Traina

Please describe your company and your position there.

Align Builders is a leading technical builder operating in San Diego and Orange County. We are elevating the construction experience in the Healthcare, Science & Technology, and Higher Education markets. I am the Marketing Director.

For what projects/services did your company hire Traina , and what were your goals?

We reached out to Traina to partner with us for a rebrand and complete overhaul of our website. Our voice isn't clear and who we are doesn't really come across in a way that resonates with people. Align has a great story to tell that really differentiates us from our competitors. We are ready to elevate our brand to match the types of clients we are aspiring to.

How did you select this vendor?

We researched and connected with 4 agencies that specialize in rebranding and web design. Ultimately, we wanted to find a local creative partner that really fit our vibe and could help us reach the next stage of our journey. After a few meetings with Traina it was clear that they understood who we are and what our mission was. They have a similar culture and we felt strongly that we would work well with their highly experienced team.

Describe the scope of their work in detail, including any steps and the final deliverables.

Traina broke out our project into two initiatives; Identity and Web redesign & dev. They kicked off our projects by conducting in-depth interviews with the Align Builders stake holders and surveying our leadership. Out of that process, they created our messaging and positioning framework. From there, we worked with their team to come up with visual identity that would become our new brand.

After that was completed, they kicked off the web dev project with discovery meetings and group roundtables. The Traina team presented us with several options once they understood the purpose of the site and the design direction that we wanted to go in. We review wireframes at that point and got to work on pulling together all of the content for the site. Once dev was complete, we participated in the QA process, more edits to the site, and finally we went live in Feb. 2022.

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

I worked with a project manager, Kristina, during the majority of the project. We also had a chance to work with David during our initial meetings along with design team members and the dev team.

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

We just launched the new branding and website on 2/15. So far, both our internal team and our followers and other industry leaders have given us very positive feedback. Everyone seems to really connect with our new look and voice. Our employees are proud to share out the website and are excited to feel the positive effects of leveling up our external presence.

Describe their project management style, including communication tools and timeliness.

Kristina was amazing to work with. She was incredibly responsive, gave us clarity on how things were progressing, and she was so patient with us as we struggled to provide the content and other assets for the web dev team. She is a lovely person to work with and highly competent. Kristina made this journey easy for us and I always felt like she was our advocate and cared deeply about the outcome of our project.

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

We were impressed by the level of care and expertise that Traina brought to the process. They truly listened to what was important to us and that became important to them.

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

I really don't have any constructive feedback.

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I'm the web manager at one of the largest acoustic guitar manufacturers in the world. I manage all facets of our digital ecosystem, and I work on digital strategy alongside our director of digital marketing and VP of marketing.

What challenge were you trying to address with Traina?

We were looking for a partner to work on various design iterations of our current platforms. We also wanted to create new experiences for our product lines.

What was the scope of their involvement?

Traina created our WordPress website. They've developed it so our teams can manage and maintain the site easily and autonomously. They performed all the necessary UX and design work, and they also prepared accessibility and GDPR compliances.

The site's functionalities include sharing, product cataloging, timeline, blog hosting and taxonomy, custom galleries, social feeds, and more. Traina did some preliminary on-page SEO, but our team is managing the ongoing SEO development. Nonetheless, they are providing us with routine site maintenance. 

Traina is also creating new experiences for our product lines. We have a video platform with a local company, and they've refaced and redesigned that experience for us. Additionally, they've digitized our print publication.

They're using Adobe Photoshop and XD on their tasks. Depending on the project, the design either starts from our or their team. In both cases, we work collaboratively throughout the design process. 

What is the team composition?

I work with a lead developer, a lead graphic designer, and a lead project manager.

How did you come to work with Traina?

Traina was recommended to us by someone from another department. We vetted them and looked at their previous work and current client roster. We interviewed them on their overall business integrity and to understand who they were as an organization. Based on that, we concluded that they were an ideal partner for us. 

