Widelab

BACKGROUND

Please describe your company and your position there.

I'm the VP Marketing of Staircase AI.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

For what projects/services did your company hire Widelab?

This is the second company I hire Widelab for, as we had such a success working together in the past. On this project we created a new brand together, built our marketing website, and we work on an ongoing basis with the team.

SOLUTION

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

Previous experience.

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

We did a branding process that included brainstorming, inspiration boards, and then received some initial styles. We went with a direction and fine-tuned it together. On an ongoing basis we work on new pages, marketing templates and more.

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

We have our account manager, lead designer, 2 marketing designers, illustrator and animator.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

As part of an internal messaging research, we got very good feedback on our site's look and feel, that is accurately what we intended to get. We get many compliments.

How effective was the workflow between your team and theirs?

Very effective. The team is great to work with.

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

The Widelab team has everything you wish for a design agency to have: they are incredibly talented, dedicated to the project, have really good feedback and intuition. The team is also super fast in responding, building concepts and delivering designs.

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

I think the Widelab is great, and I see them as a long-term partner. Nothing to change.

BACKGROUND

Please describe your company and your position there.

I am the CMO of a multistage investment firm.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

For what projects/services did your company hire Widelab?

We hired wide lab to launch our new brand, which included a new logo, branding, website design and development.

SOLUTION

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

I had worked with Widelab in a previous role and they were fantastic - the team is creative, they are top notch for website and all digital, and development team is great.

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

For the branding work, we filled out a questionnaire and went through several rounds of logo design. Website work was a collaboration and we checked in weekly, and they were very understanding of copy edits, etc. We help weekly development meetings to get the site up and running un under 7 weeks.

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

We worked with 2 brand and design members, and 4 person website development team.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

We love our new logo and website, and have gotten tons of positive feedback already on the new look. We have great branding assets that will support our team in a period of growth for us.

How effective was the workflow between your team and theirs?

Calls and slack were great. We had a few hiccups between design and development not always being aware of my updates, but these were corrected very quickly.

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

The development team is super fast and very good. - made it very wasy to work with them despite the time difference.

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

The time difference is the only issue we had with getting things turned around quickly. Team still delivered in 48 - 72 hrs, but24 hrs turnaround not always possible.

BACKGROUND

Please describe your company and your position there.

I am the CEO of a software company. The company develops solution for trading and monitoring financial assets.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

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

We had two different projects. One involved rewriting our existing code to increase the speed of our software and lowering its CPU load.

The other involved improving our scanner that finds lucrative assets our software can use for trading. Both projects were a complete success. We substantially improved our scanning capabilities, increased our speed and lowered our CPU load by 90%!

SOLUTION

How did you select Widelab and what were the deciding factors?

We got a personal recommendation from our investor. Our main factors were level of developers (we conducted personal interviews) and communication abilities. Both were of the highest level

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

We had a kick-off meeting to discuss our goals and objectives. From there the team delivered a detailed development plan that included design and execution. We had short daily meetings to monitor progress and provide mutual feedback.

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

We worked with 3 developers and a team leader that provided internal code reviews and ongoing feedback.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

We had 90% increase in speed and more than 90% decrease in server load which is incredible. This enabled us to work with a much wider range of assets at a fraction of the cost.

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

We love the management style! They were hands-on and responsive. This was a very complicated project so when we ran into difficulties they they were very quick to help and resolved the issues very efficiently.

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

The level of developers. Super high end, smart, eager to learn. Full on professionals.

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

I can't think of anything they could have done better.

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m the head of growth for Vitally, a customer success platform that enables users to gather insight across various technology stacks and provide them with management and automation tools.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with Widelab?

We needed someone to provide us with UI/UX web development and graphic design.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

Widelab is integrated into our design process and serves as an extension of our internal team. They incorporate their project management systems into the project and essentially help build our landing pages and all sorts of UI-related tasks.

Apart from that, they’re also largely involved in our web and product design projects, which they work closely on with the engineering team.

What is the team composition?

We generally work with a project manager, UI/UX designers, and integrated developers.

How did you come to work with Widelab?

Our CEO came across their work on Dribbble and brought them on board as we were scaling up the product and engineering team.

How much have you invested with them?

We’ve invested around $100,000.

What is the status of this engagement?

Our ongoing partnership started in January 2021.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

Widelab has been an important partner in helping us scale our company to what it is today. Our growth trajectory for the past year has been quite rapid and it’s because of the resources they have in place for us.

How did Widelab perform from a project management standpoint?

On top of having a project management board, we communicate with them through a Slack channel so working with them has been smooth. They’re quick, responsive, and they consistently deliver high-quality products for us.

Furthermore, they’re solid when it comes to adhering to our budget and timelines.

What did you find most impressive about them?

We’re very impressed with their design skills, as they’re very well-rounded and consistent. 

Are there any areas they could improve?

One thing that they’ve been working on is standardizing their process so projects with clients can move smoothly from day one. 

