Brave UX

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I am the director of a project called CityHealth, which is funded by the de Beaumont Foundation. We were a grant-funded project that engages services to help us with web design for a research report that we conducted.

What challenge were you trying to address with Brave UX?

We had a large and complex concept. We wanted to do data analysis of the 40 largest cities in the United States and look at nine policies that may or may not exist in those cities, then evaluate those cities based on the number and quality of the policies that they had on the books.

We needed Brave to work with the project management system that is hosted by our legal analysts to create a user-friendly, accessible, visually appealing way for an educated lay audience to access all of this information and absorb it quickly. We wanted it to be broken down either by an individual policy topic, like high-quality pre-kindergarten, or by an overview of a city, like Washington, D.C., to understand what things look like, what “quality” means, and how can we compare across those different domains.

What was the scope of their involvement?

We reached out to Brave to partner with the backend of our website. The legal analysts we worked with to do the data analysis have a content management system where they house all of those data, but it’s not pretty, and it’s not something that would make sense necessarily to the audience we were looking to engage, which are city policymakers, advocates, and researchers in different areas of health, education, etc. We reached out to Brave to bring them this concept and say, how can we take all of these data and arrange them in a way that will be quickly accessible and digestible to this audience where they’ll be able to navigate and understand the story that we’re trying to tell about these different policies, about these different cities and penetrate what all of that actually means?

So it was a big, complicated concept, very wonky, very dry, not something that is easily accessible, even to the type of audience that we would look to engage. We approached them with that challenge from the very beginning, and they were absolutely phenomenal. I cannot say enough good things about how quickly they understood the types of information that we were looking to house on this site, how to package it, how to arrange it, how to structure the content in a way that made it easily understood and told a beautiful story about it.

They transformed something that could have been kind of dry and wonky into something incredibly cutting-edge looking, particularly for the field of public health and policy. You just don't see information packaged and arranged the way that they were able to do. They created the whole look and feel and then worked with our legal team to manage the content management system to make it actually happen, which had a lot of challenges in and of itself. The content management system is not all that user-friendly and wasn’t necessarily created with the idea of cutting-edge design at the front of it. They were infinitely patient, flexible, thoughtful, and great at troubleshooting and problem-solving and thinking through, “How can we make the best out of the circumstances in front of us to create a beautiful product?” We were incredibly impressed with what they were able to create for us.

How did you come to work with Brave UX?

At the time I was working with an outside communications firm who had come across Brave’s work while bidding out a different project. I approached a few different firms for bids, and Brave rose so far above the others that it was hardly even a comparison by the end, just in terms of their sophistication of user experience, their incredible aesthetic sense, and their savvy and understanding how information architecture works with how people process that information. It ended up being a much easier process than we would have expected because they were so sharp.

How much have you invested with Brave UX?

At the end of the day, we invested between $100,000 and $150,000 with Brave.

What is the status of this engagement?

I want to say we began working with Brave about 18 months ago. I really don't know. I’d have to look that up. I’m not sure that I have a specific date. The project was launched in February 2017.

Could you share any evidence that would demonstrate the productivity, quality of work, or the impact of the engagement?

I don't have all of the web analytics in front of me, but I can tell you about the more anecdotal and qualitative data. Before we started working with Brave, we were a relatively unknown product. The foundation that sponsored the project and the project itself are newcomers, relatively speaking, to the national field of public health and policy in a big, public-facing way. While the foundation has been around for almost 10 years, they haven't had a big national launch like this one, so there was a lot riding on this debut. When we came out with the site, which we previewed with a number of high-level influencers in the field — from other foundations to national nonprofits with significant standing in the field — everyone was blown away by it. We got nothing but accolades about how beautiful the site was, how smartly designed it was, the navigability of the information, how well-packaged everything was. That was an incredibly important opportunity for us to establish our reputation and standing. It was incredibly powerful how well it did, and it was important for the higher profile folks to see us playing in their league with a public-facing site.

How did Brave UX perform from a project management standpoint?

I’ve worked with a lot of contractors in my time, and I’m also an independent consultant, so I know what good client service looks like, and Brave is over-the-top great. They are organized and polite but firm about pushing the client to meet deadlines, because they know that they’ve promised a product to you, and so they want to be able to deliver. We were not the easiest team to deal with on that front. I had a lot of cooks in the kitchen, and a lot of them did not necessarily understand the urgency around deadlines. Brave was just phenomenal about keeping us to those deadlines and meeting our deadlines even when we approached them with a short turnaround. I will be honest, I don't think I've ever had project management like the one that Brave provided.