What is the status of this engagement?

We started working together in March 2018, and it's ongoing. 

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

We're seeing an influx of engagement on the experiences Traina has developed and redesigned. Additionally, their design iterations made our video platform more accessible. 

How did Traina perform from a project management standpoint?

We communicate through Slack.

What did you find most impressive about them?

Traina pushes us on design improvements, and that's not something we see very often with agencies. Other vendors usually want to please their clients, whereas Traina is focused on incorporating best practices into their designs. We feel like they're coming with a lot of intelligence in their design iterations. 

Are there any areas they could improve?

I can't think of anything. 

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

Continue to collaborate with Traina — they're great both at working alongside teams and working independently with minimal direction.

Introduce your business and what you do there.

We’re a professional study institute that’s part of the California State University at San Marcos. We’re focused on providing continuous education to clinicians.

What challenge were you trying to address with Traina?

We connected to Traina to undertake a full redesign of the institute’s website, which included some customization around the courses that we offered. We also wanted to improve the UX and make it easy for the busy professionals to whom we cater to find the courses that they need quickly, clicking as few times as possible in an organized and categorized format.

What was the scope of their involvement?

Traina did a full audit of our old website. In the initial phases, they helped us with a lot of content strategy to figure out how we were going to communicate our services. There was a lot of planning around the format and layout of the site as part of that content strategy.

Then, we talked about the overall design direction, and Traina created a search format so people could find the courses and sign up for them. The next step was writing all of the content. We worked with a copywriter from Traina, who put all the content together for us.

After that, we went through content and design reviews all the way up to the development of the site on WordPress. Finally, we launched the site.

What is the team composition?

We worked with an account director, a designer, a developer, a content strategist, and a copywriter.

How did you come to work with Traina?

We launched a full RFP and interviewed five agencies, including Traina. One of the university’s criteria was that the agency had to be located in the San Diego area.

There were a number of reasons why we hired Traina. They were very competitive in their bid, and their design aesthetic was unparalleled — they were fantastic. For me, as the project owner, aesthetics were a critical aspect.

How much have you invested with them?

We spent over $100,000.

What is the status of this engagement?

We started working together in September 2020, and the site went live in April 2021.

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

Using Google Analytics as one gauge, we’ve seen that people are interacting with our new site very well. They’re interacting with various pages, which is great for us. The site is really easy to navigate to get the information that we need — from that perspective, this project has been successful.

How did Traina perform from a project management standpoint?

Traina’s project management was fantastic. I’ve been leading creative projects like this one for over ten years, and Traina’s team was probably the best team that I’ve ever worked with. They were absolutely on point with their project management, and they were super professional, which was really great.

What did you find most impressive about them?

Traina’s design and development teams were impressive. Their account management was fantastic, and they were very communicative.

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

Stay on top of your project and communicate with your project manager. They’re very responsive, so ongoing communication is the key.

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m a communications consultant for a biotechnology company focused on developing drugs for age-related diseases.

What challenge were you trying to address with Traina Design?

We wanted to revise our externally-facing website to help increase the success of our recruitment efforts. Our company isn’t a household name, so we needed a site that showcased our mission and culture.

What was the scope of their involvement?

They built us a Calico website intended to catch the eye of potential employees and partners. I contributed the content for the site, but their team handled the look and feel of the site, implementing design elements as necessary. They also took charge of project management.

What is the team composition?

There may have been people working behind the scenes, but I interacted directly with four members of their team. Specifically, I worked with their CEO, an account manager, a chief designer, and a lead developer.

How did you come to work with Traina Design?

We found sites that we really liked and researched who put them together. They had built one of our partners’ sites.

How much have you invested with them?

We spent about $200,000 on their services.

What is the status of this engagement?

We worked together on the project from April 2019–August 2020. They still provide ongoing site support.

