Stead

Please describe your company and your position there.

We are creating a professional services marketplace and professional networking community. This platform, in the social commerce space, combines a marketplace with a community, giving business the ability to obtain & provide services and connect with other members in their industry. I am the founder of the company.

For what projects/services did your company hire Stead?

We hired stead for

1. Website design
2. Reactive design ( to adapt website to mobile browsers)
3. IOS application design
4. Android application design
5. Consumer facing dashboard

What were your goals for this project?

The goal of the project was

1. As the web application has multiple features make an easy to use UI/UX
2. We had a time constraint so design the project in the time frame
3. Use agile design, so we could quickly give feedback and change designs
4. As its a startup ensure, project is within scope

How did you select this vendor?

We selceted stead after reviewing the work of countless other vendor profiles from India, US, UK & Berlin. We then viewed their past work & had a chat with their co-founder Bilal

We provided a scope of work & asked for time frame and approximate budget. As they had a large portfolio of clean UI/UX, a large team, were speed & cost-effective compared to all the other vendors we chose them.

Describe the project in detail.

Problem*: Obtaining professional services, marketing services and funding is difficult. Open marketplaces can assist. But in India they are fragmented and in nascent stage. Further, in India business owners do not readily transact, until trust and comfort is built. Thereby, creating need for social-commerce..

Solution* : We are creating a B to B marketplace for SMEs to obtain professional services, marketing services and connect with investors. While coupling the marketplace with a community space for the business and professionals, to connect, communicate and share online and offline.

What was the team composition?

The team comprised of multiple UI/UX designers for web application and mobile application. Further, Bilal personally overviewed the project.

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

1. The project was successfully designed as per the requirements.
2. Was completed in the time frame given
3. Was completed in the budget estimated
4. The outcome was a easy to navigate and clean UI/UX for a complicated software.

How effective was the workflow between your team and theirs?

The workflow was extremely efficient. The work was updated on a daily or weekly basis for review. There was constant and quick communication on slack There was no misunderstanding in the scope of work or expectation And they were quick to incorporate our suggestions.

What did you find most impressive about this company?

I found their ability to execute such a large project in such a short timeframe very impressive, while providing an exceptional design.

Are there any areas for improvement?

No.

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I am the CEO and Founder of Koodaa. We are building a small business platform.

What challenge were you trying to address with Stead?

We needed UI design for our website, along with some development.

What was the scope of their involvement?

They created designs in Sketch. They also worked on web development using CSS and JavaScript.

What is the team composition?

We worked with two developers on this project. We primarily worked with their CEO, who executed most of the tasks.

How did you come to work with Stead?

I discovered them through Dribbble. We had a certain portfolio that we were looking for which would match our style. We considered some other companies, but Stead had a pretty impressive portfolio, and they were also available at the time we were looking for a new partner.

How much have you invested in them?

We have spent around $20,000 USD so far.

What is the status of this engagement?

We began working together in 2017 and the engagement is ongoing.

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

We are more than happy with them. Their execution is top notch and they are a world-class UI design agency.

How did Stead perform from a project management standpoint?

We have been happy with the communication. When you work with someone for a long period of time, people get sick and there are delays, but we haven’t experienced anything out of the ordinary. They’ve hit deadlines.

What did you find most impressive about them?

I think they have an eye for modern design and an in-depth understanding of UI trends, which I am particularly happy about. Even with money, it is hard to find resources that match their quality.

Are there any areas they could improve?

No, I don’t have anything to add.

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

There are some little cultural differences, so you need to be a little more proactive. Stead doesn’t offer as many ideas as we might like. As a customer, if you know what you want and how to lead the project, you will get world-class execution for sure.

Please describe your company and your position there.

I am the CEO of Staypal. We are a travel technology company that helps accommodation providers make ancillary revenue.

For what projects/services did your company hire Stead?

We needed assistance with frontend development for our mobile and web-based applications.

What were your goals for this project?

We wanted a friendly and high-performing interface that we could integrate with third-party services.

How did you select this vendor?

We were referred to Stead from another company. We spoke with their team and liked their proposed approach.

Can you go into detail about the services they provided and the scope of the project?

They designed the frontend for the applications, then we moved into the development phase. We split the full project into multiple sprints as we worked to create a launchable product. They continue to work with us.

What was the team composition?

Stead provided a frontend designer and a developer.

Can you share any information that demonstrates the impact that this project has had on your business?

The project was critical to my company’s success. Stead’s responsiveness and adaptability continue to promote growth within our business.

How was project management arranged and how effective was it?

We used Slack and Invision to prototype the product and managed sprints through Jira.

What did you find most impressive about this company?

I was impressed by their level of knowledge in the web technology space. They were able to skillfully work with third-party apps with which they had no previous experience.

Are there any areas where they can improve?

I think everyone has room for improvement, but I can’t highlight any specific areas.