What did you find most impressive about Brave UX?

I would say that Brave’s sophistication and understanding about how to marry beautiful design with an understanding of how people approach web content. … It was an educational experience for me, and it was powerful to see the effects of that in the end product. Brave’s team, the ones who built our information architecture, were so smart in first educating us about how good information is organized and then in creating a product that matched that. At the end of the day, we saw it work, which was incredibly impressive to me. Brave are not public health policy experts — they wouldn't claim to be — for them to have so quickly penetrated and understood what it was that we were trying to do and then deliver to us such an impressive product, that was over-the-top awesome. I could not have been more satisfied with how they provided that service to us. 

Are there any areas Brave UX could improve?

I can't think of any ways Brave could improve. We were, from start to finish, wholly satisfied with their work. I think one of the other great endorsements for the work they did is that the foundation already has referred another project of theirs to reach out to work with them on web design. I had other outside entities who I was working with who said, “Wow. This is beautiful. Who did it? Can I get their name?” In terms of other people’s perceptions and my own,  I can't think of anything that I would have wanted to have happened that didn't happen.

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m the CEO of a traditional staffing firm focused on the East Coast market. We’re rolling out a completely brand-new product that we expect to turn out into a separate entity. It’s called UpFront. 

What challenge were you trying to address with Brave UX?

TeamUpFront.com is going to be an online hiring marketplace. There are a few other firms that already have gone into that space but we have some unique things in mind. One of the important things for us was to make sure it was well-designed. Last year, we did a beta test on a similar, non-branded product. The biggest issue we had with the test product was getting people to register and sign up easily. We found out that the process was a little complicated. The candidates and clients build profiles, so there’s a lot of information during the registration process. We need to save all that data. We also had to improve the usability and flow—making sure we ask for the right things at the right time so that we don’t push people away. Ultimately, we decided to engage an outside firm to help design this for us.

What was the scope of their involvement?

I’ve never built a web product before, so that’s where we utilized Brave. In large part, it’s a web application and it’s a web product. There was the aesthetic aspect, but their work focused on providing the user content and flow. They did go above and beyond that, giving us some in-house artwork that they had done. Brave UX provided help with copy as well, which was above and beyond what we had paid for. Primarily, they helped us with the product design, user flow, and registration. First, they put together the information architecture and then the wireframes. They then worked together with us and some of our clients to make sure it made sense before we passed it off to the developer. This is what we are doing right now. It’s being developed currently.

How did you come to work with Brave UX?

I talked to Brave UX several times about helping us build a website or creating some tools for our current website. But ultimately, it came down to us designing a product. I was a programmer but I learned my lesson last year about trying to do it on my own. I thought I should engage a firm that actually knows what they’re doing and has a good portfolio. I looked at their past work and asked them about it. It takes a lot of trust to go into something like that, but I figured we’d give it a shot. Fortunately, it worked out.

How much have you invested with Brave UX?

We paid $100,000 for their services.

What is the status of this engagement?

It was a 16- to18-week project. We engaged them as early as May, then started June 1. The project was finished at the end of September, so it took about 5 months. I still email them because of the transition from designers to developers. Brave has been really helpful with that.

Could you share any evidence that would demonstrate the productivity, quality of work, or the impact of the engagement?

We’re going to be launching the product in phases so that we can get some testing. We will be looking at metrics like how many people sign up, how many people use it, how often they’re online, and all that. Ultimately, we have to wait until we get it launched.

The reason I decided to move forward with the development and spend more money on it was because of the positive feedback we’ve gotten. We were accepted into 1776. We’ve shown some of the mockups to clients as well as the owners around Make Offices. Even though the product hasn’t been developed yet, having the wireframes is a whole different ballgame. We’re able to speak through the designs with potential investors and CEOs because we’re not talking about a concept anymore. We’re actually able to show the usability of the product.

On a side note, I’ve been trying to figure out the best way to test things and get the feedback. I showed this to the sales guys at our firm. They’ve never gotten excited about stuff because there are just a billion tools out there, but when I showed this to them, they were so excited. They just want to get it done so they can sell it. That was the first time I thought, “This is really going to work. Even my pessimistic sales guys are salivating over it.” That’s been the biggest indicator to me so far.

