Studio Graphene

Please describe your company and your position there.

Rainbow Energy is a start-up domestic energy provider based in the UK. We are awaiting entry into the market. My role is Head of People, however, being a startup everyone has to do everything! I have been responsible for the relationship with Studio Graphene.

For what projects/services did your company hire Studio Graphene, and what were your goals?

Being a start-up we needed a website and a mobile app. Our customer interface is complex but we wanted to ensure simplicity for our customers along with a clean, modern tone of voice.

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

Studio Graphene was selected as they understood the constraints of a start-up business but worked, flexibly, professionally and collaboratively from start to finish. All the staff were knowledgeable, friendly and nothing was too much trouble.

Describe the scope of work in detail, including the project steps, key deliverables, and technologies used.

The project consisted of a fully functioning website and mobile app. The project management was excellent through each phase. The design phase consisted of ensuring our tone of voice was captured, and not only the look of the website and app but building out the full customer journey.

The process was totally collaborative from start to finish. The build of the products was happening alongside the design phase to ensure our project was completed on time. Studio Graphene was totally flexible when it came to the tech stack to be used and worked with what was best for us.

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

We had an account manager who oversaw every aspect of the project from build and design to ensuring that our invoices were timely and delivered to us at appropriate milestones.

We were also allocated a first-class project manager who took the time to learn and understand our industry and who gave the appropriate challenge to ensure our end product was fit for purpose. We also worked very closely with the designer and the UX professional.

Can you share any measurable outcomes of the project or general feedback about the deliverables?

We have received great feedback about the clarity and look and feel of our site. We were delighted with the deliverable, in fact Studio Graphene exceeded our expectations in many ways

Describe their project management style, including communication tools and timeliness.

We had weekly project calls with our account manager and our project manager (and any other relevant staff who were required at the time, for example the designer). We communicated mainly via Slack as Studio Graphene set up a channel for us to use. This meant we could instantly chat as and when questions came up. Everyone we interacted with at Studio Graphene were always very responsive.

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

Their understanding of working with start-up organisations and the way they really took the time to understand our business. Nothing was too much trouble (and I am not sure we were the easiest of clients!)

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

I don't have anything to add here. I would wholeheartedly recommend them to anyone wanting web or app work of any kind.

Introduce your business and what you do there.

We’re a tech startup building an employee experience management platform. I’m the founder.

What challenge were you trying to address with Studio Graphene?

We needed a partner to help build our platform's UI/UX. 

What was the scope of their involvement?

Studio Graphene's designing the UI/UX of our employee-facing application. We normally have basic ideas that we hand to them. Their team then iterates on our ideas, working on them for 1–2 weeks typically. We then work together and agree on the best next steps. For their work, they use Adobe products like Adobe XD and Photoshop.

What is the team composition?

I most closely work with Nathan (Client Partner), a number of freelancers, Maria (UX/UI Designer), and a project manager.

How did you come to work with Studio Graphene?

We looked for design studios specifically familiar with the startup game. We also wanted a UK based company. We ran a Google search, found Studio Graphene’s website, and considered 3–4 competitors. However, they were the friendliest, had the best reputation in the market, and had done impressive work.

How much have you invested with them?

We’ve spent around £18,000 pounds (approximately $24,600 USD) on their services.

What is the status of this engagement?

We started in September 2020, and it’s an ongoing project.

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

So far, we’re extremely pleased with their work. In terms of design quality output, they constantly exceed our expectations. I’m really pleased with the collaboration.

How did Studio Graphene perform from a project management standpoint?

We send emails, share files, and catch-up normally 2–3 times a week via video calls. It’s an Agile project, and it’s easy to work with them. They’re available and meet deadlines. We only had minor challenges, so overall, they’re great.

What did you find most impressive about them?

The quality of their designs, straightforward communication, and overall friendliness are their most impressive characteristics. It’s very easy to work with them. We had a common language.

Are there any areas they could improve?

It would’ve been nice to always work with the same people. We played it quite Agile, so we didn’t know exactly what we would need in two-weeks time. Their team adjusted on short notice but that came with the trade-off of not always having the same person working on our project.

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

Have an open mind, be friendly, and tell them exactly what you want. They’ll be amazing.

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I am the founder of Hello Solo Ltd. We have been running dating events since 2017. We are in the process of launching a B2B2C platform for the dating industry that will showcase everything from events to products and services within the industry.

What challenge were you trying to address with Studio Graphene?

