Urban Insight

BACKGROUND

Please describe your company and position.

I am the Project Manager, Discover Nikkei of Japanese American National Museum

Describe what your company does in a single sentence.

Japanese American National Museum (JANM) promotes understanding and appreciation of America’s ethnic and cultural diversity by sharing the Japanese American experience.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What specific goals or objectives did you hire Urban Insight to accomplish?

• Improve usability to increase user engagement and participation
• Develop a strategic content plan, wire frames, and designs for existing outdated project website

SOLUTION

How did you find Urban Insight?

We worked with them before.

Why did you select Urban Insight over others?

• High ratings
• Good value for cost
• We liked their previous work with us.

What was the size of Urban Insight’s team?

2-5 Employees

Describe the scope of work in detail. Please include a summary of key deliverables.

Urban Insight provided a new user experience design for the outdated website to improve usability and increase user engagement and participation. We asked them to create overall styles and components that can be used in templates across the site. In the first stage, Urban Insight helped us to conduct a user survey to examine the current site and evaluate what kind of new features would be useful for our users.

They also developed user personas to create a narrative for how our new site is relevant to our target audiences. Based on feedback from our survey and the user personas, the JANM and UI project teams have met weekly to develop a content strategy, wire frames, and design for both desktop and mobile.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

What were the measurable outcomes from the project that demonstrate progress or success?

• Success can be measured by the overall traffic and interaction among users through the new site. Although we haven't launched their new design yet, we already received very good feedback internally.

What was your primary form of communication with Urban Insight?

Virtual Meeting

Describe their project management. Did they deliver items on time? How did they respond to your needs?

They were very organized and delivered items on time. They quickly addressed the issues that we had and suggested better ideas if we are not sure what we need to do.

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

We are very pleased with a new modern, clean, and sophisticated design. It balances the content and audience needs and interests with creating the best user interface and experience as possible. They definitely understand our goals and needs well so that transfer our vague idea to the design well.

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

I cannot think of any. They are the best web development firm that we have worked with. Their project management was great.

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

Gilcrease Museum (full name is The Thomas Gilcrease Institute of American History and Art) collects art, archives, anthropology and library materials that are inter-related to tell the story of North America.

After continually updating and incrementally improving the site with Urban Insight since launch in 2016, we received a government grant for a new project to change the existing software infrastructure completely so we can better serve the Archive community along with our existing communities of art lovers, anthropologists and indigenous peoples.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with Urban Insight?

Archive software has an organizing method that is completely different from the existing art museum structure we were using. We wanted to add the more complex Archive techniques as pulled from a new ArchiveSpace database software to become part of an integrated whole for the online user.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

Urban Insight was involved from the beginning and we learned about the Archive software and standards together. This migration of data and integration work has not often been done before, so there are few existing models. Urban Insight was open to this exploration and adventure! This was planned to be Phase I of integrating these diverse items. The end result is excellent!

What is the team composition?

The Urban Insight team is comprised of high quality engineers, excellent problem-solvers and helpful project managers. They did an amazing job!

What is the status of this engagement?

This phase of work outlined in our project is complete and we will gradually improve the surrounding tools, such as search filtering to accommodate the new complexities.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

How did your relationship with the vendor evolve?

Our relationship was deepened as we investigated this new software together. Their team was expanded and both UI and the Gilcrease team gained new skills through this challenging project.

Are there any areas they could improve?

UI did an excellent job! We found that the software and data handling was more complex than expected and they kept us updated through every step and challenge. 

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

Enlist the help of Urban Insight as soon as you begin to outline the project so that you can work together on the definition of work and risk assessment.  Find any possible models and talk over use cases. Determine priorities for the features in case the work needs to be divided into phases. We took this approach and it worked very well!

UPDATED REVIEW

This review was published on October 23, 2018

Diana Folsom

Director of Digital Collections, Gilcrease Museum

Nonprofit

1-10 Employees

Tulsa, Oklahoma

Confidential

Oct 2015 - Ongoing

Project summary

Urban Insight developed a database-driven Drupal site for a museum’s online collection. Apache Solar search functionality allows users to peruse the whole collection in one place.

