We design and build innovative digital experiences
We are a 300+ person digital design and development studio bringing Silicon Valley to our clients worldwide. We pride ourselves on being agents of change, helping startups and Fortune 500 clients become industry leaders with innovative digital solutions.
headquarters
other locations
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745 5th Avenue, 19th FlNew York, NY 10151United States
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626 N Illinois StIndianapolis, IN 46204United States
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150 Old Airport Road, Diamond District, Tower B, Lower Ground Floor,Bengaluru, KA 560008India
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Portfolio
Universal Music Group, State Farm, Home Depot, HCA, Clover, PayPal, Molekule, Staples, First Republic Bank, Credit One, dosist, Google, Facebook, Apple, Disney, L'Oreal, North Face, Amex, EMC
How we helped make PayPal mobile-first.
As mobile eats the world, Paypal wanted to transform. Working closely with Paypal's engineering team, we re-engineered their app to become a mobile-first payments engine.
The new PayPal app focuses on sending and receiving money. Notification cards alert you when you've received funds, and a list of recently paid people and businesses speed up common payments.
Easily pay bills, or friends, and send money to anyone, anywhere with simple quick-buttons and a streamlined transaction flow.
Upon receipt, a card-based notification alerts you to the successful completion on the transaction. And a simple activity feed helps you keep track of all your account activity.
Now with over 19.5 million businesses and 250 million customers using PayPal mobile, it processes more than $200 billion in transactions every year. It is ranked the #1 app in finance and is rated one of the top 100 apps by Apple in 2017.
How State Farm helps life go right for customers nationwide.
Insurance doesn't have to be complicated — neither does banking.
But when State Farm covers one in six cars on the road, offers life insurance, home insurance, and full-service banking, that’s a big ask for a single app. YML was brought in to distinguish State Farm's digital experience from any, and every, other App in the space.
Not only did we deliver an original strategy and design, we ensured State Farm’s digital experience, specifically their mobile App, lived up to their brand promise — here to help life go right®.
By combining banking and insurance, the App takes on two of life's biggest needs with an eye-catching, customer-centric design. The app empowers customers to deposit a check, pay their insurance bill, request roadside assistance, file and track claims, and much more…all from their phone, when and where they choose.
Developed using Android and iOS best practices, the app features many breakthrough innovations, such as a photo damage estimator that lets drivers take a picture of their damaged vehicle, which is then used to write an estimate; a claims AI-driven chatbot to guide them through the claim filing process; proof of insurance cards available without even logging in, and a quoting process comparing creative policy options.
YML is proud to have helped millions of people every day.
How we revolutionized the omni-channel shopping experience for Home Depot
Leading national retailer wanted to improve their omnichannel shopping experience.
The challenge was to reimagine what it means for customers to shop whether at home, on their phone, or in aisle at a local Home Depot.
We designed a mobile experience that seamlessly bridges the gap between online and offline, increasing engagement by contextualizing the customer experience.
Our product strategy team worked closely with Home Depot executives and analysts to understand business challenges, customers' decision making processes and barriers to purchase. We segmented customers into cohorts, each governed by their own specific needs. After testing prototypes across all groups in various stores, we were able to validate our solutions and design unique experiences for use cases across the customer journeys.
Within a year of release, sales through their mobile app more than doubled with every transaction on mobile influencing multiple orders in store.
They were also the recipient of the Innovative Retail Technologies Award for best omnichannel retail solution of 2016.
How Clover Go has become an open ecosystem for point-of-sale payments.
Take payments, manage inventory and track sales — all using your phone. With Clover Go, we want to empower business owners to run their daily operations from anywhere, at any time.
Poor connection or no connection — it won’t cause a hiccup in your sales. With Clover Go’s Offline mode, continue to take payments without worry. When you go back online, they will automatically be processed.
Whatever you do on your Clover Go — create orders, process transactions or apply discounts — it all seamlessly syncs with the other Clover devices, so you’re always on top of your business no matter where you are.
Link to Clover case study: https://ymedialabs.com/project/clover
How We Designed and Developed The Digital Experience For a Category Leader
dosist — recognized as the #2 Hottest Startup by Linkedin (2019), one of Fast Company’s Most Innovative Companies (2018), and a Time Magazine Invention of the Year (2016) — tapped YML to design and develop a premium, polished website, like nothing else in the category.
The award-winning health and wellness company is best known for its proprietary delivery device, the dose pen by dosist, which is designed to ensure a safe, controlled and accurate dose each and every time. YML experimented with a variety of approaches, eager to produce an original, premium digital experience for this very new, taboo ridden, and not federally-legal category. Throughout the work, our goal was to ensure dosist’s customer experience, both digitally and physically, aligned with the brand’s ethos for years to come. It was critical the design and storytelling worked seamlessly to illuminate how the brand’s narrative was not about cannabis; it was about wellness and empowering people to manage their health and happiness.