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m the CTO of Utu. We’re a marketing technology engagement platform for makers of conversational UI, or chatbots. For example, if Dominos built a new skill for Alexa and they wanted to offer some promotions for Pepsi, we would be the technology that would connect those two interested parties.

What challenge were you trying to address with Stead?

We have deep engineering talent on our team, but we’re not arrogant enough to think that crosses into user experience and design. We were looking for somebody externally who could not only help execute what we would refer to as the comp design (literal visual representations of what actual screens would look like) but could also come to the table with recommendations to really push the execution to a new level.

What was the scope of their involvement?

We began with a loose wireframe, along with descriptions of the fundamental requirements for each part of the application, and we wanted to partner with a designer to take that the final model and then produce a photo-realistic design target so that the engineering would have an exact model to execute. In terms of working with Stead, we’d have regular design meetings where we’d first roll out the entire story and communicate the ultimate user experience, and then we’d take specific portions of the wireframe and go through it moment by moment. We’d have about two iterations of the initial comp design. It was rare that it would go beyond a couple iterations, both because we came in very organized about what we wanted and because Stead really understood what we wanted and acted accordingly.

After the initial project, which was more based around our console, we were so pleased with our engagement that we started to branch off into other areas. One of those additional projects was to redesign and reskin our landing page on the website. That project was a more open-ended engagement where I came to them with some visual references and some specific features we wanted to be deployed on the site. They pieced together the components of that and ultimately produced a real improvement. We’re also working with them on the creation of our email templates, from the design down to the HTML, frontend engineering type of code.

How did you come to work with Stead?

We got a direct personal reference. One of our lead engineers had worked with them previously with his former employer and had been pleased with their work.

How much have you invested with Stead?

We’re teetering right around $10,000.

What is the status of this engagement?

We’ve been working with them for about five months, beginning with the consulting work in the early winter of 2016. We’ve been doing the branding and front-facing stuff in the last couple of months.

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

I used to run product strategy for a billion-dollar business, so coming into this work I have a certain professional expectation regarding the type of vendors I want to work with. We’ve renewed with them, and I see our project renewal rate as an important indicator of their success. We’re pretty early in the arc of our business and haven’t gotten much client feedback yet, but that will come.

How did Stead perform from a project management standpoint?

We drove the project management; we didn’t give them a lot of opportunity to take charge of that. But they can manage remote clients and they have facility with things like Skype and Slack. They were willing to work in different mediums, although we ended up using Sketch as the principle tool for delivering the projects. Their obvious comfort level with productivity tools made it easy to work with them.

What did you find most impressive about Stead?

The price to value ratio with them was quite high. Knowing where some of the awful design work can bill out at, the price value is an absolute consideration in choosing them. It’s a good value.

Please describe your company and your position there.

My company provides software to television and film crews and studios.

For what projects/services did your company hire Stead?

I hired Stead for WordPress design and development. Our previous site hadn’t been updated for several years and no longer reflected our new expanded suite of products.

What were your goals for this project?

We needed a website that communicates our mission, creates a clearer positioning for our suite of products, and is easily managed by our marketing team. The web design needed to represent our brand.

How did you select this vendor?

We did a lot of research to find a designer that fits the aesthetic we were looking for. I discovered Stead on Dribbble and Bilal (Co-Founder & Design Director, Stead) provided several positive references.

Describe the project in detail.

Stead created a WordPress site for my business. They developed content and blog posts to improve SEO. Their team was responsible for all the graphics, animations, page layouts, and overall design.

What was the team composition?

In addition to the team at Stead, we hired an art director that worked with an illustrator to complete some of our images.

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

Overall, we’re pleased with Stead’s work.

How effective was the workflow between your team and theirs?

The workflow between our teams was effective. We used Slack and InVision to communicate and provide feedback.

What did you find most impressive about this company?

The team at Stead is talented. I was impressed with how quickly they were able to iterate on design feedback. They worked well with our art director and illustrator to get the perfect look and feel for our site. It was an ambitious project with a scope that increased throughout, but they delivered on time and on budget. They never said no to any of our requests.

Are there any areas for improvement?

There are none that I can think of.

Please describe your company and your position there.

I am the CEO and co-founder of a computer software company.

For what projects/services did your company hire Stead?

We needed help with the UX design of our website.

How did you select this vendor?

We asked them to do a couple of test projects.  We chose to work with the Stead team because they were quite responsive and delivered quality design.

Describe the project in detail.

They were responsible for the graphic, creative, and UX design of our platform.

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

We are quite happy with the quality of their work. We plan to continue our relationship with the Stead team.

How effective was the workflow between your team and theirs?

The workflow was highly effective. Bilal (Co-founder & Design Director, Stead) took care of the projects and provided excellent customer service. The team was friendly and attentive.

What did you find most impressive about this company?

We were impressed with their output, integrity, and responsiveness.

Are there any areas for improvement?

It would be great if they had a platform for submitting orders and tracking a project. Other than that, everything was perfect.