Feedback summary

The site is best known among a community of scholars, but receives positive feedback from users. Urban Insight brings strong project management to the partnership, and their communication and availability to answer questions and resolve issues is seamless.

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I am the Director of Digital Collections at the Gilcrease Museum in Tulsa Oklahoma. We are managed by the University of Tulsa, though the collection and our building are owned by the city.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with Urban Insight?

We wanted to build a database-driven website from scratch that would allow us to share all the information about our collections. We were at the very beginning of cataloging, imaging, and adding deeper layers of information to make our rich collection available online to people around the world.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

The site is built on Drupal, with an Apache Solar search function. They worked with us to develop the site, which is filled with all kinds of complex and interrelated data. We wanted to make sure that all the materials could be searchable and accessible from one search box.

They went through the discovery phase with us and guided us through the whole process. With our audience in mind, they helped develop user profiles and scenarios. They also developed wireframes and helped us find and interview third-party designers.

What is the team composition?

The president of the company started us out in the project by walking us through the discovery and audience profiles, before handing us over to a project manager. We worked with him on daily tasks and occasionally had contact with higher-level programmers and engineers, as needed. All told, we worked with a team of four to five people.

How did you come to work with Urban Insight?

I worked with them at the last museum I worked for. I was familiar with their working methods, and I knew they understood the complexities of a project like this. I liked their objective, orderly, thoughtful way of working and decided to contract them again.

What is the status of this engagement?

We started work on this project in October 2015. The site has launched, but is never really finished. We continue to add new content and improve features. We now have 25,763 items online. We’ve received grants to expand some of the software features and functionality, including a distance cataloguing interface to engage experts around the world.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

We get a lot of very positive feedback. One of the most meaningful comments was from a colleague in Washington D.C. Even though we’re a small regional museum that’s only well-known among scholars, this particular colleague reviewed our site and felt it was among the best in the country.

How did Urban Insight perform from a project management standpoint?

They’re excellent project managers. They’re level-headed and have strong software development skills that differentiate them from their competitors. I’ve worked with other developers who were very creative, but none were as organized as Urban Insight. We have a very small staff, so we appreciate their strong management style which helps make sure the project stays focused and meets deadlines. They were available through Basecamp and always kept an eye out for questions or issues that arose.

What did you find most impressive about them?

The clarity of their communication is great. We have weekly or twice-monthly meetings, and they’re consistently good at managing the project.

Are there any areas they could improve?

I don’t have anything they could change, most of the issues are on our side. I always look for ways to make the site more robust, but it’s not always possible to do all of it at once. We’re phasing things in gradually, but none of that is their fault. They’re very clear about how much time each phase will take. We are able to stay within budget and make steady progress toward improvements in features and functions.

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

You can be very open with them about what you want to execute or develop. They will tell you if they have experience in those areas. If they don’t, they will rapidly learn skills to help your project. Let them help you manage what you want to do.

Star Ratings

Overall rating: 5 They’re great to work with.

Quality: 5

Cost: 5

Schedule: 5

Willing to refer: 5

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m the website coordinator, grant writer, and researcher for Kansas Legal Services. We serve about 20,000 people a year across the state and have more than 100,000 people using our website. We offer free online forums and legal forms that people can use as self-represented litigants.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with Urban Insight?

We’d had our website on Drupal for 10 years. We needed to upgrade it to Drupal 9 along with 30 other legal aid websites.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

Urban Insight has upgraded our website to Drupal 9; they’ve thrown out the whole previous platform and started with the new version. Our top priority is ensuring it’s mobile-friendly because 60%–70% of our users look at it on their phones. We also have about 400 pages on the site, which include legal education and information that might interest people in poverty in Kansas.

We use WriteCleary to simplify our writing and make it more accessible. We try to keep everything at a seventh-grade or below reading level. Additionally, we have ReadClearly because people usually don’t understand legal words. This program will show a squiggly red line under, and people can check what the word means.

What is the team composition?

Our main point of contact is Molly (Digital Project Manager). In the beginning, we worked with Chris (Founder & Senior Advisor); he’s now in a consulting position. We’ve also worked with Josh (CEO) and Mark (CTO).

How did you come to work with Urban Insight?