How did Brave UX perform from a project management standpoint?

They did very well. Jordan, their Director of UX, knows what he’s doing. They’re obviously a smaller boutique firm so they do things differently. There are times that we felt pressure to keep pace, but they do a good job of allowing for that while keeping it wrapped up. We started with 2 meetings a week and then it became 1 meeting a week after the information architecture was done. It was a pretty big project.

What did you find most impressive about Brave UX?

I haven’t worked with another firm on a project of this scale. It’s pretty fair to say that as a staffing firm, we know a lot of contacts at various firms. I think they might be the most cutting-edge digital agency in DC. Most agencies are traditionally old school agencies, where it’s about branding and advertising since they started as print and copy artists. The name itself, Brave UX, implies that their work is more about usability and user flow. I think a lot of people don’t really understand what that is or what that means. It’s probably best to explain it as they do digital stuff—they make digital products. They are digital first. Even though we haven’t worked with other people, I was impressed by their portfolio, the experience we had, and the end results of the product. I appreciated the ease we’ve had handing the product over to our development team. The development team even commented that they thought we got an extremely good value; they were surprised at how low the expense was for what we got. That speaks to something.

Are there any areas Brave UX could improve?

At the very end, we rushed a little through some stuff. It’s hard because they went above and beyond what the original quote was for, so we had to fit in a lot of stuff. It was a great experience overall.

Please describe your organization.

Clutch (the site you are on now) is a ratings and reviews site for businesses looking to hire a services firm or choose a software solution for their company.

What is your role at the company?

I am the founder.

What business challenge were you trying to address with Brave UX?

We have two main types of users on our site: buyers of services and vendors of services. The buyers are the primary audience that we target. However, our site was not fully optimized for the experience of these users.

We also have an extensive amount of data and content on our site, and we continue to accumulate more on a daily basis. We needed help prioritizing, organizing, and reformatting this vast amount of information so that we could display the most important information that buyers are looking for better. Additionally, we needed to update the design of our site and rethink the overall brand message that we present to visitors.

As a rapidly growing company, we needed a UX [user experience] agency that could help us with these immediate issues and could further equip our team with the knowledge and tools to improve the usability of our site in the future. Brave proved that they could meet both of these needs immediately.

Please describe the scope of their involvement in detail.

The project followed a 12-week sprint format that included two meetings per week to discuss and give feedback. The first seven weeks included strategy, information architecture research, and wireframe development. The last five weeks included design and finalizing changes to the site. While Brave did not implement the changes directly on our site – we have our own development team – they did provide all of the necessary information and details to hand off to our developers. 

In terms of strategy, Brave took us through many activities to help us determine our main priorities and the overall branding message we wanted to display throughout our site. They recognized our current business goals and took the time to understand our future goals, confirming that any solution would accommodate future growth.

Information architecture is where Brave really excels. Many companies do not prioritize IA and, instead, primarily focus on design. Brave really shines when it comes to IA. They understand the importance of IA and take the necessary time to map out how the given information should be prioritized and then structured in a way that results in the optimal experience for the user.

We are still working through the design phase of our project. But, so far, Brave has exceeded all of our expectations.

Overall, Brave provided a comprehensive schedule that tackled our main issues through the seven weeks of information architecture and five weeks of design. Additionally, Brave provided coaching and guidance throughout the process, ensuring that our team will be equipped to address UX issues better in the future.

How did you come to work with Brave UX?

We first began working with Brave on a consulting basis, receiving feedback on specific features and user flows on our website. After a few months of intermittent feedback, we decided that to improve the usability of our site, we would need to work on a full UX engagement with Brave.

We previously received invaluable feedback from Brave, so when it came time to improve the overall user experience of our site, Brave was the absolute best choice. Brave understands our business model very well and, in addition to UX feedback, they were also willing to provide coaching and guidance to our team throughout the process.

Could you provide a sense of the size of this initiative in financial terms?

It was $50,000 to $100,000 to date, including consulting hours before the major UX redesign.

What is the status of this engagement?

The full redesign project began April 2016 and will wrap up around July 2016. We will definitely continue our relationship with Brave beyond the extent of this project.

Could you share any statistics or metrics from this engagement?

