UX studio

Please describe your company and your position there.

I am the Chief Marketing Officer and also oversee UX/UI design of our platform product and public website. News Direct is a news & content distribution service provider for PR/IR/Corporate Communications professionals.

We distribute news releases and standalone multimedia content to a vast nationwide network (and soon to be, global) of media outlets.

For what projects/services did your company hire UX studio?

UX Studio was hired to lead UX/UI design for both our (SaaS) platform and public website. We asked UX studio to provide complete UX, UI design, discovery research and evaluative tests for this project.

We hired them for a long-term collaboration throughout all phases - planning, development, and the launch of the new digital service.

What were your goals for this project?

To design a modern, best-in-class product that offers unparalleled efficiency, flexibility and control for PR & Corp Comms professionals when distributing their news or stories. And we wanted a long term partnership with a firm that can own the design process backed up by research.

How did you select UX studio?

Our CTO was directly involved in reviewing their past work and overall design philosophy. He was impressed, as well, by the book their founder wrote on their design philosophy.

Describe the project in detail.

We aimed to disrupt the staid wire service industry by creating the first modern wire service that was designed and built from the ground up to meet the specific needs of media outreach today.

We worked together with UX studio’s experts and a team of developers, paired with the industry knowledge from the News Direct team to create an unparalleled experience.

We have designed a powerful platform for editing and distributing press releases, as well as a website for getting the word out to the industry.

What was the team composition?

From UX studio’s side, we had two UX/UI designers and one researcher working with us. Before the launch, we scaled back on the design and concentrated on testing and customer feedback supported by the UX researcher.

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

UX studio has designed our website and platform end-to-end from idea, through iterations to the final pixel-perfect screens. From the research side, they have connected with over 40 professionals from the target audience bringing invaluable customer needs and insights to the table.

How effective was the workflow between your team and theirs?

We have a complicated setup with team members residing in different parts of the globe however, with everyone’s flexibility, all teams, including the development team managed to maintain close relationships with each other. Contact and responsiveness has never been an issue.

What did you find most impressive about this company?

They were a 'quick study' in terms of understanding our category rapidly. They also are very reactive, flexible, and transparent about every aspect of their design and research work. They are always bringing new ideas and solutions to the table.

Are there any areas for improvement?

The onboarding of our team to new tools for them could have been smoother, but we all learned from the experience.

Please describe your company and your position there.

I am Head of UX at Magicbricks, a division of Times Group and India’s No 1 Property Site. We provide a common platform for property buyers & sellers to locate properties of interest and source information about all property related issues.

For what projects/services did your company hire UX studio?

We contacted UX studio to help us with a comprehensive UX Evaluation of our multi-device platform.

We had conducted some previous research internally but we needed validation through professional, third-party user studies and expert review. UX studio offered a tailored solution that combined on-site and remote research.

What were your goals for this project?

To evaluate user experience across different segments and platforms, in order to prioritise usability issues to be tackled during an in-depth redesign. We also sought to collect information on user habits (journeys, pain points, motivations) and identify opportunities to increase user engagement.

How did you select this vendor?

We reached to many agencies globally. UX studio outlined a proactive, solid approach and a very positive tone. They managed to overcome the existing concerns of hiring a foreign agency with a natural adaptability and openness to come to India and undertake most of the user research on-site.

Describe the project in detail.

We had a remote kick-off week with Antoine and Pablo, the UX studio researchers. In these meetings we highlighted project goals, discussed previous research and identified key user flows. Antoine and Pablo quickly got up to speed with the product via stakeholder interviews and competitors analysis.

On weeks 3 and 4 of the project both researchers carried out 40+ interviews and usability tests in Delhi, Bangalore and Mumbai. Some additional testings were done remotely. Expert reviews from UX studio designers were combined with the outcomes from user research in a final comprehensive presentation.

What was the team composition?

The two UX researchers from UX studio were in direct collaboration with the in-house team of +16 designers and myself.

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

UX studio provided genuine feedback and evidence-based suggestions to improve the design of our platform. Having an external opinion helped the team to recognise insights that were hard to identify otherwise. We are already implementing many of these and plan to continue involving UX studio in future stages.