The greatest brands transcend their categories, and dosist, despite being just three years old, is well on it’s way.
Link to case study: https://ymedialabs.com/project/dosist
How this new website helped C3.ai make enterprise AI simple.
C3.ai helps enterprise customers deploy, scale, and achieve digital transformation through AI software. The challenge: design a website as simple and innovative as the product itself.
C3.ai's technology transforms big enterprise companies. However, the website wasn't clear what C3.ai does and the value it offers. Focusing on simple content and clear design, we made a site that was simple and easy to understand.
The experience centers on C3.ai's customers — their industry, their role, and how C3.ai can help them find solutions to their business problems. Testimonials, product demos, and case studies make C3.ai easier to understand and imagine in action.
By introducing a flexible design system and responsive modules, we have created a future-forward platform for C3.ai. And it's not every day a Silicon Valley legend — like Tom Siebel — takes time to say thank you.
Link to C3.ai case study: https://ymedialabs.com/project/c3
How Epson's Moverio AR glasses have enabled a new, safer way to fly drones
Flying a drone is tricky. And it’s made more difficult when the pilot has to look down at the controls on their phone or tablet, breaking the line of sight with the drone, and risking crashing thousands of dollars of equipment.
Idea
Bringing together EPSON’s smart glasses, and DJI’s drone technology, we created SoAR: a revolutionary drone flying experience. The SoAR app gives pilots control of their drone through the Moverio smart glasses. The augmented reality interface for the glasses lets pilots maintain line of sight with their drone without losing any information about their drone. The EPSON & DJI SoAR app gives pilots full control of their drone through the interface of the Moverio smart glasses. The AR interface lets pilots maintain line of sight with their drone without losing any information about their drone.
Impact
DJI has become the market leader in easy-to-fly drones and aerial photography systems. After a number of successful engagements, we are now their preferred partner for 3rd party experiences using DJI drones.
Molekule
As the air in our cities gets more polluted, Molekule is on a mission to improve indoor air quality for everyone, in every home. The first intelligent air purifier of its kind, our goal was to create a digital experience for Molekule, that is as smart and simple as the device itself.
Idea
An adaptive experience that learns, and adjusts the more you use it. Using our machine learning algorithms, Molekule understands patterns and preferences, optimizing for every household, even without the app. The Molekule companion app adds to the experience, giving customers unique insights into the quality of the air they breathe. Beautiful, elegant, and easy to use, we wanted people to know that Molekule was one of a kind.
Impact
Crowned the Edison Award Winner in February 2017, Molekule was named one of 2017’s most innovative products by Time Magazine, alongside the iPhone X and the Tesla Model 3. Now on its fourth release, it has once again sold out in a matter of hours.
Chef'd
Chef’d is the first meal kit service that doesn’t require a subscription. Instead, as the name implies, Chef’d aims to connect you with chefs, brands and communities centered around food. Understanding that food is incredibly personal, we wanted to create and experience that brings Chef’d’s distinct value proposition of ‘choice’ to life.
Idea
An e-commerce website, mobile application, and AI recommendation engine helps customers discover and purchase meal kits by chefs, brands, and filter options — e.g. vegetarian or meat; family-friendly or date night. And, Alexa voice integration lets you order meal kits when your elbow deep in food preparation.
Customers can order any meal at any time using the app, the website, or Alexa and Google Home — all designed and built by YML.
Impact
By differentiating Chef’d and creating loyalty through personalization and user experience, gross sales increased by 30% within the first month.
First Republic Bank
Walk into a First Republic Bank and you will feel the difference: premium, high-touch, white glove, its a bank like no other. Our goal was to create a mobile experience with the same level of concierge-like service.
Idea
High touch and high-tech, the new First Republic app puts service in the palm of your hand. From managing investments, to depositing checks, and syncing with other bank accounts, the application includes all the features of a best-in-class banking experience, with the First republic Bank’s unique brand of service. It even includes native AI services, like Siri and Google Assistant, so customers can check their balance or pay a bill without opening the app. Digital banking now offers everything from managing investments to depositing a check. The First Republic mobile app allows customers to view account balances from their other banks, making sure they’re financially aware, wherever they are.
Impact
Built from the ground up by YML, the app gives First Republic Bank full control of their technology without having to rely on 3rd parties. And, thanks in part to the digital overhaul, the First Republic Bank now has a better Net Promoter Score than Amazon.
Klub - Staples
Klub is online wholesale shopping made easy, with huge deals on new boxed products in categories ranging from home essentials, health and beauty products to office essentials with free two day shipping on most products.
Nom Nom Paleo
Working with the Nom Nom team, YML translated the rich content into an immersive experience that transforms each recipe into a retinal-optimized visual feast. The best selling app has been recognized by Saveur Magazine as the Best Special Diets Food Blog of 2012, top 3 finalist for Best Cooking App in the 5th Annual Best App Ever Awards, and winner of the 2014 People’s Choice Webby Award.