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

Before initiating a partnership with them, I would suggest having a conversation with one of their project managers and closely looking at their portfolio. This is so you can clearly evaluate your needs and identify which area you want them to focus on.

BACKGROUND

Please describe your company and your position there.

I am a product owner for a bank.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

For what projects/services did your company hire Widelab?

We expect to roll out the project with a great UX/UI on the market that can reduce our questions and concerns from our customers. We suppose this UX/UI could tell the user how to use it without any extra document.

SOLUTION

How did you select this vendor?

We searched for online vendors who can provide the best UX/UI for our product. After several rounds of discussion with some vendors, we are satisfied with this vendor based on the company portfolio, design skill, communication, and approach to delivering the product.

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

Since we both are using agile methodology, the project was started and ended up with easy steps. First, we just explain our project goal and what we want to deliver to our customers. The vendor was working with their internal team, conducting the research, finding out the competitor advantage, and sharing the result within 2 weeks with few options for us. Then we meet, discuss and make decisions on the provided options. The iteration is repeated until the project close.

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

We worked directly with a project manager and UX/UI designers.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

They're doing a great job to deliver the product for us. We're pleased with that result. Even sometimes, we took a few iterations to complete a single point, they were still happy to manage it and provide the great output

How effective was the workflow between your team and theirs?

The vendor provided a fixed schedule to update the project status. Moreover, we can communicate with them in real-time whenever we need.

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

We like their work method, design skills, and the way they communicate.

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

As the customer, we do need to see more options before we can make decisions. Sometimes, we have only 2 options and it is not a complete set.

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m the CEO and founder of a startup, and we develop comprehensive cloud solutions.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with Widelab?

We wanted a new marketing website to address and to better expose our value proposition to customers, and we hired Widela to help us design our new branding and website.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

Widelab started by developing our brand book, color palette, and new logo. They created print materials, presentation templates, and business cards, too. Their main goal was to establish our brand’s look and feel. 

After that, they built our platform using Weblow. Using our branding as a reference, they designed the different pages of our interactive website using Figma. As for the features of our site, we required some special animations to be integrated, and we also wanted our site to be mobile-friendly.

Then, our internal team took care of all the content. Most of Widelab's work is done, but we constantly update and change things so we keep working with them.

What is the team composition?

We’re probably working with about 6–8 people, including developers, designers, and a product manager.

How did you come to work with Widelab?

One of their customers recommended them, and when we met them, we liked their approach. We saw that they were very agile and open to new ideas. On top of that, they quickly responded to us so from the very beginning we had a good connection with their team.

How much have you invested with them?

We’ve spent $30,000.

What is the status of this engagement?

We began working together in July 2021, and we continue to collaborate.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

They’ve done great work on our website. Overall, we’re very happy with our partnership’s results.

How did Widelab perform from a project management standpoint?

We work closely with them to let them know what we want to do. On that note, they’ve been very responsive and cooperative in implementing our preferences as well as in bringing new ideas to the table. We communicate through email and Google.

What did you find most impressive about them?

We find it very easy to work with them. As a result, we’ve already recommended them to potential customers.

Are there any areas they could improve?

No, they’re doing a great job.

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

If you have quick feedback loops on both sides, that will help you launch your website in a very quick time.

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m the CTO and co-founder of Vanti Analytics. We’re a startup AI predictive solution provider for manufacturers.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with Widelab?

We needed to upgrade our existing website.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

We initially discussed our design and functionality preferences with Widelab’s team and showed them our current platform. They relied on those findings when they built a rough draft, which they then turned into a web flow after securing our approval. Finally, Widelab integrated new graphic and technical components into a fully functional website.

What is the team composition?

Our main point of contact was Krystian (Founder & Managing Partner).

How did you come to work with Widelab?

A company that worked with Widelab’s team before strongly recommended them to us.

How much have you invested with them?

We spent between $20,000–$25,000.

What is the status of this engagement?

The project ran from December–February 2021.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

We didn’t focus on tracking quantifiable metrics. It was enough for us that Widelab succeeded in creating a customer-approved website that improved our digital presence and impressed our entire team.

How did Widelab perform from a project management standpoint?

We mainly communicated via email and Slack. Widelab provided accurate timeline estimates and responded to our queries and change requests in quick turnaround times — we had a straightforward engagement because of their proactive nature.

What did you find most impressive about them?

What stood out about their team was their ability to create a high-quality website that was similar to their drafts and addressed our exact design and development needs. Widelab showed great expertise through this project — we truly got what we paid for with their services.

Are there any areas they could improve?

They were perfect.

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

Have a clear understanding of your goals and actively help them visualize those.

BACKGROUND

Please describe your company and your position there.

PeerPal is an educational software company that helps schools to tell their unique stories by connecting their prospective families with members of their community. I was the founder and CEO of PeerPal from September 2019 until it was acquired in July 2021.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

For what projects/services did your company hire Widelab?

We were doing a complete overhaul of our client dashboard (what schools used to view analytics and manage their ambassador programs) and had Widelab lead the entire UI / UX design.

SOLUTION

How did you select Widelab?