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

Traffic to the site is up since working with them, and employee feedback has been positive. Independent of these factors, though, we’re still very happy with the site. It looks great and functions as intended.

How did Traina Design perform from a project management standpoint?
They did a great job. Our team has continued to work with them since the site launched, which has been helpful. We've built a strong working relationship. They’re easy to work with, approachable, and effective in troubleshooting issues.

What did you find most impressive about them?

They take a lot of pride in their work. We were probably a small client for them, but we never felt that way. The quality of what they delivered reflected how much they cared about the outcome of our project.

Are there any areas they could improve?

We didn’t have any major issues during our partnership, but there were some minor problems with flexibility. I would have appreciated it if they had provided us with a number of alternatives to the challenges we faced.

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

Bring them in early on in the project and be clear about your objectives. If you make them feel like the project is truly a joint venture, they’ll remain deeply invested in the work.

Introduce your business and what you do there.

Our organization manages the fare collections systems and revenue management for transport operators to collect money from travelers using the transit system. We manage products like ticketing gates, machines, and mobile ticketing. These machines are commonly used throughout major sites around the world. I manage the marketing team and our global presence.

What challenge were you trying to address with Traina Design?

We wanted to create a brand that was separate from our parent company to appeal to small or mid-market clients. Essentially, the goal was to communicate that we offer a completely different set of solutions and offerings for clients who may not be able to afford the deliverables we’re most commonly known for.

What was the scope of their involvement?

We wanted them to create a new brand identity for our new sub-brand. That effort involved creating the brand architecture, the brand name, a logo, designs, brand tone, an elevator pitch, and a style guide containing formats for text and tone. Those deliverables allowed us to develop the brand we wanted to achieve in the market.  

We’ve created caricatures based on their logo and graphic design deliverables and may even do some gamification. Our team is also planning to tweak and extend the set of brand guidelines they delivered to agency partners for their own deployment. The style guide also included the types of imagery they expected the brand to use in the future as well as unified formats and layouts. 

What is the team composition?

We worked with a project manager, who was responsible for scheduling and keeping us up to date on deliverables. We also worked with their creative director and their CEO. There was another creative assistant supporting the team as well. 

How did you come to work with Traina Design?

We were doing a brand study for our entire cooperation as a whole and Traina Design was identified as one of the top vendors the corporation wanted to select to manage the study. We were establishing this project at around the same time and reached out to their team for a brief. Their estimate was initially out of our price range. However, because they were doing our corporate brand study, we were able to work together to accommodate our budget.

It made sense to hire them because they were working on our corporate brand. We didn’t want this brand to be completely different from our brand as a whole. Because they would have a thorough understanding of our company, we felt confident they could create a brand that would align with the parent company. 

How much have you invested with them?

We spend about $65,000 in total. The initial scope was for $50,000, but our company underwent some directional changes that expanded the total scope of work over time. The project ended up being a lot bigger than the initial RFP.  

What is the status of this engagement?

We worked together from around August 2019–October 2020.

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

Both internal and agency partner stakeholders loved the new brand. They’re excited about it and want to promote it through their channels. Their universal approval indicated that they did a good job. Additionally, we had a wide variety of stakeholders they needed to impress. Across our stakeholders, there were different opinions and ideologies surrounding how we should approach the new brand. Despite that, they came up with a fresh, new, relatable brand that impressed everyone involved. 

The name they provided us with was very unique for the industry but also intuitive with regard to the brand’s overall purpose. The brand encompassed some of the nuances we were hoping it to stand for. Our current customers were asked to make the transition to using this new brand as well, and they provided us with positive feedback as well. Customers and stakeholders were happy with the brand, which is a great sign for us. 

The logo they delivered contains the shape of the letter “U” with a winking face. They made the spelling of our brand name into a memorable character. The team loved it, and we’re calling it our customers’ travel companion. We initially weren’t expecting to be able to personify our brand but everything came together with their designs. This has led to people using our brand name conversationally and as a verb, which we love to see.   