EMC - Syncplicity
To streamline the file browsing process, YML introduced a novel 'sheet stack' interface that allows users to quickly drill down to their files without losing the context of their path. Coined “beauty and brains,” Syncplicity has jumped to 4.5 stars on the App Store and has been featured on CNBC in addition to VentureBeat. Launched at EMC World to rave reviews, the release of the iOS app has set the stage for Syncplicty to take the lead in the next evolution of the cloud file sharing industry.
Intro to Letter - iPhone App Featured in iOS Commercial
★ Intro to Letters featured in the Apple iPad commercial and Apple's Best Apps!
★ Learn to trace, read, write and record letter sounds, names, and phonograms, based on the proven methodology of Montessori. Supports English (US & UK), French, and German languages.
✔ LETTER SOUNDS (Lowercase Letters)
Learn the sounds of the letters, in a series of guided, interactive exercises. With an emphasis on phonetics, instead of letter names, your child will trace and select the letters.
✔ PHONOGRAMS
Through a number of engaging activities, your child will learn the sounds of the phonograms, and unite these with their symbols.
✔ FLASHCARDS
Connect the sounds of the lowercase letters with their uppercase counterparts, in a series of dynamic presentations.
✔ LETTER NAMES (Capital Letters)
The objective of this activity is to acquire a knowledge of the names and symbols of the capital letters.
✔ SOUNDCARDS
A special recording section to help your child learn sounds, phonograms and names. (Not compatible on the iPod Touch, due to lack of microphone.)
YOUR CHILD WILL LEARN:
✔ Basic foundations of language
✔ To read, write and understand letters from a-z
✔ Lowercase letter symbols and their sounds (phonics)
✔ Phonograms - writing and pronunciation
✔ Capital letters - letter names, writing and pronunciation
✔ Consonants and vowels
✔ Fine motor skills
Alpha Writer - iPhone App
YOUR CHILD WILL LEARN:
✔ Basic foundations of language
✔ To read, write and spell phonetically
✔ Identify consonants and vowels
✔ Phonograms - writing and pronunciation
✔ Letter sounds, pronunciation and composition
✔ How to compose, identify and spell phonetic words
✔ To write, create and read stories
✔ Fine motor skills
This is a universal app designed for the iPad, iPhone and iPod Touch.
✔ PRACTICE WRITING AND READING
Utilizing fun and unique illustrations by Zeptonn, your child will practice writing and reading, in a series of self-directed and engaging activities. Simply choose an object to write, then select the letters that compose the word.
✔ CREATE YOUR OWN STORY
Let loose in this creative writer's sandbox. Learning how to write, create and ultimately read, your child has the opportunity to construct stories, through illustrations, letters and sounds.
THE TESTED AND PROVEN PHILOSOPHY BEHIND ALPHA WRITER
In Montessori, writing comes before reading. This is because writing is the expression of your own thoughts, whereas in reading, you must identify the letters placed in formation to comprise a word of someone elses choosing. For children just learning their letter sounds, this can be an extremely difficult and frustrating task. We're hoping to help alleviate that with Alpha Writer. The moveable alphabet was created for children who have the a
Wordstr - iPad App
Wordstr is a word search game, in which the hidden word can determined by the process of elimination, using logic and deduction.
Sat down and play a round and soon it was 40 minutes later. Great game to pick up and play. Very challenging and made me think. Two modes are nice too.
I love word games, but this one just drove me up the wall. It is a little like the game show "Lingo", except that this game will only tell you if you have the correct letters, not if they are in the right place.
Reviews
the project
Mobile App Development for Financial Services Platform
"The conversation was not about how good they are; it was about how we could solve the problem."
the reviewer
the review
A Clutch analyst personally interviewed this client over the phone. Below is an edited transcript.
Introduce your business and what you do there.
I work for Bill.com, which operates in the business payment space. We help businesses manage their payables and receivables. I am the director of user experience, and I’m the mobile product lead.
What challenge were you trying to address with Y Media Labs?
There’s a need for our customers to manage their payables and receivables while on the go. Many businesses operate outside the office today, which means they need access to their payment information at all times. Having a good mobile solution to go together with our online offering, was critical to us. We engaged with Y Media Labs to help us build a portfolio of mobile applications.
What was the scope of their involvement?
The engagement with Y Media Labs has been primarily around the development of our mobile offerings. From the strategy, product management, and user experience points of view, these are things that we handle at Bill.com. Y Media Labs handled the development and quality assurance of that effort. The mobile apps are currently available only for iOS and Android smartphones, and they are fully native applications.
How did you come to work with Y Media Labs?
We went through a process of vetting Y Media Labs against several other companies that operate in the same space. Y Media Labs clearly stood out for a few reasons. One was the team involved, from the CEO down to the project manager assigned to us, appeared to be extremely strong in experience and client references. One thing that stood out to me was that they made us feel very comfortable about working with them. The conversation was not about how good they are; it was about how we could solve the problem. They immediately had several ideas, and it seemed that they would be a good partner.