When I took over in 2003, I knew nothing about websites, so I got into a group of legal aid sites to learn as much as possible. We were on a challenging platform, so we decided to find an easier one. In the late 2010s, we put out a bid and talked to five different companies. We ultimately decided to go with Urban Insight because other legal aid websites had done projects with them.

How much have you invested with them?

We’ve spent about $275,000 on this project.

What is the status of this engagement?

We’ve had a couple of projects with them, but we started this one in January 2021. We still have a couple more websites to upgrade, so our partnership is ongoing.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

Since it’s a grant-funded project, we have rigorous reporting and evaluation standards. We have a feedback mechanism on most pages and Google Analytics to see which ones get the most traffic so we can ensure they’re up to date.

Although the site isn’t that different than the previous Drupal website, there are more features, and it’s easier to use for adding content. Urban Insight has provided training for our team, and we haven’t gotten any complaints. Our teammates already had experience with the platform, but they’ve been very thorough in their explanations. Everyone has been thrilled because we’d been waiting for this upgrade for a long time. We’re glad because now it’ll be easier to update, and we won’t have to throw the baby out with the bathwater.

Moreover, we’ve evaluated Urban Insight every step of the way and worked intensively with them. They listen to what we want and try their best to do it. They’ve been great to work with, and we’re happy with the results so far.

How did Urban Insight perform from a project management standpoint?

Everything’s been perfect. If we have a question, they answer right away. Since we’re all over the country, there are some time challenges, but they’ve been able to communicate effectively and deliver on time. We have no complaints about getting in touch; it’s been an excellent experience.

We use Basecamp for project management, and it’s been really effective. 

What did you find most impressive about them?

Their communication is outstanding. Before Urban Insight, we were still learning how to manage the site, so we often felt helpless. We worked with companies that weren’t timely or communicative, so many things went over our heads.

Meanwhile, Urban Insight is respectful. Their team doesn’t make us feel like we lack technical knowledge, and they don’t dumb stuff down. 

Are there any areas they could improve?

No, they’re as good as they could be. In fact, they’ve exceeded our expectations most of the time. We’re pretty demanding, so we’ve had freak-out moments when something isn’t coming together as expected. We probably sound hysterical when we email them asking what’s happening, but they’re very patient. They get back to us immediately and explain the technology behind it so we can calm down.

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m the editorial creative director of a multimedia novel publishing company.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with Urban Insight?

We needed a CMS solution or something we could manage that consolidated all of our sites into one author website.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

Urban Insight designed and developed our WordPress website from scratch. We needed a gallery functionality above standard, with zoom-in and moving-around features to look closely at paintings, and they were able to do it.

Currently, we’re using their WP Engine account for hosting.

What is the team composition?

We’ve worked regularly with Tom (Technical Project Manager) as the project manager and José (Creative Director) as the designer. As I understand, two coders and some principals have been on calls, including Mark (CTO).

How did you come to work with Urban Insight?

We chose them because they’d done beautiful work for The Broad and LACMA in Los Angeles.

How much have you invested with them?

We’ve spent between $200,000–$1 million.

What is the status of this engagement?

We started working with them in September 2021, and our relationship is ongoing.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

Our founder is happy with their work.

How did Urban Insight perform from a project management standpoint?

They use something, but we’re not that corporate. We’ve used Zoom, emails, phone calls, and Google Docs for management, and it has been fine.

What did you find most impressive about them?

They’ve delivered on everything. Moreover, they’re able to draw on resources in a pinch. In the past, we’ve used many houses that couldn’t draw on resources like that. With them, we always have that cushion.

Are there any areas they could improve?

They could’ve provided more design hours. The designer was on the clock, so we ran out of time before finishing all the pages. It came down to the project manager and us to figure out the design for the rest of the site with the template.

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m an executive at a government administrative agency.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with Urban Insight?

Our county approved a new general plan, and we wanted to create a website for that. We were looking for something interactive and easy to use for the public and county employees.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

Urban Insight did web design and development for us using WordPress; they created the site starting from a product they did on previous jurisdictions in California, but with enhanced look and feel.

What is the team composition?

We’ve been working mainly with one person from their team, who is our project manager.

How did you come to work with Urban Insight?

We had references for their previous work.

How much money have you invested in this partnership?

