Eleken

BACKGROUND

Please describe your company and your position there.

I am the VP of Product for Astraea. We are building a platform for acquiring, managing, analyzing, and distributing geospatial data and analytics. We are also building tailored applications on top of this platform to enable specific industry verticals such as Real Estate, Finance, Agriculture, and Conservation.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

For what projects/services did your company hire Eleken?

We hired Eleken to design all of our user interfaces and our company website.

SOLUTION

How did you select this vendor?

I research several UX design companies and narrowed the list based on companies that had specific expertise in SaaS. After interviewing several of them we selected Eleken and created a pilot project to evaluate whether or not the designers were a good fit.

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

We conduct market research by talking to existing and potential clients to understand how they use geospatial data, what they are trying to accomplish, and what their existing pain points are. We assess these practices internally and develop concepts for how we could solve them.

Then we work with our design team to design interfaces that would expose these solutions to our customers. This is an iterative process with daily interactions. Once a design is vetted and approved internally, we break the design down into implementation iterations and deliver it to the Engineering team.

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

We have worked with one resource from this vendor for the entire period of the contract and we brought in a second resource for 6 weeks. The additional resource served as a web designer to update our webpage design. The primary resource is our companies UX designer.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

We have radically improved the quality of our user interfaces, the consistency of our design, and the ability to sell our tools. As a startup, we have been working towards product market fit. This involves demonstrations to potential users and investors. The improvements to our UI have led to new business as well as interest from investors.

How effective was the workflow between your team and theirs?

The workflow with the Eleken team is seamless. They work as an embedded member of our team.

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

It is unusual to find a designer who has experience building applications with geospatial data - especially imagery data. We found that in Eleken. The value proposition is very high with Eleken — their rates are fair and their team is excellent.

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

We did a pilot project to build a slide deck in powerpoint and I think this was not really their expertise. They are web UX designers and do that very well.

BACKGROUND

Please describe your company and your position there.

I am a co-founder of a new FinTech platform based in the UK.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

For what projects/services did your company hire Eleken?

We had a idea and initial concept of the platform but had not experience in UX/UI design. We therefore need a resource to be dedicated to ourselves to create initial wireframes, designs, website/landing page and clickable demo.

SOLUTION

How did you select this vendor?

Received a recommendation from another firm who had previously worked with Eleken. Had a weeks trial and went very well and smoothly.

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

Our firm has created a concept and basic idea and Eleken were about to understand the target audience. After this priorities were set with a couple of days a weeks having catch-up calls. Eleken were able to guide us through the UX/UI design process from wireframes, user stories, personas, designs and clickable demo.

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

We worked directly with one UI/UX designer. At times their designer was able to speak to others within Eleken to provide addition information.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

We are very pleased with the results, which have help to bring visually our initial concept. Some of the wireframes took longer than initially thought however this was due to our complex financial platform. It was easy to communicate with the designer, spoken good English and very responsive.

How effective was the workflow between your team and theirs?

Good communication between our firms and was able to chat and share documents easily. We used Slack as a forum for chat which was great and also has a couple of calls each week. In addition, we were able to reschedule calls quickly and easily.

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

We were impressed with their responsiveness and ability to work independently when necessary. They also understand the requirements and did their own research as well as look at ours.

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

None.

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m the CEO of Cheerity, a marketing technology platform that serves enterprise customers. We also offer a SaaS platform for smaller customers. 

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with Eleken?

Last year, we started working on the small business version of our product, so we needed to update both the design and look of our marketing website and internal products. We also had to implement SaaS, subscription-based best practices for our external website. That way, people could sign up for our new product directly on our website. To do these things, we needed a designer that could build the website under our direction. We also wanted a provider with a good grasp of  SaaS platforms both internally and externally. That was when we hired Eleken. 

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

We worked directly with Eleken’s designer for our existing marketing website, and our team provided that designer with examples of what we wanted the site to look like. Creating this new marketing site was part of our requirement structure. 