How did Traina Design perform from a project management standpoint?

The team kept us on a tight timeline for deliverables with quick turnaround times. The only opportunity for improvement here is that they could’ve taken more initiative in setting up some of the meetings. For instance, if we discussed having a meeting about the competitive landscape, they’d agree to meet but ask us to set up the meeting. We expect that from the agency. However, whenever we asked for information, they were happy to provide it. 

Over time, they started adapting more to our expectations. Once I expressed my expectation for them to lead these efforts, the communication and collaboration became smoother. We communicated back and forth through emails and Zoom. A project management platform may have helped us organize our communications.  

What did you find most impressive about them?

Whenever we did workshops with their creative director, we’d have a room full of stakeholders requesting different things and directions. They were always able to articulate what we wanted to say but couldn’t communicate ourselves. We were working with our own industry and products but still couldn’t articulate certain brand ideas as well as they could. We were always impressed with their words, phrases, and elevator pitches. 

Are there any areas they could improve?

They’re easy to communicate and get along with. We felt they managed the relationship well but had some issues with managing expectations at the start of the project. 

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

It’s important to be very clear with your brief. If a company knows what they want the deliverables to be, communicating that upfront will help clarify expectations. They can plan accordingly and better understand your business that way. There’s plenty of things they suggested to us that weren’t priorities for our company. Knowing those priorities is very helpful for defining scope.

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m the director of field marketing for Degreed, an online learning experience platform that helps businesses with employee training, education, and upskilling. There are several tools and products available to them.

What challenge were you trying to address with Traina Design?

We needed to outsource some projects to a partner to help with event execution. We also needed brand identity and fully encompassing design work that would take us to the next level for our next annual event.

What was the scope of their involvement?

Traina Design worked on the web design, ABM design, LinkedIn, Google, and PPC for an in-person annual event. They did physical branding of the event, including all the branding within the hotel property, staging, and signs from one conference room to another. 

When COVID-19 happened, they helped us transition into a virtual event. They did graphics for the registration website and the online platform for the day of the event. They again did ABM and web design, and Google, LinkedIn, and PPC ads for the virtual event.

The team designed a photo booth with our logo for people to take pics and feel like they were at the event. They designed a border around a cameo ad we ran on LinkedIn as well as all the headers and bumpers on the HubSpot page that’s linked to the content. Users can complete a form and unlock content from the day of the event.

What is the team composition?

Kat (Sr. Account Manager) was our main point of contact and project manager. We also interacted with Kristi (Director of Account Services) on financial matters, Mark (Creative Director), John (Design Director), Chris (Sr. Designer/VFX Art Director), and Joseph (Visual Designer).

How did you come to work with Traina Design?

We did online research and hired three companies to do a design project: a large and small physical design, and one digital. We were most impressed with the work Traina Design did. They did exactly what we were looking for, and we knew they were the right fit for us. 

How much have you invested with them?

We spent $50,000–$199,999

What is the status of this engagement?

We began working together in Q2 2020, and we finished in October 2020.

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

There were about 12,000 registered attendees in more than 90 countries for the virtual event, making it our largest digital event. 

The campaign has generated back everything we put into it, not only the investment with this team. We believe when it’s all done, we will do 40 times the investment. Our CEO is very pleased with the ROI to date.

How did Traina Design perform from a project management standpoint?

Kat did a great job. We used Asana and Slack and had weekly meetings. Their communication was awesome, and they never missed deadlines. 

What did you find most impressive about them?

I can’t speak highly enough about the team. We weren’t sure of everything we would need for the digital event. They did everything we asked of them, always meeting or exceeding our expectations. 

They did far more than we intended originally because they were so easy to work with and did quality work. When another project came up, it was a no-brainer to hire them for it. They didn’t have an ego; they were fun and easy to work with. 

Are there any areas they could improve?

No, not that I can think of.

