Brave UX

BACKGROUND

Please describe your company and your position there.

I'm Director of Engineering at Penn National Gaming. Penn owns and operates 43 facilities in the United States and Canada, many of them under the Hollywood Casino brand. Our Engineering headquarters is based in Philadelphia.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

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

We engaged the Brave team to assist with designing a world-class UI/UX experience for our online and retail sportsbooks.

What were your goals for this project?

Our goal for this engagement was to produce a sportsbook product designed in such a way that advanced sportsbetters feel excited about using it while keeping it approachable for novice betters.

SOLUTION

How did you select this vendor?

We reviewed hundreds of portfolios for UI/UX companies and settled on the three best. We held meetings with each of the three and solicited RFPs. We felt the most confident in Brave's understanding of the project and their ability to effectuate our vision.

Describe the project in detail.

We initially went through Brave's 5-week discovery process to give them a good idea of what we were trying to build and why. After that we began design sprints scheduled one sprint ahead of our engineering sprints. We met at the beginning of the week to discuss initial designs for the screens that were scheduled that week, we'd comment, then we'd review changes at the end of the week.

What was the team composition?

We communicated with the entire team working on our project throughout the engagement.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

We haven't launched the product yet but we held our first focus groups last week and our demo product was rated #1 on every single metric compared against the industry leaders.

How effective was the workflow between your team and theirs?

Our workflow was efficient and when we had suggested changes the team worked with us to effectuate them.

What did you find most impressive about this company?

We were very impressed by their ability to quickly synthesize information about an unfamiliar industry and suggest improvements to the current status quo -- which is exactly what we were looking for. Some of our other initial meetings involved people not really interested in pushing the envelope, which Brave was 100% on board with doing.

Are there any areas for improvement?

The time allotted for design revisions was too short for my liking but may be part and parcel of using a design firm. Ideally we would be able to take a legitimate stab at building the screens before the revision period ends but they obviously move a lot faster than our engineers.

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m the senior product manager at FourthWall Media, a pioneering company at the intersection of technology, media, and data. FourthWall Media uses proprietary software to collect and process hundreds of millions of second-by-second viewing events every day, adding to our five years of historic data from millions of homes and nearly ten million set-top boxes sourced from more than a dozen distribution partners. Our Reveal Analytics Platform instantly matches households with first and third party data to visualize custom audiences with a click. This allows us to create groundbreaking insights into advertising, program, and network performance far beyond traditional methods. All of this is so our partners and customers in the TV and media ecosystems have the right tools to leverage their experience and knowledge to grow their businesses.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with Brave UX?

Our core competency has traditionally been in collecting, processing, aggregating, and analyzing large, complicated sets of data – and using that data to report analytics-based insights that support programmers, advertisers, and operators within the media industry. We know that our end clients need a modern, clean, and intuitive way to access and interact with that data, so that they can make sense of the data and unlock value to power their businesses. We needed to more effectively turn data into insights by re-energizing our UI.

We engaged Brave UX because we needed assistance with our client-facing UI called “Reveal." Our existing UI was somewhat lacking in several areas and needed to be revamped to unlock the full potential of its underlying datasets.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

We contracted with Brave UX to revamp the UI of our analytics platform. In doing so, we completely overhauled it with a sleek new design, more intuitive interactions, and additional reporting capabilities.

We began our engagement with a five-week discovery phase so that both companies could become mutually acquainted with each other’s team, processes, styles, businesses, and products. Through this, both companies became acclimated and set the stage for the engagement. Brave UX was able to develop a greater understanding of our existing product, where we were falling short, and where we wanted to go. Our teams then worked closely to determine the scope and a plan for execution. We planned for seven three-week sprints, with each sprint dedicated to equal parts information architecture and visual design. Our information architecture discussions centered on the fundamental data objects and the overall groundwork for each section of the UI, while the visual design work included packaging those pieces together and making them visually appealing and presentable through various colors, fonts, flow, and Brave UX’s own user experience techniques.

The goal was essentially to create usable, repeatable patterns and behaviors within the UI so that the user would be able to learn quickly, become accustomed to, and use these patterns throughout. Then the visual design aspect added the flare on top of that IA groundwork, which paired beautiful visual elements with the intelligent information system that was created. The result was stunning.

What is the team composition?

