Uppersky

BACKGROUND

Please describe your company and your position there.

I am the Head of Communications for a company that provides clean solar energy to corporate and industrial customers in emerging markets.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

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

Our website was designed at a much earlier phase of the company and was outdated as far as information, and lacked clear messaging that would appeal to our customer segment. Our goal was to create a new architectural structure that would serve as a roadmap for gradual redesigning of the website over time, and refresh a few of the main content areas of the site.

SOLUTION

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

I have worked with Uppersky on different projects in the past and know that they are talented, reliable, reasonably priced and easy to work with.

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

First we had to work with the team and our different departments to identify the stakeholders that were most relevant for each part of the site, and what the purpose of our communication there was. Uppersky did a great job of really trying to understand stakeholders' mindsets and what value we offer that appeals to the user.

Next, we needed to find out how best to structure and sort this information and how it ties together. We asked Uppersky to deliver wireframes for the entire site as it will be in the future, even though we need to do the updates incrementally over time, and not all in one go. Now we have a blueprint for the site as we want it to be when we continue to work on updating new sections of the site.

Uppersky did a really meticulous job of helping us think through all aspects of the user journey. Finally we prioritised the most important parts of the site that needed to be updated first. Since we had great wireframes already in place, Uppersky was able to quickly and easily provide an initial design that we could adjust and publish smoothly.

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

We had one project manager, a designer and a front-end developer working on the project.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

We haven't yet measured whether the site is tangibly affecting our customers' perceptions of the company, however we have gotten a lot of enthusiastic comments from employees and internal stakeholders, and no complaints (which we got fairly often before)!

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

Always quick to reply, always clear and trustworthy, and always ready to help with more than I ask for, providing solid advice on other or better ways to approach things without feeling like they are "upselling". This to me is the key to establishing long-term cooperation.

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

That they are very strategically focused regarding the goal of the website and targeting the right groups with the right messaging. Some design firms are only interested in making something that looks good or is "cool" but Uppersky puts a lot of thought into how each detail will work together toward achieving the goal of the site. Uppersky was extremely flexible and solution-oriented to meet our deadlines.

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

There were some delays that were due to things outside of their control, however we also contributed to some delays due to our internal processes.

BACKGROUND

Please describe your company and your position there.

Graduate students from Imperial College London, who won the EIT Health Innovation Competition 2020.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

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

During the past year, Uppersky has helped us develop a chrome extension that reminds users to take regular breaks while working online. This project was carried out within the context of the EIT Mentoring Programme. As (bio)medical students, the field of application design and development was new and quite challenging to us. Ricardo and Jim patiently helped us define the work and guided us through the process. The final product is as is and the staff at our university, delivered beautiful chrome extension. 

SOLUTION

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

We came across Uppersky through the EIT Mentoring Platform. They seemed the best candidate to help with this project.

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

The project was designed using Figma, and was developed in HTML.

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

Ricardo (CEO & co-founder) and Jim (developer).

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

We are still in the process of implementing the extension at the university.

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

We mainly communicated through e-mail with Ricardo. He would provide regular updates and request additional information whenever needed. Every few weeks we would have an online Zoom meeting to discuss the progress of the project.

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

Their patience with us as students new to the field.

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

The communication was sometimes a bit chaotic, but that was also partly our fault.