We have full wireframe documentation of the pages that we want to change. The wireframes are done very well and render the information priorities that we have for our site appropriately. Additionally, the wireframes solve the issues that were laid out in the initial scope accurately. 

We will also have a new design to implement across the site. This design includes new colors, typography, and formatting, and a comprehensive pattern library to ensure the accurate design of new pages. 

We do not have any specific success metrics as we have not implemented the new design on our current site yet. However, from some of the feedback and advice we've received from Brave, we have seen quite an improvement in the way our team approaches user experience and in the way we produce content for our users.

What distinguishes Brave UX from other providers?

Brave is very unique in terms of their empathy and ability to understand their clients' needs. Brave UX delivers beyond expectations when it comes to explaining why specific changes matter and exactly how each change will benefit the user. They don't simply hand deliverables to their clients and then walk away. They explain the reasons for and the value of each change fully. They push beyond surface-level explanations and often describe the background, history, and/or psychology behind each idea, once again confirming that the client understands the value of the solution fully.

Brave truly knows more about user experience than the majority of agencies that say they are UX experts today. Each team member is an amazing problem solver and, no matter the issue at hand, someone on the team will be able to come up with the ideal solution. Their passion, expertise, and extensive capabilities make them an ideal partner and guarantee a successful outcome.

In hindsight, are there areas in which they could improve or things you might do differently?

Not at this time. I couldn't imagine a better redesign experience.

Please describe your organization.

HomeZen is a software startup that helps homeowners sell their homes without a real estate agent by providing them information and software tools that allow them to navigate each stage of the process with some customer support. Instead of paying thousands of dollars to a real estate agent, they simply pay a few hundred dollars to us.

What is your position?

I'm the cofounder and CEO.

What business challenge were you trying to address with Brave UX?

We were thinking about our MVP [minimum viable product], the initial product we'd go to market with, and a set of tools that included a fairly complex workflow. It is a high-value infrequent transaction, so a transaction that the users would not know particularly well or be experts in and would have a reasonable level of anxiety. We needed a product and a software workflow that was simple, clean, that would portray competence and inspire trust, and would be easy to navigate for our first users.

Please describe the scope of their involvement in detail.

They were both vertical and horizontal with us, which was fantastic. We had a sense for what we wanted in our model for workflows. We'd seen a few other industries that did this well. We had a sense that it was mostly fully baked in terms of the product and features. However, they asked us a number of probing questions that went to the user journeys, what the purpose of the product was, what the user would need throughout the process, and the set of tools we were using. They helped us clarify our thinking about the product and its features and design, and they brought a broad spectrum of experience and insights from different industries. That was helpful.

They were incredibly efficient and effective when it came to the interaction architecture, when it came to mockups and design, and obviously user experience. It was an incredibly efficient project. The cadence was great, and they were easy to work with. It was a high caliber team, and senior and junior members of the team were engaged and contributed equally. We were very pleased with our experience and the outcome.

How did you come to work with Brave UX?

We had interviewed a number of different firms, and a former coworker of mine told me to check Brave UX out. I reached out to them and we had an introductory call. We were able to negotiate a contract quickly and get started in a matter of days.

Could you provide a sense of the size of this initiative in financial terms?

$50,000 is about what we've spent.

What is the status of this engagement?

I think the initial project probably ran somewhere around six weeks. That began last July [2015] and ran into August. We re-engaged them in January for another two- to three-week project, and then again in March and April for another three to four weeks. We are currently not working with them at the moment because we don't have continuous work that needs to be done, but we do plan on working with them again in the future.

Could you share any statistics or metrics from this engagement?

We are early stage. We just launched within an enclosed alpha, so a limited data set. However, the user acceptance testing, and the user interviews have been very positive. The initial users and the different target groups we've tested with have been very positive about the design, user experience, and navigation. They have generally been able to navigate through the product in the way that we intended them to, which is great.

How did Brave UX perform from a project management standpoint?

They performed well. They were good at setting a lead on their end, and we had a lead on our end. I think part of what was wonderful about working with them, and it allowed us to work very efficiently, is that they hit the deadlines they said they were going to hit, and we hit the deadlines we said we're going to hit. It was a mix of meetings and phone calls. Even though there was only one lead, whenever we had meetings, the entire team was engaged. We knew that while they were dividing up on their end we always had the full complement of resources that we expected working on the project.

