Kayen Peppa

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m the head of a marketing consulting group.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with Kayen Peppa?

One of the things we do is to build websites for our clients. From time to time, we bring in different design groups to give some interesting ideas around different design directions that we can go in with our clients.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

Julien (Founder) and his team worked on a handful of website design projects with us, putting together wireframe desktop designs and mobile designs that were basically the jumping off point with our clients for what their new website could look like. 

Through feedback from the client and our organization, Julian and his team began to finetune the ideas and ultimately got to those final approved designs. Then our team was responsible for coding and building out the frontend aspect of the template and connecting it to the backend

What is the team composition?

My only point of contact was Julien. I’m not sure if he had other team members working on it.

How did you come to work with Kayen Peppa?

We found Julian through a job posting. After reviewing several candidates and conducting several interviews, we ultimately decided that we liked Julian's communication style, eye for design, and some of the modern minimalistic designs that he had available in his portfolio.

We ultimately decided to work with him on an initial project, which is what the Upwork listing was for. Then through the success of that relationship, brought him into a handful of other projects as well.

What is the status of this engagement?

We worked with Julien on the first project from June–August 2019.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

It's hard to give him metrics because his work is a small part of the overall project and its success.

However, I think the designs were solid. They have a different way of putting together information that worked well. One thing I appreciated about the process was how the experience was unique on mobile versus desktop and understanding how data can be served in a better way based on the platform.

How did Kayen Peppa perform from a project management standpoint?

Budget-wise, Julien always lets us know the cost and he’s been good at sticking to that once we decide on a fixed price. As far as timelines, Julien oftentimes had a quick turnaround or letting us know when a timeline doesn’t work because there’s too much feedback in too short a time.

I appreciated the communication and we met the deadlines around 99.9% of the time.

What did you find most impressive about them?

I like that Julien works with us to make sure that the design fits what we're looking for. He takes feedback, implements it, and is committed to delivering what we want from an anecdotal standpoint.

But in general, I always enjoyed working with him, our working relationship, and his commitment to trying to make things right and make them the way we'd like them to be.

Julien does a good job of putting together designs that are different and have an upper echelon look to them. They don't look like just another out of the box design. He's not afraid to take chances. Sometimes they don't pan out, but at least we get to see something different and then work backward from there.

Are there any areas they could improve?

I don't have any suggestions right now.

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

Come to the table knowing what it is you're looking for. If you don't have a good idea of what you're going for or what you're trying to accomplish, it can be tough to work with any contractor or group because you're relying too much on their creativity versus what you know you're trying to accomplish. Do that and you'll have a good successful relationship with him.

BACKGROUND

Please describe your company and your position there.

Funded Startup disrupting the a luxury goods market with a D2C ecommerce approach. I run strategy and brand operations for the company.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

For what projects/services did your company hire Kayen Peppa?

We needed a custom website design that would put us on par or above the competition in a very competitive luxury market. The look, and feel were key to encouraging visitors to turn into customers.

What were your goals for this project?

Visual design and interaction design are key to creating brand value and brand trust online. We needed an agency that understood this. Every page, every image, every block of text, and every button has a purpose.

If those objects are not purposeful, the visitor will become confused and loose confidence in the experience. We needed design that was very carefully thought thru for it's information architecture and interaction design.

We also needed an agency that could work on our timeline, as we have a few international stakeholders.

SOLUTION

How did you select Kayen Peppa?

We reviewed many options of agencies online. the portfolio of Kayen Peppa stood out as the most refined and flexible in it's design thinking.

Describe the project in detail.

We worked with the Kayen Peppa thru the initial shock period of the pandemic. They were very responsive, understanding and flexible with the situation. As our timeline expanded, Kayen Peppa team adjusted smoothly without missing a beat.

What was the team composition?

This was an agency studio model of working where we dealt primarily with the account manager on all aspects. The account manger has a keen design vocabulary and was easy to communicate with about requirements and feedback.

Since the working model was agency studio type with one main point of contact, and not an embeded team model (where you interact with each person on the team directly), we didn't have a solid count on the team size.

We do know the team expanded and contracted quickly in response to our ever changing needs.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

The project was delivered on budget, to our quality expectation, and to our variable timeline.

How effective was the workflow between your team and theirs?

Quite good use of design, prototyping, feedback, and project management tools. Also, the team was responsive with communications.

What did you find most impressive about this company?

The careful thought put into the interaction design and the competitive research were very helpful in informing our own way of thinking about the design and structure of the website.

Are there any areas for improvement?

nothing to improve for the areas in scope in the project.

BACKGROUND

Please describe your company and your position there.

We work with innovative companies looking to move the needle through the use of custom-built software applications. We specifically develop mobile applications for the transportation industry. I oversee all operations for the company.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

For what projects/services did your company hire Kayen Peppa?

We hired Kayen Peppa to do the complete UI and UX design for a mobile app. It was a public-facing app, so usability and a sleek design were very important.

What were your goals for this project?

Our goal was to create value in our space by offering a unique application that assisted users on their daily commute. This app was to better manage their travel schedules.

SOLUTION

How did you select this vendor?

Through a competitive bid process.

Describe the project in detail.

The project was the custom design of a mobile app that allowed riders of our local public transit system to see maps, stop information, and real-time location data on the various transit options, so that they could best plan their travel around the city.

What was the team composition?

Our point of contact at Kayen Peppa was Julien (CEO & Founder, Kayen Peppa). He was the lead designer and manager of the project.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

The result was a top-notch, high-quality set of designs that our engineering team is going to implement, and is going to result in a high-value app that our clients are going to embrace.

How effective was the workflow between your team and theirs?

Very effective. I was happy with the communication.

What did you find most impressive about this company?

They had the right balance for us of cost and quality. They were able to deliver a high standard of quality and work product, at reasonable prices.

Are there any areas for improvement?

Sometimes scheduling was a bit difficult due to the time zone difference, but Julien was always responsive.