Wendy Bouis

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I am part of a team of people that are working on a technology that is going to improve the lives of a vast amount of people with disabilities. My stepdaughter has a very rare genetic illness and needs 24-hour care and a range of services that is incredibly difficult to access. I have seen firsthand how hard it is for her to survive each day.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with Wendy Bouis?

I needed someone to partner with us and our development team to brand and fill our platform with content and language.

Everyone has their own story with disabilities, and that is why it was so important to find a partner who is incredibly passionate. We were looking for someone who wouldn’t go down the path of using paternalistic language, which is very common in society regarding people with disabilities.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

I threw together our current website so we would have a presence online, but the site and message that Wendy has designed is incredibly nuanced. We feel that it does a good job of embodying how people with disabilities should be treated.

Wendy has also helped us develop the standard elements of digital graphic design: colors, mood boards, and palettes. She is very capable of handling the fundamentals.

Wendy has been profoundly interested throughout the project and has listened well to what we’re trying to achieve and who we’re trying to help. She’s also brought critical thinking skills to the table, breaking out of the cookie-cutter approach others have thanks to her work in various industries with many different-sized clients.

What is the team composition?

We deal directly with Wendy. She may have other people on her team, but she handles 100% of what we’re doing herself.

How did you come to work with Wendy Bouis?

We found Wendy through our development partner. For 10 years I have been trying to arrive at a solution, and this is the first iteration I’ve seen that is not about the money or any of the incentives that typically motivate people. We went through the process of trying to find the right person, considering agencies vs. freelancers, and they all were convinced that they knew what we needed and that they were the experts, even without knowing who we were trying to connect with. None of them listened to us and tried to understand the people we were trying to reach.

One of the most resounding things about talking with Wendy was her ability to ask meaningful questions, both initially and throughout the process, to make sure her work was accurate, or at least in the ballpark. She was far beyond all the other groups that we spoke with.

We looked through her body of work, and it connects with people in a way that I just don’t see being done as well as it could be in the US. I am fortunate to have traveled quite extensively, and when you see that parts of the world that think and communicate differently from you, it shows that no one has it down pat — we can all learn from each other. Wendy is incredibly good at allowing people to see and experience a message or advertising piece without talking down to them or trying to fool them.

Additionally, we needed team members who understood that people with disabilities can often feel isolated, forgotten, and ignored. My wife feels that the system was oppressively difficult to navigate and impacted her and my stepdaughters quality of life, so the people on our team need to possess a certain level of respect and equity for all people in society that is often lacking

On our call, Wendy immediately demonstrated that she understood the level of respect that we communicate with when talking to the people we assist. This was our main criteria in identifying a partner, which we gleaned from a broad range of people including advocates, patients, family members, doctors, or other people providing services. It is a very broad and contrasting group, and Wendy zeroed in on the tone immediately.

What is the status of this engagement?

We’ve been working together since July 2020. Once the website is up and running, we’ll continue to solicit Wendy’s input.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

I asked someone who runs a global advertising firm for input, and Wendy is already doing everything he told me to do. This speaks volumes about her and is a huge compliment. We’re positioned really well thanks to Wendy.

This is probably my shortcoming, but I have seen things come out differently than I want them to, especially with graphic design. Wendy brings back exactly what I ask for thanks to her ability to listen to what we say, ask questions, bring critical self-analysis to bear, and review the work. Even if we have differing views on a draft, I feel comfortable asking her to go in another direction, and I never feel that she’s being confrontational or communicating in a non-constructive way.

A half-hour phone call with Wendy changes the world. She understands what we want to see in the platform we’re building. We’ve been trying to move forward for years as a team, as the project is incredibly nuanced, and Wendy has delivered within a period of two months.

How did Wendy Bouis perform from a project management standpoint?

Project management has been exquisite the whole way through. Wendy is very responsive and communicative. We are not on a pressure-heavy timeline, and I am very clear about that, so she’ll let us know if she has a priority task from another client that she needs to focus on, and she’ll ask whether that would impact us. Rather than split her focus, homes-in on one client with incredible intensity. This consideration is appreciated because other vendors won’t tell you what is going on, which leads to the client feeling ignored and disillusioned.

Her transparency extends to telling us when she needs more time to think about a task or an idea. We prefer that she takes the time she needs, as we work in a complex space. This frankness is a rare skill in business and in life.

Wendy also handles communication with our development partner. I monitor what happens, but it isn’t my area of expertise, so I’m fine relinquishing some control to them. I trust both Wendy and our other partner enough that I’m happy to hand over some of the responsibility. Wendy is skilled with operational considerations like this.

Wendy does a huge amount of background work, often creating outside-the-box designs that she saves until needed. Eventually, I told her to go for broke on a strange or weird idea, and she showed me what she’d been saving. Her material is unquestionable.

What did you find most impressive about them?

In addition to doing all the things you would expect of someone providing these services, Wendy is also operationally minded. One of the biggest risks in dealing with people outside your business is that they don’t have a long-term view in mind. They can often provide something that has the look and feel of your brand, but that’s only part of the process. Wendy went far beyond that and identified aspects that might be important to people, and that is tough to do.

I have had the opportunity to work with a whole range of different firms and industries, and the results here receive full marks across the board from everyone involved, including our whole advisory team.

Wendy is genuine as a person. She invests in the people in our business and not just the business itself. If there were more people like this in business, I think the world would look a little different.

Are there any areas they could improve?

I don’t have anything to state, which is a function of us finding the right person. There will be a natural disconnect if you work with the wrong person, leading to criticism, constructive or otherwise. Those things don’t exist in our relationship with Wendy because she is a good communicator and is operationally minded. Additionally, she understands how the work she does affects every area of our business: market research, talking with advocates and corporate users, etc. We don’t bump heads with her about anything.

If we did this project again, and this is a limitation of the COVID-19 pandemic we’re living in, then I would love to meet Wendy face to face. I would love for Wendy to have been able to meet my stepdaughter and the rest of our team, too.

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

Picking up the phone and talking with Wendy for 15 minutes or even half an hour is crucial. I know people love writing emails, but having that be the extent of your communication is a real failure. Hopping on the phone will get you results that exceed anything you think might happen.