Traina Design

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.

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I do branding and operations work at a family-owned coffee shop.

What challenge were you trying to address with Traina Design?

When we went to them, we were coming up on 10 years. We were a successful business but we hadn’t successfully built a brand. The branding that we had didn’t put out the message we wanted. So, we hired Traina Design to create a brand that reflected who we are.

What was the scope of their involvement?

We shared some inspiration with them, and Traina Design showed us four different routes that we could take, and we went from there. The team then helped to update our identity. 

They designed a logo, a tagline, brand packaging, and a menu board. Additionally, they provided naming services and created swag for us.

What is the team composition?

We met with 4–5 different designers, but Joe (Associate Creative Director) was the one who worked on our designs. We also worked with Kat (Senior Account Manager).

How did you come to work with Traina Design?

I found them online, and I liked what they had done. David (President) and Joe came by, and we felt like they understood what we wanted to do.

How much have you invested with them?

We spent a little bit over $20,000.

What is the status of this engagement?

We worked together from January 2019–June 2020.

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

Our numbers have gone up. In general, we’ve seen people with our bags and t-shirts. Additionally, people often comment on how much they love our branding. The community is very excited about it. 

How did Traina Design perform from a project management standpoint?

Kat managed the project, and she was very hands-on and easy to reach. We could tell that she was close to project because she knew what was going on and she kept everyone on schedule. 

What did you find most impressive about them?

Traina Design captured what we were trying to do better than we could’ve imagined. They were able to capture the direction we wanted to go with the designs.

Are there any areas they could improve?

No, nothing comes to mind. There was a little bit of back and forth with the designer, which is very common in these types of projects, but overall we were very pleased. 

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

Be prepared and do your homework before the engagement. Additionally, make sure you have a single vision. When we came in, we hadn’t done this kind of work before, so we didn’t have cohesive ideas.

What I learned is that with graphic designers, you can’t give them every idea; you have to throw out a single idea and let them get creative. They helped us through the process and helped us figure out who we were and who we wanted to be.

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m one of the owners of Mellogold, which is a medical cannabis company based out of Tulsa, Oklahoma. Mellogold’s a secondary brand of another company called Alterra.

What challenge were you trying to address with Traina Design?

We needed to create separate brand identities. We wanted them to look different to reach two different demographics.

What was the scope of their involvement?

Traina Design created separate aesthetics for our two brands. We had a loose idea of what we wanted, so their team helped us with the strategy and clarified our vision. They came in at the ground level and built our brands' identities.

They helped us work out the differences between the two brands. Alterra has a high-end medical feel whereas Mellogold has more of a recreational feel. They developed the brand identities and figured out what kind of verbiage we wanted to use for copy. Their team did all of the design work, which involved logos and packaging.

What is the team composition?

We worked directly with two people.

How did you come to work with Traina Design?

We found Traina online and compared them to other agencies. They were the most responsive and had the best communication. Their team also worked with industries that were similar to ours. We loved their designs. They had experience creating the types of designs that we wanted to use.

How much have you invested with them?

We spent between $10,000–$25,000.

What is the status of this engagement?

We worked together between March–November 2019.

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

The state of branding in the Oklahoma cannabis market’s terrible. Traina helped us to come out swinging early. Their team gave us a professional look and feel to our brand. We tripled the number of sales we expected. Last month was our first month of sales and we did about $450,000 in revenue.

How did Traina Design perform from a project management standpoint?

Traina performed well. It would’ve been difficult for us to go through the whole process ourselves, especially since we didn’t know what we wanted. It was a big deal to have a mentor that guided us through the process. Their team stayed on top of their tasks, so we didn’t need to push them. When it was clear that we didn’t know what we wanted, they helped us through that.

What did you find most impressive about them?

Traina Design knocked it out of the park the whole time. They were good communicators. They helped us understand where we were and what they were doing throughout the whole project.

Are there any areas they could improve?

Honestly, I don’t have constructive feedback.

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

Don’t skip the brand identity portion. It can feel tedious at times, but I’m glad we went through that process with Traina. Pay attention to that and don’t gloss over the details that their team asks for.

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m the digital marketing manager of Brooklyn Brewery. We’re one of the largest craft breweries in the country and the number one craft beer exporter in the US.

What challenge were you trying to address with Traina Design?

We needed to completely rebuild our website. The previous version was outdated. It not only had technical issues but also didn’t convey our brand story. We wanted Traina Design to update our platform to convey our brand story to reach customers more effectively.

What was the scope of their involvement?

Traina Design met with our design team to review our style guide. Their team had attention to detail, working with our team to discover what the borough means. Their team visited us for our kick-off event to soak in what we wanted to get across. This helped them to ultimately position us in a much better way. We provided photographs, branding, and logos. Their team made that content usable on the web. They put the assets on the site and made them sing.

We wanted to be compliant with quite a few different privacy laws and accessibility guidelines because we have a global footprint. Their team worked with us every step of the way to ensure compliance in different markets before the site went live.

Traina Design also implemented our beer finder into the new WordPress website. On our old website, we had compatibility issues that made it a struggle for users to find our products. Correspondingly, that made it difficult to advertise.  It was huge to have the beer finder come back and be easily used by consumers. 

Currently, they handle our hosting and basic maintenance.

What is the team composition?

I primarily worked with our account manager, Kristi (Account Manager), and our lead developer. I worked with other members of the team during onboarding, but most of my communication as the project continued was through Kristi to keep things simple.

How much have you invested with them?

