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Experience Design, Research, Software Development

4.9
10 reviews

Think Company is an award-winning experience design firm founded in 2007, employing consultants across three studios with expertise in almost every industry. We pride ourselves on using a research-driven methodology which ensures our design decisions are always based on evidence. We specialize in research, strategy and visioning, content strategy, full experience and service design, digital product design, and software development.

We exist to help you create great experiences for your customers and employees. Come think with us!

READ MORE...
 
$50,000+
 
$150 - $199 / hr
 
50 - 249
 Founded
2007
Show all +
Conshohocken, PA
headquarters
  • 201 Fayette Street
    Conshohocken, PA 19428
    United States
    800.296.9190
other locations
  • 111 South 15th Street, Mezzanine
    Philadelphia, PA 19102
    United States
    800.296.9190
  • 1315 Walnut Street, Suite 201
    Philadelphia, PA 19107
    United States
    800.296.9190

Portfolio

Key clients: 
  • ADP
  • AmerisourceBergen
  • AMResorts
  • Ascensus
  • Carlisle Construction Materials
  • Children's Hospital of Philadelphia
  • Clarivate Analytics
  • Comcast
  • Compass Group
  • Janney
  • Johnson & Johnson
  • JPMorganChase
  • Korn Ferry
  • Merck
  • NRG
  • Transamerica
  • Wharton

Reviews

4.9
10 reviews
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Web Design for Life Insurance Company

"Their knowledge of the technical elements of building a marketing website was impressive."

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5.0

Quality: 
5.0
Schedule: 
4.0
Cost: 
4.0
Willing to refer: 
5.0
The Project
 
$200,000 to $999,999
 
Nov. 2019 - Jun. 2020
Project summary: 

Think Company provided web design services to a life insurance company. They helped to create wireframes and implement changes based on user feedback. 

The Reviewer
 
1001-10,000 Employees
 
Horsham, Pennsylvania
Ryan Campbell
AVP Product Marketing, Penn Mutual
 
Verified
The Review
Feedback summary: 

Although the website hasn’t officially launched, the client is happy with the final outcome. Think Company’s research methods help elevate their design and inform their decision-making. Although project management got off to a rough start, the collaboration went smoothly overall. 

A Clutch analyst personally interviewed this client over the phone. Below is an edited transcript.

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I work for Penn Mutual Life Insurance and I’m the AVP of product marketing.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenges were you trying to address with Think Company?

We wanted to update our website and make our content more digitally focused. Much of our content was uploaded to our website as PDFs.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

They provided design and strategic services for our website. Our in-house team took care of most of the development, but Think Company helped with conceptualization, creating wireframes, and web design. They also reached out to users and stakeholders to get their feedback on the website. 

What is the team composition?

We worked with a team of 5–10 people including a design lead, tech lead, project manager, and research lead. 

How did you come to work with Think Company?

I wasn’t directly involved in the hiring process. However, they’re local to us which was important. We looked at two other companies in the Philadelphia area but decided to work with Think Company because of word-of-mouth recommendations. 

How much have you invested in them?

We invested around $400,000. 

What is the status of this engagement?

We started working together in the summer of 2019. However, the bulk of the work was done in November and December of that year. We wrapped up in June 2020. However, there’s still some maintenance and updates they’re taking care of. 

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

The website hasn’t launched yet, so we don’t have any metrics to track their success. However, feedback from our community has been very positive. The design is sleek, and the website is easier to use than our previous iteration. 

How did Think Company perform from a project management standpoint?

We had a bit of a rocky start, but over time everything came together. We were struggling on both sides. As soon as they made a change to their project management, everything fell into place. 

We used Basecamp to manage the project. 

What did you find most impressive about them?

Their knowledge of the technical elements of building a marketing website was impressive. We were also surprised by their thorough research. At first, we were skeptical about the intensity of their research phase, however, at the end of the project, it was clear that their methods paid off. 

Are there any areas they could improve?

We could’ve done some more team building changes so the process would move along smoothly. It’s important to make sure members of a third-party team mesh well with internal teammates. Beyond that, it was a great interaction. 

Do you have any advice for potential customers? 

Speak candidly and transparently upfront about the research and feedback aspects of the project. This drives their work, so it’s important to pay attention to it.

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

UI/UX Design for Business Management Platform

“They really thought about the project in a holistic way and that was super valuable.”

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5.0

Quality: 
5.0
Schedule: 
4.0
Cost: 
4.0
Willing to refer: 
5.0
The Project
 
$50,000 to $199,999
 
July - Dec. 2014
Project summary: 

Think Company redesigned the UI/UX for a business management software. After conducting thorough information gathering, they created wireframes that could easily be implemented.

The Reviewer
 
11-50 Employees
 
Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
Former CEO, Business Management Software
 
Verified
The Review
Feedback summary: 

Engineers were able to implement the designs and the UI has improved significantly. Once clients adapted to the new interface, they were pleased with the functionality. Think Company provided a great product for an affordable price. They were committed to the project and made adjustments as needed.

