tonik

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m a co-founder of a startup centered around an e-commerce platform for wedding and event planners.

What challenge were you trying to address with tonik?

They designed and developed an e-commerce website with web app features. The platform allows planners and clients to collaborate and create a customized list of items for an event.

It also gives every event planner access to a catalog to items and helps them monetize their recommendations to their clients.

What was the scope of their involvement?

They designed the UI/UX and frontend. Then they implemented the code for the frontend.

They used Laravel to develop the backend and Bootstrap for the frontend.

They also implemented a Stripe Connect component in order to create a payment structure that will automatically distribute payments to the planner and the platform.

The primary development is complete, but I still rely on them to tweak the design or develop a new feature a few times a month.

What is the team composition?

The lead designer was Martyna (People & Culture) and the project lead was Aga (Head of Delivert). We also had some initial interactions with Patryck (Co-Founder).

How did you come to work with tonik?

I believe that design and functionality aren’t mutually exclusive and a good design enhances how people interact with the product. As a result, I wanted to focus on design and I spent a lot of time on Dribbble. I liked the simplicity and modern design philosophy that tonik demonstrated in their use cases. On top of that, they were more responsive to our initial inquiries than any other partner we talked to.

How much have you invested with them?

We spent about $40,000 CAD (approximately $32,000 USD).

What is the status of this engagement?

We started working together in October 2018 and our partnership is ongoing.

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

We’re starting to get some traction; users keep coming back. Our revenue has slowly been increasing on a monthly basis.

How did tonik perform from a project management standpoint?

They are great. We primarily used Slack to communicate and InVision to share work. InVision is super helpful because we can view mockups and comment on their work.

What did you find most impressive about them?

Their design work is world-class. No other firm I looked at was able to produce a design that were as high-quality as tonik’s.

Are there any areas they could improve?

There’s always room to improve communication. We didn’t have any issues, but it’s always important to set clear expectations.

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

Make sure you're able to articulate your expectations, whether that’s through mockups or drawings. As someone who isn’t very creative myself, it’s often hard for someone else to understand what is going on inside my head. So walking them through examples, pictures, or drawings can ensure your vision is properly reflected.  

Please describe your company and your position there.

Dover is building the first recruiting automation platform for the world's top companies. We combine domain expertise with best-in-class automation to help companies hire the best talent for their open roles. I am our Chief of Staff.

For what projects/services did your company hire tonik?

Dover needed to put together our Series A deck and enlisted help from Tonik to help bring our ideas to life.

What were your goals for this project?

Our goal was to create a simple, professional deck in a short amount of time. We needed to create elegant visuals & simple graphs that would help tell our story.

How did you select tonik?

I had worked with Tonik on another project before. Tonik helped to create a deck for my previous company, Cherry, and also helped design our website (startcherry.com). We had an amazing experience working with Tonik and I knew they would be a perfect partner on this new project, as well!

Describe the project in detail.

Our team was set up in a slack channel with our designer, Karina. The Dover team put together some rough slides in GSuite & shared those with Karina. Karina got to work and quickly showed us her initial design direction with a few slides.

Our team was able to comment and give notes on what we liked and didn't like. Karina iterated from there until we nailed down the perfect slides.

What was the team composition?

Karina (Tonik) + Gillian (Dover) / Max (Dover)

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

Within just a couple of weeks we had a working version of our deck. The only delays we had on the project came from our side as we made changes in our messaging & gave updates to Tonik. The deck was bright, sleek, and simple. It was exactly what we wanted.

How effective was the workflow between your team and theirs?

I was super pleased with the workflow between our teams. Having Karina right in our Slack was a perfect way to communicate and ensure alignment & visibility between all of us.

What did you find most impressive about this company?

I am amazed at Tonik's pricing relative to the incredible value they provide. Tonik is super easy to work with; the team is very receptive, friendly, communicative and available. They're also talented & deliver beautiful design work. Still, Tonik manages to be incredibly affordable and an amazing value.

Are there any areas for improvement?

No!

Please describe your company and your position there.

I am the CEO of a private jet membership company.

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

As a brand new company, the first thing we needed to do was create a legitimate and well-designed deck that clearly communicated what our company was all about. Then, once the deck was complete, we needed to create our initial web presence so that when potential clients came to our website, they knew we were a legitimate company.

