Studio 22 Design

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m the founder and CEO of LaBine Media, a paid media advertising agency specializing in technology business-to-business technology accounts.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with Studio 22 Design?

We needed a company that could handle our web design look and feel along with our site development and management.  

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

Studio 22 Design handles our web design and development, logo design, web hosting, and site management needs, in addition to assisting with content creation on an as-needed basis.

Most recently, I’ve contacted them to design a logo and develop a WordPress site for a second business of mine, in the corporate health and wellness space.

What is the team composition?

Over the years, I have primarily worked with Rocky (Founder & Creative Director) and Monica (Account Manager & Project Coordinator).

How did you come to work with Studio 22 Design?

Studio 22 Design was referred to me by a similar agency.

How much have you invested with them?

To date, we have invested approximately $75,000.

What is the status of this engagement?

We started working together in July 2016, and the engagement is ongoing.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

I’ve received many compliments on the site's design, content, and ease of use. Studio 22 Design has done an outstanding job keeping to my request of ensuring the look and feel of my brand remain clean, clear, and concise. 

How did Studio 22 Design perform from a project management standpoint?

Studio 22 Design has performed well in terms of project management. We primarily communicate through phone calls, email, and Google Docs.

What did you find most impressive about them?

Studio 22 Design knows me and my business well.  It’s in my best interest to continue using them. Their ability to listen to my vision and create something that matches is phenomenal.

Are there any areas they could improve?

If there were any concerns with our relationship over the last ten years, it has been with missing deadlines or not being as responsive as I would have liked. Our professional relationship has allowed us to have open and honest dialog around this concern, arriving at amicable resolutions.

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

It’s important to let them do what they do best – create great work, web design, and branding.

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m the VP of operations at IQT Labs, a prototyping R&D lab that works on hardware and software prototypes on behalf of national security missions. We work within a nonprofit strategic investment organization.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with Studio 22 Design?

We were addressing a redesign of our corporate website, which had grown stale over the last couple of years. Throughout the COVID-19 pandemic, we pivoted and started new focus areas. Therefore, we wanted to redesign the site with new content, copy, information, architecture, and an overall fresh look to better present our work. Studio 22 Design had developed our existing site, so we engaged them for this project.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

Studio 22 Design redesigned our WordPress site. Although we initially talked about updating our existing site, they ultimately created a brand new one because the changes were too complex. 

First, we gave them orientation on our thoughts and expectations around what we wanted to incorporate into the website. We surveyed our as-is state, going over the existing site with them. Through this survey, we pointed out elements they should take out and add, what we wanted them to edit, plus imagery and layout elements that they needed to adjust. 

From there, Studio 22 Design took our redesign requests and turned them into a series of brand new pages, including the home, explore us, and about us pages. They also created a new page for our projects and built a new visualization style to display them as individual tiles that look like pop-up drawers. For this feature, they created a template and style sheets. On our home page, the team created a new way of stacking themes with animation with a scrolling effect around all our different themes and the information contained within.

Overall, they provided the site architecture, and we gave them the information and copy we wanted. Within the site development, they included a Yoast SEO integration, which automatically does a lot of the SEO for us. The team also taught us how to use this tool effectively. 

Currently, Studio 22 Design offers maintenance and ongoing support for our site. We reach out to them when we need small changes and edits. 

What is the team composition?

We work with Rocky (Flounder & Creative Director), our main point of contact. We’ve also worked with a backend developer. 

How did you come to work with Studio 22 Design?

For this project, we chose Studio 22 Design because we’ve worked with them previously on many other websites for our parent organization. Therefore, this was the continuation of a longstanding relationship with the team. Initially, I believe our marketing team found them through a referral. 

How much have you invested with them?

We’ve spent between $30,000–$40,000.

What is the status of this engagement?

We started working together around November 2021, and they finished the website in May 2022. Our partnership is ongoing.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

Since launching our new website, our unique visitor traffic has more than doubled. Qualitatively, we’ve received a ton of positive feedback from internal and external stakeholders by way of email and word of mouth. People comment that the site is visually striking and that parsing through its information is intuitive and cognitively simple, which we had been lacking. 

Our previous website was confusing; no one understood what our current projects were. Studio 22 Design helped us craft a visually compelling and comprehensive narrative around our past and current work. Much of the feedback we’ve gotten has centered around the site information being easily interpretable. 