On top of that, we went through a comprehensive process of mapping out the new functionality of the new product. Our team created a large set of specifications for this. We then provided these requirements to Eleken, and the designer started simultaneously implementing these requirements and creating the marketing website. 

We focused on those things in the first couple of months, and then we transitioned to the elements that we needed for marketing the new product and the existing enterprise platform. Our team worked closely with the designer to identify which sections she should improve. Among the things we needed were new pages for our pricing, enterprise customers, blogs, and other support content. Their resources provided the designs of those elements through Figma.

Over the next six and a half months, they provided us with new designs as we went down our list. We wanted to look on par with the current crop of SaaS platforms in the market. Given that, we also needed animations on the website and more comprehensive designs that showed our product in action. Moreover, Eleken highlighted the notable customers we had in the past. They also took on the task of building out the actual website through Webflow. 

What is the team composition?

We worked with one designer, and she was our main point of contact. 

How did you come to work with Eleken?

I personally started searching for partners in March 2021, and I spent about a month researching firms that worked specifically in our vast space. We didn’t want a big US agency that would charge us excessively and give us a rotating cast of designers — that was the last thing we wanted. As a result, one of our main requirements was to have one main point of contact.

With that in mind, I went through hundreds of potential partners. I zeroed in on Eleken when I visited a site that promoted them along with a couple of other agencies that worked exclusively with SaaS companies. I eventually talked to Ilya (Founder) and was quite impressed with their approach for two reasons. First, their price was at least half the cost of what some US firms were charging. Then, they planned to assign an individual designer to work full-time on our project and exclusively with us. We also had a direct line of communication with that person without an account manager getting in between us — we could work with her to our heart’s content for as many months as we needed.

I did have some worries, such as our time difference since they were in Ukraine. However, they assured me that that wouldn’t be an issue. Finally, they gave us a week with the designer as a free trial. If we didn’t like her, we would have a way to switch the assignee up. That was another reason we decided to hire Eleken. 

How much have you invested with them?

We’ve spent just under $30,000.

What is the status of this engagement?

Our engagement lasted from May–December 2021. We launched the marketing website in September 2021, but we haven’t launched the product. 

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

From an internal perspective, our team, board of advisors, and even our investors were all thrilled with the way the marketing site looked, which was a huge upgrade from what we previously had — it looked much more modern. 

It also highlighted our customer base and showed the product’s functionality in a comprehensive way. Customers could also see the product’s cost based on its versions. Overall, from the internal stakeholders’ perspective, we had nothing but the highest praise and response for the site. 

We haven’t released the product yet, so no quantitative metrics are available. I won’t be able to tell how the website converts customers until we launch the product, flip on the site’s new functionality, and allow people to sign up. However, I’m confident that it’s going to do well because it meets the standards we’ve set. 

How did Eleken perform from a project management standpoint?

Eleken stuck to our schedule, and they met our standards. We didn’t feel like the project took an excessively long time to finish or that they were inhibiting something. Moreover, our communication was great. We had a kickoff meeting on Zoom with the designer and Eleken’s design head. From there, our conversations took place on Slack. We could talk to the designer through it as many times in a day as necessary; she was always responsive. 

Meanwhile, I didn’t know what other tools they used on their side to manage the engagement, but I managed it on our side through Trello. We gave the Eleken team access to our boards to let them know what we needed.  

What did you find most impressive about them?

The designer that Eleken assigned to us was truly talented; she was young but not green — she had a firm grasp of the designs that we wanted. In fact, she was dedicated to scouring the samples we sent to make sure that we were satisfied with her outputs. On top of that, we didn’t have to hire a separate firm for our marketing and platform pieces. That was Eleken’s specialty. 

Overall, having one designer and main point of contact working on our products was a huge time- and money-saver. Ultimately, this created a more consistent look across all of our properties. Eleken was excellent in doing that. 

Are there any areas they could improve?