A Clutch analyst personally interviewed this client over the phone. Below is an edited transcript.

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m the former CEO of a business management software company.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with Think Company?

When we acquired the business and I was brought on board, it was a really well-run company, but it had been a mom and pop and was run for profitability rather than growth. Therefore, there hadn’t been a ton of investment in the team, internal systems and go to market strategy or really in keeping the technology fully up to date. We observed was that the codebase and the technology stack was somewhat obsolete.

On top of that, the UX was definitely reflective of an organic process that had been built up over time, adding feature by feature without really an intention or holistic view of what that experience would be like for the end-user.

We weren’t in a great position to scale or to have a compelling offering for new client acquisition. As we were rethinking technology, it made total sense to also think about the UX at the same time.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

Think Company created designed the UI/UX and established a framework for a business management platform.

They took a full look at how users were experiencing the system, what work they were trying to accomplish, the workflows they were going through in order to do that, where the frustrations were and what was working well among other things.

With that, we came up with a lot of new ideas around what the experience should be like, what the paradigm is for how people use this, and how can we introduce it without giving too much from a change management perspective and without frustrating users. It is totally new and different and really hard for existing users to make that transition.

At that same time, we wanted to make it as modern and user-friendly as possible and have them provide us with a framework that would allow us to continue to add features and build the solution overtime without going down the same track of making a really crowded, jumbled, and cluttered experience.

It was a lot about information gathering from various stakeholders. They met with our product people, they met with our salespeople and a number of clients. We h identified a range of clients, different sizes, different levels of sophistication, different tenures with the product, and not only engaged with them to ask them questions about their experience, but they also observed their usage firsthand. That process informed everything we did afterward.

They created a comprehensive solution. It started with ideas and then evolved into wireframes. Ultimately, it was a full system for managing UI, so we could give the end product to our engineers and have them have a toolkit that they could use for ongoing UI complete with icons, workflows, and tools to manage those.

What is the team composition?

Over the course of the project, we worked with at least a half dozen people. They had a really broad range of skillsets working on this. There was a project manager, there were graphic designers, there were people who had expertise in workflow, but there were also people who had expertise in just day gathering and observing users and collecting the information that would inform decisions.

How did you come to work with Think Company?

Both businesses are based in Philadelphia and we learned about them through the Philadelphia tech community. We did an RFP, scoped the work that we needed to have done, and we did an assessment of a few different vendor partners. Think was unanimously the group that we felt the most excited about working with.  

How much have you invested in them?

We spent between $100,000–$150,000.

What is the status of this engagement?

We worked on this effort from July–December 2014.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

Our engineers were able to work from a toolkit that could easily be scaled. This was all part of a broader change management effort and part of a broader investment in the future growth of the business.

As all those things came online together, someone just turned on the high beam lights. Everything came together. The product was right, the go-to-market was right, our topline execution from lead to collecting sales and renewals was right and the business just took off. It would have not been possible had we not elected to really invest in the UI and had they not delivered on their promises the way they did.

Our existing clients hated it at first. I learned that we didn’t do a good enough job managing the change, communicating the extent of the change, and providing resources to facilitate a smooth transition. It wasn’t that the outcome was bad, it was that the transition for people was painful. Over time, those very same people came back to us and told us it was objectively far superior to what we had before and that they just needed to understand it better.

Still, we wouldn’t have been able to do it ourselves. The team had such diverse skillsets that we wouldn’t have been able to find just by hiring an additional person. On top of that, it would have been more expensive.

How did Think Company perform from a project management standpoint?

It was really good. are complex things we were trying to solve. It requires commitment, adjustments, and really getting familiar with one another. Thankfully, that was a strength for both of our teams. It was hard to start, but pretty quickly, we got really comfortable and good at communicating, which made it all work.

What did you find most impressive about them?

They really helped frame the project at a time when our thinking about it was almost definitely way too limited and way too naïve. They were definitely thinking about creating a system that was far more scalable in terms of time, how the system was going to evolve, for the users. They were thoughtful about creating a sustainable system rather than just providing us with a new UI and navigation. They really thought about the project in a holistic way and that was super valuable.

Are there any areas they could improve?

I know there were at the time, but I blocked them out of my memory.

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

You just have to work at it to really make sure you are aligned on the scope and that you have established really good systems for communicating so that you can course-correct in a really agile way.

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

Design & IT Strategy for Healthcare Company

"Think Company's ability to consume information, analyze it, and find original themes is so impressive."

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5.0

Quality: 
5.0
Schedule: 
5.0
Cost: 
4.5
Willing to refer: 
5.0
The Project
 
$200,000 to $999,999
 
Apr. 2018 - Ongoing
Project summary: 

Think Company developed and designed a mobile portal for the employees of a home healthcare company. They're now doing research and analysis of technology capabilities to create an enterprise-wide IT strategy.

The Reviewer
 
10,001+
Ed Malinowski
Chief Information Officer, Bayada
 
Verified
The Review
Feedback summary: 

Employee satisfaction has improved since the engagement began. Think Company keeps the project moving through constant communication and without relying on technical jargon. Their ability to turn constructive feedback into implementable, high-quality deliverables are hallmarks of their work.