Additionally, we’ve received over 50–60 comments praising the site in our comment box. This is great for us because it helps us justify the amount of time and money we’ve put into this project. In terms of internal stakeholders, users can now more easily download our latest information sheets for our projects and send them off to their interested parties. 

How did Studio 22 Design perform from a project management standpoint?

We’ve had no major surprises in terms of project management; the team is very professional and sticks to timelines. They’re very forthcoming if there’s an update or delay we need to account for. We used Basecamp to hang up mock-ups and leave comments for a while, and then we moved to Notion. In addition, we use email for asynchronous communication and Microsoft Teams for video conferences. 

Furthermore, Studio 22 Design is really good at managing expectations. They tell us what they can and can’t do and how they can make the timeline work. They’re very honest and forthright about deadlines. Overall, they’ve exceeded our expectations. 

What did you find most impressive about them?

Studio 22 Design is incredibly technically capable. They’re in the know of the latest and greatest design tools and know the most efficient ways to make visually stunning and compelling websites come to life. This is all built on their technical strength and their design aesthetic. 

They have a really good eye for design. We gave them a bunch of words on paper, and they came back with many incredible ideas that we could whittle down to just one. Overall, their greatest strengths are their technical aptitude and a keen eye for design. 

Are there any areas they could improve?

I don’t have any constructive feedback for them. We’ve worked with them for so long because they’re incredibly strong at everything we’ve asked them to do. 

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

I would suggest that you collect examples of websites that you like. You can go to Studio 22 Design with anything from fully fleshed-out copy down to links to reference websites. You don’t have to provide entire mock-ups; they’ll have a discussion with you about what you like about your references.

When we started this project, we didn’t have design experience, but we knew what we liked regarding visual elements and layouts. That’s the most important thing we did early in our relationship with Studio 22 Design.

UPDATED REVIEW

This review was published on December 3rd, 2019.

Senior Marketing and Communications AssociateNonprofit

51-200 Employees

Washington, District of Columbia

Confidential

Jun 2016 - Ongoing

Project Summary: 

From the ground up, Studio 22 Design rebuilt a website and directed several site builds for a strategic nonprofit. They created custom visuals such as images to represent staff and animation for the homepage.

Feedback Summary: 

Studio 22 Design delivered several successful products on time with appealing visual content to increase traffic and engagement. The team has been organized and attentive to ensure effective collaboration. They have produced superb deliverables cost-effectively, which enables continued engagement.

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m a marketing and communications associate for a strategic nonprofit.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with Studio 22 Design?

We hired Studio 22 Design to provide website development services.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

Studio 22 Design managed four WordPress website launches over a span of three-years. The first project their team oversaw involved our main company website. At the time, the platform hadn’t been updated in a few years. Not using most of the existing components, Studio 22 Design rebuilt the whole site. Their team created all of the graphics including a dynamic, animated homepage image. They also came up with a creative way to display our leadership who weren’t comfortable having their real images online. Their team designed cute photos to represent our executive staff. For another project, Studio 22 Design built an entirely original website.

What is the team composition?

We’ve worked with one individual from Studio 22 Design.

How did you come to work with Studio 22 Design?

Studio 22 Design was hired before I started here, so I can’t speak to why they were chosen.  

How much have you invested with them?

We’ve spent between $50,000–$200,000 on their services.

What is the status of this engagement?

The collaboration started in June 2016. We’ve been working together ever since.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

We've experienced a huge increase in the number of visitors across all four of the websites that Studio 22 Design built. It was a huge win to create an entirely new website. Since it was launched, the platform has gained a lot of traction. Also, the homepage graphic that their team created has been referenced many times. In fact, we’ve had clients wanting to print and frame the picture. We’ve really enjoyed working with Studio 22 Design.

How did Studio 22 Design perform from a project management standpoint?

We’ve used Basecamp to manage the projects. As far as deadlines and moving projects along quickly, Studio 22 Design has been fantastic. If anything, we’ve been a pain to them because we’re slow with our responses. They’ve been on top of their responsibilities.

What did you find most impressive about them?

They provide a great bang for your buck. Not only do they provide quality work, but they’re also affordable and extremely easy to work with. They've been professional and given timely responses. Overall, we’ve had a great experience working with them.

Are there any areas they could improve?

It might be easier for them if they had more people.

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

Even if you just have a vague idea, Studio 22 Design has a great way of making it come to life. Their team has given suggestions that we didn’t even know we wanted or needed.