No, there weren’t any. Whenever we identified anything that needed to be corrected, the team took care of it immediately; they always prioritized their responses to me.

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

Do your homework upfront and come to the engagement with a well-thought-out project specification. Apart from that, provide a good range of examples of what you’re trying to achieve. If you give Eleken good inputs upfront, their team will be highly capable of creating something in the same vein for you. In other words, know what you want; don’t just leave it to them. 

BACKGROUND

Please describe your company and your position there.

CEO of stealth mode startup

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

For what projects/services did your company hire Eleken?

UX design and clickable prototype development for MVP

What were your goals for this project?

Build a prototype for the product that we could use for customer validation, testing and getting early feedback.

SOLUTION

How did you select Eleken?

We found Eleken through a referral.

Describe the project in detail.

Our engagement started with a free trial that Eleken worked with us on for a few days, which was great to get started with and gave us confidence in working with the team. The designer assigned on our project was incredible, very thorough and committed.

After the free trial, we immediately extended our project working very closely with our designer on a daily basis. We had daily standup calls with the designer, with very close collaboration almost as if we are all one team.

What was the team composition?

For the short project our size, we were working directly with the designer dedicated to us.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

The designer was able to very quickly learn about what we wanted to build, even though our product was very specific to our domain. She asked the right questions and confidently pushed us until she was crystal clear in her understanding of what needed to be done. The end result was a prototype that was very functional and created a very thoughtful design.

How effective was the workflow between your team and theirs?

Very good collaboration, with daily standups and collaborative discussions over slack.

What did you find most impressive about this company?

Eleken has designers that are motivated to do a great job. They don't think of this as just any other temporary contract, and you can see their passion and commitment come through in the high quality work they deliver. We will continue to work with them for future work.

Are there any areas for improvement?

None

BACKGROUND

Please describe your company and your position there.

I am the founder of an early-stage startup that is focused on helping people navigate the savings needed to buy their homes.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

For what projects/services did your company hire Eleken?

We had a functioning web prototype that we were looking to develop into an MVP. We hired Eleken to design a fresh user interface and design some new features.

What were your goals for this project?

The goal was to progress our prototype to an MVP, which involved redesigning the interface and creating a more intuitive user experience based on previous user feedback and changes in our business strategy. The sections worked on included a landing page, onboarding flow, and an interactive dashboard.

SOLUTION

How did you select Eleken?

We researched various startup-friendly UI/UX firms listed on the Clutch website, predominately situated near and off-shore. Eleken stood out because of their impressive design portfolio as well as their emphasis on working with early-stage startups.

We then spoke to a shortlisted set of firms that included Eleken. Eleken’s CEO left a positive impression as he seemed to understand our needs as a startup. He then offered us a short trial, which we went ahead with.

This gave us a good sense of how they worked. We also found them to be competitive in their pricing. We decided to move forward with them based on the above.

Describe the project in detail.

First, we discussed the objectives of the project, both from a user and business perspective. We walked them through the flow of our existing prototype. They then independently reviewed our existing designs and findings from our previous user research and tests.

They came back to us with questions to clarify their understanding of our product. Given the breadth of work and the complex nature of our product, we had several calls to explain and clarify the business logic applicable to our product.

The designer assigned to us then began creating basic wireframe concepts for each section of our platform. The designer later introduced visual and aesthetic elements after multiple iterations and feedback sessions.

The designer then created a clickable version of our product to test on select users before it was coded. Following this, further iterations and refinements were done based on collective feedback before the screens were finalised. Mobile-friendly screens were also worked on in conjunction with Web.

What was the team composition?

We liaised with Eleken’s CEO initially and had one designer working with us full time.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

Whilst our product is not yet live, we are pleased with the overall look and feel of the design and flow. The output is clean, friendly, intuitive, and appropriate for the nature of our business and target consumer.

How effective was the workflow between your team and theirs?

We were in constant communication with the designer. This direct and open form of communication and the designer’s flexibility allowed for a very fluid workflow.