How effective was the workflow between your team and theirs?

Time difference was not a major problem due to the adaptability of the researchers. We had regular calls and updates that kept us informed throughout the project.

What did you find most impressive about this company?

UX studio made collaboration very easy, maintaining good communication throughout all project stages. Researchers showed a high professionalism and ability to understand an unfamiliar context, industry and product very quickly.

I would also highlight their adaptability to real-world situations. We had a tight schedule, but they complied with the original project plan and covered all tasks on time.

Are there any areas for improvement?

None.

Please describe your company and your position there.

I am the Strategic Development Director at a company that provides marketing and software automation for Higher Education. Our multilingual platforms provide students with an opportunity to search for and compare international university programmes from Bachelor to PhD-level.

Universities can reach potential students and share valuable information with them with the help of our service. I am responsible for traffic generation and product development.

For what projects/services did your company hire UX studio?

Our platform needed to be redesigned in order to fit the needs of our users even better and make sure that they are able to find what they are looking for on our sites.

Hence, we asked UX studio to rethink the user journey based on thorough user research. Based on the results, they created a new Look and Feel and a final UI to match these improved journeys better.

What were your goals for this project?

With the UX studio’s help, our aim was to increase our conversion rates whilst improving user experience by eliminating friction in the user journey and ensuring that the UI of our platform communicates and align our values perfectly.

In order to achieve these goals, UX studio collaborated with us in creating improved user flows to lead forms and individual pages, improving our internal search function, filtering system for several devices as well as ideating about a new Tone of Voice.

How did you select this vendor?

Beyond the typical availability, timeline and cost factors, we had a long list of requirements before searching for a new UX partner. Some factors included: size of company, experience from similar niche, multidisciplinary roles within the company, excellent customer satisfaction, high quality output and of course good reputation.

An initial search locally in Scandinavia rendered fewer options than hoped for and we decided to broaden our search. That’s when we discovered UX Studio which ticked all our boxes.

Describe the project in detail.

Our websites have millions of users every month from high-ranking keywords in Google. Today’s users of Generation Z are picky, impatient and still expect high quality content, flawless UI & UX, fast loaded websites and apps. Thanks [insert your favorite unicorn company here]!

Providing the best user journey with matched user intent requires a well-thought out process for each device but also unified across several languages. We knew from user feedback and our web analytics that it was time to step up our game. When we approached UX Studio our main goal was to improve conversion rates of our lead forms.

Secondary metrics included increasing time spent on site, avg. pageviews per user and lowered bounce rates. In order to achieve that, we had to take a holistic approach and explore the whole user journey from search to landing pages and engage with our lead forms.

With the help of UX Studio we identified several bottlenecks where students drop off, and also gained new insights into what makes users stay longer and get more engaged.

What was the team composition?

We worked with 2 UX Designers and a UX Researcher during this project with UX studio.

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

Due to the large scope of the project we decided to launch in multiple phases focusing on different areas. So the real business impact is yet to be seen but we have plenty of test users and recordings to show that our user engagement metrics have increased and proven successful. We are very happy with the end result.

The improved user flow and UI is incredible and no details are left to chance. In the meantime and based on the user insights of this project, we are working with UX studio on new features to improve user experience even more.

How effective was the workflow between your team and theirs?

We were thrilled by UX studio’s process. During the two day intensive and fun Kick-off meeting, they acquired domain knowledge and got a good understanding of our products and unique challenges.

Their vast experience in driving the research process and guiding us forward the whole time was reassuring. During the weekly meetings, they presented research insights and design decisions in a detailed manner and always aligned with our project and business goals.

We also organized cross-team meetings with our Conversion, SEO and Development teams to make sure that the efforts of all parties were aligned to maximize chances of success.

What did you find most impressive about this company?

We really appreciated the user-centricity they brought to the table and how they advocated user needs while still understanding and considered our business challenges, too. The deep collaboration between our two teams was impressive and they really felt like our own in-house team members from the start.

