Yellowchalk Design

BACKGROUND

Please describe your company and your position there.

Trillbit is a Techstars (investors in unicorns like Uber, Sendgrid, Digital Ocean, etc.) & a Cisco-backed startup building the “Internet of Sound”. The software-only solution can be integrated with any app, website, or device. Trillbit can convert any existing speaker into a data transmitter and any device with a microphone into a data receiver.

I am the Founder and CPO at Trillbit. An alumnus of IIT Kharagpur & worked as a Senior research acoustic imaging scientist, Schlumberger, Houston. I am passionate about products and oversee continuous improvement and expansion of our technology into different product areas.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

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

We wanted a well-rounded and seamless UX and attractive mobile app UI design for our IoT product. We wanted to create a stable, highly-scalable, and well-developed/designed application. We wanted the mobile app to be intuitive and user-friendly, and at the same time wanted to have the consistency of elements throughout the app.

SOLUTION

How did you select Yellowchalk Design and what were the deciding factors?

I found them through a search on Google for the best design agencies in our niche. I was reviewing a number of different organizations, and Yellowchalk impressed me most because of their diverse domain expertise and projects they had delivered.

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

We had a discovery call, and were initially rather far apart in terms of cost. However, we knew their premium rates came at the promise of great designs and were able to agree to a model and budget that worked for both parties. They were very accommodating that way to find solutions to work together and help us.

The initial design was awesome and hit the brief on the head. However, as with all passionate brand owners, we requested a few more iterations than initially planned - Rajiv and the team at Yellowchalk went over and above to continue to deliver until we had everything just right.

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

A small team was involved from Yellowchalk's side, which was very helpful. At previous agencies we have worked with, we have been assigned a project manager who is a world away from the head of the company that pitched to us. This was not the case at all with Yellowchalk.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

Their expert insight added value for internal stakeholders. Now, I understand how users will interact with my platform and how to improve that experience.

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

We worked with the CEO and a senior designer to build the vision. It was very helpful that the CEO remained involved from start to finish, and the designer did not change throughout the process. The team at Yellowchalk also collaborated with our development team, which was a very successful pairing.

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

1. Communication. Yellowchalk had a strong focus on understanding our product, and an equally strong focus on making sure that we understood them and what they were doing. This was so important in an area that we did not have expertise in, and in an industry where technological ignorance is often taken advantage of. Yellowchalk wanted us to understand what was important and why, and they were able to explain that in a non-technical way that we could absorb and react to as a business.
2. The Team. Yellowchalk is made up of some very talented, hard-working, and genuinely nice people. As a company, we trusted them and they did not disappoint. It was a real pleasure to work with them.
3. The Work Ethic. The team was incredibly hard-working and no change or idea was too much or inconvenient for them.
4. The Design. The design ability of the team is a strong asset for the company and combined with the technical ability of the company it is a rare find.

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

In all honesty, we do not feel there were any significant areas for improvement. We had no complaints, but very high standards and these were met and more.

BACKGROUND

Please describe your company and your position there.

I am the COO at a fintech startup focused on optimising consumer debt

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

For what projects/services did your company hire Yellowchalk UI/UX Design Studio?

We hired YellowChalk to design our minimum viable product and create the UX and UI foundations for our product pipeline. In addition, they also helped us design our website.

What were your goals for this project?

We wanted an easy-to-use, functional and aesthetically well-designed MVP.

SOLUTION

How did you select this vendor?

After much online research, we shortlisted and interviewed 5 vendors. YellowChalk stood out because of their unique and modern take on product design.

Describe the project in detail.

Project scope included understanding our core market, understanding the product's vision and then designing the solution. It was approached in stages - from initial rough, wireframes to the final polished UI.

YellowChalk produced the assets at each stage, while our team was involved in organising user feedback interviews and surveys to assess the design's effectiveness.

What was the team composition?

Team involved 3 people from YellowChalk - the Principal Designer, a UX / UI designer and an illustrator

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

After several user feedback sessions (interviews and surveys), it's evident that the design and aesthetics of our product continues to standout. This is encouraging as we continue to partner with them in the run up to product launch.

How effective was the workflow between your team and theirs?