I worked with Lee (CEO & Founder, Brave UX) and Jordan (Director of User Experience, Brave UX) heavily throughout the project and more so initially, alongside their trusted team of capable and creative designers. Lee and Jordan were extremely engaged in the discovery phase and the early stages of the sprint work. As the project progressed, and the larger team felt comfortable with the work that was being delivered, we had increasing time and interaction with Brave UX’s lead information architects and designers – and less from Lee and Jordan personally. As a client, we felt that each and every member of Brave UX’s team (from the top down) was fully zoned into the requirements of what we needed to be accomplished, and they delivered each and every week of the months-long project.

How did you come to work with Brave UX?

We initially found them online. But we discovered that the process of sourcing and evaluating the right partner took many months of conversations on the phone and in person to determine who was going to be the right fit. Ultimately, we felt comfortable that Brave UX was going to be the best possible partner for us. We were not looking for incremental improvement but rather a quantum leap.

We evaluated over two dozen companies and met in person in a final round interview with three of them. Halfway through the meeting, I knew Brave UX was the one. They were miles ahead of the competition.

How much have you invested with them?

We spent around $300,000.

What is the status of this engagement?

Our engagement spanned September 2018–March 2019.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

We’re gearing up for a full product launch. We have received promising feedback from all stakeholders in our company, from the executive team to the engineering team to our board of investors. We have been blown away by the quality of Brave UX’s work.

Similarly, we’ve presented teasers of different screens, applications, and reports within the new user interface to existing and potential clients, and their feedback has been just as positive. We believe this upgrade will be a game-changer for our products and our company. The work Brave UX has done for us is directly translating into positive business results and an upward trajectory.

How did Brave UX perform from a project management standpoint?

Brave UX makes effective use of all project management time. They’re engaged appropriately, meaning they were neither overbearing nor distant. We communicated with them several times per week, and they always managed to reply and give feedback promptly. We would also meet at least twice a week to discuss the work, course correct, and make sure we were still on the overall project timeline. Brave UX made sure never to waste our time.

In addition to sending emails and holding conference calls through Zoom, we communicated extensively through Dropbox and Adobe XD. They were very accommodating in terms of scheduling time and being available for us.

What did you find most impressive about them?

They fit very well into our culture. Brave UX has an extremely complementary skill set and set of core competencies. There was a gap that we needed to fill to take that quantum leap and become extremely competitive within our marketplace. Brave UX is proving that they can help us do that.

Are there any areas they could improve?

They have more work on their plate by the day. They’re a small boutique shop that has proven it can operate at this level, but it will be interesting to see if they decide to grow and how they handle that growth.

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

It’s vital to be open and honest with them about as much as you possibly can. We had to be very realistic about where we were with the product, where it was falling short, and where it had room for improvement.

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m the head of product for a software company.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with Brave UX?

We were looking to solve some pretty complicated user experience challenges within a software product. Our interfaces are very data heavy and sophisticated, making usability and UX critical. We had a strong direction and idea of what we wanted to do. We had our in-house team but needed outside assistance to accelerate so that we could meet some time-sensitive objectives.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

Our project started with a two-week discovery phase so that they could familiarize themselves with our product and existing design language. Their typical process is to study the problem and return with some strategic recommendations. Our team, however, wanted to dive directly into the work—figuring out the design language and understanding the necessary updates.

Brave UX approved of our plan to address one area week-by-week. We were confident about the direction we wanted to go, and we relied on Brave UX’s team to help us improve our product one feature at a time. They were very flexible in terms of working in our preferred style.

What is the team composition?

I worked with Jordan (Director of UX, Brave UX) and Sean (UX Designer, Brave UX). I have nothing but great things to say about Jordan. He brought a lot of sound design principles to the table and helped give us options. Sean’s design skills took our ideas to a whole new level. We also worked with a project manager.

How did you come to work with Brave UX?

I was looking specifically for design firms that solve difficult information design and UX problems. I found an article where Brave UX was featured among other companies, and we reached out to a few of them. Brave UX seemed to rise to the task when we explained our problems during an intro call. They were intrigued by the kind of issues we were trying to solve, which was encouraging and why we decided to pursue them.

How much have you invested with them?

We spent $300,000.

What is the status of this engagement?

Our engagement spanned July 2017–April 2018.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

We are quite pleased with what we’ve completed with Brave UX. They helped us solve a lot of the problems we were experiencing. We receive a tremendous amount of positive feedback regarding the product updates. One of the core parts of the application is what they helped us to redesign. We take more pride in our product now.

How did Brave UX perform from a project management standpoint?