What distinguishes Brave UX from other providers?

Certainly for start-ups, they are a great size to work with. They're talented, seasoned, and experienced, but not so large as to be bureaucratic or to be charging large amounts of overhead. I have actually recommended them to a number of different startups and folks I know who have been very pleased to work with them. My only hesitance to recommend them any further is I don't want them to get too busy.

Is there anything Brave UX could have improved or done differently?

I think they've been great. We had one slight hiccup in communication on the first project. It wasn't major. It was certainly remedied moving forward and in subsequent projects. I think they've shown not only great competence and to be a great partner, but also the ability to learn and grow, which is also important.

Please describe your organization.

My organization collects and compiles metrics for real estate professionals to help them understand changes in neighborhoods and areas.

What is your position?

I am the sole founder.

What business challenge were you trying to address with Brave UX?

My background is in technology, not design. I wanted to get the right people in the room to help us turn our concept into an actual product. We engaged with Brave to get this going.

Please describe the scope of their involvement in detail.

Brave created the information architecture and the full design for both our web and mobile products. They also designed our marketing website, which included some branding and messaging as well.

How did you come to work with Brave UX?

I met Lee Finkel, the founder of Brave, through an angel investment group that we both belonged to in D.C.

Could you provide a sense of the size of this initiative in financial terms?

Total spend is slightly more than $50,000.

What is the status of this engagement?

 Everything is completed now.

Could you share any statistics or metrics from this engagement?

We are still in the prelaunch stage, so I don't have any hard numbers I can provide. Maybe I'm biased, but I think it's awesome. We are happy with the product and design and are excited to get it launched. We've shown it to a bunch of people in the real estate industry on both the commercial and residential side, and they seemed jazzed about it.

How did Brave UX perform from a project management standpoint?

We worked primarily with two people at Brave: Jenna and Jordan. They were both awesome to work with and super responsive. When they promised something, they always came through. We would complete some of the work on our end, hand it over to Brave, and they would tell us how many days they needed before they could get it back to us. Every time, we got the work back on schedule. They were also very flexible with us and let us hold many of our early meetings in-office rather than over the phone.

What distinguishes Brave UX from other providers?

I was worried about going with a bigger firm because we would be a small fish in a big pond. We didn't want to be stuck with the B or C team, which was one of the most appealing parts of Brave. Brave is small, they're niche, and we knew we were getting exactly what we needed with them.

Is there anything Brave UX could have improved or done differently?

There was some turnover in the middle of our project, but it didn't end up affecting us in the end. Honestly, I wish they were cheaper but, at the end of the day, I don't feel like I paid too much for anything. I'm actually happy that we worked with them. They're not the cheapest for a reason.

Please describe your organization.

We are Identity Automation, an identity and access management software and solution company. We help businesses automate the creation and management of user accounts and access their systems on the cloud.

What is your position?

I'm the founder of the company and the Chief Technology Officer.

What business challenge were you trying to address with Brave UX?

We needed a mobile web interface that looked better than what our back-end engineers were doing and that would work for a very broad end-user population, from kindergarten students to tech experts. We have many education customers, so the ability for them to use their mobile device or their tablets was very important. We also provide rather complex components, depending on the organization, so we needed to simplify some functionality.

Please describe the scope of their involvement in detail.

Brave performed the UX [user experience] redesign of what we had in place. They studied what types of users we had and the most common and least common flows they went through on the site. From there, they created some high-level mockups of what they felt would be the most appealing to our user base. We then implemented the technology behind the design and built a working model with mockup APIs [application programming interfaces] against our back-end.

How did you come to work with Brave UX?

We were referred to Brave UX from someone on our board that had a previous relationship with them.

Could you provide a sense of the size of this initiative in financial terms?

The engagement was around $50,000 for roughly an 11-week duration.

What is the status of this engagement?

The project was completed in December [2015] and, due to our own delays, we got it deployed just last month [April 2016]. Hopefully, we'll engage with them again in the near future.

Could you share any statistics or metrics from this engagement?

The mobile interface was night and day from what we had before. Since we weren't able to do a native app, we needed the site to feel like an app even though people had to use it through their mobile browser. The feedback we've received so far is that it absolutely has the look and feel of a native app, which is a huge positive for us. We approached a few of our customers with mockups before the updates were launched, and they felt that it was much more geared toward our target audience.