Star Ratings

Overall rating: 5

Quality: 5

Cost: 5

Schedule: 4.5

Willing to refer: 5

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

Our company works on a new technology that allows everyone to own their personal data on the internet. It’s a development platform that developers use to create apps that respect people’s privacy. I’m the CEO of the company. 

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with Studio 22 Design?

We hired Studio 22 to help us on various projects, including website development, logo design, UI design, and video production. 

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

Studio 22 has developed our website using WordPress. They’ve come up with everything on the website. Apart from creating the website, the team has done several product logos for us. Their resources have also created a video that provides an overview of our technology. The video isn’t done yet, but it will be published on our website. 

What is the team composition?

We mainly work with Rocky (Founder & Creative Director). 

How much have you invested with them?

We’ve invested around $100,000. 

What is the status of this engagement?

We started working together in May 2020, and the engagement is ongoing. 

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

We don’t have any quantitative metrics. However, we’ve received positive feedback from customers and our board; working with Studio 22 is an absolute delight. 

How did Studio 22 Design perform from a project management standpoint?

Studio 22’s project management is great. They definitely understand what it takes to get the job done, and they communicate that well. In terms of tools, our teams have been using GitHub, but we’ve decided to switch over to ClickUp. 

What did you find most impressive about them?

The quality of Studio 22’s work is excellent. The team is highly creative and listens to our intention. We tell them what we’re looking for, and they’ll drill down on it. Overall, their creative process works truly well. 

Are there any areas they could improve?

No, there aren’t any. They’ve been great. 

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

Studio 22’s creative side is great, so let them do a lot of that instead of boxing them in what you want and giving them specific requirements. They can come up with great things for you. 

BACKGROUND

Please describe your company and your position there.

I’m the head of the Corporate VC side of Acario Innovation. Acario is the corporate venture capital and open Innovation arm of the Tokyo Gas group here in North America. We make equity investment in, and partner with, industry-leading startups to the energy transition space.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

For what projects/services did your company hire Studio 22 Design?

Our website was just a splash page which was created when Acario was launched four years ago, and had never been updated. We were in dire need of a modern, informative, easily navigable website that would help the climate tech investing ecosystem, potential partners, and startups find out more about us and our mission of innovation.

SOLUTION

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

Using industry references, we screened several design firms who had done work for large corporate clients, other venture-capital firms, as well as start ups. We really wanted to find someone who understood us, but also understood the space and could deliver the appropriate messaging to our target audiences. Studio 22 came out on top.

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

Studio 22 held several meetings with us to better understand Acario’s mission, and our goals for our redesigned website. Following that, we went through several iterative cycles of design and deployment, eventually culminating in the launch of our upgraded website, new messaging & marketing collateral, and other brand updates, in mid October 2021. The entire process took about three or four months.

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

We had a project team lead by Rocky T. ( who by the way was great!) working with us.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

Please see our updated website at www.acarioinnovation.com

How effective was the workflow between your team and theirs?

Great. Studio 22 team and Rocky were very communicative without being overly so. They also took our feedback and direction and turned it around very quickly.

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

We really liked the rapport we built with the Studio 22 Design team and the results they provided.

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

N/A

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m the creative director of Corsair, a computer manufacturing company; we make gaming hardware, cases, computers, and everything that involves computer hardware.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with Studio 22 Design?

We needed help with further developing our marketing ideas on several fronts.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

Studio 22 Design helps us with our marketing needs. We give them our brand guidelines and a brief that describes our intentions for the projects, and they take upon that. In addition to that, they assist us with quick start guides and general print work to get us into compliance with certain locations worldwide.

What is the team composition?

We’ve been working with Rocky (Founder) and Clark (Lead Creative); they’re my main points of contact.

How did you come to work with Studio 22 Design?

I reviewed several agencies but chose Studio 22 Design because I liked their work and how Rocky saw and approached projects. We started by trying them on a few low-level items, and they did great, so we continued our engagement.

How much have you invested in them?

We’ve spent around $200,000 with them so far.

What is the status of this engagement?

We started working together in January 2019, and the engagement is ongoing.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

We’ve done a series of projects for our new line of keyboards for a specific market, and they’ve been able to do something different outside the realm of what we usually do. They have interesting ideas used on that project and other products because they were cool and interesting.

How did Studio 22 Design perform from a project management standpoint?

Project management has been great. In terms of tools, we’ve used phone calls and emails. They were also great at understanding and learning our brand guidelines to support our efforts.

What did you find most impressive about them?

They’re enthusiastic and always interested in working with something new. They help come up with new ideas to break the mold, which is fun for our gaming market.