The dating industry is extremely fast-growing and there are a lot of different providers of services within the industry. It’s very difficult for users to find events, products, or services like a matchmaker or a dating coach. 

Before they even get to the challenge of meeting somebody to date, they have to get through the rigmarole of which app to use or which matchmaker to go to. We want to provide a central marketplace for them to be able to find all of those things.

What was the scope of their involvement?

We have a fairly involved product. 

On the B2B side, we have SMEs within the dating industry ranging from dating apps and singles events to matchmakers, profile writers and profile photographers. On the B2C side, we have singles of all ages, sexual orientations and locations.

From a single’s perspective, they needed to be able to create an account, search & filter events, products and services, make bookings, see their bookings, review businesses after attending an event or buying a product or service and match and chat with other singles who they had met at events.

Businesses needed to be able to create an account, pick a freemium membership level, list an event, product or service, review sales or attendee lists, view analytics & manage their teams.

Studio Graphene is building the hellosolo web application for us. They have done everything from scoping out the project to doing our branding, designing the site, and building it as well. It was built on PHP. 

They do some, but not all of our marketing. The team has worked on branding and are starting SEO for us.

At the moment, it is a web-based application but in our roadmap, we are looking into building a native app for the B2C user, so they will be able to search for products, services, and events & make bookings. It's a little way off at the moment as we need to launch first!

What is the team composition?

We have an account manager, a project manager, and about two backend developers and one or two frontend developers working on our project. Around six people in total, plus QA testing.

How did you come to work with Studio Graphene?

Studio Graphene came recommended by two other companies within the startup industry in London. I approached them to build out our platform based on our existing technology.

How much have you invested in them?

The total cost of the build is £82,000 (approximately $112,500 USD).

What is the status of this engagement?

We approached them in February 2020, and it is still ongoing. We will be working with them for the foreseeable future.

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

I have been so impressed with Studio Graphene. We are due to launch at the end of February, but the UAT environment was sent to me on the date that they said it would be. 

They have been absolutely on budget and on time for everything that they have done for me so far. I can’t express how impressed I am with them.

How did Studio Graphene perform from a project management standpoint?

Studio Graphene's attention to detail is excellent. They are very communicative so every time they have come up against an issue, they have scheduled a meeting with me to discuss the best fix for it, whether we need to change the design or change a process. 

They have been absolutely great about doing that and passing on how much longer it is going to take or whether it is going to change anything, or whether we need to shuffle some things around to make sure that we stay on time and on budget.

We communicate by email weekly, and then we have a Zoom call every three weeks at the end of each sprint so we know what work has been done and I can be shown any updates on the platform. They have then pushed that to the UAT environment which I obviously have, and then I can go through and test myself.

What did you find most impressive about them?

It is difficult to give one thing, but their communication and quality are the most impressive things about them.

Are there any areas they could improve?

It has been difficult this year because although I met them initially, because of COVID-19, I haven’t been able to meet them face to face. I think it would have been great to be in a room together even on a quarterly basis just to update and keep up to speed with everybody. Rather than that being something they can fix; it is just a situational problem.

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

Follow up to emails very quickly. Any holdups are generally from the client-side rather than the Studio Graphene side. If they ask you to do something, send it over to them so there are no holdups on the tech side of things. 

Be super clear about what you want because you can’t scope a project if you don’t have a clear idea of what you want to build. Be really willing to give feedback about what you like and what you don’t like. 

They have been absolutely great at turning my abstract concepts into designs and branding for example. It has taken a lot of practice. I have worked with a few other developers previously so I knew what I was looking for when I came to Studio Graphene and spoke to them.

Please describe your company and your position there.

I am one of the founding team members of the company with the CFO role as my primary responsibility alongside all other aspects required needed by a small team to grow a business. The company makes businesses and its employees financially healthier

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

We needed a tech development agency that could help turn our ideas, research and concepts into a working platform. Studio Graphene helped support our design team and took full ownership of the back-end and front-end build. 

Hiring a tech person/team in-house did not make sense at our stage of business. It was important to us that we remained versatile as well having access to a pool of specialists to build what we needed given the complex nature of our platform and security measures required.

What were your goals for this project?

We wanted an app where it consolidated all of a user's accounts, savings, investments, pensions, debt for them to view with ease as well as being intuitive in alerting them on certain overspend risk or savings goals achieved.

This is combined with us using the data we have gathered to project a user's financial profile so they have better insights on how their financial decisions could affect their future finances. With a combination of being more informed of current and future finances along with insights on how best to achieve their goals, users can be subsequently more comfortable, hence happier with their finances

How did you select Studio Graphene?