We searched online using several different resources and then interview several firms. Widelab stood out for their design process and for the opportunity to work with them on a short design workshop before committing for the full project. Krystian was also super responsive and made it clear that we would be getting a high level of dedicated service from them.

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

We started with an intensive three day workshop where we did everything from discussing pain points to mapping out user stories to constructing a mood board. By the end of this workshop, Widelab was able to start constructing a rough UX prototype. This UX prototype went through several iterations based on feedback. Once this was finalized, work began on the UI screens the final deliverable.

There were opportunities to provide feedback at every stage of the process and Widelab was super responsive to our requests.

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

We had three main people that we worked with in addition to the founder, Krystian. We had a full time UX person working with us at the early stages and then had a UI designer working with us full time once we got to the UI stage. We also worked with their head of development at times to consult on how to implement their designs with our engineering team.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

The new UI was praised all around by our customers. It was a huge success!

How effective was the workflow between your team and theirs?

Very effective. We used a Slack channel as our primary means of communication. Updates were regular (usually daily) and their team was very flexible about hopping on calls whenever requested.

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

Their communication, flexibility, and intense desire to ensure the project was a success for us were impressive. They would regularly ask us about what outcomes we were hoping for and checked in to make sure that they were meeting our expectations. They were also incredibly efficient without compromising on quality.

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

Honestly, not really. I would (and hopefully will!) work with Widelab again.

BACKGROUND

Please describe your company and your position there.

I am the CEO of a SaaS startup in the United States. We make an enterprise software application used by fortune 500's, governments and any engineering firm.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

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

We needed to be able to scale up design, development, quality assurance quickly and also be able to scale back down and up again when need be.

SOLUTION

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

We selected Widelab based on their clear understanding of our needs and goals, their past performance, and price reasonableness.

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

The application we are creating is incredibly complex. We desired apple-like ease of use and a world-class design. We were blown away at Widelab's ability to understand our vision and help bring it to life. As a developer with 25 years of experience myself, this is easily the most complicated and complex project I've brought to life. We could not have done it without Widelab.

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

We worked with about 10 different people from project managers, designers, developers, to testers.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

With tough deadlines and intense technical challenges, the Widelab team felt like an extension of our own team to get us to each milestone.

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

Widelab is easy to communicate with. We used slack, zoom meetings, figma, jira, and weekly emails. We have very dynamic engagements.

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

If you want first-class software applications, we highly recommend Widelab.

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

None come to mind.

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m the CEO of Klarbi, an all-in-one travel platform.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with Widelab?

We were trying to find a good designer or design studio to redesign the entire app from scratch and carry out design and product enhancements.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

Although I only hired Widelab for the UX/UI redesign, they provided some extra animations, videos, After Effects prototypes, logo, branding, and more. It took about five months to redesign the entire app, and it was a pretty comprehensive scope because it included the customer and supplier sides.

To jumpstart the project, I had a previous design on Sigma, which I used to record a 50-minute video explaining every feature. I also provided a PowerPoint presentation with the style guide, including font style, colors, picture layouts, and more. Ultimately, Widelab delivered new Sigma files.

The app is an all-in-one platform. You can book your trip on one site instead of 20. It’s also collaborative, so you can share your trip with others and split payments between your travel companions. Those are the top functionalities.

What is the team composition?

I worked with two people. Michal (Senior Product Designer) was the designer, and there was someone else in charge of doing the animation video. She was the director of the animation and motion graphics team. She was the intermediary between the design team and me, so I didn’t meet them.

How did you come to work with Widelab?

Before I selected Widelab, I reached out to almost 50 design studios all over the world and did about 20 interviews. Out of those interviews, they were the ones that impressed me the most because they understood the product and what we needed. In addition, they were straightforward and very reasonable in their pricing.

Other than that, the most significant thing was the communication channels they had in place. Anything that I needed, they answered promptly after I submitted my request.

How much have you invested with them?

We spent about $40,000.

What is the status of this engagement?

We started working around January 2021, and we have an ongoing partnership. We’re in the process of raising funds right now, so after we launch and generate some revenue, we might get an in-house designer. For now, I definitely see us working with Widelab for at least another year or two.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

The redesign was awesome. If you compare the previous version of the product with this one, it’s just crazy. They did a fantastic job.

How did Widelab perform from a project management standpoint?

To be honest, I was surprised by the communication channels they had in place. Whether it was through email, text, or something else, they answered immediately. They never made us wait for more than an hour or so. Any sort of debate we had about design or budget, we would get an answer right away.

We mostly communicated through Slack, Zoom, and Loom.

What did you find most impressive about them?

It was their attention to detail. They just went forward with the details and really paid attention to every single aspect of the product. In the end, they over-delivered.

Are there any areas they could improve?

As an engineer, I understand that sometimes things take eight days instead of 4–6, but if they could be more precise with estimations, that would be great.

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

Communication is fundamental. Sometimes you might lose details because you only had one meeting or two. With Widelab, we had several meetings to talk and go into detail, which was the main difference from other vendors.