How did you select tonik and what were the deciding factors?

I asked multiple people in my network for referrals of companies they have successfully worked with in the past, and many of them raved about tonik, so it was an easy decision to decide to work with them.

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

We had a kickoff call to discuss the goals of both the deck and our website. From there, tonik hit the ground running and shared regular updates with us while also asking for regular feedback. 

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

A product designer was our main point of contact, but we also worked with an account manager as well as the ownership of the company.

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

After launch, we immediately received dozens of compliments on the deck that tonik created for us, and the web solution has seamlessly allowed us to get our new clients signed up and on-boarded.

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

The communication was fluid and it helped us complete on time and with a finished result that we were thrilled with. We mostly used Slack and Dropbox to communicate which was super easy. Typically we would go back and forth on Slack to share real-time feedback, and then they typically had a great update to share in the following few days.

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

They were incredible easy to work with, super communicative, fast, and delivered a fantastic finished product.

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

I can't think of anything.

Introduce your business and what you do there.

Sara Dornsife: Matter Made is a B2B marketing agency. We work with Seed and series A startups. I’m a partner doing branding, messaging, positioning, and content strategy.

Julie McKenney: I’m the head of marketing, operations and project management. I deal with schedules, budgets, timing, and creative design. I was the lead project manager when we worked with tonik.

What challenge were you trying to address with tonik?

SD: As a marketing and branding agency, we were neglecting our own brand. We decided we needed to put the time and energy into working on our own brand. They helped us rebrand ourselves.

What was the scope of their involvement?

SD: We were building our branding guideline and brand elements. Their largest deliverable was the redesign of our website. We fully updated our website. It is the same content and layout, but we updated our messaging and branding. We were focused on creating consistency and uniformity across our brand.

We created some pretty clear guidelines and a tight brief. Then, we worked very closely with them, sometimes on a daily basis, to review what they were working on and provide feedback. They definitely felt like a partner for us.

JM: The other item was taking all of those elements and creating a deck template for us, as well as assets that we could use over and over again. In addition to our website, they created a 70-page deck template, brand guidelines, and brand pad.

What is the team composition?

JM: We had one primary designer and project manager. They also brought in a few other designers when needed and we had communication with the owner as well.

How did you come to work with tonik?

JM: We worked with tonik on a few of our clients’ projects, and we loved working with them and the quality of their work. When it came time to do our own brand, we went back to them.

SD: We knew someone who used them, so when we found them online, we recognized their name. That made us look more closely at them.

What is the status of this engagement?

JM: This project lasted from March–June 2020.

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

 SD: We’ve seen about a 250% increase in traffic to our site as we’ve started to promote our new site.

How did tonik perform from a project management standpoint?

JM: It was excellent. They’re great to work with and they respond quickly. They kept us on-scope but were flexible enough that we were able to achieve the goals we wanted to. They were on Slack with us.

SD: I felt like they were partners with us. They internalized this project and came to us with some delightful and unexpected ideas.

JM: Communication with them was very easy and streamlined. They were very flexible. Whenever we gave them feedback, they just ran with it. They were so easy to work with and they really did feel like they were part of our team. They still check-in and submitted our website for a couple of different awards. They’re a champion of ours, and they’re really great partners. I’m excited to work with them on our clients’ projects again in the future.

What did you find most impressive about them?

JM: I love the animation they did for us.

SD: I was going to say the same thing.

JM: The animation is on our website, but they also gave us the files we can use for other things. They also provided direction on how to hand the project off to our developer. It was amazing to watch two agencies collaborating. The direction was very clear, and the developer was able to build it very quickly.

Everything was fantastic, we’re already working with them for a client’s project.

Are there any areas they could improve?

JM: I don’t have any criticism.

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

SD: If you have a deck to work on, you should call tonik. Be clear with what you’re looking for. They’re very creative people, but with direction, they were on board with us.

Please describe your company and your position there.

Co-founder at Hoom. Furniture brand.

For what projects/services did your company hire tonik?

1. Main website design & blog.
2. Design of printed materials.
3. Design of banners for Facebook ads & Google ads.

What were your goals for this project?