They were flexible in their process with us despite the deviations from how they usually work. We held meetings three times a week and otherwise communicated through Slack, email, and Dropbox.

What did you find most impressive about them?

Their passion for the user experience and design principles is impressive. They could brainstorm with us and come back to the table time and again. We weren’t an easy client and had some very particular directions of what we wanted. What impressed me the most is that they didn’t shy away from our ambitious ideas. They arose to the challenge and helped us bring out the best of what we wanted.

Are there any areas they could improve?

We could have accomplished even more if we had worked together in person at times, but the project was successful nevertheless.

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

Make sure that you can articulate your vision of what you need.

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I'm the CEO of Sonar.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with Brave UX?

We wanted to rewrite our application. Our in-house team wasn't making much progress, so we started looking for a UI design firm to help us.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

First, we went through a discovery phase and a storyboarding process. We also discussed different types of user interfaces and how they'll work with our application. After that, we started wireframing the interfaces and the modules. Brave UX helped us brainstorm how our users would interact with the application based on those wireframes, making changes along the way. Finally, they built the actual UI and delivered it to us with the application.

What is the team composition?

We mostly worked with 4–5 of their team members.

How did you come to work with Brave UX?

We did a Google search and looked at some of the highly-rated companies on Clutch. Then, we reached out to about 10 companies and had in-depth conversations with them. Brave UX seemed more engaged than the other companies we talked to and we liked the fact that they had a smaller team and affordable rates. They asked a lot of good questions about our product and our goals, so we decided they'd be a good fit.

How much have you invested with them?

We spent about $500,000 CAD (approximately, $370,000 USD).

What is the status of this engagement?

We started working with them in April 2018, and the project was completed in October 2018.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

Our internal team is happy with Brave’s work and we're in the process of implementing the designs. Without their help, it'd take us a lot longer to figure out what our UI should look like and how our users should interact with it. Brave UX helped us speed up our development process tremendously and we're confident that the software will be a big success in the market. Our customers haven't used the new UI yet, but we shared some screenshots of it in the early marketing and received an extremely positive response.

How did Brave UX perform from a project management standpoint?

They delivered all the wireframes and the finalized designs on time. Also, they were very good at identifying potential issues and making sure we address them.

What did you find most impressive about them?

Their ability to understand how our customers would use the application was impressive. They understood all the complex technical pieces and came back to us with some great ideas.

Are there any areas they could improve?

No, everything went very well.

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

They're fantastic. I'd gladly recommend them to anyone.

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

We offer software to retailers to list their inventories online to sell multi-channel. Our software links to several marketplaces, including eBay, OfferUp, and Shopify. I'm the co-founder and CTO.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with Brave UX?

We have a cloud-based software but didn't have a lot of design direction. Our existing app was bare-bones and needed better UX. We wanted to improve the flow and make it work better. We also wanted some guidance on brand direction within the app.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

From the moment we reached out, we did a lot of discovery. They went through and charted all the flows. The application is complicated and does a lot, and they picked up on that intricacy from a user standpoint fairly quickly.

We implemented everything they recommended. They really understood our use cases and our customers very well. They suggested UI elements on the app that we hadn't thought of. We liked all their input.

What is the team composition?

We worked with a sales lead, their head of design, two other designers, and a project manager.

How did you come to work with Brave UX?

I asked around our local market and looked them up on Clutch. Based on recommendations and their online reviews, I decided to work with them.

What is the status of this engagement?

We started working together around February 2019 and completed the project by the end of March 2019.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

We don't have any measurable results yet, but we're really happy with everything they did. I was pleasantly surprised by how quickly they understood our customers and our needs. Everything they came up with was fresh and beyond anything we would have considered on our own. They're great people and great designers. I would definitely recommend them.

How did Brave UX perform from a project management standpoint?

They were good project managers. I was in constant contact with them, and we knew exactly what they were working on from week to week.

We linked our Slack channels together to work through any questions. We also had weekly calls to discuss the next phases and talk about the progress.

What did you find most impressive about them?

I'm very happy with their design and their communication. Overall, we had a very positive experience.

Are there any areas they could improve?

Off the top of my head, I don't have any recommendations for improvements. We're very happy with our collaboration with them.

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

Working with them is fairly standard. Have everything planned up front and have clear goals. If you are prepared, they will hit everything out of the park.

BACKGROUND

Please describe your company and your position there.