So far, we’ve spent $100,000–$200,000 with them.

What is the status of this engagement?

We started working together in September 2021, and the engagement is ongoing.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

We’ve received positive feedback on the site from people who’d use the platform and our staff.

How did Urban Insight perform from a project management standpoint?

They’ve been prompt, and every time there’s a meeting, they keep us updated with the process — communication is great. Regarding contact tools, we use Basecamp, Zoom, weekly meetings, and phone calls.

What did you find most impressive about them?

Our work is unique, and there aren’t many agencies with the capabilities we’re looking for. Still, Urban Insight has the experience in creating what we wanted, making them stand out from their competitors.

Are there any areas they could improve?

We had an initial issue with invoicing — it didn’t coincide with the tasks we identified in the initial scope. We raised that with them, and they modified the billing to resolve that situation.

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

Be as clear as you can with them; tell them your needs and what you’re looking for — they have the technical know-how and creativity to put it together.

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m the chief marketing officer of a hiring company.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with Urban Insight?

We were looking for a web development partner who could help maintain our website and add functionality to it over time.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

We initially hired Urban Insight to help maintain and expand the functionality of our WordPress site, which was built and launched in 2020. That was our first time having a WordPress site, and we didn’t have any in-house developers at that time.

More recently, and as part of our ongoing relationship with Urban Insight, we engaged Urban Insight again to help us rebuild the same website on headless architecture. We recognized that the site was not performing well in terms of its speed. We’re also heavily focused on driving leads through SEO and, given some of the changes in Google's algorithm, it was important for us to have a website that was very performant. So, Urban Insight helped us rebuild and re-platform that website from WordPress to Gatsby.

Now, Urban Insight is in charge of maintaining our client-facing marketing website. This involves implementing improvements and providing technical support for our website.

What is the team composition?

We primarily interact with Ben (Senior Technical Project Manager), who’s in charge of managing our relationship with Urban Insight. There’s an entire engineering team working on our project as well, but I don’t have direct interaction with them.

How did you come to work with Urban Insight?

I was referred to Urban Insight by someone I trust.

How much have you invested with them?

We’ve spent somewhere around $365,000 so far.

What is the status of this engagement?

We started working together in February 2020, and the engagement is ongoing.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

We saw a significant improvement in our site speed performance. Overall, Urban Insight’s performance has exceeded our expectations.

How did Urban Insight perform from a project management standpoint?

Urban Insight has performed really well in terms of project management. They’re very transparent, and they’re really consistent at providing us updates on how we’re pacing relative to our monthly budget. They also provide accurate estimates upfront in terms of what the scope of their work would be and what we can expect in terms of hours and fees.

What did you find most impressive about them?

I’m very impressed with Urban Insight’s technical capabilities and acumen. Our CTO, who has been deeply involved with our partnership with Urban Insight, has given them very strong marks in terms of their performance.

I also appreciate their commitment to making us happy. I have no idea how many clients they have, but I do feel like we get special attention. I don’t know whether that's true or not, but it certainly feels that way. They always make an effort to put themselves in our shoes to provide recommendations and insights that make sense for our business.

Are there any areas they could improve?

Our project manager tends to under-commit and over-deliver. I get why he does it, and it might seem like a good thing, but I would appreciate it if they could find a way to manage our expectations better.

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

Make sure to be transparent about what your objectives, timelines, and expectations are. Make sure to give them actionable feedback, provide clear objectives, let them know how you’re going to measure success.

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m the VP of marketing for Motion Recruitment, an IT staffing firm that caters to North America.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with Urban Insight?

For this engagement, we worked on Tech in Motion, a tech event series targeted towards the large tech community in North America. Tech in Motion’s brand and website were outdated, seeing as we hadn’t touched it since its inception 10 years ago. With the advent of COVID-19, we needed to modernize our brand to reflect how exciting the community actually is and what tech is going to look like in the next 10 years. 

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

We intend to do the website development in-house, so Urban Insight helped us revamp the visual brand of Tech in Motion. We provided them with a lot of information related to our brand persona. We detailed what we wanted to accomplish and participated in a brand workshop with their team. 

Urban Insight then went on to design a new logo for us as well as create full designs for every page of our website. They relayed those wireframes to our development team, who are now in the process of implementing them. 