Their professional insights and the way they explained each process and step, helped us not only understand their design-decisions and their value, but we learned more about our own users and product, too.

Are there any areas for improvement?

No, we were amazed by UX studio’s dedication and professional approach. This is why we have decided to continue our collaboration with them.

Please describe your company and your position there.

I am the product owner of a school feeding menu design product developed by an international nonprofit organization. The product’s aim is to ensure that children receive nutritious meals while keeping the planning budget-conscious and aiding the local economy.

For what projects/services did your company hire UX studio?

We asked for UX studio’s help in planning the flow and designing the UX for one of our meal planning platforms. Research complemented their provided design services to ensure that the proposed design can easily be used by our local bureaus and by all professionals involved.

What were your goals for this project?

As an international, non-profit organization, we needed to make sure that our internal admin and planning platform is accessible and easy-to-use for our employees and partners worldwide. We also needed to make the user journey smoother and the process clearer. 

Additionally, it was essential that the platform could calculate and recommend nutrition and prices in a structured but customizable format. This function should be able to consider regional characteristics and find the best value for money.

How did you select this vendor?

We selected them through a competitive process that concluded with a long-term agreement.

Describe the project in detail.

During the project, UX studio did eight iterations on the proposed UX design based on research results and our feedback. We provided them with the standard UI kit of our organization, which they combined with their suggestions and implemented perfectly. 

Their research also showed that our initial concept of the user flow needed to be rethought. UX studio explained this clearly and could come up with a reassuring solution without compromising the timing of the project.

What was the team composition?

We worked with a UX designer and a UX researcher.

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

We got positive feedback from those involved in the daily use of the product, so UX studio’s design is already under development.

How effective was the workflow between your team and theirs?

We had a great experience with UX studio in terms of communication and workflow. As an international, nonprofit organization, our processes are somewhat unique. UX studio’s team could adapt to these seamlessly; they provided results quickly and explained decisions clearly. We organized daily stand-ups and were provided with detailed information on how the project was moving forward.

What did you find most impressive about this company?

We were impressed by how UX studio achieved and maintained an excellent quality of work while keeping up with an intense project plan. Also, they were able to solve the complicated challenge of making peace between a centralized structure and its custom use cases.

Are there any areas for improvement?

No, we were thrilled by our experience with UX studio.

Please describe your company and your position there.

DashboardVision provides highly customizable online data product services, including web design, data visualization, dashboards, and SaaS product development.

Our services enable entrepreneurs and consultants to bring their data products to market quickly by better differentiating themselves from competitors and creating ongoing revenue opportunities. I work as a project and marketing manager.

For what projects/services did your company hire UX studio?

We first hired UX studio to focus on the redesign of our platform, which is used by one of our main stakeholders. We wanted to improve our data visualization based on real user needs. We decided to focus more on our users (mainly market researchers) so that we could provide a useful, relevant, and easy-to-use solution.

What were your goals for this project?

For our initial project, we wanted to refresh our platform’s UI and, at the same time, increase our client’s satisfaction and engagement with our product. Our goals were to understand in detail how our clients use our service and how they integrate it into their everyday work. 

How did you select this vendor?

We were looking for UX companies in the region and had visited a couple before choosing UX studio based on their informative introduction and impressive portfolio.

Describe the project in detail.

This was a research-heavy project. UX studio went through a thorough onboarding process, which helped all parties sync up and define the project goals. The kick-off discussions were a really good forum to clarify the pain points and decide on which ones to tackle. 

From there, they conducted thorough research exercises. It was essential for us to understand our clients’ habits and usage patterns before approaching the redesign. We needed to know which features they used and which they would miss. At the end of the project, they delivered a report on all of their insights to guide our redesign, working with us through prototypes before producing the final UI.

What was the team composition?

We worked with one designer and one researcher. We functioned as a single team, working together on the insights and features.

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

At the end of the project, they had gathered a tremendous amount of insights, which we used as a basis to redesign our platform together. Also, the team made many suggestions for future improvements and recommended several directions that we could potentially take our product. 

How effective was the workflow between your team and theirs?