We had daily calls to assess progress and resolve any blockers. In addition, collaboration continued throughout the workday using Slack. Overall, I would say communication was very effective. The team was always available to help.

What did you find most impressive about this company?

They were very interested in understanding our market, competition, design aesthetic, and the results we were aiming for. They were confident, flexible, and genuinely excited to do great work.

As a company, they are driven by much more than just the commercial aspects of their business. In contrast, most other vendors were quite focused on selling their own success story as opposed to understanding our unique problem.

Are there any areas for improvement?

They are a hardworking team, but they could improve their services further by creating a more robust time-tracking or effort estimation framework

BACKGROUND

Please describe your company and your position there.

I am the CEO of Freshpep, which offers organic products at 10 to 50% of retail prices.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

For what projects/services did your company hire Yellowchalk?

We hired them to redesign the website. We had them work on both UI and UX design work.

What were your goals for this project?

We wanted to see our traffic double by the end of the year, and we wanted to ingrate our landing page conversions. We also needed the website to be easy to update on our end, so we were interested in a simple and user-friendly platform.

SOLUTION

How did you select this vendor?

We have researched on LinkedIn and shortlisted candidates based on a custom vetting process.

Describe the project in detail.

We had series of discovery meetings in which we discussed our goals and objectives. Within the first two weeks, we received mockups and 3 initial designs for the main page on the site. After few iterations and discussions with our marketing team, we finalized the design and provided feedback on how we wanted the rest of the site to look.

What was the team composition?

Our team consists of Rajiv [Co-Founder & CEO, Yellowchalk] and Pooja [Co-Founder & Design Strategist, Yellowchalk] who are very talented UI and UX designers.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

We achieved our conversion goals. Our customer research since the re-design has shown us that our website's user experience has tremendously improved.

How effective was the workflow between your team and theirs?

The workflow was very effective.

What did you find most impressive about this company?

I was blown away by their attention to detail; they took ownership of the product and always ensured that their deliveries were on-time.

Are there any areas for improvement?

I'd hate to be too picky.

BACKGROUND

Please describe your company and your position there.

I am a co-founder of Goalwise, India's first online goal-based mutual fund investment platform. We launched our online service in 2016 and now have more than 10,000 users due to our product, UI/UX, and customer support. 

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

For what projects/services did your company hire Yellowchalk?

Yellowchalk designed our Android app and web app.

What were your goals for this project?

We wanted the apps to provide a clean, straightforward, and smooth UI/UX that’s distinct from boring, conventional investment websites and apps. This goal was especially challenging because of KYC [know your customer] requirements and the limited financial awareness about mutual funds in India. 

SOLUTION

How did you select this vendor?

We made a list of reputable UI/UX firms in Bangalore by searching on Google and asking friends for recommendations. We went through each firm’s design portfolio and shortlisted about 10 companies to contact. After the call, we met with the top 5 or 6 firms to discuss our project and to gauge their understanding and experience with related products. Finally, we settled on 2 finalists, Lollypop and Yellowchalk. We gave both companies a small proof-of-concept [POC] task based on a use case. We liked Yellowchalk's POC and hired them, which turned out to be an excellent decision.

Describe the project in detail.

We were building our Android app from scratch. It needed to have everything—onboarding, KYC registration, investments, goal tracking, redemption, and recurring investments. At the same time, we also wanted to re-do our existing website’s UI to highlight new and existing features and simplify the navigation. My internal team mostly handled content and user research, but Yellowchalk had complete responsibility for the design part.

Yellowchalk was tasked with understanding the use cases, making wireframes, and then creating full-fledged designs. During development, they also supported design iterations as needed based on developer feedback. After the app’s release, they implemented changes based on also user feedback.

What was the team composition?

Rajiv [Founder & CEO, Yellowchalk] acted as our primary UX designer as well as the main point of contact. Additionally, we were assigned 1–2 UI resources and an illustrator. Yellowchalk gave us access to resources for every type of work we needed.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

Our biggest measures of success are app reviews and user feedback (e.g. NPS [Net Promoter Score] surveys, Facebook reviews). Currently, the Goalwise Android app has a rating of 4.6 and more than 5,000 downloads. Most of our users find the Goalwise website and app easier to use than our competitors’ platforms, which allowed us to achieve sustained organic growth and a strong reputation. Through working with Yellowchalk over the past year, our user base has grown by a factor of 4 without any marketing campaigns on our part.

