Tri Lion Studios

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m the senior marketing manager at IAC - Industrial Accessories Company, an engineering construction and original equipment manufacturer of industrial air pollution and dust control products.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with Brian White Design?

We needed someone to build an updated version of our website. The one we had was very good, but its technology was outdated, and the structure of our company had evolved. We were now doing more business in other industries that our current website didn’t showcase.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

Brian White Design built a completely new website for us from scratch, using WordPress and Elementor as the technology stack. They also set up the hosting with SiteGround. We have HubSpot as our CRM system, so they had to connect the entire site to HubSpot’s services as well.

The HubSpot integration included linking the main site with three subdomains I had so that I would be able to work from HubSpot and have total visibility of my sites. Now, if a known user visits our website, HubSpot lets me know which pages they visit. Additionally, Brian White Design created forms on HubSpot, so new users can fill out the forms and become new contacts for us.

Brian White Design also helped us with our SEO, which included doing keyword research, setting up our Google Analytics, and making off-page fixes to optimize the site’s speed. Their team also worked with us on our content. I provided them with a lot of the copy and imagery, and they also did some copywriting on their own.

In addition to the main website, Brian White Design also helped us create a smaller website, for which they were in charge of the entire graphic design, which included developing its entire look and feel. They used Figma to map both sites.

What is the team composition?

I worked directly with Brian (UI, Branding & Logo Designer), who had three more people working for him on the project, including an SEO and PPC specialist, a PHP developer, and a content creator.

How did you come to work with Brian White Design?

I found them through a website dedicated to promoting the work of independent Kansas City graphic and web designers.

How much have you invested with them?

We spent $60,000–$70,000.

What is the status of this engagement?

I started working with them in October 2020, and we launched the new website in May 2021. Although they’ve finished the site, they’re available for maintenance and updates as needed.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

Our business development team has greatly enjoyed the HubSpot integration because it has made their jobs much easier. Now, we’re seeing more quote requests coming to the website.

As far as metrics go, our old site used to get around 7,000 visitors per month, but given our company’s evolution, it was bringing in a lot of bad traffic because it was targeted towards unfitting keywords. Now, we’re getting around 7,000 visitors per month again, but with an entirely new set of targeted pages and keywords, meaning that we now have more highly qualified traffic; it’s worth its weight in gold. Our leads are now much more relevant, ultimately increasing our revenue.

Additionally, thanks to our new website design, customers now trust us as a well-established company, making us a good fit for their projects. This has helped us sign new contracts worth millions of dollars.

How did Brian White Design perform from a project management standpoint?

Brian White Design did an excellent job managing the project. Although we had a lot of hiccups on our end, they were patient and kind, and Brian kept gently pushing the project through. We used Figma, Trello, and Google Sheets to manage the project. Additionally, we used Google Drive to share copy content and artwork.

What did you find most impressive about them?

One of Brian White Design’s most impressive assets was their flexibility. When we were looking for a provider to redesign our site, we wanted to find a company willing to keep our current site up and running while developing a new one. No other companies wanted to touch the maintenance aspect of an old site, but Brian was willing to work with me at the level I needed, helping me fix some parts of our old site until we could launch the new one; that flexibility won them the business.

Are there any areas they could improve?

Brian is great at handling things on his own, so he doesn’t always say when he doesn’t know something. Therefore, I can only advise him to avoid hiding the fact that he brings other independent contractors to the project for support as much as he tries to do. He’s very resourceful and a great designer.

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

Come in with a solid idea of your goals and objectives, and Brian White Design will work great within that framework.

BACKGROUND

Please describe your company and your position there.

I am the CEO for a Federally Qualified Health Center in Lawrence, KS. Community Health Centers provide integrated healthcare (Primary Care, Dental & Behavioral Health) to all people regardless of their ability to pay.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

For what projects/services did your company hire TriLion Studios?

Our website was outdated and needed an overhaul to better reflect our brand and services provided following 2 acquisitions and mergers that enhanced our service offerings and in conjunction with our move to a beautiful new, state-of-the-art facility.

SOLUTION

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

We had previously worked with Brian at TriLion and felt comfortable that Brian knew us and understood our goals. As a community non-profit, they were also willing to work within our budget and that was important.

Describe the project in detail and walk through the stages of the project.