It was a seamless experience. Although our product can be hard to understand, UX studio came up to speed quickly. The team involved us in every step of the research process, discussing topics on a daily basis and hosting regular meetings every week with our broader team. 

Their researcher and designer were always transparent in their communication. They documented their detailed research using Airtable, which allowed us to check on the project status and keep up to date on user test findings. Having access to all of their documentation and prototyping allowed us to effectively work together in a highly collaborative way.

What did you find most impressive about this company?

Their high level of professionalism surpassed our expectations. They are real UX/UI experts who know how to connect research with design principles. During the project, they were precise and detail-oriented, making sure not to lose even the tiniest bit of information. 

On top of that, they had a clear workflow, and every step was easy to understand and follow. They taught us about UX principles, and, after doing one project with them, we can really see the added value of their work. Not only did they handle the project like true experts, but they also treated our most sensitive clients with patience and professionalism.

Are there any areas for improvement?

Nothing comes to my mind, now. We were really satisfied with the professional way that UX studio handled the redesign, so we’ve decided to continue our collaboration into other projects.

Please describe your company and your position there.

I'm a product manager at the HolidayPirates Group, an online travel company in Europe and the US.  

For what projects/services did your company hire UX studio?

We contacted UX studio to help us with UX research. Our team wanted to understand the needs of travelers in the US market better. We already had some insights from previous research that we conducted internally but we needed validation and professional support with the extra workload.

What were your goals for this project?

We wanted to identify our US users’ pain points and make the site more relevant for them. Since travel habits and usage of sites are very different from what we see in Europe, we aimed to get to know potential American users better and gather information on how to develop our product.

How did you select this vendor?

UX studio posted impressive guides for usability, testing, and design on their blog. That led me to reach out. Fortunately, UX studio offered a flexible solution and was well prepared to help us also via remote research.

Describe the project in detail.

During the kickoff meeting, we defined the project goals and the product strategy. Our team handed over all necessary information and domain knowledge, discussing previous research results. UX studio then implemented their plan to schedule, run, and analyze 20 remote interviews.

What was the team composition?

We worked with one UX researcher.

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

The researcher was dedicated to the project and helped us generate new features ideas. They communicated each step clearly and always provided a very thorough debrief after the interviews. UX studio provided the exact results we wanted—having the ability to update our personas and understand the journey of US travelers.

How effective was the workflow between your team and theirs?

The researcher was personable and easy to work with. Airtable made the research documentation easily accessible. We had remote weekly status meetings.

What did you find most impressive about this company?

They were organized, effective, and transparent. The team updated the template after each interview with incredible insight. I wish every designer and researcher I’ve worked with had similar tools.

Are there any areas for improvement?

No. We loved our experience with UX studio.

Please describe your company and your position there.

I’m the head of product at Campanda GmbH, a holiday website specialized in renting RVs for vacationers. We also create content and supply campers with information and tips about this style of travel. We don’t own a fleet of RVs but rather connect RV enthusiasts with everyday RV owners who want to rent out their vehicles.

For what projects/services did your company hire UX studio?

As search is a central part of the user’s journey to eventually renting out a vehicle, we felt that we needed to completely re-think and revamp this feature with the help of external professionals. We wanted to add new features to our search tool, while also applying the principles of material design from day one.

What were your goals for this project?

A specific goal was increasing the number of direct bookings/inquiries. We were also hoping that we would get to know our users better, thanks to the new research insights delivered by UX studio.

How did you select this vendor?

We had worked with UX studio before and were satisfied, so we came back.

Describe the project in detail.

UX studio wasn’t completely unfamiliar with the project, but we still wanted to provide them with as many insights as possible, so we sent them research documents in advance. We kicked off the project here in Berlin. Aside from clarifying the project’s goals and scope together, Mia (UX Researcher, UX studio) led stakeholder interviews (with users, other agencies etc.), while Anna (UX Designer, UX studio) spent quite some time with our in-house designer in planning their collaboration during the project.