Studio Graphene came in as a referral from someone who had been involved in various businesses that have previously used them / are currently using them. At the time we sought two different quotes and the decision was actually to go for another developer. However, it was a poor build and it was better that we started all over again - that's when we chose Studio Graphene.

Describe the project in detail.

Studio Graphene started the work immediately as soon as they were engaged. They were able to do this because as part of their quotation process they put in a lot of effort in determining the details of what actually needs to be built and how it was all going to be built.

It formed a key part of their proposal process which allowed them to provide fixed quote proposals to us. The work started off with two weeks of finalising the design and UX while work was also being done simultaneously to detail all the necessary Jira tickets associated with the features and infrastructure for the back-end to commence building.

We had daily stand-up calls with Studio Graphene which allowed them to ask us to clarify any areas of uncertainty and also allowed us to use it as continuous feedback sessions we would have with them throughout the build.

These daily calls were also used by Studio Graphene to advise us on certain things they found more efficient, or effective, or even challenged us as to how we wanted our features and UX.

This was invaluable as they were proactively helping us to improve the build rather than just take the do as you are told approach. Given that there were a lot of rule based features and formulae required to power our forecasting and insights functionality, particular attention was spent with their back-end team to get this right, which they did.

Wasn't right on the first attempt, and it took several attempts, but they were very efficient in fixing it (so no delay in the deliverability of the app). Studio Graphene built the app across three sprints of 3 weeks each. Within each sprint there were agreed feature sets.

As part of each build stage Studio Graphene would do their own quality assessment to test and fix all of the features to be delivered in that sprint before handing it over to us for UAT.

What was the team composition?

From Studio Graphene there was a project manager. 3 back-end. 3 front-end. 1 quality assurance. 1 design (for the first 2 weeks)

From the company side there was 1 person - Head of product plus 1 other person to support the head of product

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

Plenty of complements when we demostrated the app to prospects.  In the span of a short time since the app was completed and us being able to demo the product, the amount of interests from customers and partners wanting to help promote it increased significantly. 

Also our pricing conversations have been made easier having customers been able to see what the app can do.   

How effective was the workflow between your team and theirs?

It was very efficient and productive.  The key was the ease of communication between the two teams and the responsiveness of the Studio Graphene team to queries and changes. 

There was no hesitation of the Studio Graphene team to reach out to us whenever there were queries, even the little queries.  This made sure that no time was wasted going down the wrong track. 

Given the extent of what had to be built in the timeframe it was done in is testament that the workflow between the two teams was very smooth and effective.

What did you find most impressive about this company?

There were two things that were equally impressive:

1. the fact that they were constantly proactively thinking of better solutions to developing what we told them that needs to be done - not just puppets doing what they’re told to get the job done as fast as possible (despite them even quoting a fixed price proposal)
2. their ability to understand the difficult calculations and complexed logics required to be programmed that now forms our intelligent insights engine.

Are there any areas for improvement?

Honestly very hard to say.  Perhaps the communication between their design and back-end teams could have been more frequent for the changes to be picked up quicker.  It didn't have any negative impact on the timetable though as they just worked harder to make up the time.  

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m the founder of a startup that's building a short form audio platform.

What challenge were you trying to address with Studio Graphene?

We approached Studio Graphene to design our new mobile app.

What was the scope of their involvement?

While I had a clear idea of the app’s design, Studio Graphene helped to refine my ideas. I provided them with an early prototype, which included the feature set I wanted within the app. Their team helped with the finer details such as the different user flows. They helped us to think deeply about the UX/UI. And then, their team created the actual UX/UI design and the brand.  

What is the team composition?

I worked with a few people from Studio Graphene. There was a client manager, a product manager, a designer, and a UX/UI person on the team.

How did you come to work with Studio Graphene?

I googled a bunch of mobile design agencies in London because I wanted a local partner to meet face-to-face, which didn’t happen because of the coronavirus. I made a shortlist and reached out to about six different agencies. I eventually went with Studio Graphene because their price was fair but also not too on the low end where the quality would suffer. Through speaking with their client team, I felt that they would do a good job.

How much have you invested with them?

We spent about £8,000 pounds (approximately $10,000 USD) on this project.

What is the status of this engagement?

I brought them on board in March 2020, and we finished the engagement in June.

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

Studio Graphene delivered exactly what I wanted. They completed the rebrand, making the actual product professional.