A Clutch analyst personally interviewed this client over the phone. Below is an edited transcript.

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there. 

I’m the CIO for Bayada, a home health care company. We’re an international organization operating in 26 states and six countries. We provide care in people's homes.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with Think Company? 

We've had two engagements with Think Company. We first hired them to do research and analysis around designing a mobile portal for our employees.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

Think Company interviewed about 50 frontline employees and office employees. They designed a mobile portal for us called The Front Door, which we implemented last year. The second project is designing our enterprise-wide IT strategy. They've been doing research and analysis for about nine months and will continue for another six months.

They're performing capabilities assessments of each of our business units and our enterprise shared services support areas. Next, they synthesize that information to identify themes and strategic capabilities for the company. Once that’s done, we'll move on to the next phase where they'll design our actual IT vision and strategic objectives to support our five-year IT strategy. 

What is the team composition?

Tom (Vice President of Client Engagement, Think Company) is our main point of contact. We worked with 4–5 people on the first project, and three in the current project.

How did you come to work with Think Company?

I interviewed several companies. Think Company’s attention to detail and their design approach made them stand out. I really appreciated that they had a realistic picture of how our work was performed. Tom and I hit it off because he’s realistic and speaks in plain language. They understand that doing good design work requires listening carefully in order to understand intent. 

How much have you invested with them?

We’ve spent approximately $250,000.

What is the status of this engagement? 

Work started in the second quarter of 2018 and the engagement is ongoing.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

The Front Door mobile portal was very successful and received extremely well by our company. Employee satisfaction has improved since its launch. As part of the IT analysis, they’ve identified the technology project work that’s necessary in order to achieve our enterprise-wide IT strategy. To date, that project is meeting our expectations. We've seen small improvements along the way that already improve revenue or reduce expenses. 

How did Think Company perform from a project management standpoint?

Their team is very good. Their project management has been excellent. They keep me on my toes and keep the project running smoothly. Think Company is able to quickly evaluate when things are off course. They also know when to speed things up or when to slow things down. I don't need to ask for anything. They stay ahead of me, which is really helpful. I have a big job and I can't do their work, too. 

We have a lot of meetings and do a lot of video conferences. We use email probably the least. I have a standing video conference with them every Monday afternoon and we often speak again toward the end of the week. When we have meetings with the leaders of our company, we'll do those in person or over Zoom video conference. 

What did you find most impressive about them? 

Think Company's ability to consume information, analyze it, and find original themes is so impressive. They make incredible insights about our company, our employees, and our technological capabilities that we’ve not observed ourselves. 

Are there any areas they could improve? 

No, not right now. They're doing exactly what we need them to do. 

Do you have any advice for potential customers? 

Think Company will cut through all of the buzzwords and lingo and perform solid research and analysis. They see through all the flowery stuff by being great listeners. They’ll find the insights that you may not find on your own.

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

UX Design for Pharmaceutical Website

“New customer behaviors are aligning with the expectations of our customer experience strategy.”

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5.0

Quality: 
5.0
Schedule: 
4.0
Cost: 
5.0
Willing to refer: 
5.0
The Project
 
Confidential
 
Apr. 2017 - Ongoing
Project summary: 

Think Company is working on a website’s customer experience. They designed content strategy, implemented a new UX/UI, and reworked the site layout. They provided design guidelines that the internal team uses.

The Reviewer
 
10,001+ Employees
 
Kenilworth, New Jersey
Bob Patterson
Agile Transformation Leader, Pharmaceutical Company
 
Verified
The Review
Feedback summary: 

Think Company has a strong work ethic and uses an evidence-based approach to provide applicable and pragmatic solutions. Their work reduced the content creation cycle time by 60% and increased the Google index to industry-leading levels. They adjust well to project preferences and provide feedback.

A Clutch analyst personally interviewed this client over the phone. Below is an edited transcript.

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m the agile transformation leader for a pharmaceutical company. I’m mainly in charge of customer experience and digital transformation. 

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with Think Company?

We wanted to revamp the customer experience for one of our primary customer sets that’s significant to our business. We needed a partner to work on our design strategy, UX/UI, and content and product strategy.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

They work in HTML5, writing the code bases that they then gave to our internal production teams. They had to learn our content management system (CMS), Tridium, and do design work in Illustrator, InVision, and Photoshop. Think Company redefined the relationship that we want to have with our customers in our online channels and changed the focus from marketing and promotions to enhancing customer engagement. They helped us understand the customer journey, including their wants, needs, dreams, and vision. 

From there, they designed our content strategy, UI, and site layout. Essentially, they built the roadmap to our design, and our individual brands created the content that adhered to those guidelines. We developed an integrated system that delivers a cohesive brand.

What is the team composition? 

We worked with about 10–15 people, including an account executive, project manager, UX leader, content management specialist, and graphic designer.

How did you come to work with Think Company?