Given that the project was based on material design principles and we had a short timeline, there was high-fidelity prototyping from the beginning. While the designers worked on the mobile and desktop prototypes, Mia led usability tests and tree-tested the search filtering system. She also started working on our new, updated user personas and provides ongoing UX audits.

What was the team composition?

UX studio was in direct collaboration with our CTO, me, and our in-house designer.

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

In the end, we received what we had signed up for, so we’re delighted. By the end of the six weeks, we received a high-fidelity, clickable prototype of the revamped and restructured search feature, that was based completely on user inputs gathered by the researcher. We got to these results much faster and efficiently than we would’ve on our own thanks to their extra design and research capacity and UX expertise.

How effective was the workflow between your team and theirs?

We were in continuous contact with the UX studio via Skype, Slack, and InVision throughout the project. They’d present results during our weekly meetings.

What did you find most impressive about this company?

We’ve had good experiences with UX studio before, so we weren’t surprised to see their professionalism and dedication once again.

Are there any areas for improvement?

Due to our short timeline, certain things we started together couldn’t be completed and fully followed up on.

Please describe your company and your position there.

Sport360 is a multimedia platform that covers local and international sports. We created Sport360.fit, an online fitness and health magazine for women that hosts Arabic and English content. I manage the sports and fitness content, and was also a member of the project team that designed Sport360.fit.

For what projects/services did your company hire UX studio?

We hoped to extend the Sport360 brand and reach more people who were interested in health, nutrition, exercise, and better living. We wanted to create a platform dedicated to this content and accessible on multiple devices. This would be the first magazine targeted at an audience in the United Arab Emirates. We imagined a platform with practical food tips, fitness tools, and expert resources to engage the community.

What were your goals for this project?

We wanted to create a platform that offered a unique, enjoyable reading experience with high-quality content. We knew that our value proposition was good and that demand for Arabic health and fitness content existed. We had a tight schedule and wanted to base the design on our user research. The quality of both the content and design was an important consideration. 

How did you select this vendor?

We wanted a UX company with experience designing for media outlets and the ability to deliver our expected results on a tight schedule.

Describe the project in detail.

UX studio handled the entire product design while communicating with our development team in Spain. Part of the UX studio team came to our headquarters for a kickoff. It was nice to meet them in person and ensure that they understood our company and objectives. 

After they updated the rest of their team about the plan and schedule, we began the project. Given the task's complexity, and the fact that they worked on multiple platforms simultaneously, weekly meetings weren't enough. To keep everyone updated, we held quick meetings with their project manager every morning.

What was the team composition?

The team included two or three people from Sport360, four designers and four researchers from UX studio, and several of our developers. We led the project and consistently communicated with everyone, but UX studio also talked to our developers regularly.

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

We were happy with the product and user feedback was positive. The final design had a young, fresh look. It's the only magazine of its kind in Dubai. UX studio steadily improved the prototype through user testing. They created an informative and user-friendly platform.

How effective was the workflow between your team and theirs?

Because of the large team, multiple time zones, and a short timeline, everyone had to work to create an ideal workflow. Coordinating this project was a challenge, but we eventually found tools and methods that worked well. The daily standups were extremely useful. UX studio was transparent; they involved us during every step of the process.

What did you find most impressive about this company?

We would definitely work with them again. UX studio is a young, dedicated, talented team that is ready to make a difference. They looked at everything with fresh eyes and brought new ideas to the table, which was useful. They were flexible and agile, and they lived up to our expectations. 

Are there any areas for improvement?

Everything worked well, so I cannot think of anything.

Please describe your company and your position there.

I’m the CEO of Xeropan. We’re a startup with a language-learning app that offers a game-based, AI-powered learning experience to users.

For what projects/services did your company hire UX studio?

We needed someone to redesign our mobile app and build a desktop version.

What were your goals for this project?

We mainly wanted to reduce churn rate and, in turn, increase user loyalty. Moreover, we were hoping that by improving onboarding it would be possible to enhance our users’ understanding and perspective of the whole app.

How did you select this vendor?

Our developers were supportive of hiring UX studio after working with them at another company.

Describe the project in detail.