How much have you invested with Y Media Labs?
We’ve invested about $2 million.
What is the status of this engagement?
We began our engagement in October or November of 2014, and the relationship is ongoing.
Could you share any evidence that would demonstrate the productivity, quality of work, or the impact of the engagement?
I can’t share exact data. Given the context of how we promote our mobile offerings, and how our customers have access to use our mobile apps, we have seen a great deal of engagement with both applications. The iOS audience is larger than Android, so there’s more activity there.
The feedback from users is very positive. The usability is very high, especially for a business application. Over time, we’ve been able to improve that even further.
How did Y Media Labs perform from a project management standpoint?
The majority of the resources on the iOS team are in the U.S., and we have the same project manager for both the iOS and Android teams. However, the developers for Android are offshore. The iOS team has been excellent throughout our relationship. They’re responsive, and the team is on top of things. For Android, we had a few hiccups; however, the PM was strong in helping to resolve issues that came up due to the offshore nature of the development. We’ve reached a stage now that is much better. We typically use email for communication, and we use Slack for development tasks. We also have in-person sessions.
What did you find most impressive about Y Media Labs?
The main difference is their focus on building a great customer experience. It’s not just about developing or building an app; Y Media Labs really goes above and beyond to work with the client to ensure that the final user experience is great. To this end, they work with best practices and prior experience to improve our offering. We haven’t been able to leverage some of their units around more strategic planning and UX [user experience], but that’s an area where they are strong. In the future, we’ll be engaging more with them on those fronts.
Are there any areas Y Media Labs could improve?
Their model of offshore development is an area where Y Media Labs could improve. From our experience, there’s a clear distinction between how their U.S. operations work compared to their offshore operations.
the project
Native App Development for National Bank
"Y Media Labs has been flexible in accommodating our struggles."
the reviewer
the review
A Clutch analyst personally interviewed this client over the phone. Below is an edited transcript.
Introduce your business and what you do there.
We are a national bank in the business of issuing credit cards to US consumers.
I am the digital marketing manager of the bank. I focus on acquiring new customers through digital channels and managing their digital experience once they become members. I also manage the frontend development of our app and websites.
What challenge were you trying to address with Y Media Labs?
We did not have a mobile app nor the in-house expertise for developing one. We went through a process of finding the right partner for this task and landed on Y Media Labs.
We had heard a lot about soft business goals which a mobile app could solve, and also received a lot of feedback from card members who were requesting one for the convenience of being able to easily manage their accounts and make payments through smart devices. This will ultimately be reflected in general customer satisfaction, which we'll have to monitor over time.
What was the scope of their involvement?
Y Media Labs solved the problem of delivering an iOS and Android app to our card members. They helped us launch the initial version of the app and have continued to deliver enhancements to it.
Y Media Labs is also delivering an easier-to-use site for people applying to our credit card program on the web.
How did you come to work with Y Media Labs?
We liked the fact that Y Media Labs seemed to be somewhat smaller and more focused on app development than other agencies. They seemed to be hungrier to engage in our business and give us additional attention and had developed mobile apps for a couple of players in the financial services space.
How much have you invested with Y Media Labs?
The cost of Y Media Labs' work has been above $1 million.
What is the status of this engagement?
We started working with Y Media Labs a year-and-a-half ago. We continue to work with them on the development of our apps, as well as other projects.
Could you share any evidence that would demonstrate the productivity, quality of work, or the impact of the engagement?
The main thing Y Media Labs needed to deliver was a mobile app. It has been downloaded about one million times by our card members, and it's been well reviewed in the Apple Store, with the most recent version having a 4.6 rating. That is as good as or better than any other credit card app out there. On Google Play, we have a 4.5 rating, only being surpassed by one or two other credit card companies. We've been pleased with the reception from our members, and with the app's download and usage count.
How did Y Media Labs perform from a project management standpoint?
Overall, Y Media Labs has been flexible in accommodating our struggles to develop APIs and engage with a new type of technology. They coached us in order to build a more onshore component of our team from Y Media Labs. There may be companies with offshore teams which are easier to engage with, but this is one thing that Y Media Labs is working on establishing. There have been some positive results.
What did you find most impressive about Y Media Labs?
Y Media Labs is flexible and customer oriented. They are good at listening and adjusting course based on our direction. They also have strong expertise in their specific space, delivering a simple and easy-to-use app, with some good design principles behind it. These are the key things that made Y Media Labs a successful partner.
Are there any areas Y Media Labs could improve?
There have been times when communication was not perfect. It was difficult to understand the back-and-forth exchange with Y Media Labs' more junior management team, and it was also difficult at times to get in touch with the team as frequently as we'd have wanted to. This was a result of us primarily engaging with Y Media Labs' offshore team, so we're working on putting a bigger onshore component in place. These were either misunderstandings or the result of an inability to engage in communication as frequently as we wanted to.