We sent out an RFP and considered 12 partners. Think Company had extensive work in customer experience and an evidence-based approach to problem-solving, so we hired them.

What is the status of this engagement?

We partnered in April 2017, and the work is ongoing. 

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

They reduced our cycle time for content creation and deployment by more than 60%. We’ve also reduced the need to engage with other partners, which has decreased both the time and cost of our projects. New customer behaviors are aligning with the expectations of our customer experience strategy. Our Google index went from low to industry-leading categories.

What did you find most impressive about them?

Their evidence-based approach to solutions is fantastic, and they work hard to understand our end customers’ journeys. They’re willing to challenge or defend certain ideas, even being willing to walk away from work if they don’t think it’s a good fit for them.

Are there any areas they could improve?

No. We have lots of processes and procedures, and they’ve adjusted well to that.

Do you have any advice for future clients of theirs?

You need to be willing and able to accept their recommendations; they may suggest things that you didn’t think needed to be changed.

5.0
Overall Score
  • 4.0 Scheduling
    ON TIME / DEADLINES
    We were flexible on deadlines.
  • 5.0 Cost
    Value / within estimates
  • 5.0 Quality
    Service & deliverables
  • 5.0 NPS
    Willing to refer

Redesign & Web Dev for Interactive Mapping Company

“The entire team is smart and willing to customize their service to best meet our wishes.”

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5.0

Quality: 
5.0
Schedule: 
5.0
Cost: 
5.0
Willing to refer: 
5.0
The Project
 
$200,000 to $999,999
 
Feb. 2018 - Ongoing
Project summary: 

Think Company redesigned an interactive map website and made it mobile friendly. They also developed pattern libraries and migrated data into a new software workflow tool. They currently act as a consultant.

The Reviewer
 
11-50 Employees
 
Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
VP, Interactive Mapping Company
 
Verified
The Review
Feedback summary: 

Think Company is proactive and dedicated, maintaining regular communication and accommodating to changing needs. Their designers do amazing work, and the products have resulted in less work and quicker turnaround times.

A Clutch analyst personally interviewed this client over the phone. Below is an edited transcript.

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m the VP of tech and product development for a company that provides an interactive mapping application. People use the product to put geographic data on top of an interactive map to get area information such as the census tract, zip code, or county. Users typically analyze neighborhood and geographic trends to inform policy-making decisions.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with Think Company?

We initially needed a partner to redesign our website’s interface.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

For their first project, Think Company upgraded the underlying technology of our mapping platform to improve the interface, refresh the layout and, make it mobile friendly. The redesign was recently finished and is currently being implemented.

From there, we had them develop pattern libraries or build kits, which are CSS and HTML libraries that support the interface component that they designed. They also helped us migrate onto a new software workflow tool and identify best practices for how to populate it. They’re currently in more of a consulting role.

What is the team composition?

We’ve worked with a project manager the whole time, but the core team changes depending on the task. In the first phase, we had two designers, but now we have a tech lead and developer. There's been a minimum of three people in each phase.

How did you come to work with Think Company?

A former employee recommended them. They’re actually in the same building as us, so they pitched their idea, and we thought they were a good fit. They were on the higher end of our budget, but we felt the price was justified given the level of professionalism and expertise we received.

How much have you invested with them?

We’ve spent between $200,000–$900,000.

What is the status of this engagement?

We’ve been working together since February 2018.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

The first phase was a fairly ambitious project, but they finished it within four months and under budget. Their pattern libraries provide tremendous value, saving us time and tedious amounts of work. In their new consulting role, they help us make quick decisions that expedite almost any tech decision we have to make.

How did Think Company perform from a project management standpoint?

We meet weekly with the project manager, and she sends out regular status and budget updates. When we have additional requests outside of the regular work week, she accommodates to needs. We communicate through various tools, including email, Jira, Slack, and Basecamp.

What did you find most impressive about them?

We understand our user base fairly well, so Think Company was willing to skip the research phase and jump right into development and design. They accommodated our unique circumstance and business model, which we appreciated. The entire team is smart and willing to customize their service to best meet our wishes. Also, the designers were extremely talented and produced high-quality work.

Are there any areas they could improve?

No, we've been happy.

Do you have any advice for future clients of theirs?

Be honest with them and provide detailed information on your goals, weaknesses, and expectations. They won’t judge you, and it’ll result in a stronger partnership. Be as thorough as possible, and they’ll do great work.

5.0
Overall Score This score isn’t given lightly—I’ve given other vendors much lower.
  • 5.0 Scheduling
    ON TIME / DEADLINES
  • 5.0 Cost
    Value / within estimates
  • 5.0 Quality
    Service & deliverables
  • 5.0 NPS
    Willing to refer
    I'd definitely recommend them.

Design for a B2B eCommerce Application

"Their well-defined process kept us informed and deliverables on schedule."

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5.0

Quality: 
5.0
Schedule: 
5.0
Cost: 
4.0
Willing to refer: 
4.0
The Project
 
$200,000 to $999,999
 
Jun. 2016 - Nov. 2016
Project summary: 

Think Company delivered a build kit for an e-commerce application. After a research period, the team designed interactive wireframes and screens for the new UI. They also supplied sample code and stylesheets.