Are there any areas they could improve?

Sometimes they take on more work than they can handle.

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

If you approach them with a clear idea of what you’re looking for, they’ll be able to offer you strong ideas that will work in the marketplace.

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m an executive at a financial services firm.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with Studio 22 Design?

Our website was outdated, so we wanted to revamp it.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

Studio 22 Design redeveloped our WordPress site from scratch; their team has been working directly with our business consultant to make the website changes. In terms of functionalities, the site allows our visitors to learn about what we do and the services we offer through blog posts. We also asked Studio 22 Design’s team for something more modern and mobile-friendly.

Currently, they provide ongoing website maintenance for us.

What is the team composition?

We’ve been working with Rocky (Founder) and a designer.

How did you come to work with Studio 22 Design?

They were referred to us by our business consultant.

How much have you invested in them?

We’ve spent $13,000 with them so far.

What is the status of this engagement?

We started working together in November 2020, and the engagement is ongoing.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

We’ve experienced more web traffic on our site, and the contact option has received more hits from our visitors who want to reach out to us to schedule a meeting. Overall, it's a successful project, and we’ve received a lot of compliments on our new website.

How did Studio 22 Design perform from a project management standpoint?

Project management is great; they’re easy to work with, everything is well explained, and our consultant has enjoyed working with them. In terms of tools, we’ve been using Basecamp, email, and Zoom.

What did you find most impressive about them?

Their design skills and ability to stay on task are outstanding; everything has been going smoothly according to our timelines. They’re a good combination of the creative and business sides.

Are there any areas they could improve?

They could be more responsive in their website maintenance tasks.

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

Be as responsive as you can. Also, go through the discovery phase with them — you have to be willing to put effort on your side to get the most out of their work.

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m in corporate marketing for a battery company called QuantumScape. We’re in the process of creating a battery for electric vehicles. We’re a relatively new company; our initial public offering (IPO) came out last November.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with Studio 22 Design?

We initially approached them with very little lead time. We realized we needed some external branding elements before our IPO.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

Studio 22 has acted as an external resource for graphic and website design, branding, and overall style guidelines. They’ve taken the lead in our brand development.

In the beginning, our VP of sales and CMO gave them the direction, and they took it and created a brand identity for our quick IPO launch. Since then, we’ve met frequently and worked together to decide what we want to convey with our brand.

It’s been less than a year since we’ve been public, and we still work closely with them to develop our brand. We’re constantly defining how we want to be perceived from a style perspective.

What is the team composition?

We primarily work with two people. Rocky (Founder & Creative Director) is our primary contact. He works with me to time our different projects and make sure we’re hitting our deadlines. Also, he serves as our proxy for working with other design firms on our projects. Overall, he helps define our brand.

On the other hand, Clark (Lead Creative & Illustrator) is very hands-on in designing and iterations. He understands what we want and provides final concepts and drawings.

How did you come to work with Studio 22 Design?

I wasn’t working at QuantumScape at the time, so I don’t know how we engaged with them. I think our VP of sales brought them in.

How much have you invested with them?

It’s been less than $100,000.

What is the status of this engagement?

I began working with them in February 2021, and our engagement is ongoing.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

What they do goes beyond marketing. It touches investor relations, sales, our executive team, and more. They’ve come to understand our brand. Rocky and Clark have had deep dives into the battery space, and when we provide them a new scope, they take it upon themselves to do the research. We’re always surprised when they come back to us for ideation.

Moreover, we wouldn’t use Studio 22 if they couldn’t translate our technology and chemistry into understandable and straightforward illustrations. Our industry is challenging to explain, and they do a good job. They’ve helped us with many different projects, and our technical team has given them pretty high remarks. Overall, they continue to deliver final products that meet our high standards.

How did Studio 22 Design perform from a project management standpoint?

We use a database for project management. It’s an online portal where we can put new projects, the deadline, notes, and assign it to Rocky or Clark. If we have examples, we can drop images or links.

It’s very easy to communicate through there, and it saves us many emails and meetings. Also, the portal is convenient for someone like me, who has to supervise many projects. I can keep track of timelines on the dashboard and manage expectations internally.

We talk 3–4 times a week and communicate over email. Their response time is amazing; no other vendor is as responsive as Clark and Rocky.

What did you find most impressive about them?

They truly act as an extension of our team. They’re responsive and understanding. The team knows exactly what we need, and they’re able to iterate on the fly.

Are there any areas they could improve?