We met with Brian in person to discuss our project and goals. Brian sent us a follow up email with a branding questionnaire which would assist their team in understanding our goals and desired outcome. We provided content and TriLion went to work on our site and shared page concepts along the way for feedback to ensure that they were on the right track.

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

Not sure. Our main contact was Brian. I know there were other people that worked on our project but we didn't interact with them.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

The look and feel of Heartland's new website is modern and clean and better reflects the image of our organization that we are working to build. The new site is simplified and user friendly.

How effective was the workflow between your team and theirs?

We had a few phone calls and a good deal of communication via email. Brian also provided video tours a couple of times to show us what the site was looking like along the way which was really helpful.

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

TriLion Studios delivered the website we were hoping for and really understood the aesthetic we wanted to achieve. They were responsive to a few hiccups we had immediately following the launch of the new website and worked with us to resolve.

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

Can't think of anything!

BACKGROUND

CEO of software startup

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

We needed a logo and full branding that would embodied what we stood for. this would be seen on our website and in all company collateral.

SOLUTION

How did you select this vendor?

We first evaluated what we thought was important in a vendor and did the initial research on Clutch. Then, we look at our first pass vendors' recommendations and websites to get a better feel for who we wanted to speak with. After speaking with all the vendors on our shortlist, we selected TriLion, and we couldn't be happier about our decision.

Describe the scope of their work in detail, including any steps and the final deliverables.

First, we had me fill out a multi-page branding questionnaire so that they could get a better sense for my brand and the brand vision. After we spoke about my responses, they gave me the first pass of fonts and color choices that they felt embodied what I was looking for. Based only on selection and our discussion, they next did a creative brainstorming on logo options which filled 4 hand-drawn pages. I was......

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

I worked directly with the owner Brian White, who was really great to work with. He is super experienced and knows his craft and process well, but is also fully committed to hearing my ideas and preferences as well. You can tell that he really wants the end result to be something that the customer is proud to use as well. I found TriLion to be great partners.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

I now have a great logo and branding to include in our website, which is the next phase of the project.

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

Brian was super communicative about where they were in the project as well as the next steps, while I wasn't the only client they had at the time, I never felt neglected. Rather, they did a great job fitting all their projects into their work stream.

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

Their commitment to understanding our brand vision and goals, as we as constantly coming back to that was impressive.

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

Nothing to improve.

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I am a business and marketing coach for music studio owners. I own a company called Savvy Music Studio.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with TriLion Studios?

TriLion Studios did a rebrand for me.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

They designed a completely new logo and helped me create new style sheets with colors and fonts. They also built a WordPress site. 

In addition, I asked them to build a funnel that could take some of the manual things I was doing because it was time-consuming. The team also worked on adding people to the list and helped me send out emails. They worked to make that process automated for me by integrating my WooCommerce store with Zapier, and then sending it to my Mailchimp. They were able to set up a new Gmail address inside of my G-Suite where they performed a lot of services. Now, all of my tech stacks are in line and they made things work smoother. 

What is the team composition?

I worked with Brian (Primary Designer). He designed the logo, branding elements, beautiful illustrations, and other items on my website. He also had a couple of members in his team help him out with some of the tricky texting and inside of WordPress.

How did you come to work with TriLion Studios?

I put a call out to one of the business groups that I’m in for voice teachers and I asked what designers they could recommend for the rebrand that I’m looking for. After that, Brian’s company was recommended to me by someone who asked done logo work. There were also other people that were recommended to me. I took the time to go through all their portfolios and I also got feedback from other people. I even met with another company who I considered working with. 

However, the reason I went with TriLion Studios was because of their incredible portfolio. Their portfolio had an array of different types of businesses. I also saw that their designs didn’t have a similar look or style. Instead, they were able to tap into what each brand represented and the essence of each individual business. By seeing that, I knew that they were the company that I wanted to work with. 

How much have you invested with them?

We probably spent around $8,000–$9,000.

What is the status of this engagement?

We worked together from June–December 2020.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

They developed an amazing and fabulous website for us. The features were great and it was user-friendly. It gave me confidence about what I do and my site became more professional as compared to what I had in the past. Most importantly, we received a lot of positive feedback about the sales page. My clients told me how much they love the site and that they really feel it captured my essence as a coach. 