The project cost between $100,000–$250,000.

What is the status of this engagement?

The project began in February 2019 and the site went live in January 2020. We have a retainer with Traina Design that we’re happy to have.

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

We’re seeing a much lower bounce rate, which was our goal. The website offers a richer experience that keeps users on the site for longer. There are clearer pathways and better search results. We’re seeing good search numbers but it’s a little early to fully comment on them. Overall, our SEO improved quite a bit. For us, it’s easier to use the site. The people in our organization are happy with the way that it looks. People who interact with it both inside and outside the company have a great feeling about it.   

How did Traina Design perform from a project management standpoint?

We used Google Docs where we set up shared timelines. Our office runs on the platform, so it was comfortable for us. Traina Design made the process easy. They answered all of my questions with patience and thoroughness. Their team had explanations, repeated explanations, and walked me through every piece that I needed to use. Communication was never confused. Their team is responsive and attentive to our relationship.

What did you find most impressive about them?

Their web development capabilities are great. I wouldn’t hesitate to recommend them to other people. In fact, I recommended them to a couple of other folks. They made every aspect of the project simple, which was a great reassurance.

Are there any areas they could improve?

Nothing comes to mind. The only stumbling block was the time difference. They’re located in San Diego and we’re in New York.

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

It’s worth meeting the team. The company as a whole is great. They’re a relatively small shop, making it easy to get to know everyone. We visited each other’s offices and having that personal connection was a great help. Knowing their team and being able to put faces to names makes our engagement a really positive.

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I'm the product and marketing manager at Fulgent Genetics. We are a DNA sequencing company that just launched a consumer health genetic test.

What challenge were you trying to address with Traina Design?

We are a clinical lab and we don’t have an in-house design team. We were creating a new brand and we needed a design team to come in and guide us end to end. We needed help with the development of the naming as well as the external website design.

What was the scope of their involvement?

In the first stage, they led us through an exercise that helped us define goals, image, and general direction. We then walked through the naming process, which was new for us. That functioned as a phase of its own. Putting a name to the brand really requires them understanding, not just our technology, but the vision and personality we want to apply. We gave them preferences and feedback to guide that process. That brought us into defining the style and tone of our cop as well as branding designs. We created a style guide in that process. 

Following that, we went into the design phase which was a little more extensive. They devised seven or eight very different design concepts, color palettes, and taglines. Each of the potential designs came with various examples of how they would be presented; whether they would be on a billboard, on the internet, or an app. From there, they let us pick and chose design aspects for our final look and feel, making us aware of best practices to consider when making selections. Those design concepts were then applied to the website.

While my team produced content, they provided us with some taglines, headers, and titles. They worked very closely with us on how to really present technical concepts and content. The bulk of the last couple of months working with them involved designing the webpage and giving them feedback on the layout. We also asked them to design a clinical report and blog page for us at this time. Our DNA analysis reports can get quite heavy, so they designed a template for all three of our products. Additionally, we asked them to do an alternative homepage design as well.  

What is the team composition?

We were in touch with six people from their team at various points of the project. My main point of contact was the project manager, Christine (Account Manager, Traina Design). Most of the contact was with her, but we interacted with other leads depending on the scope of the project.

There was one person that primarily lead content efforts. We were also in contact with the owner for the initially, and he was on the phone calls with us as well.

How did you come to work with Traina Design?

We looked at four other companies. Before Traina Design came into the picture, we were close to negotiation with another vendor, but the pricing was on the high side. They've been in the biotech industry for years and were local. After whittling it down to two vendor option, we selected them over the other company.  

What is the status of this engagement?

We worked with them on this project between December 2018 – July 2019.

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

We have tried to do these web designs internally, failing to create a cohesive brand. Traina Design enabled us to define a brand image. While we're still in the early stages of brand development, we're growing the advertisement and engagement aspect of the product. That's been possible because of the brand we've built out.

Overall, people think we've created a clean brand. On the negative end of feedback, some have found it to be too content-heavy, without a strong enough marketing message. However, that wasn’t necessarily the Traina Design's mission. Although they are part of the naming and overall tone, the weakness for us is our marketing language. Design-wise, the feedback has been very positive.

How did Traina Design perform from a project management standpoint?

Christine is probably the best project manager I've worked with. She's meticulous, a great listener, and has an amazing ability to keep us on a timeline. Even when we get busy with other development tasks, she's always on top of it while keeping up a professional, considerate rapport. She always keeps everyone on the same page, which made a difference in the entire experience.

In the beginning, we would have a meeting once every week. We never went more than two weeks without being on the phone and reviewing designs or drafts.

What did you find most impressive about them?

They have a really diverse team that communicates well with each other. That's tangible in our meetings together. The process of creating something is very important, and they made the process enjoyable. 

Branding and naming can be pretty intimate processes. While we had hiccups on the way, they developed a level of trust with us, which speaks to the quality of the project manager. They made us feel important and never belittled our requests or feedback. They are reliable, listening to understand the needs and issues that were most important.

Are there any areas they could improve?

From our end, the marketing and sales language aren't strong enough. In that respect, there could be more improvement maybe from the content generation side. However, it isn’t their main service that we requested.

They don’t have any in-house video or photographers, so we had to contract that out. It would be neat to see them develop their business to accommodate photography as well. Overall, they have very clean designs and are open to feedback. For those reasons, I can’t really pinpoint a direct weakness of theirs.

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

They really kick it into gear. Be prepared to move forward at a progressive pace. Walk into it ready to see productivity.