What did you find most impressive about this company?

Eleken made a concerted effort to understand our business requirements and the ins and outs of our product. The designer was great to work with! She was thorough and disciplined in her approach to applying best practices and design principles.

She was committed, proactive, and turned around deliverables very quickly. Furthermore, she provided useful suggestions and even challenged us to consider other ideas and approaches.

Are there any areas for improvement?

Although communication was fluid, we could have benefited from a bit more structure in terms of centralised tracking/documentation of key tasks, discussion points and decisions.

BACKGROUND

Please describe your company and your position there.

I am the founder. Our company is a cloud-based freight sourcing platform and we are working on a new platform which is a tender exchange.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

For what projects/services did your company hire Eleken?

We needed a UI from scratch and that is what we hired Eleken for.

What were your goals for this project?

The goal was to create a fresh and modern User Interface for our platform that makes navigation easy and intuitive for our platform users.

SOLUTION

How did you select Eleken?

We scanned the internet for creative web design companies with the right experience in UI design and actually were able to visit with Eleken as our office is also based in Kyiv. We based ourselves on the right connection and feeling when we talked with Eleken and liked the project they have shown us.

Describe the project in detail.

First we talked through the use cases and concept and we created a rough picture of what web pages needed to contain. We brought also some understanding about logistics as this is valuable knowledge to have. We did this in quite a few online sessions. After that we received the first draft designs and decided on the design standard to move forward. Once that was done we worked on iterations based on a lot of calls and direct messaging and finally with corrections, updates, change of functionalities, which happens during the design we came to the final stage of the project.

What was the team composition?

At first 1 UI designer was working full-time with us and then a second UI designer was added as well full-time.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

We are not live yet but we are convinced the design is the right one and will be innovative for the logistics industry.

How effective was the workflow between your team and theirs?

The workflow was very direct and effective. Also, the fact that we speak Russian and Ukrainian helped.

What did you find most impressive about this company?

They were able to really listen to us and learn about our business. being open to the changes that we brought. Next to the fact that design skills are top-notch.

BACKGROUND

Please describe your company and your position there.

I'm the Co-founder at Kaiiax.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

For what projects/services did your company hire Eleken?

We hired Eleken to design our brand new website which is supposed to communicate our value proposition to our target audience.

What were your goals for this project?

We wanted the website to reflect our brand, communicate our values, and show who we really are as a company. Eleken did a great job doing just that.

SOLUTION

How did you select Eleken?

We've worked with Eleken before so when the time has come to update our website we immediately knew who we wanted to work with.

Describe the project in detail.

We had a few calls with Eleken to discuss what we wanted. They shared some really good ideas as well. After a few days, they prepared 5 different versions of the home page which we had a thorough discussion over.

After this call, we realized we needed to change the messaging. We rewrote the content for the home page and shared it with Eleken. When their design team showed us their new mockup, it was just exactly what we needed. No one could've done better!

What was the team composition?

We worked with Eleken CEO and one of their designers.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

We are happy about our new website design. It stands out and differentiates us in the industry. It drives our messaging home.

How effective was the workflow between your team and theirs?

It was perfect. They work very fast, they are receptive to feedback, they listen very carefully. They are professionals.

What did you find most impressive about this company?

The design talent stands out.

Are there any areas for improvement?

I can't think of any.

BACKGROUND

Please describe your company and your position there.

I’m the founder of the CRM for freelancers.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

For what projects/services did your company hire Eleken?

Eleken helped me to design the product. The CRM helps freelancers to track and manage customer relationships as well as make financial projections.

What were your goals for this project?

I wanted to create a lightweight simple UI and easy to use UX of the SaaS CRM app for the particular niche.

SOLUTION

How did you select this vendor?

I already worked with them on my other project a couple of years ago. Don’t remember how I founded them back then.

Describe the project in detail.