I’m the CEO of RewardStock. We help travelers earn, track, and book trips with reward points like frequent flyer miles, credit card rewards, and hotel points. RewardStock also creates customized plans to help users quickly get the points they need.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

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

We had the opportunity to appear on the TV show “Shark Tank.” We wanted to update our quite basic design as well as our unrefined UX flow.

What were your goals for this project?

We wanted to achieve an end-to-end redesign of the frontend experience.

SOLUTION

How did you select this vendor?

I researched UX agencies online and over the phone, speaking with several agencies.

Describe the project in detail.

Brave UX completely revamped our frontend design and experience. They provided a graphic redesign of multiple interfaces and a complete redesign of the UX. They highlighted the key screens in our experience and tied it all together.

What was the team composition?

There were 4–5 people involved, including a core team of three that we worked with very closely.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

Our new UX is night and day compared to our old, amateur experience.

How effective was the workflow between your team and theirs?

The Brave UX team worked seamlessly as an extension of our team over the course of the engagement.

What did you find most impressive about this company?

They have a process that works. Learn the process they teach, and you will see the benefits they bring to the table. They’re super organized. Their cadence was so helpful that it made a complex process feel natural and logical.

Are there any areas for improvement?

No. We loved our experience with Brave UX.

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m the chief product officer at an organization that is a roll-up of a number of sales training organizations. Our training offers sales skills and methodology programs and we work with clients to improve sales team performance.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with Brave UX?

We were launching a new app that is integrated with CRM systems like Salesforce, which is a way for organizations to continue to utilize our methodology to run complex B2B sales cycles.

We decided early on that we were going to work with best in class partners. We don’t have software developers, UX designers, or QA employed at our company.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

Brave UX partnered with us to design the UX for our new app.

What is the team composition?

On Brave UX’s team, their director was involved as the lead, and we also worked with a UX designer and their director of design to some extent.

How did you come to work with Brave UX?

They were a referral from two organizations. I talked to a number of people that had used them and said they did excellent work.

How much have you invested with them?

We spent around $250,000.

What is the status of this engagement?

We worked together from September 2017 – January 2018.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

0What evidence can you share that demonstrates the impact of the engagement?

The Brave UX team hit the ground running with us. They quickly came up to speed on our core training programs and learned the core functions that were going to be required in this app.

It was extremely beneficial that they are experts in UX and bring all of the best practices and the best modern thinking to the table. They built a design and created a direction for the app that was much better and quicker than we ever could have done internally. The overall direction they set was incredibly valuable.

They designed a UX that works well for our users. We’re getting tremendously positive feedback on the app. Users are able to use the app without training. It’s intuitive enough that they start using it the way they’re supposed to. It’s working very well for us. We’re getting especially good feedback about the aesthetics of the design and, most importantly, the ease of use and functionality of the app.

How did Brave UX perform from a project management standpoint?

We worked closely together throughout the project. We worked on an agile cadence with weekly sprints. We agreed on the work effort and the priorities for the week. Then, we reviewed cycles at the end of the week. We provided timely feedback, and they accepted that feedback and adjusted from there.

The teams talked almost daily. They work at an extremely rapid pace, which is awesome. We were able to match that pace. As we were sprinting, they gave us their design, and we logged feedback to them within 24 hours. They were incredibly responsive about following up on the feedback. The next week, they filtered through the updates, took our feedback, and updated the design work. It was a great partnership.

What did you find most impressive about them?

They’re on top of the latest UX trends. They live and breathe best practices of UX design. It was well worth the investment in terms of both the quality and the speed of the work.

Are there any areas they could improve?

We could have all collectively done a better job of integrating the UX work with the app development work that was happening in parallel.

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m the founder and CEO of Compound Technologies, Inc. We offer a technology-enabled amenity management solution for commercial office buildings.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with Brave UX?

We're developing both a web platform and a mobile app that targets a wide variety of users. This means that people of different ages, demographics, and levels of technological proficiency will be using the app. Therefore, the UX needs to be seamless for each user that interacts with it. We wanted to bring in a design firm to help us accomplish this.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

Brave UX helps us with everything involving the platform’s frontend client-facing experience. They primarily design our information architecture and UI/UX, but also design wireframes, high fidelity files, and clickable prototypes. They mostly use Sketch and Abstract for version control. The prototypes are built with InVision and they also use the standard Adobe suite like InDesign, Photoshop, and After Effects. They’re not writing code for us, as we do the backend development and implementation of their designs. The mobile app is being built for iOS and Android. Additionally, they’re training one of our team members to perform high-level UX design work.