What is the team composition?

We predominantly worked with Jose (Creative Director), while Sara (Designer) joined in every now. We also interacted a lot with Tom (Technical Project Manager).

How did you come to work with Urban Insight?

I asked for referrals from the marketing executive network that I’m part of. Some of the agencies that I had initial discovery conversations with were out of our budget range, so we ultimately decided to work with Urban Insight. 

How much have you invested with them?

We invested around $60,000.

What is the status of this engagement?

The project ran from August 2021–January 2022.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

Our website isn’t live yet so I don’t have any metrics to share, but we’re really eager and excited to see it up and running next month. The design Urban Insight created is awesome and very modern. It balances and harmonizes the brands of Tech in Motion and Motion Recruitment.

We received amazing feedback from everyone in the company, including our CEO and VP of development. They think the design is very cool and will do a great job of attracting audiences. Overall, Urban Insight achieved the visual modernization that we were looking to do. We will likely be using their services again because we’re pretty satisfied. 

How did Urban Insight perform from a project management standpoint?

It went really well. They used Basecamp and kept everything up to date. They also used another tool where we could edit documents and provide feedback directly online. 

We met weekly to review our progress and all of the deliverables. We just kept moving, so I was very pleased. I’ve worked with other agencies before and have gotten kind of a mixed bag when it comes to project management, but Urban Insight did a really nice job.

What did you find most impressive about them?

I can’t speak highly enough about their creativity. We’re really pleased with what we received. They put a high level of attention to detail, especially with the wireframes, and made sure that we understood what things would look like. They went through every nook and cranny with us.

I also like that, whereas other agencies only allowed a specific number of feedback rounds or charged for extra hours, Urban Insight treated the project as a true partnership. They continuously evolved our brand without ever saying that something is beyond the scope. 

Are there any areas they could improve?

No, I don’t think so. We really enjoyed working with them. The timeline went a little further than anticipated, but that was more due to our side since we had a huge workload. Urban Insight was a very flexible and understanding partner throughout. 

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

Be an active participant in the branding process. What’s great about Urban Insight is that they can work with you to evolve your brand such that you don’t have to stick with one design option but can actually request a way to blend your choices together. Don’t be afraid to speak up and push boundaries because they’ll be sure to deliver on it. 

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m the director of marketing communications at the Japanese American National Museum. I’m in charge of our marketing efforts and collateral for the museum. That includes everything from front-facing campaigns and PR efforts to website and social media marketing. Our mission is to educate the public on the importance of the Japanese-American immigrant experience. 

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with Urban Insight?

Our website was outdated; it hadn’t been updated since we opened it almost 30 years ago. As a result, we needed a new site to engage a newer audience and help us get the word out about our organization. 

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

Urban Insight built the site from scratch. While we were lucky to have plenty of content available, it was sometimes a detriment to the project — our teams had to decipher what content types were going to work for the site. Given that, the Urban Insight team helped us edit the content and make it more digestible for our target audience. 

They also did plenty of market research for us to better understand our audience. Based on their findings, they developed the look and feel of the website. We wanted the website to be highly shareable on various channels; end users should be able to connect the site to their social media or to print out something from it. Beyond that, we needed Urban Insight to craft our messaging in a presentable and marketable manner.  

The website has been finished, but we’ve retained Urban Insight’s services for phase two of the development process. We’re constantly looking for ways to improve the website. We’ll also work with them on another project in January 2022 to develop a mobile app connected to the website; this one’s an entirely new project. 

What is the team composition?

We’ve worked with 3–4 people at any given time. A project manager oversees the project, and 1–2 graphic and website designers help us with the deliverables. 

How did you come to work with Urban Insight?

We did a comprehensive search to find the right agency. Our members put together a search committee that identified and whittled our choices down to the top three organizations we could hire — Urban Insight was one of them. 

They were the most expensive team out of the three, but we were highly impressed with their presentation. On top of that, they did plenty of research to know who we were, and that was why we ended up choosing them. 

How much have you invested with them?

We’ve spent around $100,000 on the first phase of the project. Our team has invested an additional $50,000 for the second phase of the project.

What is the status of this engagement?