It gave us the opportunity to connect with more music studio owners and online music educators. In addition, the sales pages they created for my courses helped me sell out a course this fall. Currently, I’ve got a waiting list for the course that would be relaunched in the spring.

I expect to collaborate with them again in the future as I develop new products and images, as there will be things in the future that I want to be automated. I’ll continue to measure their contribution by looking at the launches that I’m doing and the success rate of conversion for the people who are purchasing courses and reaching out to contact me. 

How did TriLion Studios perform from a project management standpoint?

Their overall communication was great. There were several aspects of my project that were really tricky and getting the logo just right took us awhile at the beginning. However, Brian was really patient with me and helped me learn to communicate what exactly I was looking for.

We had to overcome some technical issues with getting all of the little pieces to communicate with one another, but Brian worked really well to make that happen for me. He was able to get one of my sales pages up and running in time for me to launch my course in September, which was really impressive.

What did you find most impressive about them?

I was delighted by their attention to detail. When he first showed me the website, I got the opportunity to see all of the tiny little things that he had taken from the branding questionnaire that I had filled out. He really brought my personality into the website. The little details on the website when combined together made the website powerful. I loved that my site reflected my brand and that my clients could see themselves in the images they used. 

Are there any areas they could improve?

I don't think they have any areas they could improve. I was pretty happy with their work.

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

I would advise people to reach out and to have an initial call with them to see if it’s going to be a perfect fit. I do believe that Brian does a really excellent job of communicating what they provide and how they can help people. 

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I'm just starting a new life coaching business. I'm the owner.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with TriLion Studios?

I wanted help with a website. I didn't know where to begin, so I was a blank sheet when I started working with TriLion.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

They started from scratch, and they helped with my logo, color schemes, and fonts. They interviewed me, and they got an impression of my personality and what I hoped to convey to my customers. They put it all together into this website. They also created my business card.

What is the team composition?

I only interacted with one individual.

How did you come to work with TriLion Studios?

My financial advisor suggested them.

How much have you invested with them?

I spent $4,200 on their services.

What is the status of this engagement?

We worked together in October 2019. The whole project took about a month.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

People like the site, and it opens up a new avenue for people to see me and my business.

How did TriLion Studios perform from a project management standpoint?

We met one-on-one to go through the whole process. My contact was very understanding, and he explained everything to me. He walked me through every step of the process, and we either spoke in person or via email.

What did you find most impressive about them?

They're thorough, and they follow through. They were determined to get everything right. My lack of knowledge may make me a challenging customer, but they were unendingly patient with me. I really appreciated all their explanations.

Are there any areas they could improve?

They did a great job, and I feel very satisfied with their work. There's nothing they should improve.

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

Think about what you want to say and what you hope to accomplish. I was a blank slate, but I might have been more helpful if I came to them with solid ideas.

BACKGROUND

Please describe your company and your position there.

Ainstein is a young technology company that's growing fast. I'm leading the business side of the company, title Director of Operations. I'm in charge of sales, marketing, finance, project management, HR, etc.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

For what projects/services did your company hire TriLion Studios?

I'm the first person at the company that doesn't do coding or technology development. When I joined the company, the company desperately need an polished online presence, the first project I hired TriLion to do is to create a brand of Ainstien, including brand guideline, Ainstein web site, Ainstein branded datasheet, tradeshow fixtures, and more.

What were your goals for this project?

Create a polished and professional image of Ainstein

SOLUTION

How did you select this vendor?

TriLion has worked with Ainstein previously on a different brand. After doing research on other potential studios in the area, I decided to continue with TriLion. It's because of their affordability, flexible in the size of the project, and of course Brian's expertise in graphic design and web development.

Describe the project in detail.

To kick off the project, I shared with Brian the high-level messages in bullet points (markets we're going after, products we're selling, characteristics of the company, etc). Brian was able to quickly digest, and we talked on the phone for a couple of times to align on the web architecture, layout. The Brian gets to work. I'm always impressed by his design, always clean, very polished, it makes our small company looks very big.

What was the team composition?

I worked primarily with Brian White.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

You may check out his work on our company site, Ainstein.ai.

How effective was the workflow between your team and theirs?

Brian was quick in understanding my needs and wants, and come back with proposals more or less in line with our expectations. Therefore, it's very efficient for working with Brian.

