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Making things happen

4.5
1 review

Hey there!

We're well-knit design studio heavily focused on user experience. We understand that each project is an investment, and as such should yield a high ROI return. That's why we're not just focused on making the visual layer aesthetically pleasing, but always look for ways to improve the conversion rate, or explore different monetization approaches, to make sure the product works well, both for you and its users.

Our services can be boiled down to:

  • UX/UI Design for mobile & web
  • Branding
  • Front-end development, including WordPress-related services

 

Our process

We start with a brief discovery process, gathering information about the goal of the product and the needs of its users. Once that is settled we move on to the functional layer, providing wireframes focused on the UX and outlining all the user flows. Then, the visual layer – if the product is a part of an existing brand, we deliver a design that's entirely consistent with the brand guidelines. If it's something new, we're happy to experiment, having in mind the style needs to appeal to your target demographic.

We’re also big fans of Google's "Design Sprint" process (gv.com/sprint) and had lots of success implementing it in our workload.

 

Tools of Trade

We design in Sketch (recently moved away from Photoshop, although we still can deliver .PSD files if needed), we're using Invision for the feedback process, and hand–off assets via Zeplin or Avocode. For project management and time tracking we're using ActiveCollab, although we're happy to adapt to your software. Communication wise, it’s entirely up to you - from traditional emails, to Slack and Skype calls.

READ MORE...
 
$5,000+
 
$25 - $49 / hr
 
10 - 49
 Founded
2007
Show all +
Poznan, Poland
headquarters

Portfolio

Key clients: 

Our clients include both early stage startups from prestigious incubators (Sam Altman's SF based Y Combinator, Axel Springer P&P from Berlin) as well as well-established & validated companies that are looking to scale. 

We also have the privilige to work with some serial enterpreneurs including people in Peter's Thiel Fellowship program.

Reviews

4.5
1 review
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Graphic & UX Design for Lead Gen Startup

"People ask who our designers are because they really like what we have."

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4.5

Quality: 
4.5
Schedule: 
4.0
Cost: 
5.0
Willing to refer: 
5.0
The Project
 
Less than $10,000
 
May 2016 - Ongoing
Project summary: 

Tonik offers a suite of design solutions, including website UI/UX, product design, A/B testing in conjunction with marketing efforts, and mockups for upcoming products. They also offer design strategy.

The Reviewer
 
1-10 Employees
 
San Francisco, California
Gerald Fong
CEO, Elucify
 
Verified
The Review
Feedback summary: 

The greatest compliment to Tonik’s work is the ease of use in their work. The team has established an effective project management system and they deliver features in a few days. While they deliver their best work when they’re given clear and thorough guidelines, they always meet quality standards.

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

My company is called Elucify. We build products to help people find leads to sell more effectively. I’m the CEO of the company.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with Tonik?

Our team has very strong engineering and sales capabilities, but we were lacking a good freelance designer. We weren’t quite ready to hire someone full time, and we wanted to find someone who communicated effectively and could create designs that were at our standards. I think we have a pretty high design bar for what we like. We had talked to quite a few designers, and we found Tonik to be very good.

Before that, our site had been designed by one of the founders. It was not slick in any way and didn’t look that great. We knew that in order to take the product to the next level, we needed a designer to help us.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

The scope was the entire product, including the landing page, the actual product itself, mockups for new product lines we’re going to be releasing, and A/B tests that we’re doing with marketing. They just did everything you could possibly imagine.

One aspect of design is just making something look good, but I think the other aspect they do is to think about how to make it easier to use. They sometimes add or remove information to make a page more aesthetically pleasing. We would send them a mock, and they would put in their own design expertise. They made suggestions about adding logos and more images to make a page look better. They might give feedback that there’s too much text on a page. There’s some higher-level guidance when designing, in addition to just trying to make things look good.

I haven’t found research on user base or surveying customers to be a big issue. We try to be very communicative in terms of what our user base thinks about and cares about, and I think Tonik has been able to capture that pretty well.

I communicate with one point person, Patryk [Cobczak, Graphic Design Specialist]. I believe different designers in the firm work on the project, but we’re okay not knowing too much about that. We care that the designs look really good and we have someone we can communicate with very well. We’ve been very happy with whatever process they have underneath the hood. It’s been pretty effortless for us.

How did you come to work with Tonik?

We started a broader search, trying to find the right designer to work with, and I talked to a few people I knew. I looked at different services online, and we also put out feelers through different forums. We’re part of this one incubator which is fairly prestigious in Silicon Valley, and we looked there for referrals. Someone had referred Tonik because they had a good experience with them. That was the original introduction. We selected Tonik over other designers for a combination of reasons, including the speed at which they work and the quality of their designs. The price point is really friendly for a startup as well.

How much have you invested with Tonik?

We’ve spent between $8,000 and $12,000.

What is the status of this engagement?

The project began around May of 2016 and our relationship is ongoing. They’re actually delivering something to us tomorrow.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

We’ve gotten feedback that our product is really simple and easy to use, and that’s huge for any software product. Being easy to use is incredibly difficult. People ask who our designers are because they really like what we have. It’s pretty common that we hear stuff like that.

How did Tonik perform from a project management standpoint?

They perform very well. The process usually starts with a scheduled Skype call, and then we check in every day or two, depending on the size of the project. Some things take three to five days to design, and others may take a day. The more frequently we give feedback, the higher fidelity is in terms of what we’re looking for. There is a time difference between us and Poland, so we tend to talk with them either early in the morning or late at night, and that works for us.

What did you find most impressive about Tonik?

I think it’s just the combination of speed, quality, and price. We’ve been very happy that we get all of these in our engagement with Tonik. We chose not to work with a lot of designers in the past because they didn’t hit our design bar, but that was very clearly not a problem with Tonik.

Are there any areas Tonik could improve?

Nothing really jumps out. We’re very happy with them.

4.5
Overall Score
  • 4.0 Scheduling
    ON TIME / DEADLINES
    They meet the deadlines almost always. Sometimes there might be a holiday we don’t know about, or some communication thing happens, but they’re usually very good.
  • 5.0 Cost
    Value / within estimates
    It’s a great price.
  • 4.5 Quality
    Service & deliverables
    We’ve always been very happy with all the deliverables. There are cases when it isn’t at the point we wanted, but we just iterate with them a few more times to get it there.
  • 5.0 NPS
    Willing to refer
    They’re very good.