Our goal was to create a website that, despite being well designed, consistent with our brand, will also be optimized for the user and SEO.

How did you select this vendor?

Through their dribble profile. We were amazed by their project and sense of aesthetics.

Describe the project in detail.

1. designing of all subpages (more than 15 tabs).
2. creating printed materials (including elements for fairs, leaflets, etc.)
3. designing of banners for PPC advertising which match our branding.

What was the team composition?

Since the very beginning, we worked with 1 person which was very communicative and design talented :)

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

Just take a look at our website and see how well designed it is

How effective was the workflow between your team and theirs?

absolutely great, fast responses, no "missing messages", great support. We used Slack for communications and had a few personal meetings.

What did you find most impressive about this company?

You don't have to worry about the outcome that something might go wrong. You can sit, relax, and wait for the impressive results. That what's makes tonik great!

Are there any areas for improvement?

ZERO! Everything was perfect.

Please describe your company and your position there.

TrueNorth gives truckers a single place to manage their business — like Gusto + CRM for truckers. I'm co-founder and CEO.

For what projects/services did your company hire tonik?

We hired Tonik because we needed a quick turnaround on a design for an internal project. At that point the team was just me and my cofounder (CTO).

What were your goals for this project?

Our goal was to decrease the time I spent manually invoicing our customers (we do that on our truckers' behalf, so we were invoicing ~$150k/mth at that point). We also needed a super quick turnaround (< 1wk).

How did you select this vendor?

They were recommended by an investor.

Describe the project in detail.

I mocked up what I generally wanted in Figma, then Tonik took over. The project requirements: - let user upload documents - associate certain documents with specific customer jobs - enter customer billing info (and edit) - view all jobs on one screen - create & send invoices from jobs screen - show truckers their history of jobs

What was the team composition?

Patryk the lead set us up with Karol, who was the sole designer on our project all the way through.

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

We're currently using the product! We optimized for speed on Tonik's engagement, so we've already built some more features on top of it. But this product decreased the time I (and now, my team) spent sending invoices by 75%.

How effective was the workflow between your team and theirs?

Effective. We're on the west coast, but never had a time-difference problem. The team is super communicative (we set up a shared slack channel).

What did you find most impressive about this company?

Their flexibility and willingness to adapt were impressive — our requirements weren't for beautiful design (although they can do that too), it was for speed. Most designers aren't willing to do that. We gave them less than one week to design a full product and they delivered.

Are there any areas for improvement?

-

Please describe your company and your position there.

I'm the UX designer and sometimes frontend developer at Northern.tech. We're a software company behind two products – Mender (IoT software updater) and CFEngine (configuration management software). Northern.tech is the company name – we are distributed round the world with headquarters in Oslo Norway.

For what projects/services did your company hire tonik?

We hired tonik to provide us with a new visual design for our company website. We also wanted a few key pages delivered as code, which we could use as a basis for developing the rest of the site ourselves.

What were your goals for this project?

The goal was to create a more modern, friendly, exciting look to our company website. We want to attract more people and a wider mix of people, and to demonstrate we are a people-first organisation. to We also had a requirement that the new look should compliment our recent redesign of one of our product websites, to give us some consistency between company and product branding.

How did you select this vendor?

We had worked with them successfully on a product website previously. In that case, we had searched online and come across a portfolio on Dribbble that had good examples of what we were looking for, so we got in touch. They are also based in Europe which was a requirement for us.

Describe the project in detail.

I had done some UX + content work up front, so we had page content and some page wireframes ready for tonik's designer to work with. We were mainly interested in the visual design of the page to create the look and feel of a fun, friendly, modern place to work. We had an introductory call where we discussed the goals and scope of the project, as well as a shared document describing the goals and scope in detail. The designs provided by tonik were shared on a tool called inVision which allowed us to comment and collaborate on the designs. When we were happy with all designs, the code was provided via Gitlab. We were in contact throughout the project using Slack, so I could ping their team if I had any questions or feedback and they could contact me for the same.

What was the team composition?

A project manager from tonik took the lead, and assigned us a designer. From then, most communication was with the designer but the project manager was always available too. After the design phase, the designer handed over to a developer who was then the natural point of contact.