They probably need to hire more resources. I think they’re working on it, but we’re keeping them busy, although I’m aware that we’re not their only client.

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

I’ve referred them to a friend who is a CMO for a large company. I recommended them to be clear on what they wanted to achieve and provide some brand direction. Studio 22 can be very autonomous, so they can take that information and run with it.

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

We’re a venture laboratory. We have a fund that we use to invest in ideas that we generate in our lab. We try to investigate hypotheses until they’re able to be spun out into a new company. So, we’re essentially an incubator and a venture fund combined, but we only utilize our own ideas.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with Studio 22 Design?

When we started our company, we needed an external web presence and some basic branding. 

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

They were present from the genesis of our brand. We aren’t experts in visual design. So, they did a lot of the initial curation. We had back-and-forth discussions about what we were trying to convey. Then, they came up with ideas, and we picked the path we liked.

What is the team composition?

We were able to streamline communication with one person. Rocky (Founder & Creative Director) was the main contact.

How did you come to work with Studio 22 Design?

We found them through asking around in our network and doing a bit of web searching. We put together a shortlist of people we wanted to talk with, we got proposals from them, and we ended up selecting Studio 22.

We appreciated their meeting scheduling tool where you can select a time that works for you. Those tools make a big difference when you’re scheduling many initial phone calls with different firms. It was a simple way of engaging, they had availability, and they were quick to get back to me. We had a discussion the next day after I contact them. 

Also, they weren’t the cheapest, but they also weren’t the most expensive. They were also a very competitive price for a Bay-are based company.

How much have you invested with them?

We’ve invested about $20,000 with the team.

What is the status of this engagement?

We started working with them in May of 2019, and we wrapped up the majority of the project. 

(Our launch timing has changed a bit due to the COVID-19 situation. We finished the heavy lifting a few months ago, and we’ve been waiting to get through this time period before we launch. There have been no delays on their end.)

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

Their services have given our company a whole new level of polish that we didn’t have before. It’s not all polish; there’s also a lot of substance to the branding. They used just the right amount of substance and polish to convey the brand message we were looking for. 

It’s also been super helpful for recruiting and making sure vendors take us seriously. At the end of the day, little signals like having a logo and website matter a lot.

How did Studio 22 Design perform from a project management standpoint?

They were great. We used Basecamp to keep track of the project itself. They kept it up to date, and they were very organized. It was handy to transfer proofs back and forth and keep track of different ideas. 

What did you find most impressive about them?

Rocky’s level of personal commitment to the project was a big deal for me. He was willing to help us learn and didn’t act like we were already experts. Still, he treated our ideas with interest and took them seriously. He’s very personable and really gets to know his clients. We’ve built a great relationship over the course of the project.

Are there any areas they could improve?
 
It was a lot smoother than I thought it would be. All bottlenecks were on our side — they were always prepared and completely on top of things. They didn’t get impatient with us, either. They were completely supportive of the pace that we wanted to move at.

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

Rocky is a very creative guy. You should bounce all of your marketing strategies off of him. He has a lot of talent in that space, and he’s willing to let you pick his brain about different ideas. He’s a great strategic mind to utilize about general ideas you’re coming up with.

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m the CSO of a tech company that acts as a middleman between content creators and users who want to access the content to accomplish tasks. We’ve been in business for about 14 years.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with Studio 22 Design?

We’re completely rebranding everything from our logo to all aspects of our website. Because of that, we wanted to relaunch the platform.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

They handled the construction of all parts of the frontend design, logo creation, and naming responsibilities. That also involved undertaking all the UI/UX work. In order to accomplish this, they interviewed us, taking a look at what we had done before. The rebranding effort involved us switching our URL, so they spent time examining the changes we wanted to make. They also handled copywriting, so we could see how our new messaging would fit with their copy and designs.

It took about three weeks to decide upon a final name for us. For the original name we chose, we were unable to acquire a .com for our URL, so we had to come up with a second set of naming options. Aside from that, the process was fairly seamless.  

What is the team composition?

We interfaced with two of their resources.

How did you come to work with Studio 22 Design?

We interviewed several potential vendor options. Initially, we interviewed companies that would serve as turnkey solutions for us, with the capability of developing the front- and backend. We considered companies in the United States and offshore.

In the end, we decided that it would be best to have Studio 22 Design work on the frontend while another organization should take care of the backend. It was an exhaustive search, which took 3–6 months to narrow it down to one company.

How much have you invested with them?

The project cost about $60,000 in total.

