 
Verified
The Review
Feedback summary: 

State Creative’s contributions for the client were huge, resulting in an award-winning website that ended up being the catalyst for motivation and creativity on a larger scale within the organization. The client praises the agency’s quality and value.

BACKGROUND

Please describe your organization.

Our organization is dedicated to working with students, kindergarten through community college, low-income, first-generation students, mostly students from low-resource schools, to get them into college and help them gain access to higher education.

What is your role at the center?

I'm the chief of staff for the center.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What was your goal in working with State Creative?

We had a website that was outdated, not much to look at. Although we believe that our work on the ground is the most important thing that we do, in today's world that work needs help from marketing and branding. People need to know who we are and what we're about. We need to have an image that people can trust.

When we did our first site with them, I wanted a site that highlighted all the great work we do on the ground. So, I needed it to be vibrant, youth-oriented and easy to navigate for people who might not be that savvy with technology. It also needed to be something that the community could access and use easily as well as being accessible to multiple constituents. So, I need a student or a parent to come to that site and get what they need out of it, but I also needed potential donors or other educators to get what they needed out of it.

SOLUTION

Please describe the scope of their work.

They did two sites for us. The main work that State Creative did for us was Web design and development for both websites. In addition, they updated our old logo. We didn't have a lot of options with the logo, because it's a state logo that other campuses use, but it was looking a little sad and dated. So, they touched it up, refreshed it, and made it look more exciting and kind of 2015. So, mostly, they did Web design and development, but a little bit of logo refresh.

What was your process for selecting State Creative?

I've known about State Creative for some time. But, because I'm part of a larger university, I did a RFP [request for proposal] process with five agencies. In the end, not only was State Creative's price competitive, but also their work appeared to be cleaner, crisper, exactly what I was looking for.

When did you begin working with them, and is the relationship ongoing?

I don't quite remember when we started. I'm working with them right now on the second website. I think we probably started the first one in 2013 and then completed it maybe last year. I'm not exactly sure. Then, we started working with them on the second site maybe two or three months ago.

Can you give a sense of the cost of their work?

I'm sorry, but that information is confidential.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

Do you have any statistics or metrics concerning their work?

We're not even using the site to the extent we should yet, because we always get bogged down with other things. I think State Creative was the spark for a larger change in organizational philosophy around what's important. Because we're dedicated to youth, to the community and to our low-income operation, I think people think that aesthetics and marketing aren't as important as they are. After people saw how remarkable the website looked, and this is an award-winning website. It started motivating people.

So, I've been able to get the organization to paint its walls and start putting its logo on the walls. We're getting a more vibrant and colorful look, getting a sleeker look. I think we have better brand recognition. State Creative also designed business cards to go with the website. I just think we now have a better look, one that's more memorable. Now, I'm working on the second site with them, and it's going to look totally different. People are coming up with ways to find a little money to put some vibrancy into our marketing and branding, and State Creative was a kind of a catalyst for that because people saw that the product looked so good.

Is there anything unique or special about State Creative that really makes them stand out?

I think there are a couple of things. One, they know their stuff really well, and they're very competent and very good at what they do. Their project manager is good at telling us what's happening, but using language that's understandable for someone like me who is not all that technologically savvy. I was comfortable talking with him. I'm the guy who likes to know everything that I'm managing, so I could probably get a little annoying with a lot of questions, but he was patient, and he always answered my questions and re-answered them if I couldn't understand the first time. So, I think they're good at that interface with the client.

Second, for the price that we paid, they do very clean work. I think their designer's style is just very clean and crisp. That really works for me. I don't want something that looks cheap or tacky. I think clean and crisp is the way a website should look, and I think their design people have that on lock in a good way.

Looking back on the work so far, is there any area that you think they could improve upon or something that you might do differently?

Not really. The only thing they did that I felt weird about was my fault. I couldn't keep up. Their job is to build websites, my job is not to do anything with websites – it was an add-on to my normal work. It's not in my job description to do this. I think it was hard to keep up with them, and I felt bad just because of that. I have decided to work with them again, so that says a lot.