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

Be fully transparent and give the full scope and high-level picture. Explain what you’re trying to achieve and give examples. If you do that upfront, they will run with it. 

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m a pediatrician and am the medical director and executive director for the University of California Health Milk Bank. It’s a nonprofit milk bank and our goal is to collect milk donations from breastfeeding mothers, process it, and sell it to neonatal intensive care units to feed fragile premature babies and improve their health outcomes.

What challenge were you trying to address with Traina Design?

We wanted a really good branding campaign because we wanted to move away from traditional media, such as flyers, and move towards digital media and social media. We wanted to reach out to milk donors and really engage them. Having the right look, branding, and messaging was very important to us.

What was the scope of their involvement?

They provided us with branding tools to help create a consistent brand that was aligned with the UC Health Brand. In addition to the distinct design they went through a brand guide and unique taglines.

They were very organized and they presented us with a template for the information they needed from us. We then asked our key stakeholders to provide that information.

After the first iteration, we gave them our feedback. Then they delivered the final product. They presented us with the guidelines and we used the wireframes they gave us in our customer portal.

In the middle of this project, we actually changed the name to a more powerful name under the University of California Health system. At that point, we had just finished the branding campaign, so Traina Design had to make adjustments for that.

What is the team composition?

In one of the calls, we had 5–6 people. At one point, they brought in a photographer to find images for us and modify them. They had a good team. David (President) sat in on a few calls too. He was quiet, but he was helpful and we knew he cared.

How did you come to work with Traina Design?

It was a referral through UC Health. They worked with Traina Design on another project and was pleased with the results.

How much have you invested with them?

It was $27,000.

What is the status of this engagement?

We started working together in January 2020 and wrapped up in June.

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

Everybody was really pleased with the name logo. They developed a little bottle cap image that we could use as a watermark. We’ve made it into pins and stickers. It’s absolutely beautiful. It gives our brand a luxury feel. The feedback we’ve received from partners and colleagues has been outstanding. I was skeptical that we would find the taglines we liked in one or two iterations, but it was efficient and went pretty smoothly.

The photographs, the fonts, the layouts for the business cards and flyers have been really well-received. Even when we visited the accreditor, they said it was beautiful.

How did Traina Design perform from a project management standpoint?

They presented a timeline, vetted the ideas, and narrowed down the timeline. They were very helpful and they came up with taglines that our philanthropic donor really loved.

This was at the beginning of the pandemic, and we were trying to collaborate over Zoom, as we all were learning how to use Zoom. They were organized and extremely prompt. They were also very positive with their feedback.

There were several stakeholders; we have a philanthropic donor, and I’m a doctor and I don’t know much about marketing. Traina Design really helped us organize and bring this project together.

Our statement of work was very clear and we stuck to that. When things came up outside of the scope, they firmly and respectfully outlined what we were doing. When our CMS wasn’t ready, they held off working on that site until everything was finished. They were then able to wrap everything up in about 6–8 weeks. j

What did you find most impressive about them?

What impressed me most was their engagement. On the Zoom calls, everyone seemed involved and excited about the project. That seemed really valuable for a startup nonprofit like ours. They had a really good, optimistic, and collaborative outlook that benefited our project.

Are there any areas they could improve?

I really had no issues.

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

Be fully engaged, especially in the early sessions. Presenting your mission and your values will really help Traina Design will help them come up with a better product.

Introduce your business and what you do there.

We are a river cruise company with global operations. And I am the chief marketing officer.

What challenge were you trying to address with Traina Design?

We hired Traina Design to help us rebrand one of our cruise brands as well as redesign our website. We also had them to some brand development work for that brand and one other. They also manage our day-to-day graphic design needs.

What was the scope of their involvement?

We gave them a fair bit of creative flexibility. Their role was to go back and redo the foundation work, determined where our brand needed to go, and creatively created a plan to get it there. They created assets both online and in print.

