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.
Since the site launched, traffic has more than doubled. The team at tonik was excellent. Responsive, flexible, and team-oriented, they’re considered a valuable partner. They understood project goals and presented their partners with delightful and unexpected ideas.