What advice would you give a future client of theirs?

I would say anyone that is going to work with them should ask for references and ask State Creative how they would go about putting together the client's team to work on this. For example, I watched another organization that I work with go with a different company to build a website. That organization had eight or nine people on their internal committee making decisions on the website. I think that's too many people.

It's not State Creative's place to tell a client how to operate, but if I were a client, I think I would ask about what other clients have done that's been successful. If someone asked me, I would say put two or three people in your website committee to work with State Creative, and then get ideas from the larger staff when needed. But, don't put an eight- or nine-person committee together because it will get too confusing. The process will be too tedious, take too long, and have to deal with too many opinions.

5.0
Overall Score
  • 5.0 Scheduling
    ON TIME / DEADLINES
  • 5.0 Cost
    Value / within estimates
  • 5.0 Quality
    Service & deliverables
  • 5.0 NPS
    Willing to refer

Web Design for Kids Online Creative Tools

"They [State Creative] excelled in project management and often exceeded their deadlines."

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5.0

Quality: 
5.0
Schedule: 
5.0
Cost: 
5.0
Willing to refer: 
5.0
The Project
 
$10,000 to $49,999
 
July - Oct. 2013
Project summary: 

The client hired State Creative to provide them with a beautiful custom design for their site that would encourage creative inspiration and promote imaginative learning.

The Reviewer
 
2-10 Employees
 
San Francisco Bay Area
Agnes Hsu
Founder, hello, Wonderful
 
Verified
The Review
Feedback summary: 

The new website contributed by State Creative performs well and receives a large amount of traffic. The client appreciates the way the agency committed to the project and cared about the site’s success; State Creative acted as a true partner.

BACKGROUND

Please give a brief description of your company.

My website, hello, Wonderful, is an online creative site for kids featuring DIY projects, recipes, play ideas, and products for creative living with children.

What is your role at the company?

I am the founding editor.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What was the business challenge that you were trying to address when you approached State Creative?

The challenge was providing a beautiful custom design for my site that was visual and appealing within a tight budget. 

What were your company's business goals for the project?

I wanted a clean, modern, and visually attractive site that would encourage creative inspiration in parents and caretakers of children to promote imaginative learning and creating. The goal was beautiful UX [user experience] and design.

Can you talk about the scope of the project?

The scope was very much as I mentioned above. Finding a good mix of having a high-end, visual, and clean website design and UX within my limited budget.

SOLUTION

What was your process for selecting State Creative?

I wanted to work with a local team – they are in Oakland, as am I – to be well connected to them. I found them to be responsive right away and to be able to understand what I needed quickly. Although I felt small as a one-person team, I felt treated with the respect as if I was a larger company.

Can you give a sense of the size of the project?

The cost of the design was approximately $13,000. After a year, I added on about $7,000 worth of upgrades like category pages, visual search, shareable icons, and static ad banners.

When was the project completed?

I contacted State Creative in mid-July 2013 and the website launched in early October 2013. It was an aggressive deadline that they were able to meet with my satisfaction.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

Do you have any statistics or metrics on the project? 

The site is performing well. The first month, we had approximately 30,000 page views, which is great for a new site. A year and a half later, we are tracking at more than 400,000 monthly views.

How did State Creative perform?

They excelled in project management and often exceeded their deadlines.

Was there anything unique or special about State Creative that really makes them stand out?

They seem to care about their clients' success and are supportive of them. 

What advice would you give to a future client of theirs?

I would say that if you want a team that is going to be more of a partner than a contractor, State Creative is a great source. They are extremely detail oriented and will perform and execute as you need them to reach your business goals.

5.0
Overall Score
  • 5.0 Scheduling
    ON TIME / DEADLINES
  • 5.0 Cost
    Value / within estimates
  • 5.0 Quality
    Service & deliverables
  • 5.0 NPS
    Willing to refer