The UX team went through a short preparatory period before kickoff so they were prepared from the very beginning. We discussed our main issues, goals, and scope at the first meeting, and based on that, we finalized a project plan. They started by testing our old app and analyzing our inputs and competitors, which helped refine the user journey.

After a week dedicated to sketching and concept testing, they created a prototype, which was tested and iterated over every week. We then decided to redesign the desktop landing page, which eventually led to us designing a whole new web app in the last three weeks of the project. They also gave us suggestions on measurements and possible future changes.

What was the team composition?

Two of their UX designers worked with our team.

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

Based on the outcomes of the latest tests, the final design and user flows are very good, navigation is more straightforward, and the whole app is easier to understand. There are lots of new functions, as well as a rationalized information architecture. Thanks to their supportive and helpful approach, we learned a great deal about UX.

How effective was the workflow between your team and theirs?

We spent a lot of time with the UX studio team, either gathering together in their Budapest office or online meetings, or talking on Slack. They were proactive, open to our ideas and feedback, and reacted to everything quickly. They were also transparent about every stage of the process.

What did you find most impressive about this company?

I was extremely happy that we chose UX studio and was absolutely satisfied with the results. It was fascinating to see how they worked. They were highly prepared, flexible, and consistent. and showed me how effective user research could be; all design decisions were backed by research, which was inspiring. I learned more about UX in these past few weeks than I ever had in my whole life. It makes me want to work with them again.

They came with a lot of UX design and research experience, and our team held a vast amount industrial and technical knowledge and data. The combination of these different backgrounds and areas of expertise created a synergy that helped us progress fast. They were attentive and flexible, adapting solutions to handle technical bottlenecks on the development side.

Are there any areas for improvement?

I cannot mention anything because I’m completely satisfied.

Please describe your company and your position there.

I’m one of the co-founders of a sidewalk navigation app startup called Route4U. We’re dedicated to making the world accessible for people with wheelchairs. Our app uses community-generated information to map out cities based on wheelchair accessibility and pedestrian infrastructure.

For what projects/services did your company hire UX studio?

We needed resources for a short-term project geared toward improving our app’s end-user experience. By the end of the project, we wanted a detailed prototype, a few design suggestions, and comprehensive user research.

What were your goals for this project?

We were collaborating with the City of Dublin as part of the Smart Dublin Project, which seeks to make city-wide pedestrian infrastructure more accessible. To do this, we needed to learn more about why our users used our app and sought ways to engage able-bodied people to use it, too.

How did you select this vendor?

Due to the nature of the project, we sought an agency that had a rigorous research process. UX studio had a good reputation, so we went with them.

Describe the project in detail.

Over a five-week period, UX studio gathered a large volume of user insights. They met with key stakeholders from the city council, conducting in-depth interviews with disabled people and representatives from associations that help them. They then mapped out the transportation problems that disabled people and their helpers faced on a daily basis.

Based on their research, they helped us identify business and user priorities for future development. They gathered all of their important insights and suggestions, including a value-impact matrix based on the Kano customer-satisfaction model, and presented them to us in a series of workshops.

Finally, they designed a prototype that included gamification elements to encourage able-bodied users to engage with our product. We plan to go over their prototype with our development team to execute changes to our app.

What was the team composition?

We worked closely with a UX designer and a UX researcher.

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

It was important to us that UX studio backed all of their suggestions with research. Despite the time constraints, they gave us significant insights for future development. The city council also appreciated working with them.

How effective was the workflow between your team and theirs?

It was easy to work with them. We had weekly meetings and communicated via Slack. They were transparent and involved us in the ideation and decision-making processes.

What did you find most impressive about this company?

They were able to use their research to help us prioritize our development. Furthermore, they worked quickly and challenged us with thought-provoking questions. We were satisfied with their design and suggestions but could have used even more of them.

Are there any areas for improvement?

It would be beneficial if UX studio suggested reading materials for their clients to ensure that they understood the reasoning behind their decisions. At times, I felt like I lacked the UX design experience to understand the root of our issues. It would have taken too long to explain everything during meetings, so I would have appreciated other learning resources.