How did Brave UX perform from a project management standpoint?

They exceeded expectations, which I don't use lightly. They had a very clear plan that was communicated and documented up front. We had weekly meetings to discuss progress, and they always were right on time. In fact, they gave us an extra couple of weeks because they weren't able to do 100 percent of what we asked for in the 11-week timeframe due to factors that were out of their control, which was great. The communication and teamwork between our group and theirs was fantastic.

What distinguishes Brave UX from other providers?

Being in the services industry is about working with your customers and making sure they're happy. Brave UX definitely exceeded in that area, their team is fantastic. They have great attitudes, and they know their stuff; they're subject matter experts. They did a great job of listening to our use cases and coming up with a truly unique design that fit our company. People-wise, they're fantastic to work with, which is what brings us to want to work with them again more than anything.

Is there anything Brave UX could have improved or done differently?

The time frame and budget that we gave them were pretty constrained, and they went above and beyond. So, no, I have nothing negative about them or nothing that they could've done better.

Please describe your organization and your position.

I wear two hats when it comes to working with Brave UX. I originally got familiar with them as the Internet editor for the Society for the Advancement of Psychotherapy, which is a professional division of the American Psychological Association. I also used them for the Therapy Group of DC, of which I am the founder and clinical director.

What business challenge were you trying to address with Brave UX?

For the society, we needed to revamp the look and user experience of the website completely. The organization has a high reputation among psychologists, but the site was lackluster. We were trying to design a site that would match the reputation of the organization and boost the number of visitors to the site.

After seeing what Brave UX was able to do for the society, I knew I needed their help for my practice's website. I wanted to capture what it's like to work with us as a practice in website form. They helped us and allowed us to show our passion through their designs. They've helped people who are in search of a therapist to get a sense of what we're like as a practice.

Please describe the scope of their involvement in detail.

For the society, they helped us come up with a whole new information architecture from scratch. They also did some branding work and came up with an entirely new look and feel. Once that was approved, they built out everything on a custom WordPress platform.

For the practice, it was similar work. They restructured the organization and the information architecture of our website and built out a custom WordPress theme for us. They also did branding work, even more so than what they had done for the society, which included a new logo, designs, and updated color scheme.

How did you come to work with Brave UX?

I was referred to Brave UX by an acquaintance. They were just getting started as an organization and took on my project while they were waiting for bigger projects to come in. I feel very lucky to have snuck in at that time with a modest budget compared to a lot of work that they do now.

Could you provide a sense of the size of this initiative in financial terms?

Both projects were roughly $25,000 each.

What is the status of this engagement?

It's an ongoing engagement. We're not actively working on anything big, but there's little things that we're working on. They're the first people I talk to when I have a new idea.

Could you share any statistics or metrics from this engagement?

The society website went live in the fall of 2015. In the spring of 2015, we were getting around 3,500 sessions per month, and now we're up to 12,000. That growth is largely attributed to Brave UX's work.

For the practice, I can compare the last 30 days to two years ago. We have 60 percent more users, 116 percent more page views, and a 24 percent decrease in bounce rate. The number of conversions is also 80 percent higher, which is significant. They've helped us drive traffic to the site and keep people on the site longer. From a hard numbers perspective, they've killed it.

How did Brave UX perform from a project management standpoint?

Phenomenal! Kelaine Conochan [director of strategy at Brave UX] runs most of that, and she is one of the best I've seen at project management. When I refer to Brave UX, I say they consistently under-promise and over-deliver, which is usually the other way around. They're very good at project management.

What distinguishes Brave UX from other providers?

They are true partners, and they very much care about my success as much as I care about their success. They're enthusiastic, and they love what they do. I can tell that they take it seriously. If there are hiccups along the way, they're happy to talk about them and work them out in a very easy fashion. They're very savvy about that. It makes for a wonderful working relationship.

Is there anything Brave UX could have improved or done differently?

Their design does wonderful things once people get to the site, but I wish they also had the capacity to help me get even more people to the site. They are familiar and savvy about SEO [search engine optimization] and other marketing, but it's not their specialty. They're so good at what they do, I just wish they could help me with more.

Introduce your business and what you do there.

We provide compliance, training, and technology to the energy industry. We have a SaaS that essentially allows workers that handle infrastructure, pipeline, and things of that nature to go online and qualify on various tasks by way of computer-based training or live training. We hold all of those records so that they can ensure they are compliant. Within our system, they're allowed to build custom training. We offer consulting services as needed. My role in the company is the VP of brand.