What is the team composition?

We primarily work with Lee (CEO, Brave UX) and Jordan (Director of UX, Brave UX). Their director of design and a UX designer have worked with us a fair amount as well.

How did you come to work with Brave UX?

I’ve known Lee and Jordan for years and have worked with them on many projects with different organizations. They’ve always done good work for me, so I keep coming back to them.

How much have you invested with them?

Overall, we’ve probably spent between $100,000 and $200,000 thus far.

What is the status of this engagement?

They started this project in June 2017 and we’re still actively working with them.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

They’re hands down the fastest UX agency I’ve ever worked with. Everything gets done twice as fast as you would expect and without a decrease in quality. That’s the biggest strategic advantage of working with Brave UX. They complete deliverables within a matter of weeks whereas most agencies have cumbersome processes or larger bureaucracies that set months behind schedule.

How did Brave UX perform from a project management standpoint?

Their whole process is well-defined and they’ve been great communicators throughout our experience. We always know how the project is processing and who’s accountable for certain tasks. If there’s ever disconnect between the status of a project and what we need to be done for the final product, they’ll react accommodatingly and reorganize the contract. As a result, they’ve always completed deliverables within the promised timeline.

What did you find most impressive about them?

They’re an exceptionally talented team with a variety of personalities. The unique team composition yields productivity and creative designs.

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

A lot of people want a full-service solution where they can get design and development within one vendor. I prefer the choice that Brave UX made to stop taking on complete development projects and I encourage potential clients to see the value in that as well. They've chosen good partners for their development needs and that allows them to focus on their primary talent for solving complex UX challenges. Ultimately, that enables them to do better work. If you’re interested in hiring design specialists, look no further than Brave UX.

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m the CSO of Rokt. We run a marketplace which introduces advertisers to new consumers in a post-transaction environment. We present customers with different offers after they’ve made an online purchase.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with Brave UX?

We were looking for a fresh perspective on our platform’s user interface and user experience. Our development and engineering skills are strong, but we aren’t as good with the user experience side of things. We were looking for someone who could bring in a new perspective and engage with us to deliver an upgraded user experience.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

We started with engagement research where Brave UX did a full series of interviews with key stakeholders within the business. They were trying to gain an understanding of various elements and ways that our business interacts with our product from an account management, sales, finance, and billing standpoint. They also did some external research where they contacted actual users to ask them about the platform’s various elements and how they use Rokt (i.e., key data points, product takeaways).

Afterwards, they came back to us with a report which broke down those findings and laid the groundwork for the next phase. We then broke the platform down into different elements and started a user experience redesign.

They effectively started working on different aspects of the platform and did a whole series of wireframes. They went out to Australia to meet with the product team and spent a lot of time working through different elements. They also set up a bi-weekly meeting schedule which involved many people from the product team as well as the CEO. These discussions worked through different core elements of the platform over time.

We then progressed from wireframes and designs to a high-fidelity design stage. The final deliverable was the full user experience in the form of a sketch which was handed over to the company to implement as our new UI.

What is the team composition?

We worked with about five people, including their co-founder and CEO. Their head of design led the project and had about four other people working for him along the way. We had a frontend designer, a user experience expert, and an assistant who helped with research, information collation, and project management. I worked with their CEO to coordinate the engagement around commercial elements.

How did you come to work with Brave UX?

Their initial pitch was unbelievable. They really thought about the business before they tried to get it.

How much have you invested in them?

We spent around $300,000.

What is the status of this engagement?

We began working together in August 2017 and wrapped the project up in December 2017.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

We’ve also been engaging with them on a bunch of customer-facing elements outside of the dashboard to optimize our user experience. Their CEO has been working with our team on other things that are proving valuable in terms of different options and designs that drive engagement and advertising revenue. We’ve seen some improvements around a bunch of those recommendations. They’re definitely delivering value there.

How did Brave UX perform from a project management standpoint?

They were exceptional. Their professionalism and industry knowledge blew us away. Their project management was great and everything was on time. There weren’t any discussions that took place around scope creeps or things like that. They really did a great job and we felt good about all of it.

What did you find most impressive about them?

They are a small firm with 8–10 people, which means they really care about each of the projects they undertake. They don’t take on too much work so they’re able to give clients the attention and focus a project requires. We saw this as a strength.