How effective was the workflow between your team and theirs?

Rajiv was often accessible, and other team members also responded promptly. We had many face-to-face meetings whenever we needed to brainstorm or launch new features.

What did you find most impressive about this company?

They produce excellent designs. The Yellowchalk team is hardworking and, most importantly, will keep improving the design until they are happy with the outcome. On a few occasions, even after we’d approved a design, they still spent time making it better. Whenever needed, they’re also able to deliver on short notice. I felt that they truly cared about our product.

Are there any areas for improvement?

They could expand their services to include user research (although I don't think any design agency in India does user research well, regardless of their claims). Apart from that, I am happy with their work. 

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I am a co-founder and the director of a start-up company based in Bangalore, India. 

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with Yellowchalk?

We needed to build our web portal, including UI [user interface] wireframes and design architecture. We wanted to keep the site simple and intuitive and give it a truly international look and feel. 

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

Yellowchalk developed everything from scratch, conceptualizing the site’s UI from the ground up. They also designed our logo and provided branding guidelines.

What is the team dynamic?

We used InVision for sharing designs, along with our views and comments on them. As I remember, we had a team of 3 people: a UI specialist, a graphic designer, and a technology person.

How did you come to work with Yellowchalk?

They came to us through a reference. We saw what Yellowchalk had done for a couple other clients, which was a strong point. We also had discussions in order to understand where they came from and what their ideas were. Flexible pricing was also important for us. We did consider and speak to a few other providers and finally decided on Yellowchalk.

How much have you invested with them?

The cost of the work was around $10,000.

What is the status of this engagement?

We started working with Yellowchalk in July or August 2015. The project ended around November or December of that year. 

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

I don’t have metrics to share, but we’re definitely happy with what Yellowchalk provided in terms of designs and guidelines for putting together the web pages and the wiring behind them.

How did Yellowchalk perform from a project management standpoint?

This is an area where they can improve a bit. When we first started talking with Yellowchalk, they had no concept of project management. A more established company and project organization would start with a statement of work and scope out the whole thing, detailing technical specifications, deliverables, and so forth. We had to teach them all these things and introduce a new philosophy to their company. Yellowchalk was not used to a corporate style of working, but rather an Agile one. They were directed to put everything down in terms of the schedule and project plans and stick to it. They needed some hand holding at that point in time, but they have since incorporated this structure into their work style and are doing far better with other clients.

One of the resources had to rush home for an emergency, to a far-away location. This affected the whole project and led to a delay.

What did you find most impressive about them?

Despite not having a project plan in place, Yellowchalk still showed commitment. They stuck to our dates and were open to constructive criticism. If we didn’t like something and wanted to change it, Yellowchalk was flexible in response to every request.  

They also have a robust network and provided connections to other experts and professionals, which we needed for our startup. This was an unexpected bonus.

Are there any areas they could improve?

There is always more to learn about the technology and designs they incorporate, as things are changing constantly. New technologies, styles, and formats will be a part of Yellowchalk’s continuous learning process.

BACKGROUND

Please describe your company and your position there.

I am the founder of Invincible-Woman.com

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

For what projects/services did your company hire Yellowchalk Design?

For designing the company logo, brand, brochure and now planning to hire them for web design and UI/UX

What were your goals for this project?

I wanted to created a design that conveyed the brand essence and create a seamless design for my users

SOLUTION

How did you select Yellowchalk Design?

Had known Rajiv and seen his work for my earlier startup Watsimp

Describe the project in detail.

Had a couple of discovery discussions with the designer. Then the designer created multiple options and mockups. Feedback was incorporated after every iteration and then final design was agreed upon

What was the team composition?

It comprised of the designer, Rajiv and me

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

I have already got new clients and feedback on the design from multiple stakeholders (100% positive)

How effective was the workflow between your team and theirs?

It worked very well

What did you find most impressive about this company?

Rajiv and the team have really great design sensibilities and they always think of the user. Very professional and high ownership

Are there any areas for improvement?

Can't think of any