What challenge were you trying to address with Brave UX?

We have a very talented development team and technology side of the house. Unfortunately, unless you fully commit to updating your user experience and UI/UX, it ends up just slowly getting out of date, and then very rapidly, you find yourself upside down. That’s where we ended up; we were dated, and I didn’t feel that we could fix it internally with the scope of work that we already had. 

What was the scope of their involvement?

When I initially reached out to them, the scope of work was a new logo and brand persona. That was the immediate driver; after that, we were going to move quickly into a UX discovery, which would decide the path we were going. The endgame was to get a series of mocks and overall schema templates to jumpstart our team to be able to implement that, and that's ultimately what they delivered.

We were leaning on them to bring a fresh set of eyes to the project and help us with what we didn't know. The industry that we service somewhat lagged compared to other industries. We were able to offer quite a bit of insight to help them; however, we knew they were the experts based on their portfolio and case studies, and we felt comfortable with them injecting what they do. We're a firm believer in doing what we do well and working with folks that do what they do well. 

What is the team composition?

Even before deciding to work with them, the interaction on some of our initial calls was great. We worked closely with Jordan (Director of UX), Jenna (Director of Design), and Lee (CEO & Founder) to figure out what we wanted to accomplish. Once we decided to go with them, they brought the human resources to accomplish the work.

Right from the jump, we know we had made a great choice. They were very knowledgeable. They came out and visited with us in person. Our leadership and their team met to really nail down our goals and give them a window into who we were, so that they could better develop and design the UX.

How did you come to work with Brave UX?

I did a search. I narrowed it down to 2–3 potential partners that I got a good vibe from. I did some R&D with each one. We partner with people that are very much on the same page as us: we push innovation, doing the right thing, and partnering with the right people, and I got that vibe right off the bat in some of the initial calls. Unfortunately, some of the other people I was going through the vetting process with did not put out that vibe. 

How much have you invested with them?

It was around $300,000–$350,000 for the 5–6-month engagement. 

What is the status of this engagement?

The initial engagement began in February 2020. We started with that discovery phase to go through brand, personality, and values. After that, we went through a discovery portion with our system itself, so that they could get a better understanding. Then, we kicked off a third leg to this engagement: UX templating, which lasted about 13 weeks.

We just wrapped up yesterday and did the official handoff. I believe that will probably be the breadth of what they do this year. If all goes well, we may re-engage in the future.

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

The first deliverable from them was really a new logo and brand personality, promise, and value. We have begun to implement that internally, and it’s been met with open arms. It's an excitement within our company that honestly has been lacking. We have a very young group in general, and they were really keen on the fact that our image and industry were dated. 

All of our teams are excited about upgrading. It's a huge undertaking for my team, in particular, to roll this into all of the collateral and assets that we currently have, but seeing that refresh come alive has really just motivated our staff beyond belief, even further than we hoped. 

We’ll know the full scope and breadth of their work once we release it to the public October 1. As it stands now, we're already seeing the results internally. The amount of engagement with our folks and the excitement is definitely through the roof. It will take us the better part of a year to roll the complete redesign out to the system itself, but I think we're going to be met with success on that.

How did Brave UX perform from a project management standpoint?

Their management style was very similar to ours, and that's with full transparency. You could tell they had a talented team and that they focused a lot of time on that side of it. They immediately set up a cadence of meetings twice a week, pulled in the right people, set expectations, and had a full schedule; all of the key elements from a PMO standpoint were in place. Again, that gave us confidence, because that's how we run our house as well. That was maintained throughout. They planned the work and worked the plan, and that's what we saw from day one all the way through to the final.

In terms of project management tools, we used DropBox to share things, and all meetings were recorded. We communicated probably daily through the project. There was a lot of communication, which helped the project move along.

What did you find most impressive about them?

Honesty comes to mind. There were plenty of times when we had to have tough conversations. In particular, around the beginning of March, I jumped on a call to deliver some tough news that they needed to process, and they were open to that. When there were things that we simply couldn't do because of time or cost, there was always a level of transparency and honesty that I respected. I've done business with a lot of people, and when it comes to sales, people often over-promise and then pick up the pieces along the way. I never got that vibe from Brave UX. 