The Reviewer
Jason Vincelette
Head of Product Management, Proactis
 
Verified
The Review
Feedback summary: 

The project’s impact on usability and user satisfaction won’t be known for another year. As a project, the partnership was a seamless collaborative experience. Think Company successfully leveraged a wide range of design resources and expertise to execute thorough support and diligent workflows.

A Clutch analyst personally interviewed this client over the phone. Below is an edited transcript.

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m the head of product management at Proactis. We provide B2B software as a SaaS for purchasing organizations to buy items for their company.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with Think Company?

My former organization hired Think Company before being acquired by Proactis. Initially, we engaged with Think Company to get quotes for modernizing our e-commerce application’s look and feel. We wanted to improve customer satisfaction, enhance usability, and acquire new clients more easily.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

The engagement was end-to-end in scope. Our team presented the app’s core areas and our objectives for them; we recorded the demonstration for their reference. Initially, Think Company researched and identified personas of the users, buyers, and app administrators. We gave them customer contacts to set up meetings with current and potential clients. Think Company then evaluated how those stakeholders use the apps and fit into the determined personas.

The team recorded their observations on a daily basis and used the information to design wireframes. Next, Think Company asked the same customers to click through those interactive wireframes and provide UX feedback or possible changes. Concurrently, they had a separate art design team do the skinning, which included new colors, animations, and shapes.

They staggered those deliverables through our internal approval and A/B testing processes. As the final deliverable, Think Company provided a complete build kit of all the screens marked up into the new UI. They also presented sample HTML, code, and stylesheets.

What is the team composition?

I worked with a project manager and the VP of client engagement, who served as the salesperson for my account.

How did you come to work with Think Company?

I knew the VP of client engagement from another company. We were connected on LinkedIn after the first partnership and I asked if he wanted to be involved in an RFP for a new UI. After evaluating several providers, they were selected.

How much have you invested with them?

We spent approximately $250,000.

What is the status of this engagement?

We worked with them from June-November 2016.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

We don’t have metrics yet because the new interface product launch is still underway. In addition, our sales are complex and take up to 10 months. Consequently, we won’t know this project’s impact for another year.

How did Think Company perform from a project management standpoint?

They had a main project manager and individual leads for each area, such as design. The leads were in-step with each other, which made the partnership easy for us. The team always asked permission before executing each change. We use Basecamp for document sharing between their development team and our steering team. Although we used messaging and email, we logged those interactions in Basecamp.

What did you find most impressive about them?

Their well-defined process kept us informed and deliverables on schedule. In addition, they had a wide range of expertise and resources to leverage—usability experts, project managers, frontend developers, and psychologists. Pooling that talent provided comprehensive organizational support for the product’s various components.

Are there any areas they could improve?

Nothing from a product standpoint, but they needed to document design justification more thoroughly. Given the project’s nature, I had to move certain design aspects forward without a record for how those components fit with other project decisions, user conversations, and best practices. However, I also could have also taken better notes.

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

User Research & Design for Finance-Focused Software

"Their depth of design expertise and heavy IT component make them stand out."

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4.0

Quality: 
4.0
Schedule: 
5.0
Cost: 
5.0
Willing to refer: 
5.0
The Project
 
$200,000 to $999,999
 
Dec. 2016 - Apr. 2017
Project summary: 

Think Company provided high-level analysis as well as visual and interaction design to update a legacy app, conducting detailed research and creating personas, information architecture, and 10 unique screens. 

The Reviewer
 
51-200 Employees
 
Newtown, Pennsylvania
Product Manager, Printing Company
 
Verified
The Review
Feedback summary: 

Although the modernized product hasn’t launched yet, Think Company’s deliverables already helped internal leadership close a lucrative sale. Their transparent updates, reasonable price point, and responsible task assignments contributed to a rewarding engagement. 

A Clutch analyst personally interviewed this client over the phone. Below is an edited transcript.

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

We are a transactional printing company that also electronically renders printed documents, mostly for the community banking industry. I am the product manager for the electronic rendering tool specifically, rendering printed statements into electronic statements. I manage product pricing, the whole product lifecycle, our development and scrum teams, and the design elements and feature releases.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with Think Company?

We launched a product in 2010 and hadn’t done any major upgrades to it for 5 or 6 years. We wanted to modernize the product to make it more usable and upgrade the platform for better scalability, as we now have a lot more customers than we did in 2010. We also needed a couple of new features to be designed and implemented in a new tool. 

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

The entire lifecycle of a project includes the planning, high-level design, detail of the design, development, implementation, and rollout. Think Company was really involved in the high-level design. They took the legacy application, did their analysis, and came up with personas, which was a deliverable for which we were designing the tool. They completed all the research and created a high-level design of what the new application was going to look like. This included new information architecture, some of the new visual design elements, 10 unique screens, and all the different interactions of those screens. It was a collaborative effort for long stretches of time. We collaborated, they got feedback from us, and then they’d go back to the drawing board.