We struggled with being in a different time zone. The overlap was only a couple of hours per day, which slowed us down at times. Y Media Labs' offshore teams work hard, but they're also conscious of not working over weekends. This is good for the morale of the developers, but we mainly want results most of the time.
the project
App Development & Design for First Republic Bank
"Y Media Labs wants to do the right thing, and they're willing to push hard to get the job done."
the reviewer
the review
A Clutch analyst personally interviewed this client over the phone. Below is an edited transcript.
Introduce your business and what you do there.
First Republic Bank is a private organization. I am the VP of mobile. I run mobile banking and payments, including the design, roadmapping, and execution of those projects.
What challenge were you trying to address with Y Media Labs?
We were looking for great design and development for our mobile banking apps. We had a solution in place which had been built by another vendor and wanted to migrate away from those apps.
What was the scope of their involvement?
Y Media Labs initially helped our bank with some visioning and strategy services. Since I came to the position I’m in, we've built a more defined roadmap, and we're executing against it.
Banking apps, particularly for mid-sized organizations like ours, are typically off-the-shelf software. Everyone will get the same white label solution, with not a lot of flexibility. By moving to a custom solution, we took complete control of every single pixel on our app, and have been able to differentiate our services, deliver them faster, and optimize user experience based on our customers' needs.
How did you come to work with Y Media Labs?
The bank made a very unorthodox choice with Y Media Labs. Most companies like ours go with banking vendors, while Y Media Labs works within a number of verticals. That was a novel choice, and it was made specifically because Y Media Labs had worked for some large enterprises like PayPal, Tesla, and Apple. They were confident that Y Media Labs knew how to work with a big company, which can be a painful process compared to working with a small, nimble startup. My group also liked the quality seen on Y Media Labs' side, so they made the choice.
How much have you invested with Y Media Labs?
The cost of Y Media Labs' work has been above $1 million.
What is the status of this engagement?
We started working with Y Media Labs around two years ago.
Could you share any evidence that would demonstrate the productivity, quality of work, or the impact of the engagement?
Since we've launched the app, of the people we surveyed, 70% said that it's either better or much better than the previous version. We've launched some new innovative features which no bank has ever launched to the market before. We came up with those, but Y Media Labs executed them. This has been well received, and it's an innovation point for a bank which typically doesn't have a lot of information.
How did Y Media Labs perform from a project management standpoint?
I have been working in this space for a while, and many vendors can be challenging to deal with. There are Mickey Mouse contractual and revenue games involved, but Y Media Labs never did this. The collaboration was always straight up and simple. When we have to have a difficult conversation, we do it and move on.
What did you find most impressive about Y Media Labs?
Y Media Labs wants to do the right thing, and they're willing to push hard to get the job done, which is what we look for in a partner.
Are there any areas Y Media Labs could improve?
I've been a vendor working with banks, and know that they're usually the biggest reason for delays and inefficiency, so it would be no small thing to ask Y Media Labs to improve our processes. They could make some of their technical decisions around development more transparent to the client, rather than make them on our behalf.
the project
Application Development for Medical Devices Company
"We have a good cultural fit with Y Media Labs' team."
the reviewer
the review
A Clutch analyst personally interviewed this client over the phone. Below is an edited transcript.
Introduce your business and what you do there.
Our company builds and commercializes medical devices that serve 41 medical specialties. Our manufacturing operations are all over the world and we have a presence in 135 countries.
I am the Global Digital Product Manager responsible for developing enterprise solutions that can support our global sales teams. My work with leadership is to identify business opportunities that will translate into digital services and platforms that will support our global sales and marketing operations.
What challenge were you trying to address with Y Media Labs?
We as a company are evolving our internal IT organization, moving from building in-house to partnering with vendors to bring solutions that fit our organization. Y Media brings talent, knowledge, experience and quality of work to our digital solutions.
Our sales representatives are expected to master complex and technical medical data for an extensive product portfolio and present this information in a consistent and impactful way to our customers in a very limited schedule. Digital platforms allow us to deliver the right content at the right time to the right audience.
Our collaboration with Y media has helped us concentrate our efforts in identifying what stories we want to tell, while they take care of the UI/UX [user interface/user experience] as well as the development of the system in a timely manner.
What was the scope of their involvement?
Y Media Labs helped us create, develop and implement powerful and intuitive user experiences for iOS.
How did you come to work with Y Media Labs?
We needed a partner with experience in mobile solutions and chose Y Media Labs because they had the right talent, people, knowledge, and experience. We were looking for the right cultural fit and needed to find an organization that not only understood what we care about but also was flexible in working within our timelines.
We also wanted to find a company that was able to deliver great results and Y Media Labs' work is innovative and intuitive. We needed an actual partner, not just a vendor. Y Media Labs knows how to build strong partnerships, they are able to translate our needs into clear ideas and concepts since day one.