Also, the flow to record audio clips was complicated, but their team got it right. I started reaching out to beta testers to record content through the app. They helped to progress our business goals.

How did Studio Graphene perform from a project management standpoint?

We communicated via e-mails and phone calls. There were regular calls when they provided project updates and we reviewed any assets through Adobe XD.

I could ask their product manager, who was my main contact, any questions. The project ran smoothly.

What did you find most impressive about them?

Their price was attractive to us. While it was on the higher end, they offered an initial design piece that was affordable for us so we could take the first step. That was a good way of working.

Are there any areas they could improve?

No, it was exactly what I expected. I would’ve enjoyed having meetings in person but with the coronavirus, that wasn’t possible.

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

They have a fixed process that’s well documented. Study their process to make sure that you get everything you want out of each of their steps.

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m the co-founder of WhatWeWant, an app that allows users to share the costs of a gift for themselves or someone else. Users can organize the intricacies of gifts through the app.

What challenge were you trying to address with Studio Graphene?

We had the concept on paper, but none of us were developers. We needed someone who could develop the app for us. There’s a crowdfunding aspect to the app, and we needed a platform that would allow for many people to transfer money into an account where it would then be held and withdrawn from at a certain point. We needed to identify an API and a financial service that could allow for crowdfunding, and the app needed to cater to the API. The major challenge was getting the platform to understand that the crowdfunding was for personal, and not charitable, use. 

What was the scope of their involvement?

We started with a product discovery and went to Studio Graphene with sketches of pages we liked and what we wanted people to be able to do on the app. They did all of the wireframing and development of the app.  They integrated MANGOPAY. 

Studio Graphene developed a cross-platform app that is available for iOS and Android. They also did marketing for us. We have a maintenance package with them, and they continue to do updates on the app.

What is the team composition?

There’s Jonathan (Digital Product Manager) and 2–3 developers. We previously worked with a marketing team of 4–5 people. Jonathan is the main point of contact for everyone. The actual developers are based in India and offer two price brackets. We’re not spending the same amount that we would be to get an app fully developed in the UK.

How did you come to work with Studio Graphene?

We did a Google search for app developers and sent an email to 4–5 companies from a myriad of places. I interviewed all of them. One of the main reasons we went with Studio Graphene is that they do not only development but also marketing. We felt that it was important that the development and marketing teams we worked with could be pretty close together so that they could speak with one another. We also liked that the manager of the project was based here in the UK so that we could have in-person meetings. Our office is just a walk away from theirs.

How much have you invested with them?

My company has spent £125,000 (approximately $160,600 USD).

What is the status of this engagement?

We started working together in February 2019, and it’s ongoing.

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

Studio Graphene delivered an easy-to-use app. We’ve done many user tests, like Google Ventures, and the feedback has been rather resounding in terms of ease-of-use. When we first released the app, it was more of a beta testing phase. We opened it up to friends and family; we just wanted to get feedback from people. In the last couple of months, we’ve upped our game in marketing. We have just over 1,000 downloads and about 350 signups. We’re relatively happy because we’ve been able to make 2–3 updates and changes that didn’t seem obvious until people made suggestions. Our project manager never tried to sell us add-ons or features just to get the price up; in fact, the app ended up costing less than what was originally quoted. 

How did Studio Graphene perform from a project management standpoint?

There was always a member of both teams in meetings so that we knew what was going on and what was being planned for the future. Jonathan handled all of the communication with their developers in India. There was a lot less lost in translation because they have a good relationship with their developers. 

Our initial quote was £150,000 (approximately $193,000 USD) to build the whole app. Throughout our time working together, Jonathan would tell us to look at what we actually wanted to build and what would make us money. It’s reassuring that we have someone there who is always going to be looking out for our interests. Jonathan is organized and does well with task prioritization. The company makeup is also good in terms of the fact that their managers have a very decent understanding of development and are great at project management. It’s been a good experience. We communicate via WhatsApp.

What did you find most impressive about them?

The communication between their team and us is great. We have a very open dialogue. They’re always available; it’s never taken more than 1–2 hours to get a response from them.

Are there any areas they could improve?

We moved marketing teams since we launched because we felt that their content was more for traditional B2B, whereas we’re B2C and go directly to the clients. Our clients use platforms like Instagram and simply want a visual cue with a sentence or two. Our clients wish to easy to consume aesthetics as opposed to sourced or written articles about the sector we operate in.

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

Meet them face-to-face; don’t just go off a call. They understood our idea very quickly. That’s something you can really get when you’re in-person. Also, listen to what the project manager has to say, because he has good experience. Take his advice as free advice. You’re paying for the building of the app, but the advice they give along the way is free.