The second part of the project was picking up the workflow of different advertising and marketing assets. That included just about everything. They did two TV commercials, handling all the editing, creative direction, and the final cut for our TV spot. We also asked them to create print ads, digital ads, email marketing, direct marketing, direct mail, social media, and copywriting.

They scrapped our existing website and rebuilt the entire thing from the ground up. We used Sitecore.

What is the team composition?

We worked with quite a few people. The project was divided into phases, so we first worked with the strategy team, the research team, and then the development team. In total, e probably dealt with eight core team members.

How much have you invested with them?

We’ve spent about $300,000.

What is the status of this engagement?

We started working together in July 2019 and wrapped up in May 2020.

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

Unfortunately, a lot for the stuff that they created for us, we haven’t been able to run yet because of COVID-19 and that has really impacted our industry. I can talk a bit more about the brand work that they did.

We did run our commercials, and immediately, we saw a spike in traffic to our website and additional bookings came in because of the campaign.

It was extremely helpful. They were able to work with our team, our marketing team, web team, and executive team to help us better understand and articulate our brand. It also helped us understand our customers. It’s hard to quantify that, but anecdotally, the process was extremely helpful.

How did Traina Design perform from a project management standpoint?

Their project management team is great. They’re attentive, organized, proactive, and smart. We loved their project management team. They did a great job.

What did you find most impressive about them?

They’re very collaborative and worked really well with our external media agency as well.

Their communication skills are fantastic. They took the time to sit with us and understand what we needed. They’re totally open to feedback as well. So they’re really easy to work with.

Are there any areas they could improve?

I’d rate some of their creative directors a four out of five. Their creative was good, but in my experience in marketing, they don’t stand out.  

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

Be clear in the direction of what you’re looking for. Don’t be afraid to push back and provide feedback. They don’t take things personally and they’re really good with working with clients. They’re very receptive to honest feedback.

Introduce your business and what you do there.

Bionest Partners is a consultancy specialized in life sciences. We advise large biotech organizations. We have a team of around 30 people and have two offices, in New York and Paris. I co-lead the Paris office.

What challenge were you trying to address with Traina Design?

We were looking to transform our branding. It hadn’t been updated in 15 years, and it had quite an old feel that didn’t reflect the new leadership team and company image.

What was the scope of their involvement?

We went to Traina to completely transform our branding, from positioning statements and brand messaging to our brand strategy and the whole visual identity. That entailed the logo, color schemes, and the website. It was an end-to-end project, working on our brand, who we are, and what we stand by. They’ve created both text and visual content, and they built a whole new WordPress website for us.

We gave them quite a lot of creative flexibility. As part of the first phase of the work, we thought about who we were as a company and what our core beliefs were. We also determined what we wanted our brand to communicate: friendliness, modernity, credibility, and expertise. With these guiding principles, Traina went on to transform our logo and visual identity.

How did you come to work with Traina Design?

We found them through Clutch.

How much have you invested with them?

The project cost was $50,000–$200,000.

What is the status of this engagement?

We started working with Traina in October 2019, and we wrapped up the work a month ago, in July 2020. 

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

It was quite a long process, and everything came together really nicely. Each piece was built on the previous one, so the work that they did on the creative design and visual identity was well-connected with what we did around brand strategy. They did excellent work, and I recommend them for the end-to-end branding process, not just visual work.

The best measure of the quality of their work is that our whole organization has been extremely excited about the new brand and visual identity. It’s a feeling shared by everyone that the brand really reflects who we are as a company, our culture, and what we stand for. Traina did a fantastic job creating a new brand that fits us well. Our employees have been super excited and on board with the new branding. On the client side, we’re also seeing a positive impact on our business.

How did Traina Design perform from a project management standpoint?

They’re very strong in this regard. They were communicative and organized, and they kept us updated the entire time. There was a good transition from each piece of work, ensuring that the new team would be onboard with what had been done previously.

What did you find most impressive about them?