For deliverables, they sent the personas, the requirements for the personas, the actual interaction design, the visual design, and the story requirements for the interaction design. They were not involved in the implementation of the design at all. This solution is a white-label product, and around 80 customers use it. It is the same core product that visually looks different for each customer.

What is the team dynamic?

We worked with 5 members of their team, including a project manager, relationship manager, lead designer, and junior designer, and visual designer. Throughout the project, it was clear who was working on which aspect and responsible for each deliverable.

How did you come to work with Think Company?

My superior had an indirect relationship with Think Company via his spouse and already had some familiarity with the type of work they do. After personally researching them online, I reached out to them, and the onboarding process was pretty easy from there.

I did research other firms at the time, and I chose Think Company mostly because of their vicinity, as I knew we would be able to get people on-site, and their cost was reasonable compared to their primary competitors.

How much have you invested in them?

We spent around $200,000 with Think Company.

What is the status of this engagement?

We started working together in December 2016, and the final deliverables came at the end of April 2017. 

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

We haven’t gone live with the product at this point, as we are still in the development phase, so it is hard to quantify. However, we did put a PowerPoint together of some of the visual design elements and features they provided based on the research that we did. This pretty much closed the deal with our customer. The deal was a significant amount of money—multiple times what we paid Think Company—and we have already recouped the investment cost. The images they provided and the research they completed ultimately helped us win that sale.

We’ve definitely noticed benefits. Their work helped people realize that we are trying to modernize our platforms and are transforming our business by using outside help.

How did Think Company perform from a project management standpoint?

Think Company did some things really well, and other things they could improve. Overall, they created a sense of transparency through weekly status updates, and they escalated anything that needed to be. But, the deliverables were not properly defined at the onset of the engagement, which created some scoping and budget issues as the project progressed.

From a project management perspective, the deliverables could have been better outlined, as we had to expend extra effort to get requirements from them. That created a gap since they didn’t think they needed to give us the requirements, which was slightly alarming. However, what they gave us was good, but I had no traceability to the research.

There was a lack of visibility in terms of my feedback and how that feedback was integrated into the final deliverables. They shared the wireframes via InVision; however, there was no tracking of the comments I made in InVision. After 5 iterations, I couldn’t tell which comments were cleared, ignored, or integrated into the new design. I wanted to have full tracking.

What did you find most impressive about them?

The main differentiator for Think Company was their build kit. They do a good job as a design firm, but they also have the right IT resources to deliver a great technical solution. Their depth of design expertise and heavy IT component make them stand out. They have a ton of designers on the team who gave excellent feedback on tough design questions.

Are there any areas they could improve?

I would have liked to see the engagement accelerate more quickly. 

4.0
Overall Score
  • 5.0 Scheduling
    ON TIME / DEADLINES
    We had complete visibility into their timelines. If anything changed, they communicated that to us.
  • 5.0 Cost
    Value / within estimates
    We paid a good price, considering the return we’re already receiving.
  • 4.0 Quality
    Service & deliverables
    Almost everything was really polished, but we found a couple of gaps.
  • 5.0 NPS
    Willing to refer

Design for HR Solutions Firm

"I have nothing but positive feedback regarding Think Company."

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5.0

Quality: 
5.0
Schedule: 
5.0
Cost: 
4.0
Willing to refer: 
5.0
The Project
 
Confidential
 
Jul. 2011 - Ongoing
Project summary: 

An HR firm partnered with Think Company for the purpose of making their platform more user-friendly, which included work on brainstorming, prototypes, and designs.

The Reviewer
 
10,000+ Employees
 
Roseland, New Jersey
VP Product Development, HR Solutions Firm
 
Verified
The Review
Feedback summary: 

Think Company​ has been a valuable asset for the firm over the course of their partnership. The agency continually shows an ability to improve from feedback and adapt to challenging requirements. Their developers earn praise​ for their resilience, flexibility, and responsiveness.

A Clutch analyst personally interviewed this client over the phone. Below is an edited transcript.

BACKGROUND

Please describe your organization.

We are a human capital management cloud software company, which has specialized in payments for more than 60 years.

What is your position?

I am the vice president of product development for our analytics and reporting solution.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What business challenge were you trying to address with Think Company?

Because of the nature of our activity, we have quite a bit of data. We've built client-facing analytics solutions through Think Company's information. Analytics can be a complicated topic, and our user base is not comprised of data analysts. A big part of our mission was to transform something that is traditionally complicated into a consumable solution for everyday people.

SOLUTION

Please describe the scope of their involvement in detail.

When we started this project four years ago, we needed to make our platform extremely user-friendly. Think Company was with us from the very beginning, focusing on not just how the application should work, but also on making data visualization easy to consume. We wanted to focus on various use cases in order to tell a coherent story.