Please describe your company and your position there.

I'm the director of City Road Comms, a PR agency that uses unique research and content to achieve significant amounts of exposure. I manage our strategy, hiring and training staff and working with new and existing clients.

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

We hired Studio Graphene to completely rebuild our website. The old website was outdated, generic and quite ugly. We wanted an overhaul to make us stand out and impress potential clients, so we hired them for web design and development. 

What were your goals for this project?

Our goal was to create an attractive, unique, and modern website that would effectively communicate with potential clients. We wanted to stand out and clearly demonstrate our strengths and values. As a small business, we also wanted to achieve this on a relatively limited budget and short timeline.

How did you select this vendor?

We worked with several clients who had used Studio Graphene to create apps and websites. We knew that the quality of their work was extremely high, so we approached them for a discussion and quote. At the same time, we sourced quotes from other web development firms.

Studio Graphene's attention to detail was far better than anything else we saw. They invested time in understanding our business, needs, and taste. Given the depth and quality they offered, their price was also far more competitive than other vendors. In the end, choosing them was straightforward.

Describe the project in detail.

The project fell into three stages. First, they clarified exactly what we wanted and needed from the website's functionality and design elements. This involved several face-to-face meetings to identify other websites and ideas that we liked or didn't like. Then they developed a wireframe, color scheme, and overall look and feel.

During the second stage, they created high-fidelity mockups of the website. After reviewing two versions, we agreed on the layout, features, and copy, and they began creating the website. We had two opportunities to provide feedback and make changes to the end product, which ensured that we were completely happy.

What was the team composition?

Different team members were involved during each stage, but the director and the head of marketing were present throughout to ensure consistency. They introduced us, either in person or through email, to new team members when necessary. But the head of marketing remained our point of contact throughout, which made the whole process extremely painless.

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

The ultimate measure of this project was simply the quality of the end product. The website they developed is excellent: it's unique, slick, clean, professional, and interesting. It does a fantastic job of promoting who we are, what we do, and what makes us great.

After sharing the website with different people, such as colleagues, clients, business partners, friends, and family, the reaction has been overwhelmingly positive. It's infinitely better than our old website and far better than the bland, generic websites of our competitors. We wanted a website that showed us off to the world, and Studio Graphene delivered on that brief superbly.

How effective was the workflow between your team and theirs?

The workflow was painless. Studio Graphene remained communicative and kept us abreast of their timeline. They allowed time for tasks that we had to undertake and went about their own work efficiently. When I had questions, they gave quick answers. Most of our communication happened through email, with several face-to-face meetings and phone calls throughout the project. We also used Google Drive to share files. 

What did you find most impressive about this company?

I was impressed by their passion for our project. Their genuine desire to work with us was reflected in the time and effort they invested. They understood what we needed and developed a solution rather than delivering a "one-size-fits-all" product. They worked in an impressively detailed, bespoke manner.

We were impressed with the wireframes and designs they created, but the quality of the end product exceeded our expectations. They added many clever features, design elements, and functionalities to enhance the overall look and feel. They are extremely good at what they do, demonstrating high levels of attention to detail throughout.  

The cost was also excellent. They were far more cost-effective when I weighed their quality of work against their fees. Any vendors who could match their price offered a far lesser product. Studio Graphene delivered excellent value.

Are there any areas for improvement?

I couldn't see any obvious areas for improvement. The quality of their deliverables, their project management, and the price were all excellent. 

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I'm the CEO of AwesomeSource. We're a software development company.

What challenge were you trying to address with Studio Graphene Ltd?

We were looking for a vendor to help us build a mobile application.

What was the scope of their involvement?

We initially planned to build a demonstration app, but it ended up being a real product that our customers can use. Studio Graphene managed everything from the frontend design and user interface to building the actual app. Our in-house team was heavily involved in the design process, so we reviewed all the wireframes and provided our feedback. They also sent us builds of the app every week. This is an iOS app and Studio Graphene used Swift for development.

What is the team composition?

I worked with Studio Graphene when I was working for another company, so I knew they did high-quality work.

How did you come to work with Studio Graphene Ltd?

We worked with a project manager, two designers, and a developer.

How much have you invested with them?

We spent about £30,000 (approximately $39,500 USD).

What is the status of this engagement?

The project ran from March 2017–December 2018.

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

They built our customer facing app, which is a key part of our sales tool. It's a seasonal business, and the initial phase has gone very well.