How much have you invested with Y Media Labs?
The investment in Y Media Labs' work has been in the upper 6 digits
What is the status of this engagement?
We started working with Y Media Labs over a year ago and today it is an ongoing partnership. My expectation is that we will be moving into other services beyond mobile. Currently, we are aligning our resources to support our critical organizational priorities, and most likely Y Media Labs will be one of the main partners to help us accomplish them.
Could you share any evidence that would demonstrate the productivity, quality of work, or the impact of the engagement?
We have developed mobile solutions that have helped our sales teams to double their efficiency around product handling operations. We also revamped our internal CRM system, allowing us to increase by 30% the quality of content on the platform.
How did Y Media Labs perform from a project management standpoint?
Y Media Labs allocated the right resources to work with our internal teams, managing effectively our times. They listened to our challenges, proposed ideas, received feedback, and made thought-out plans to move forward.
The project manager that Y Media Labs assigned to our platforms has helped maintain consistency across our operations. They also assigned a product manager who helped me curate the product backlog and roadmap from a strategic perspective. Y Media Labs is flexible about the tools and systems we can use, like Confluence and Basecamp, or even Google Docs at times.
Y Media Labs builds drafts for our UX designs using InVision, which is helpful for presenting enhanced working prototypes. I can present those concepts to upper management and actual users to collect feedback in an agile way.
What did you find most impressive about Y Media Labs?
We have a good cultural fit with Y Media Labs' team. They have experience in their field, but they also come to the table willing to learn from our business.
Are there any areas Y Media Labs could improve?
This is a difficult question since I've been happy working with the Y Media team. Most of the collaboration was with the team in California, and we could have used more face to face time, but they are expanding their operations and they are planning to add more staff to their office in Indianapolis to offer more support to their accounts in the Midwest. That is a good move.
the project
Application Development for Educational Application Company
"Y Media Labs has ... a bravado spirit that they can do it better than anybody."
the reviewer
the review
A Clutch analyst personally interviewed this client over the phone. Below is an edited transcript.
Please describe your organization. What is your role and responsibilities?
I'm the CEO of Montessorium. We're taking a 100-year-old way of learning and applying it to a new generation of learners on iPhones and iPads.
What was your goal for working with Y Media Labs?
We were dinosaurs in the industry. We've been doing this for a long time – five years now. When we first got started, everything was brand new and fresh. Y Media is so intuitive in how they help us. We knew the design and concept that we wanted. We were looking for a development partner that could realize our ideas.
What was your process for selecting Y Media Labs?
The CEO of Y Media Labs [Ashish Toshniwal] reached out to us, we were previously working with another app company. He said he loved our apps, but he could make them way better. We took him at his word, and we strongly believe that he's delivered on that statement.
Can you give a sense of the size of the initiative?
Our partnership has run $200,000-plus.
Do you have any statistics or metrics on the project?
We have high user engagement. We're about five minutes per user session, which is high in the field of education. We're about to cross 1 million downloads.
What differentiates Y Media Labs from other partners?
Y Media Labs has an intuitive sense about things and a bravado spirit that they can do it better than anybody. They consistently prove it.
Looking back on the work so far, is there any area that you think they could improve upon or that you might do differently?
No. Y Media Labs continues to iterate and grow. When new things pop up, they're always looking for new ways to improve.
the project
App Development for Story-sharing Application
"[Y Media Labs] make you feel like an important client of theirs."
the reviewer
the review
A Clutch analyst personally interviewed this client over the phone. Below is an edited transcript.
Please describe your organization.
I'm the co-founder of a story sharing utility mobile app. We allow users to narrate an experience a better than a single picture. Users can compile a bunch of pictures and videos into a single post. When someone clicks on the post it will auto play through the day.
What was your goal for working with Y Media Labs?
I went to school as a business major. I had no technology background. I created the concept VigorWay. I put together the whole idea and knew if I wanted to deliver a product I needed the proper partner to develop it.
What was your process for selecting Y Media Labs?
I interviewed with a lot of companies and Y Media Labs stood out from everyone. They handle everything from organizing the app into design and actually implementing it into an iOS product. I looked at a handful of companies. You can get lost in this process. We wanted someone who was backed up with previous work so we could trust them. They stood out because of their previous design work. It really stands out to other products. After comparing Y Media Labs with other companies, it was a perfect fit.
Can you give a sense of the size of the initiative?
Our partnership falls in the bucket $100,000 to $200,000. Y Media Labs stayed on budget.
When was the work completed?
We've been working with Y Media Labs for two years. We began with an app with a few functionalities, and we released a couple rough products and got market feedback. We are working on polishing it up now.
Do you have any statistics or metrics on the project?
We have gotten some good feedback on the app so far.
What differentiates Y Media Labs from other partners?