What did you find most impressive about this company?

The quality of their work and his honesty in recording his working hours. Also his dedication to his charity.

Are there any areas for improvement?

If he can have a quality SEO expert on his team, I won't need to search for other firms.

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I own a restaurant, pub, and board game library called RPG (Restaurant, Pub, and Games).

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with TriLion Studios?

We wanted to showcase our brand to the community. I had some web development experience, but I wanted someone with more experience than I had so that I could focus on my business.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

We’d previously worked with a separate branding professional, so we gave them that package and talked about the voice, focus, and intent behind the website. I previously had a landing page website with basic information such as links and social media.

They created a clean, fast, and easily navigable website using WordPress and hosted on SiteGround. Features included food and cocktail menus and a board game list. They also helped me better understand how the site itself functions so that I could take over site management after launch. As part of that, they also trained me on the backend.

What is the team composition?

I only worked with one team member.

How did you come to work with TriLion Studios?

I’ve known him for a while through my church. I knew he was a reliable web developer and that we would have a good rapport.

How much have you invested with them?

We’ve spent $5,000 in total.

What is the status of this engagement?

We worked together from Sept. 2018–Sept. 2019.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

The site runs very quickly because its theme is built to load very fast. It’s responsive and looks great on mobile, tablet, and desktop. TriLion Studios had no issue incorporating the elements we wanted.

How did TriLion Studios perform from a project management standpoint?

Their communication was excellent. We stayed in touch mainly through email with a couple of phone calls and a couple of face-to-face meetings. Our communication schedule was built into the partnership and based around how often we needed to discuss requirements and changes.

What did you find most impressive about them?

They communicated quickly and efficiently and delivered our project in a short amount of time.

Are there any areas they could improve?

No, we’re very satisfied.

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

Be as communicative and detail-oriented as possible. Explain your vision and what your goals are. They’re good at interpreting that to make it work in a web setting.

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m the founder of a private speech therapy practice.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with TriLion Studios?

I enlisted TriLion Studios’ services when I was just starting as a company. I wanted to create a logo for my business and was also seeking some other marketing resources.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

After engaging Brian (Founder, TriLion Studios) for his logo and branding services, he sent me a questionnaire. It was an in-depth packet that analyzed my business goals. He wanted to make sure that his work reflected my personality and my practice.

He would give me a phone call every few days and provide me with proofs. I would give him feedback on his designs, and within a month he had configured an entire logo pack and color scheme.

The package included social media components—visual branding tools I could implement on different outlets. The files had different logos and images that I could use for my website or Facebook profile.

What is the team composition?

I just worked with Brian.

How did you come to work with TriLion Studios?

Brian happens to live in my neighborhood. I saw his work online and inquired about his services.

How much have you invested with them?

I spent a total of $3500.

What is the status of this engagement?

It was a month-long engagement from November to December of 2016.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

Brian delivered perfect logos that capture the exact personality I wanted. Since I work with children, the bright colors on a white background were exactly what I was looking for—even though I didn’t really know it. I still use and cherish the materials he gave me.

Brian’s logo work has inspired me to branch off to designing my own website. It looks extremely professional, and my clients have given me positive feedback on the aesthetic of my materials.

How did TriLion Studios perform from a project management standpoint?

They performed perfectly. Brian served as a helpful guide during the early stages of my business. He would give me his honest opinion, even if it meant pushing back on an inclination, and maintained open communication throughout. He was very clear and timely about deadlines and was able to deliver the product by the end of the year, which was perfect timing.

What did you find most impressive about them?

Brian has a sixth sense for what you really want. Although I didn’t have a clear picture in my head of what I was looking for, something clicked when I saw his design. It was perfect. He’s incredibly genuine and perceptive to your needs. What’s more, he has the confidence and technical ability to take the product from concept to reality.

Are there any areas they could improve?

I can’t think of anything. It was everything I could’ve hoped for in my first experience with branding.

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

Take the branding questionnaire very seriously, and think about how you want your business to be perceived.

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m the president of Dog Care LLC. We’re an organization that sells dog care items, specifically flea and tick insecticide products.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with TriLion Studios?