Their team has played a major role in helping us visualize what we're trying to provide to our clients. We have "think sessions" in which executives and subject matter experts sit down in their offices and work on facilitating our ideation of what is important, what we should show, and how it can be explained. As part of those think sessions, a few weeks later, many our thoughts and ideas start to show up in prototypes and designs. We find this to be amazing. The first sessions can be a bit vague, but by the second one, we start to see some things. This is one of the main reasons we like working with Think Company.

Their scope involves design, helping us ideate, and presenting our vision in a concrete way. They've also been involved in strategic client conversations for feature implementations, which were specifically requested by our partners. Think Company have been invaluable in those conversations. They are the ones who actually ask the questions and make an effort to understand how clients' businesses are run.

Prototyping has been another big part of Think Company's involvement. It's important for us to envision every decision for the future completely. They've not only helped us design the prototypes, but also helped us script and walk through the story of the data, such as what the situation would look like if a client had an issue with their turnover. They've helped us craft the stories around our product. Along with the accompanying visuals, this helped us think about what they should be.

How did you come to work with Think Company?

We have a design team in-house, but not to the extent needed on our work. We needed additional help, and Think Company was referred to us by a partner. We had a number of interviews with different companies in order to get a feel for their understanding of data.

We started with a small, short-term project that they handled well. They brought up the concept of the think session to us, which we didn't understand at first, but we grew to appreciate the different options brought to us because of those talks. We always asked for three design possibilities based on current trends in the market, which they delivered. Everything that Think Company comes up with is backed by research and science into the reasons for which color or menu options are what they are.

What is the status of this engagement?

Our interview process started in July 2011. We've been working with them for five years.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

What distinguishes Think Company from other providers?

I have nothing but positive feedback regarding Think Company. I appreciate Think Company even more because we can be a tough client. We run a critical project and have never had a problem in sharing this with them. They've been extremely resilient, responsible, and flexible. I'm sure that many other firms work in the same way, but Think Company has been put on the ropes many times, and they've always come through. They take our feedback very seriously and have always felt more like a partner than a vendor.

Is there anything Think Company could have improved or done differently?

We've had ups and downs, but we've shared them with Think Company, and they've always been able to adjust. We've never had a real problem with them. If there weren't enough people working on something, or we thought they could be moving faster, they addressed it.

However, I would like for Think Company to get deeper developers. Their offer design and development for prototypes but, sometimes, I wish I was able to take their code and drop it directly into a production environment. I can't expect them to hire a more extensive development team, given that our requirements are changing constantly. But, if they could provide a complete solution from start to finish, it would be fantastic for me.

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

Digital Solutions for Financial Services Firm

"They’ve earned our trust, and the work they have delivered is unbelievable."

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5.0

Quality: 
5.0
Schedule: 
5.0
Cost: 
5.0
Willing to refer: 
5.0
The Project
 
Confidential
 
Dec. 2015 - Ongoing
Project summary: 

A financial firm recognized their need for an agency that could distill large amounts of data. They partnered with Think Company for the task of updating their existing sites.

The Reviewer
 
1001-10,000 Employees
 
Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
VP Digital, Financial Services Firm
 
Verified
The Review
Feedback summary: 

Think Company​'s contributions have exceeded the firm's expectations and vastly improved their online presence. The agency distinguished themselves through their professionalism, attention to detail, and ability to produce beautiful and accurate designs.

A Clutch analyst personally interviewed this client over the phone. Below is an edited transcript.

BACKGROUND

Please describe your organization.

We’re a mid-sized, privately owned financial company and I am the Vice President of the digital department.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What business challenge were you trying to address with Think Company?

We needed a top-caliber agency that could work at a very high level of perfection. Our biggest requirement, besides having deep experience, was for an agency that could handle complex projects that could drown anyone else. The agency would need to take a massive amount of information, move it quickly, distill it into patterns, and present it in layman’s terms, very much like a journalist’s or forensic accountant’s process. Also, we needed a firm with a culture that matched ours: no big egos and service-oriented; a small town feel with a big city mind. A combination of all these characteristics is difficult to find. Think Company offered us elite service, but without the usual superior attitude that comes with that. They’re wonderful people.

SOLUTION

Please describe the scope of your work with Think Company in greater detail.

Think Company helped us build our digital presence from the ground up. We had a three-year strategy for this process. Our company has made a lot of acquisitions over the last several years, including complex banking and financial sites that came with technologies that were ten years old. Their team needed to rebuild this infrastructure without stopping the train, so to speak.

Think Company's main job was fixing all of our existing sites. We receive over one hundred thousand calls each month to our call center because our websites are terrible. People can’t do what they need to do on those sites, so they call us. We needed to stop that bleeding.

Our company has had terrible experiences with digital projects. We spent a lot of money with nothing to show for it, and our morale was very low. We needed experts to swoop in and fix our problems fast, which is exactly what Think Company has done. They were tasked with fixing horrible sites and winning the hearts and minds of our organization.

How did you come to work with Think Company?

We’ve known some of their key members since the mid-2000s. I first tried to work with them within another company, but there was a conflict that prevented this.

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

Our budget is significant, but the exact number is confidential.

