Monster Labz

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m the business director of client services at a custom software consultancy here in Atlanta, Georgia.

What challenge were you trying to address with Monster Labz?

There were a couple of challenges for the project — we needed someone to help design the frontend and UX for our website. It’s a project in collaboration with another vendor.

What was the scope of their involvement?

We met with Santiago (Owner & UX Architect) and the owner of another vendor to go over our vision, the look, and the feel that we wanted for the website. We liked some aspects of Monster Labz’ website including the visual animations, their clean UX, and architecture. We pointed them towards their website and said that we would like to bring those similar aspects to our website, but in line with our brand.

Santiago worked with his team on the wireframes and the mood board to show us the designs and styles they thought of. He applied the feedback to align the project to our vision and he came back with the final prototype, which looked great. After that, we handed it off to another vendor who worked on the backend coding and WordPress development. 

Santiago did other tasks including custom animations for our team’s page. He also animated our team’s headshots into cartoon characters.

What is the team composition?

We worked with Santiago and people from his team.

How did you come to work with Monster Labz?

I’ve known Santiago for six years. He was our main UX architect at a past consultancy, so I already trust his instinct, illustration skills, and perceptiveness on what’s a good UX design today. We wanted to bring him on the project to guide the initial look, feel, and overall experience of the website.

How much have you invested with them?

We spent $8,000 on the project.

What is the status of this engagement?

The project ran through August—November 2020.

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

I showed Monster Labz’ work to our partners in the organization and they said that the layout was enticing and it gave an excellent first impression. The information hit the target on the initial pages and extra rich drill-downs. There were also nice personal touches on the content and layout. Since the website just went live, we’re still collecting more analytics.

How did Monster Labz perform from a project management standpoint?

Monster Labz was fantastic. We had a Slack channel for both vendors during the project. I was able to reach Santiago regarding specific questions and feedback. He took our directions and feedback well and he didn’t take it as criticism. The team was proactive. Monster Labz was involved throughout the project. They hit the nail on the head on the first meeting — we had minimal changes and feedback.

What did you find most impressive about them?

Their creativity was impressive. Monster Labz had the ability to turn our vision into a visually appealing website and product.

Are there any areas they could improve?

They were a small team and Santiago was at the center of everything including project management, design work, and implementation of meetings. That was great and it was beneficial for us as a business and as a customer. However, as Santiago continues to invest in more team members, he’ll be able to take on more work and projects to grow his business; that’s an area of opportunity I’d focus on. 

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

Come in with all your creative ideas and don’t be afraid to give honest feedback on their initial designs for the project. Be radically candid with Santiago and his team because they're not going to take it personally and they’ll apply it towards aligning your vision to create a product that you’re going to be pleased with.