It’s a lightweight SaaS CRM for freelancers (designers, writers, developers etc.). There are many CRMs on the market but they are all heavy and uneasy to start with. We wanted to create something simple and specific for the niche where individuals can track their sales pipeline and make projections on finances. I am very happy with the results.

What was the team composition?

I worked with 2 incredible UI/UX designers directly.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

Actually the guys really helped me to realize what is important and worth to focus on and what’s not. It really helped me not only in the design perspective but in business in general. Right now we're in the development phase of the product and I can’t wait to see it live.

How effective was the workflow between your team and theirs?

I really like the way we worked together. I communicated directly with designers, no middle man.

What did you find most impressive about this company?

They were always on time and exceeded my expectations. They also helped me with the business standpoint like market research and competitor analysis.

Are there any areas for improvement?

Nothing to add here at this point.

BACKGROUND

Please describe your company and your position there.

I am CTO of Gridle. It's a Client Experience Platform for Agencies & Freelancers. Agencies can manage their Sales Pipeline, Sales Documents, Customers, and Invoices.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

For what projects/services did your company hire Eleken?

We worked with Eleken for the UI/UX revamp of our existing SAAS application based on our user feedback.

What were your goals for this project?

We needed a better-designed product with intuitive flows and easy to use.

SOLUTION

How did you select this vendor?

We found Eleken on Clutch only. We evaluated and talked to around 15-20 agencies and the finally decided to go ahead with them.

Describe the project in detail.

We are building a SAAS application which can be used by agencies and freelancers for managing their clients and leads. Our users are spread across the world from countries like the USA, Europe, Australia, and Southeast Asia. 

What was the team composition?

We worked directly with a brilliant UI/UX designer.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

We showed the design to some of our users and they were really excited to look at the designs. All of them said that they can't wait to start using the new revamped version.

How effective was the workflow between your team and theirs?

Though there is a difference in timezone, culture, and languages, still we had the smoothest collaboration with them. I always felt like they are our extended team. 

What did you find most impressive about this company?

The team is really great at what they do. They give rapid and quality results. We really enjoyed working with Eleken on our SASS application. They are committed and dedicated people. Their understanding of user experience, customer mindset, and best practices are excellent. We really loved the speed at which they deliver designs and iterated based on feedback. Like your extended team, they will not waste time in unnecessary things and will not even let you do that. We wish for their awesome growth and looking forward to working again with them. 

Are there any areas for improvement?

No, they are really professional team.

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m the CEO of a social consumer app in the App Store. We allow people to create short, micro-podcasts to share with their network.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with Eleken?

We had contacted them before and we exploring a separate storytelling app. Our team needed upwards of 75 templates to be designed to make our product competitive. We hired them to get those templates done.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

The project needed templates that were outside the scope of traditional app design. For instance, they needed to have detailed, beautiful backgrounds with patterns and gradients. The idea was to beautify the templates similar to how one would present themself on a visual social media platform. While my co-founder and I have experience designing app components, we have less expertise in the more artistic realm of design. 

They took our artistic design needs and formatting requirements and designed the templates for them. We started with a general outline, and they took the project from there. The final app is for iOS. 

What is the team composition?

We worked directly with a manager, a lead designer, and an additional contributing designer.

How did you come to work with Eleken?

We found them on a web platform while searching for design help for an initial version of our MVP. Ever since we’ve kept up a working relationship with them.

What is the status of this engagement?

We started working with them in April 2020 and wrapped up in a few weeks.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

In our most recent project, we’re still in the testing phase and haven’t launched yet. Qualitatively, those who have seen the templates have really enjoyed them. 

How did Eleken perform from a project management standpoint?

They’ve been responsive over Slack, email, and Zoom calls.

What did you find most impressive about them?

It’s hard to beat the quality they offer for the price that they charge. They can create strong work at half the cost of similar design firms. For that reason, they’re great for startups that are on a tight budget.  

Are there any areas they could improve?

I’d love for them to think about our projects with the entire scope in mind, not only for longer-term collaborations but for short-terms ones too.