I've only worked with Y Media Labs as a development partner but, at least every other week, I connect with the CEO [Ashish Toshniwal] and CTO [Sumit Mehra] of the company. They check to see how our progress is going and how working with their team is going. They make you feel like an important client of theirs.
Looking back on the work so far, is there any area that you think they could improve upon or that you might do differently?
There were little things on our end where we had some design changes. Y Media Labs made the process easy and made sure that things were being handled properly.
the project
iOS Development for Online Payment Provider
"Y Media Labs has a reputation of having really skilled engineers to help build a great product in a short period of time."
the reviewer
the review
A Clutch analyst personally interviewed this client over the phone. Below is an edited transcript.
Could you provide a brief description of your company?
We’re one of the largest payment providers in the United States. We do online as well as offline payments. I work in product management. We test new ideas, especially in the field of mobile.
Could you describe the business challenges you were trying to address when you approached Y Media Labs?
We were trying to build a personal financial management mobile app to test with our own employees. We wanted the app to not only have a very delightful front-end user experience, but also have a robust backend piped to the respective APIs [application programming interfaces].
Could you describe the scope of their work?
They completed the entire development in iOS, but not the design. We had our own internal design resources.
How long did this project take?
The development of it took approximately eight weeks. That was Y Media Labs’ involvement primarily.
When did the project take place?
We did the beta toward the end of April [of 2014]. Fairly recent.
Why did you select them to work with?
They were close to the contractor that we had a relationship with. Y Media Labs has a reputation of having really skilled engineers to help build a great product in a short period of time. Lastly, a lot of their engineers have very strong mobile skills.
Could you provide a sense of the size of this initiative in monetary terms or a work-hour figure?
Less than five contractors from Y Media worked on the project.
In terms of results, could you share any statistics, metrics, or user feedback that would demonstrate the effectiveness of the work they’ve delivered?
The app was very well-received internally, both by employees and the execs. It’s a very delightful app. It terms of actually tracking if the consumers are delighted by it, it’s too soon. We’re waiting and we’re tracking the results.
How would you describe their performance?
Exceptionally good.
When working with them, is there anything you’d consider unique or special about them that distinguishes them from other vendors you’ve used?
Very skilled talent, meaning they are very skilled in the iOS platform that I worked on. The second piece is very innovative, so when we had a constraint, which a lot of large corporations and initiatives do, the engineering talent from Y Media helps brainstorm along with you to come up with options or alternatives, instead of stopping work.
Is there any area that they could improve on or that you would do differently?
No, I don’t think so.
the project
iOS development for Restaurant Software Company
"[Y Media Labs] were great. They were always on time. The product code worked really well .... It was a great experience."
the reviewer
the review
A Clutch analyst personally interviewed this client over the phone. Below is an edited transcript.
Could you provide a brief description of your company?
I’m not working for them anymore, I’m just consulting for them, but the purpose of Avero is to create a piece of software that helps the restaurant industry to make intelligent decisions on their finances, service teams, and so on.
What was your former role at the company?
I was the UI/UX [user interface/user experience] lead and the project management for the product.
What was the business challenge you were trying to address when you approached Y Media Labs?
We’ve had browser-based tools since the early 2000s. We were trying get into the mobile industry and we needed to find the right partner to do it for us.
Could you describe the scope of their work?
I was the one who leading the project. I’m the one who provided the entire spec for the UI/UX. Their job was to implement my designs and my product spec in doing that. They took care of creating the APIs [application programming interfaces], the backend and converting my UI/UX, all of that.
How long did the project take?
[The initial project] took us between six to eight months. This was between 2012 and 2013.
Y Media Labs is still their partner, and now, they’re doing the Android version of the app. They are the partner that’s been doing mobile for Avero and we’ve been working with them for about two years now.
The initial app was in iOS, then we did an update for iOS 7, and now, we’re doing Android. We keep adding new features.
How did you select Y Media Labs as your solution partner?
They had excellent references. They had a good portfolio. I actually like the CEO a lot, so this was also sort of a personal preference.
Could you provide a sense of the size of this initiative in monetary terms or a work-hour figure?
Personnel work hours would be about 3,000 to 4,000 hours.
In terms of results, could you share any statistics, metrics, or user feedback that would demonstrate the effectiveness of the work they’ve delivered?
They were great. They were always on time. The product code worked really well. Their iOS architect was very professional. It was a great experience.
When working with Y Media Labs, is there anything you’d consider unique or special about them that distinguishes them from other vendors you’ve used?
Their specialty is they really understand how to convert complex graphing tools into something a lot more viable for mobile. That’s an extremely tricky thing to do.
Is there any area that they could improve on or that you would do differently?
I think they could a better job at project management. They have to make sure that their developers are on task and they’re communicating well.
the project
iPad Application for Cooking Blog
"We went [Y Media Labs] because we could see the same drive in them that we have."
the reviewer
the review
A Clutch analyst personally interviewed this client over the phone. Below is an edited transcript.