The other thing I would mention is the amount of over-delivery provided by Brave UX was impressive. That’s something I picked up on early, and that's something we’re passionate about at my company as well; we don’t over-promise, but we tend to over-deliver when given the opportunity.

Are there any areas they could improve?

They are so smart at what they do that sometimes, what they said went over the heads of some of our executive leadership. That almost created surprises and backlash because people didn't really know what they were talking about in the moment. We’d have to meet afterward to catch them up on what everything meant. They could be more relatable to some companies that don’t have the same level of skill or understanding. We did address that as soon as I realized it, and they adjusted. Overall, I think as the project went on, they got better at that.

Any advice for potential customers?

I was honest up front regarding what our goals were and where we wanted to be at the end of it all. I provided anything I could to help Brave better craft what it was that we needed. I’m blessed to have a technology background, so that probably helped, but providing as much information as possible helped a lot as well. We did a lot of internal, passionate debate to decide we were going to do this, so we had a very clear vision of what that looked like for us; we just didn't know how to get there. That might be the hardest thing for some organizations to be able to provide, but I think it was vital to the success of this project.

Introduce your business and what you do there.

JP Bourget: We are Syncurity, a security orchestration, automation, and response company (SOAR). We facilitate analyst workflow to handle alerts and respond to incidents. We also speed that process up with automation. I’m the chief security officer.

Brad Chiappetta: I’m the VP for customer success.

What challenge were you trying to address with Brave UX?

BC: They re-evaluated our platform’s interface to make it more modern and feature-rich.

JP: We went five years without a UX person and had a stale and dated interface that caused a bunch of challenges. We outsourced to speed up the process of leveling it up and building something more pleasant to spend your day in.

What was the scope of their involvement?

BC: Frist, we did a discovery period where we talked about our space, its challenges, and our competitors’ UIs to set the stage for what we wanted to do. Then, they submitted a proposal for the redesign.

JP: There were two large stages: discovery for one month and then a 15-week design phase. Through these, they created a set of deliverables we could implement into our products.

What is the team composition?

JP and BC: We had regular contact with five or six people throughout the project. Jordan (Director, Brave UX) was the technical expert. We also worked with Lee (Founder, Brave UX) as well as three resources that handled design mock-ups, research, and general support.

How did you come to work with Brave UX?

BC: We interviewed several organizations and chose to go with Brave because of their portfolio and the expertise they had in the area.

How much have you invested with them?

JP: We spent about $750,000 with them.

What is the status of this engagement?

JP: We worked together from June until December 2019.

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

BC: We’ve had success in showing the mock-ups and talking through the new design with clients, prospective clients and investors. Their feedback has been overwhelmingly positive. Everyone is excited about what we’re doing with it and the changes to the product we’re going to make based on the design Brave made.

JP: They haven’t left me much to be picky about. Their aesthetics are great and they addressed all my concerns.

How did Brave UX perform from a project management standpoint?

JP: We met with them twice a week for two hours. I’ve worked with a lot of outsourced companies and third-parties over the years and I can’t of anyone that’s been better than Brave UX. They kept the momentum, hit delivery targets, and ensured everyone was on track.

I’ve been a part of silly projects that failed because of bad management and accountability, but Brave was very professional. they were solution-oriented and never tried to move blame around. I actually learned some techniques from them about how to keep projects on the rails.

BC: We had daily emails and validations. They’d present their work during the first of our two weekly calls, and then we’d offer feedback during the second call. Overall, they drove us and kept us on schedule, making sure we set deadlines and kept a cadence. They even prodded us the appropriate amount. They never lagged behind on their side.

What did you find most impressive about them?

JP: They were able to dig into a set of complex topics, understand them, and create a simple interface that allows the average user to be productive.

BC: They’re the overall package. The team was full of unbelievably smart people who were very dedicated to learning our space through research into competitors. They also brought their own knowledge to the table.

Are there any areas they could improve?

JP: I can’t think of any. If I had another million dollars and a problem to solve, I’d go back to them.

BC: In all honesty, not really. It was a smooth process and we’re happy with it. There weren’t any roadblocks.

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

JP: Stop looking and start with them tomorrow. They blew my mind.

BC: You need to be committed to the project. Doing an extensive design can’t work with partial commitment. It takes time and resources with constant interaction with the design team. They need your feedback on mock-ups.