We went through a 140-slide deck with a significant amount of detail around the actual product. We gave them access to the platform and they logged in and broke out all the different problems we had. They positioned everything well and were able to relate to our business early on.

Are there any areas they could improve?

They’re unbelievable. We had a very good experience with Brave and I absolutely cannot fault them in terms of any project elements.

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I'm the head of sales and product strategy for iConstituent, a technology firm primarily serving elected officials. Our core software tool is a customer relationship management [CRM] cloud solution, and we do IT support as well.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with Brave UX?

We were relying on technology and user experience software that was quite old, so we decided last year to substantially invest in new technology. With that came a commitment to understanding the customer experience and how we can do better.

With a short timeline, we needed to quickly find a team of frontend designers that could understand our product and help us design something new.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

To begin, we left the scope open-ended because we really wanted to tap into their expertise. We told them our limits when it came to internal resources and that we needed their assistance to define the next steps. They proposed a discovery phase, which has a lower upfront dollar commitment and results in a high-level information architecture.

They suggested we interview our customers and provided us a script and training. We conducted 90-minute interviews with about 16 customers. We gave Brave the recordings as well as written outputs from the core questions. We made the decision to build a totally new interface after hearing from the customers that there was nothing worth keeping in the frontend of the existing application.

Brave gave us a proposal for what ended up being a 16 week process to develop the full information architecture. They also delivered high-fidelity mockups of the core areas of the application. We essentially built the app while they were designing it, making decisions on functionality and layout throughout the process.

What is the team composition?

The initial point of contact was Lee Finkel [CEO, Brave UX]. After that, the core team we worked with was led by Jordan [DeVries, director of user experience, Brave UX]. The rest of the team consisted of a project manager, a UI [user interface] person during the information architecture phase, and a designer during the mockup phase.

How did you come to work with Brave UX?

We wanted to find a local firm that we could meet with in person. We talked to three companies and requested formal proposals from two of them. I was impressed with the way Brave structures the discovery phase, where all they ask for upfront is payment for the four-week process. After that, we could walk away with no further commitment if we decided it wasn't the right fit. Plus, we’d just brought on a new tactical leader whose former colleagues worked with Brave and spoke very highly them.

So from a financial perspective they were pretty low risk, and leadership felt they could satisfy our needs and do great work.

How much have you invested with them?

We spent $150,000.

What is the status of this engagement?

The project ran from August–December 2017.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

There aren’t numbers yet because we still have to code the product and get it approved by the government. However, we got much more from Brave than we were expecting. It wasn't just taking a list of requirements and drawing some mockups. They were an integral part of building an entirely new application that does different and better things, such as incorporating user feedback.

I have high confidence that we'll look back in a year and know that the 16-week process working with them was the defining moment in actually making this app happen. So we’re happy with the results so far even if we can’t put a financial number to it yet.

How did Brave UX perform from a project management standpoint?

They did a good job. The discovery phase really allowed them to learn a lot about us, what our customers need, and how our product works.

Brave hosted the meetings at their office, which forced my team to get away from their desks and really focus on the project. They kicked off every meeting by going over what the team needed to accomplish. They also hosted all the deliverables at a central site so they were easy to reference.

Another very helpful thing they did was to send recaps after every meeting and include homework for us. I don't think we would’ve gotten the app done on time otherwise.

The CEO stayed involved in the project throughout by checking in on how things were going and being available if we had any concerns. I only once had to escalate a concern to his level, when I feared their staff travel schedule would prevent us from completing the project on schedule.

They were responsive about my concerns and suggested pushing out the timeline by a week at no extra charge. So they took ownership and extended the project at their expense. They've also been willing to jump on the phone and answer questions—at no charge—after the formal end date of the project.

What did you find most impressive about them?

Brave staffs their team with specialists that are responsible for specific tasks. As you roll to different stages of the project, different people step up and take charge. They didn't just design a product. They learned exactly what it did inside and out in order to make recommendations for improving the user experience.

They’re really interested in how the project is going and want to see a demo when it's done. Brave wants to use some of the non-proprietary screens in their marketing materials. We've built an ongoing partnership rather than just hiring a contractor for a limited engagement.

Are there any areas they could improve?

They could delegate better across the team. The director of UX is probably one of the best UX guys in the industry, but he's only one guy and his time is stretched across multiple projects.

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

Commit to the discovery phase. Don't come in with a preconceived notion, just let them show you what they can do.