What is the status of this engagement?

The engagement lasted from March–October 2019.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

Because we’re still working on the backend design, I don’t have any hard metrics to share. However, they truly spent a lot of time understanding our business and software. We have a complicated solution. Despite that, they were able to comprehend and enhance our design solutions. It took longer than expected, but the partnership yielded a better end product.  

How did Studio 22 Design perform from a project management standpoint?

We dealt directly with a design lead, which allowed us to take on the project without needing to work through a middleman. The design turnaround turned around very quickly that way. They accepted our input and designed accordingly. It was a quick, straightforward process.  

What did you find most impressive about them?

Their ability to handle a complicated project effectively made them stand out. Between naming and messaging, it’s not typical for a company to be able to do it all well. From the start, they knew that they had to keep peeling back layers with patience. That understanding allowed them to get to the bottom of what we needed to do to improve. 

We’ve worked with other design and messaging partners what just weren’t the right fit for us, so it was refreshing to experience this change.

Are there any areas they could improve?

I’d appreciate it if they could run an audit on our site to come up with the number of pages that would have to be redesigned. We had a very complicated site, so it would’ve been helpful to do a thorough audit for a better understanding of our scope. They underestimated the work, but they charged us accordingly. We appreciated that.

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

Make sure that you have them do an audit of all your pages in the beginning. That will help you manage expectations from both ends at the start.

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

John Gross: I’m the owner and founder of Abrydge, a startup company. Our goal is to help college students prepare better for job interviews and smooth the transition from academia to a professional work environment. We sell research-based information online and provide school programs to individual colleges. 

Ariana Kempis: I’m the operations manager. 

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with Studio 22?

AK: We wanted help with our branding, logo, and naming process. We had still been going by our LLC name and needed a new one to go to market.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

AK:  We went through multiple rounds of revisions with Studio 22 to develop our logo and refine the feel our brand emits. They were very much involved in helping us picture how our website would look. After we had our web developer make those changes, we went back to Rocky (Founder and Creative Director, Studio 22) for UX/UI advice. From there, we’d continue to make those revisions. They’ve definitely helped us improve our site. 
 
What is the team composition? 

AK: We mostly worked with Rocky. His wife, Monica (Account Manager/Project Coordinator, Studio 22) was present for most of our communications. She took on a project manager role while Rocky handled the creative side. 

How did you come to work with Studio 22?

AK: I searched online for the top branding firms in the Bay Area. I had spoken to a career counselor at Santa Clara University who mentioned being pleased with Studio 22 when they worked together. We compared and contrasted the best consultants to help us with this whole process. Part of the reason we chose them was their specific experience working with schools. They had expanded upon their work with different universities in the bay area. 

JG: We interviewed and cross-compared five different firms for this project. Studio 22 wasn’t the cheapest, but the cost wasn’t our primary concern. We were focused on quality and experience. Rocky made us feel like partners from day one. He was very interested in our project, rather than just a number of paid project hours. 

How much have you invested with them?

We spent $27,500.

What is the status of this engagement?

We worked together from April–July 2018. 

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

AK: Regarding actual deliverables, Studio 22 provided very thorough examples of their work aesthetically before we committed to them and that was very helpful. We loved the aesthetic they designed. It aligned perfectly with what we eventually wanted to achieve. 

JG:  Studio 22 provided a significantly higher value for the cost than other consultants, web designers, and marketing firms we’ve used. We just opened the third week of August. Since then, we’ve tested the name, logo, concepts, colors, and bylines they developed for us with family and friends. All the feedback has been exceptionally positive.

How did Studio 22 perform from a project management standpoint?

AK: I mostly corresponded with Rocky because we are both based in San Jose. We had meetings over the phone and in person. Studio 22 was very responsive and timely. We always had ongoing communication and never had to push them to respond. They used Basecamp and ensured we were familiar and comfortable with the tool. We felt like they really took an interest in our business’s success. They managed time effectively and made sure we all felt like one big team. 

What did you find most impressive about them?

JG: Studio 22 is very specialized in the work they contributed for us. They were excellent. I can’t say enough about how pleased I was with them. After they did such a great job for us, we were hoping to use them for online advertising and social media. Unfortunately, they don’t offer those services. 

Are there any areas they could improve?

JG: No. 

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

AK: We worked really well with them because we’re also a very small team. I got the feeling they preferred working with smaller clients and having access to people who make decisions. They like to keep things moving. Smaller or flatter organizations are a great fit for Studio 22.