A good way to start is if you could give a little bit of background information on your company and your role there.
We run what started off as a food blog. It’s a website called Nom Nom Paleo. We’ve run it since 2010. It focuses on the Paleo lifestyle and recipes. Through the years, it’s branched out to include the cookbook and the iPad app that we hired Y Media Labs to help us create. We’ve been pretty fortunate to see a lot of success through the app, which recently won a Webby Award, and then the cookbook, which became a New York Times Bestseller.
What was the business challenge you were trying to address when you hired Y Media Labs?
We didn’t have the technical chops to put the app together. We did work very closely with the design team there to create the UI/UX [user interface/user experience]. Even though we didn’t have the coding chops, that’s really what we were looking for Y Media to provide, given our passion for and real interest in design and layout. That was our piece to it. Obviously, the app was a combination of their technical abilities, which we certainly could not have done ourselves, and our recipes, photographs, and design input.
As people who were not used to anything technical like coding, we told them the features we wanted, and they were able to give it to us, which I thought was pretty amazing. We didn’t know what the actual technical limitations would be. There were requirements we put in front of them that were actually more demanding than we thought they were, but they were able to hit the ball out of the park with all of them.
How long did the project take?
From start to finish, about six months for the first version. We spent some time after that refining it and putting out enhanced versions. The first version was launched in April of 2012.
Is this an ongoing relationship?
Yes, it is.
Can you give a sense of the size of the project in either a cost range or a personnel work-hour figure?
I know that the cost in terms of hours was much higher than we ultimately paid because Y Media Labs accepted the project at that time as sort of portfolio project. Given that we’re a mom and pop shop, they cut us a deal. It was in the $50,000 to $200,000 range.
In terms of results, are there any other metrics or user feedback that you can share that indicates the effectiveness of their work?
We have an average five-star rating in the App Store. We have more than 1,000 reviews. We have great ratings and reviews, and it’s consistently in the top-three paid iPad food and drink apps. It’s remained there ever since we launched it, for about two years now.
How would you describe their performance?
It’s been good. We put a lot of requirements in front of them, not knowing that they were a little beyond what was typical or reasonable, and they were able to really do a ton with it and deliver a great product.
I think when they took us on as a client, they were still in the beginner stages [of building the company]. They had some really big projects, but they were still really lean when we hopped on. Since then, I know that they’ve grown and expanded.
When working with Y Media Labs, was there anything unique or special about them compared to other companies that you may have worked with in the past?
This is our first app. We didn’t know what we were getting ourselves into when we approached them. Unlike a bunch of other development companies, when we approached them with our idea, they didn’t blow us off or send us a standard form letter just giving the rate sheet and basically telling us that it would be out of price range. They were willing to negotiate with us. We went them because we could see the same drive in them that we have. We were really lucky. I think it was a really good partnership.
We haven’t had a major update in about a year in a half. We’re working on one now. I think that speaks to the quality of the app and the content and the technical expertise with which Y Media works. I think people really enjoy the user experience a lot.
Looking back, is there any area that you think they could improve upon or that you would do differently?
It was a great experience. We were willing to be open to whatever happened and just tried to put out the best product that we could.
the project
Educational iPad Applications
“Y Media Labs knows how to get things done effectively and intuitively, which is a powerful combination."
the reviewer
the review
A Clutch analyst personally interviewed this client over the phone. Below is an edited transcript.
Can you briefly describe your company?
We work to raise public awareness about the Montessori education style. We are based out of South Dakota.
What were your goals going into the project?
Our goal has always been to bring a new-found awareness to the Montessori approach to education. We needed to find a high-quality development partner who can help us achieve our mission.
What was the scope of the project?
The concept and design was conducted by Montessorium, and development was executed by the great team at Y Media Labs.
How did Y Media Labs become part of the project?
We’ve had the good fortune of working with Y Media :abs on two exciting iPad projects. The first is based on the famous Montessori Moveable Alphabet, and helps children practice their writing and reading skills, providing an opportunity for storytelling and self expression. The second helps children learn the shapes, names, flags, and geographical locations of the countries in North America through puzzles, challenges, and drawing exercise.
Was anything unique about working with Y Media Labs?
Y Media Labs has an incredible sense of intuition. They are a pleasure to work with. Y Media Labs knows how to get things done, effectively and intuitively, which is a powerful combination.
Are there any areas that Y Media Labs could improve?
We’ve had nothing but positive experiences with Y Media Labs. They’re top notch.
Would you recommend Y Media Labs?
Absolutely. We are extremely satisfied with Y Media Labs, and have returned to them for multiple development projects. Y Media produces great looking and functioning apps.
The apps have both seen great engagement from users, and reviews compliment the usability of the apps. Y Media Labs provides a responsive project manager and an experienced team who are dedicated to building an enjoyable user experience.