The project started around August 2019, and the website was completed in March 2021. However, the partnership is ongoing. 

For context, the project was already underway when I came on board in December 2019 — I was there early in the process but not at the beginning of the project. 

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

The website has been well-received not only by our staff but also by our audience. In fact, we’ve seen a 20% spike in the number of site visitors, views, and clicks. That’s what we’ve wanted all along, and it continues to grow as we populate the site with more content. Overall, we’ve been so delighted and pleased with these results. This is why we’ve decided to retain Urban Insight’s services. 

How did Urban Insight perform from a project management standpoint?

Urban Insight has spent much time listening to us and understanding what we’re trying to do as an institution and museum. Their project manager is always there to oversee the project’s direction, and he always chimes in with ideas based on their work with other clients, helping us craft our own vision to make our website great. 

Moreover, they’ve kept us going in the right direction and completed the website within the timeframe we want. For a big project like this, some delays are expected, but we’re happy with their management and the progress we’ve made. 

What did you find most impressive about them?

Working with Urban Insight is like working with somebody within the museum; they serve as a true part of our staff. Their resources have integrated well with us and truly understand our needs, so we’re pleased with their work. 

For comparison, I’ve worked with a lot of contractors in my career, and we’ve always felt that those contractors are outsiders. In fact, I’ve spent a lot of time reminding them of who we are, what the museum stands for, and what our mission is. This isn’t the case for Urban Insight. 

Are there any areas they could improve?

No, there aren’t any. They’ve gone through some changes, but I can’t find any glaring mistakes or anything they could’ve handled differently; everything has gone exactly as or better than what we’ve expected. 

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

Communication is important, so communicate with Urban Insight. Be transparent and comfortable with sharing your ideas to them. That way, they can be a part of your team and your work will be a truly collaborative effort.

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m the communications manager of Legal Services of North Florida We’re a private nonprofit law firm that serves clients across 16 counties in North Florida with free civil legal help.

In my role, I run all communications, external relationships, as well as anything that comes with design, marketing, and PR. Specifically, I work on SEO and developing our website so it’s more accessible to clients.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with Urban Insight?

Urban Insight is a part of a larger technology grant that I’m the project manager for. It’s a collaboration between several legal service organizations. We’re working together to build out a model for schema specifically so legal aid organizations have better success on Google searches and voice search. We’re working directly with Google to identify ways to reduce fraud and fraudulent searches as well as to increase the credibility of legal aid organizations and searches.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

We have three websites that we’re implementing different stages of the schema code. Urban Insight is utilizing one of the legal aid websites they operate and are applying that markup. Their team is a part of the evaluative process. Chris (CEO) and the team have been doing evaluations of the code itself.

Every time we’ve created a new markup, they’ve provided a full-on write-up and memo on the success and efficacy. They’ve also suggested changes on any of the codes that we’ve written on each markup. Their team provides that to the person who’s generating it and has participated in ongoing discussions.

What is the team composition?

We’ve worked with 2–3 people, and my main point of contact is Chris.

How did you come to work with Urban Insight?

Urban Insight had situated themselves well within the legal aid community by supporting statewide legal service sites. Their credibility precedes them and is well-known within the legal aid community. That was one of the reasons why we selected them.

Additionally, they’ve participated in other projects with other legal aid organizations and the granting agency. Urban Insight was a credible source we knew could provide not only support but also has access to a website that we could implement these changes to and evaluate the industry.

How much have you invested with them?

We’ve invested about $15,000.

What is the status of this engagement?

Our ongoing engagement started around June 2019.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

Urban Insight has provided evaluative memos, which is the documentation of the very detailed analysis of suggested changes, concerns, and other parts of the work we’ve been doing. Their team has provided concrete documents, which is something we haven’t necessarily gotten from everyone. It’s been super helpful and will be part of the final report.

We’ve done one iteration of the schema markup and have seen really interesting results. Chris’s ability to think critically through these evaluation meetings has been very helpful. On the first markup, we realized that traffic was down but the longevity of that traffic on our website was longer. The right people were on our site, we weren’t getting superfluous traffic. We had longer clickthroughs and visitation time.

How did Urban Insight perform from a project management standpoint?