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

We haven't published our redesigned website yet at this moment, due to our own workload and lack of capacity. However having shared the new pages within my team, everyone is very happy with the new look and feel and are looking forward to going live!

How effective was the workflow between your team and theirs?

It was easy to communicate, all members of the team were helpful. Taking the project over the holiday period meant there were some periods of inactivity from both sides, but that was expected. The designer took suggestions and incorporated them very well, showing thoughtfulness and her own ideas in the designs. Knowing the project manager was always available to be contacted is reassuring, however there was no need in this case as the workflow was smooth.

What did you find most impressive about this company?

The designer in particular was enthusiastic and fun to work with; she brought great designs and I felt she understood the brief and the goals very well. We were on a restricted budget and tonik respected that and made the project work well within our scope.

Are there any areas for improvement?

We were very happy with the results of the project. The only thing I would have done differently in hindsight is to ask more about how the code would be delivered. We could have communicated more about how the delivered code would be structured, in order to fit with our existing site setup. Perhaps a call with the developer would have helped (similar to the introductory call we had with the PM and designer).

Please describe your company and your position there.

I'm the CTO & co-founder of a company called Cherry - the corporate card for personalized employee benefits.

For what projects/services did your company hire tonik?

Our company hired Tonik to redesign our homepage & in-app experience as well as design our pitch deck for fundraising.

What were your goals for this project?

Our goals were to improve communication around our product, encourage signups and improve UX for our internal app.

How did you select this vendor?

Tonik was recommended to us through a friend who had used them at his company.

Describe the project in detail.

We presented Tonik with a mood board of the sort of website designs we liked. We gave them the copy we wanted to make sure was included. We had some initial back and forths about what direction the hero would go which then informed the rest of the homepage & the style guide for the entire app going forward. Their designer continued to communicate with us and as important UX questions over Slack.

What was the team composition?

We were assigned 1 designer and 1 engineer - you can scale your team up or down & you are working directly with a project manager as well.

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

Our demo signups increased ~20% & we were very happy with the rebrand - we always get complimented on it.

How effective was the workflow between your team and theirs?

The designers we were assigned was an amazing communicator and experience designer. She was super talented and we enjoyed working with her very much. She made our complex product easy to use and understand.

What did you find most impressive about this company?

I was very impressed with how determined they are to complete a project. With other teams I have worked with in the past, they'll get blocked on something like "oh I'm designer, not an illustrator so I can't make any illustrations for this" and the project suffers... but not with Tonik - they're full-service design & can unblock themselves - they have an illustrator on staff.

Are there any areas for improvement?

Tonik is amazing!

Please describe your company and your position there.

I am head of Consulting and Business Modelling at JAROWA. Among my responsibilities was to define the features and design of our platform.

For what projects/services did your company hire tonik?

Tonik have been helping JAROWA in defining aspects of Corporate Identity & Design (Logo, Color Scheme,...) and the UX/UI design of the platform.

What were your goals for this project?

JAROWA platform is a B2B2C platform which helps corporates such as insurance companies and administration to have through JAROWA access to a community of qualified service providers, manage them according to their strategic goals, and manage the work orders given to the service providers.

How did you select this vendor?

We identified a list of companies through desktop research, we shorted the list based on an RFI and selected Tonik based on their delivery for a mini project.

Describe the project in detail.

The project was mainly about designing the UX of a web platform. Un a skype call we explained to them the business background. Then during the development phase we asked them to design a new psge of the platform. The design process is iteative. It means i get a first proposal, give my feedbacks and then it gets improved, and so on. For the more complex features, Tonik designed different options.

What was the team composition?

Project manager, and a designer

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

Our customers love the design of the platform. It is modern, neat, clear and intuitive to use

How effective was the workflow between your team and theirs?

Very effective. The communication is always direct. Tonik kept the promised deadlines and they delivered always quality results. I value also the fact, that Tonik employees are proactive, come with new ideas to make the product better, and challenge me if necessary.

What did you find most impressive about this company?

The quality, the spirit, and the friendliness of the people working at tonik impressed us.

Are there any areas for improvement?

They could be faster. But deadline were always met, and the delivery was always wirh good quality.

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.

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.

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.

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.