We were looking for assistance with branding, website development, and product retail packaging development, and hire TriLion Studios for the task.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

They did complete branding and development work for us, and the brand guidelines turned into retail packaging. These products are regulated by the Environmental Protection Agency, so there are lots of rules and regulations involved and TriLion Studios helped us meet all of them. The website was basically a complete custom project.

What is the team composition?

I worked solely with Brian (Founder, TriLion Studios).

How did you come to work with TriLion Studios?

I found them online while I was looking for designers in the Kansas City area. We wanted to hire locally because we prefer being able to have in-person meetings. After contacting Brian, I really liked that I would be dealing only with him and another assistant.

I also liked how he scheduled the project in such a way as to not have too much stuff happening at all once. He was trying to schedule everything so he could work on our project at a good pace and have it ready when we needed it done, which I appreciated a lot.

How much have you invested in them?

We spent around $30,000.

What is the status of this engagement?

We worked together from September 2018–April 2019.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

We are delighted with the website. We had goals for how we wanted things to look and TriLion Studios helped us figure out exactly how to exceed them.

How did TriLion Studios perform from a project management standpoint?

Brian was great and I really enjoyed working with him. We met several times and often communicated through email.

What did you find most impressive about them?

Brian has a pretty unique perspective thanks to his vast experience. Applying that perspective to the industry we’re in is pretty unique in itself. It’s a huge deal for us because it had helped our products stand out compared to others in the same market.

Are there any areas they could improve?

No. We are satisfied.

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

Clients need to figure out their plan and deadlines. Give TriLion Studios a month to work that into their schedule. I did that and it worked perfectly.

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m the founder and CEO of an escape room company. We have one of the higher-volume escape room companies in the country.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with TriLion Studios?

When we first started our business, we had an out-of-the-box design that served us well for the first year and a half. When we finally got the chance to reevaluate our systems, we assessed that having a better website was one of our main priorities.

We were looking for a website that would make it really simple to accept payments. We wanted to make it really seamless and to minimize clicks, while also maximizing information. We also wanted to ensure that our booking process was really straightforward.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

They worked on the frontend and backend of our website. We use Bookeo, which is arguably one of the best booking softwares in the country. That being said, it’s also very clunky and doesn’t have an education sector of their product to show people how to use it. They spent a lot of time on our booking platform and made sure it integrated really well with the rest of our website.

What is the team composition?

We worked with Brian (Founder & Creative Director, TriLion Studios) and one other contact.

How did you come to work with TriLion Studios?

As a small business, you want to work with people that you trust. I didn’t know what I needed, so it was great to work with Brian; I had already met him and I already had a sense of trust with him.

We spoke with other places to do our web design, but we were always given a 6-8-month timeline. When we spoke with Brian, his timeline was 1-2 months, which almost seemed too good to be true. The price was also ideal.

How much have you invested with them?

We’ve invested between $6,500–$7,500.

What is the status of this engagement?

We started in March 2013 and were done in May 2013.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

It passes the gut-check test. We have six different brands, and the TriLion site served as a template for our other brands’ websites. It’s made the rest of our web development go so much faster and more seamlessly than I would’ve anticipated.

How did TriLion Studios perform from a project management standpoint?

They were fantastic from a project management standpoint. We used Slack to communicate, which was great because I could get a good level of visibility on the work being completed and keep up with the team. 

What did you find most impressive about them?

They have a good eye for design. Brian was able to look at our website, as a consumer would, and give us suggestions on how our site should function. In many ways, it’s like we had a designer and a consultant working with us at the same time. They took a lot of the guesswork out on our side.

I could tell that Brian was actually invested in our success and cared about what we’re doing. He had done his homework before he even started, which we appreciated.

Are there any areas they could improve?

We did have to make some adjustments after the site launched, but I’m not sure if that had to do with personal preference, or with the timeline.

I think it would be helpful to have a three month or six-month checkup, after our launch; it seemed like a clean break when we were done working.

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

Potential customers, who want to complete their projects in just six weeks, should be prepared for a lot of communication. They should also be prepared to give a lot of feedback. I think if we were unable to give feedback in real-time, the website would’ve taken 8-12 weeks.

It’s a false assumption to think you’re going to just give instructions and receive a perfect website. If you’re willing to set aside an hour or so per day, just to make sure that you know everyone is staying on track, you’re going to be in good shape with TriLion.