When we launched the brand internally, we could see the excitement from everyone. The branding really reflected who we are as a company — our culture and our values. Traina managed to bring that to life in a creative way with the new branding.

Are there any areas they could improve?

I’m very pleased with our work together, and the only feedback I’d give is to have more transparency from a timeline perspective.

Do you have any advice for future clients of theirs?

I’d just tell them to go for it. I was initially skeptical about working with a company solely based on Clutch references, but I’m really glad that it was Traina.

Introduce your business and what you do there.

The organization is called Blue River Technology. We’re a mission-oriented organization supporting the needs of customers in agriculture. We’re owned but independently operated by John Deere. We basically work in the field of computer vision and machine learning robotics, focusing on solutions for farmers in the agriculture space. I’m the VP of people.

What challenge were you trying to address with Traina Design?

They helped us build messaging and positioning framework that reflects on out company’s unique characteristics and values. They also helped us refine our logo, brand identity, and visual identity into the digital realm by helping create a new website.

What was the scope of their involvement?

We needed to define who we are, what our culture is, and how we describe it. The challenge was around representing our company in an authentic way while maintaining the employee voice.

It was 100% a partnership throughout the process. We gave them our vision and the things that were important to us. They were able to take that expertise and translate that. They honored things that were important and preserved everything.

They didn’t just propose a drastic new version, but rather went through several iterations. It was beyond design; it was change management and a partnership.

They designed a brand-new site that incorporates our new messaging. They also redesigned navigation flow in terms of what’s important to us. We recently shot new photos and videos and created storyboard ideas. Now the site tells our story. We plan to start development next week.  

What is the team composition?

We worked with 5-6 people.

How did you come to work with Traina Design?

I started vetting firms, and Traina Design was the hands-down winner. I started with a list of 10–12 firms, and began pouring through work and references. Once we narrowed it down to a smaller list, we started having a conversation. There are a lot of great firms out there, but we wanted to choose an agency that poured over the input from all employees at every level. They made sure there were diverse thoughts and opinions before determining our messaging.

How much have you invested with them?

We’ve spent around $75,000.

What is the status of this engagement?

We started working together in June 2019 and it’s ongoing.

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

 This project was really about engaging and aligning our employees.

We recently did an engagement survey. In prior surveys, it was clear that respondents couldn’t easily define our mission, values, or culture. In our latest survey, however, respondents used consistent language. It was so clear that people were connected to our mission and could identify collaborative, caring, and innovative as our key values. In sentiment, our employees felt connected and stood behind it. We went from something that was rather nebulous to overwhelmingly being able to identify and articulate it and say, yes, that's that's what I love about this place.

Before this project 70% of our workforce identified with our message, but now 90% do.

We’ve also used this to support recruiting. Since we’ve been using the messaging framework, our talent pool and candidates that have accepted offers has grown significantly. Our acceptance rate is nearly 90%.

To me, these are all signs that the project is strengthening our proposition.

How did Traina Design perform from a project management standpoint?

They’ve been stellar. Our account rep kept things on track. I corresponded with her regularly and she would bug me if I needed to send her things to keep the project moving. She is always accessible. I could just send her a quick text and she’d get right back to me.

What did you find most impressive about them?

They balance listening to the client with applying their creative genius. To me, that stood out the most. It starts with David (President) and how he approaches clients. Rather than applying what they think, they listened to what we needed.

Are there any areas they could improve?

Working with a design team always requires balance. I don’t have designers on staff,  so we have to figure out how to manage it internally without that support. Traina Design has a lot of pride in their work, but they need to be comfortable with handing it off to us knowing it might not stay perfect. It’s not a critique and it’s not an issue, but my concern is how it’s going to work with our internal team.

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

In general, approach it as a partnership. We got such great work because it was a partnership. If you don’t put in the time to really let them understand your company’s voice, you won’t get their best work. So take the time and make it a priority.