What is the status of this engagement?

I’ve known some of their team members since 2006. We started talking about the current project in December of 2015. The work began in January, 2016.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

Think Company's work has exceeded expectations. They’ve earned our trust, and the work they have delivered is unbelievable. Their designs are beautiful and accurate. People within our company have realized the full possibilities of our online presence as a result. Our team has been energized and empowered through the collaboration. I knew that Think Company could achieve this, which is exactly why I hired them.

We have a company division in another state that called us to borrow the team at Think Company from us. This is a business unit that competes heavily with us and which would never ask us for a drink of water otherwise. 

What distinguishes Think Company from other providers?

They’re a highly professional company.

Is there anything Think Company could have improved or done differently?

They’re far above other agencies. The systems they have in place identify any mistakes early, and those mistakes are never repeated. Think Company is a tight-running machine.

The only negative aspect I can think of is that they don’t always connect with each other. They don’t always debrief meetings, so I can end up talking to two of their team members for an hour about a topic, and a third one will join in, only to ask the questions we already covered. This doesn’t happen often and is more indicative of how open our relationship is.

5.0
Overall Score
  • 5.0 Scheduling
    ON TIME / DEADLINES
    They run on time and never miss anything.
  • 5.0 Cost
    Value / within estimates
  • 5.0 Quality
    Service & deliverables
  • 5.0 NPS
    Willing to refer
    They deserve to be recommended, but I don’t want to give them away to other people.

Design for Pharmaceutical Company

"Their team is very open-minded, energetic, and they carry around a sense of urgency."

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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
 
2007 - Ongoing
Project summary: 

Think Company has provided digital services for the client for several years, including graphic design and development work that required an understanding of the industry.

The Reviewer
 
Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
Director, Pharmaceutical Company
 
Verified
The Review
Feedback summary: 

Think Company's work has been reliably excellent, and the website that they created receives compliments for its sophisticated, accessible design. The agency's wide talent pool has been able to respond to questions quickly and handle any requests. 

A Clutch analyst personally interviewed this client over the phone. Below is an edited transcript.

BACKGROUND

Please describe your organization.

We are a scientific division of a pharmaceutical company. We offer information to healthcare professionals about our products, beyond FDA-approved labels.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What business challenge were you trying to address with Think Company?

For close to seven years, we've been working within the digital realm. This is where Think Company's services have come into play.

SOLUTION

Please describe the scope of their involvement in greater detail.

They've helped us understand our regulations and worked on a design for an exchange platform that helps professionals connect to self-service channels and gain access to specific content.

They don't act simply as graphic designers or developers. Think Company has a set of people that can come in and quickly understand our business mission, and ask questions about our surroundings. For us, this level of understanding within both the commercial and scientific portions of our business is essential. The content that we deliver to our customers is quite extensive, and we've had to figure out how we were going to serve and format it.

How did you come to work with Think Company?

We've had an existing relationship with them. I've known their partner, Brian McIntire, since Think Company was founded. I had knowledge of the type of work they do, their creativity, hard work, and diverse skillset.

Since we knew their company, we didn't go through a bidding process. We knew they were the right team for us.

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

Over the years, as we finished most our design work and launched the product, the annual cost averaged $350,000.

What is the status of this engagement?

We started working with Think Company just as their company was founded, on a very similar project to this one, around 2007. Overall, their work with us has been continuous. I refer to them as "our agency".

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

Could you share any statistics or metrics from this engagement?

The overall experience with Think Company has been awesome. Their team is very open-minded, energetic, and they carry around a sense of urgency. There's nothing that we can bring to them which they won't understand. Think Company is savvy across multiple industries, and they can take what they do within other businesses, and morph and shape that knowledge and apply it to the constraints of ours.

My favorite aspect about their work is that they think outside the box and can shape the ideas that we give them into action. From a graphics and user experience perspective, they're also excellent compared to other work I've seen in the marketplace. We have a lot of people within our company and elsewhere that has told us how modern, savvy, and professional our website is, compared to the competition.

What distinguishes Think Company from other providers?

They are exceptional, and we've always drawn on their talent when we needed to get something moving.

Is there anything Think Company could have improved or done differently?

We need help in order to take the assets we've built beyond their current place. We need to be able to predict where the technology will be heading two years down the road, and how things will look. This is not an easy task for anyone, so I'm not mentioning it as a negative on Think Company's part. Whatever Think Company can do in order to stay ahead, will be helpful to us.

5.0
Overall Score Even with the little bumps in the road we've had, ultimately we do what needs to be done, and we do it well.
  • 4.0 Scheduling
    ON TIME / DEADLINES
    We've always gotten our work done, but there have been moments when projects have lagged.
  • 5.0 Cost
    Value / within estimates
    They're very fair and have kept rates at a manageable position. We have haggled with them at times, and I know that our rate is lower than what they charge other customers.
  • 4.5 Quality
    Service & deliverables
    The rating is overall quality, for our combined collaboration over the years.
  • 5.0 NPS
    Willing to refer
    I recommend them all the time.