Communicating with Urban Insight has been very easy. They’re responsive, and we utilize email and Slack. I organize all of the documentation on the backend, write all the reports, and manage all the meetings. I have my own management system. Urban Insight is very collaborative. If there’s an ongoing conversation on Slack, they pipe in and are supportive. I’ve never had to follow up.

What did you find most impressive about them?

They always go above and beyond. Urban Insight sets achievable expectations that I’m excited about. They often tell us what they’re going to do, which is exactly what we’re looking for. They go above and beyond each time. Not only do they propose really great engagement to the project, but they also provide even more. Their team is organized and keeps track of their hours. Our project manager makes our life a lot easier.

Are there any areas they could improve?

No, I’ve had a great experience. If I ever need something or there’s an issue, I’ve always been able to ask and it’s taken care of.

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

Be transparent about your needs and upfront with your contracts. Urban Insight will go above and beyond for you. If you’re honest about your capacity and budget, they’ll be honest with what they can provide you. Lay everything out on the table. Their team is fair, organized, and very respectful. They’re not the kind of organization that’ll undermine you or tries to nickel and dime you.

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I work at The Broad Museum, a contemporary art museum in Los Angeles. I’m the head of marketing and communications and I oversee the website and digital platform.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with Urban Insight?

When we originally worked with them, it was to design our website, which was in dire need of an overhaul. From there, Urban Insight worked on creating a mobile web app for us.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

 The website redesign included everything on the backend that to help us from Drupal 7 to Drupal 8. Then they worked with us on the UI/UX. In the discovery phrase, we shared what we wanted to do, how we wanted to optimize the website, and identified a few functionalities we wanted to include.

Their team went back and worked on wireframes and design comps that addressed our needs. They offered different options and spent a lot of time refining the. We have very high standards for visual presentation as an art museum and they did all of that to meet our requirements.

We have them on retainer now to help us maintain the website and mobile app. They also develop new functionalities and things like that.

What is the team composition?

My day to day contact is Mark (Director of Technology). He’s our account lead and primary contact. I also work with Jose (Creative Director) directly to explain how I want the UX to look. I appreciate that I just need to talk to them rather than the entire team because it streamlines communication.

How did you come to work with Urban Insight?

Our former director of IT found them through a referral. She had interviewed a few different companies and she felt like they were the best for this project and could meet our needs.

How much have you invested with them?

We’ve invested $230,000 with them.

What is the status of this engagement?

The project lasted from September 2018–March 2019.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

I get lots of compliments and positive feedback from other folks in the industry. They comment on how the site looks and how easy it is to use and find information. We’ve been looking for a new director of IT, and some of the candidates I’ve interviewed praise it for those same things.

Of course, we approached them about an app. We were founded only a few years ago, so social media is really important to us. Now that we’ve been locked down because of COVID-19, that has become even more important, but we didn’t have the budget to create a standalone app.

Working with Urban Insight, we’ve been able to stay ahead in terms of tech. It put us in good stead to have invested in this, especially as we look to reopen and are looking to share information with visitors on their own devices, rather than picking up a brochure.

They’re also able to do anything we’ve asked for. For example, my colleague showed me a 3D tour of another museum, and when I shared it with Urban Insight, they said they were able to build a more robust version for our museum. Every time I’ve thrown them a challenge, they were more than able to meet the challenge.  

How did Urban Insight perform from a project management standpoint?

They’re amazing; Mark is amazing. The communication with them is clear and clean. When I ask for a project estimate, they’re very accurate. I’ve never had a problem with them completing projects on time either. I’ve been really impressed by their organization. We go through several rounds of revisions, and they track every single detail.

What did you find most impressive about them?

They’re really great at design. They can blend form and functionality really well, so it looks good and works well. They’re also super easy to work with.

Are there any areas they could improve?

No. I’ve loved working with them. They’re so helpful.

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

I set up calls with Urban Insight and other stakeholders outside of my team so they’re able to hear what other features our stakeholders want. For example, last week we had a call with a colleague in public programs because they had ideas for a page we created. Originally, we threw up a page really fast and it was very text-heavy, so we’re designing it to be more visual and easier to use. So getting that insight from stakeholders and opening communication has really helped that process.