How did Studio Graphene Ltd perform from a project management standpoint?

The communication was very clear. We had weekly check-ins and we talked daily via Slack.

What did you find most impressive about them?

The quality of their work is high. Their developers were very knowledgeable, so we never had to explain things to them. Also, they're extremely easy to work with.

Are there any areas they could improve?

No. We had a very good experience.

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

Discuss your needs and your budget up front so that you don't have to go through many iterations.

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m the CEO of Comte de Grasse. We’re a luxury distillery located in the south of France.

What challenge were you trying to address with Studio Graphene Ltd?

We hired them to take over building all of our digital assets after a previous vendor proved unable to deliver what we needed.

What was the scope of their involvement?

We’re a startup, and we didn’t have enough in-house resources to handle this project, so they worked with our creative team to build a website that reflects our reputation as a luxury brand. They handled the web design for our main site and also used Shopify to build our e-commerce page. Once that was finished, they also designed and developed a mobile app for us that helped customers engage with our products via iOS or Android. They integrated near-field communication (NFC) technology for us, working with our third-party suppliers to ensure that we delivered seamless customer experience.

What is the team composition?

Their CEO was my main point of contact. We also had a dedicated designer and a dedicated developer, and I think there were a couple of other developers who assisted throughout.

How did you come to work with Studio Graphene Ltd?

I happened to know their CEO and reached out to him about our difficulties implementing this project with our previous contractor. It was clear that he understood the NFC technology we wanted to use, as well as our company vision and the changes we hoped to implement, so we decided to switch contractors.

How much have you invested with them?

We’ve spent about £30,000 (approximately $40,000 USD).

What is the status of this engagement?

We started working with them in August 2018, and the project is ongoing.

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

We’ve only just launched, so there hasn’t been an immediate impact on sales, but our site’s been receiving great reviews. Users in our industry are happy with the UI.

How did Studio Graphene Ltd perform from a project management standpoint?

They really collaborated with us and took ownership over this project. Now, this may be because I have a personal relationship with their CEO, but the amount of work they put into our project and the way they managed it were far beyond what we expected. They’re good at understanding what the client’s needs are and documenting everything. We also receive regular updates on their progress—the full team uses Slack, but I generally communicate with them via email.

What did you find most impressive about them?

They’re highly organized, and everything is well-structured. It’s clear that they work hard to deliver a final product that reflects our expectations.

Are there any areas they could improve?

I can’t really think of anything.

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

Spend a lot of time at the start explaining your vision and the outcome you’re hoping for. The more information they receive, the more effective they’ll be.

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m the COO of AVSecure LLC. We are a blockchain-based online age verification company.  

What challenge were you trying to address with [XYZ Company]?

We needed help creating web and mobile products that align with the recent law from the Department for Digital, Culture, Media, and Sport called the Digital Economy Act 2017. We needed the system to require adult content providers to verify the age of their users before allowing them into the site.

What was the scope of their involvement?

Their team has been developing the systems for us using blockchain technology. They are in charge of all the design work and host the platforms. Studio Graphene is also designing the entire UI/UX and creating a smooth user flow. Within the apps, they are building functionalities to allow users to enter verifying information and enter the site with credentials. They're also enabling fingerprint ID confirmation within the app. Additionally, their team is designing tools to allow parents to block over 4 million sensitive websites.

What is the team composition?

Our main contact is Christine (Digital Marketing Strategist, Studio Graphene).

How did you come to work with Studio Graphene?

After realizing our previous vendor was not the right fit for our project, we decided to pursue Studio Graphene. We met them at an expo and were impressed with their team.

How much have you invested with them?

So far, we’ve spent €150,000 (approximately $170,800 USD) but we expect the final amount to be higher.

What is the status of this engagement?

We started working together in July 2017 and the project is ongoing.

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

The designs have been well-received at trade shows we attend. Because of the strong evolution the product has gone through, we now feel that our brand is highly recognizable. We’ve attracted crucial merchants who are potential customers.  

How did Studio Graphene perform from a project management standpoint?

We primarily communicate through Slack, email, and phone. They call us daily with updates and progress reports. Their team reliably follows up with us and we interact well.

What did you find most impressive about them?

One of Studio Graphene’s best qualities is their unique approach and thought process. They have the necessary knowledge to make a product stand out.

Are there any areas they could improve?

As their business grows in the future, they’ll need to scale quickly to keep up with their clients.

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

Remain open-minded to Studio Graphene’s suggestions.